She's all that and so much more

BULLY BOY PRESS &     CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

CRANKY CLINTON NOT ONLY GOT THE BUM RUSH IN LOS ANGELES, SHE WAS ALSO CALLED A MURDERER.

REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, CRANKY INSISTED, "I'VE BEEN CALLED WORSE."

"SHE HAS!" BILL CLINTON LAUGHED.  "SHE REALLY HAS!  AND USUALLY BY ME."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:


The bombs keep getting dropped, the war keeps dragging on.

The latest wave of bombings began in August of 2014 and have continued daily.

They've not 'won' any war, have they?

What if all that energy had been spent -- or even half of it -- working towards a diplomatic solution?

What if Barack had spent two years working on



Ben Connable (NATIONAL INTEREST) argues:

Three years of engagement with Sunni Arab Iraqis, analysis of Sunni Iraqi media and a recent trip to Baghdad with former ambassador Ryan Crocker’s Task Force for the Future of Iraq have convinced me of two things. First, most Sunni and a number of Shia Arabs are hungry for more direct U.S. involvement in the Iraq’s political reconciliation process. Second, while Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi has genuine intent to foster reconciliation, he does not have the political power to make it happen. Worse, as he struggles to form a new cabinet, he is rapidly losing the support of the Iraqi leaders he will most need to effect change. While the winds of political influence can quickly shift in Baghdad, it seems most likely that reconciliation will remain at best a secondary issue while the government contends with Sadrist protestors, wavering reform efforts and the omnipresent threat of Shia militias. These “alligators closest to the boat” continue to distract from the crucial process of reconciling the Sunnis with their government. It is time for the United States to step in and take the lead for reconciliation in order to bolster the tactical fight against ISIL and to ensure Iraq does not further destabilize.



Two years focusing on diplomacy?  Two years easing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi towards national reconciliation in Iraq?  Tying in weapons shipments to concrete achievements towards national reconciliation?

That could have had an impact.

It could have destroyed any justification for the Islamic State being in Iraq.

They get their support as a response to the persecution of Sunnis in Iraq.

National reconciliation is not a new goal of the US government.

When Congress demanded Bully Boy Bush provide measurements for measuring "success" in Iraq (the White House benchmarks), national reconciliation was on that short list.

But nearly a decade later and there's been no national reconciliation.

Failure to achieve that was supposed to result in the US government cutting off aid to Iraq -- financial and military.

Never happened.

Maybe members of Congress could explain why?


Back in September of 2007, Maura Reynolds (LOS ANGELES TIMES) reports:



The report on the benchmarks was mandated by Congress this year as a condition for continuing to fund military operations in Iraq.
But the specific measures, including legislative goals for the Iraqi parliament, were first outlined last year by the Iraqi government and embraced by Bush in January.
Between July and September, the Iraqi government showed significant improvement on one benchmark: legislation to address the status of those who had belonged to Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party. In late August, the leaders of Iraq's five main political groups agreed on draft legislation, which the administration considered adequate to move the issue to the "satisfactory progress" category in the report.
However, the deal still must be adopted by the Iraqi parliament, and its fate remains uncertain.
In a conference call with reporters, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate, said that after months of anticipation, the benchmark report was disappointing.
"You don't even have to go to the benchmarks to realize what an abject failure this policy has been," Biden said.


Joe Biden was right in 2007 but those words also can be applied to the current White House policy.

And that draft legislation on the Ba'ath Party?

Never passed.

Nine years later and it's still not passed.

So maybe the US Congress want to explain why the measurements were never applied as they were supposed to be?  Or why the Iraq War continues to be funded?


RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Where's the success in Iraq?"
"Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "She Wanted It ..."
"Yes, it was a combat death"
"A Jersey Girl keeps fighting"
"Those damn e-mails"
"the ongoing betrayal"
"Sy Hersh's upcoming book"
"A new TV series to get excited about"
"That ridiculous Hillary"
"She is a crook"
"Barack copies Rick"
"Shirley MacLaine"
"Completely f-ed up"
"THIS JUST IN! SHE HAD HOBBIES!"
"She made lemonade"

She made lemonade

BULLY BOY PRESS &     CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

CRANKY CLINTON IS SEEN AS IFFY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS (ALL OF WHICH ARE EVIDENT ON HER FACE).

RESPONDING TO ALLEGATIONS, CRANKY INSISTED THAT SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE BEST CANDIDATE, "I JUST HAVE TO BE THE CANDIDATE.  TRUST ME, I KNOW HOW TO FIX AN ELECTION.  WHEN YOUR HUSBAND CHEATS ON YOU, YOU TAKE UP HOBBIES TO FILL YOUR TIME."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Starting with THE NEWSHOUR (PBS):

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day’s other news: Islamic State fighters killed a U.S. Navy SEAL in Northern Iraq. The ISIS attack near the city of Mosul was the biggest in months by the militants. They broke through Kurdish militia forces before being driven off. U.S. officials said the SEAL was there in an advisory role.

JOSH EARNEST, White House Press Secretary: You had an individual who wasn’t in a combat mission come under withering attack from enemy forces. He was in a combat situation. He was prepared to deal with it, but, unfortunately, under a complex attack, he was killed. And it’s tragic.


JUDY WOODRUFF: In all, three Americans have been killed in combat since the anti-ISIS campaign began in 2014.


Does anyone else want to slap Josh Earnest's smug, fat face?  It was combat.  "He was prepared to deal with it."  Can he just close his mouth in shame about right now?

The lies that this White House will tell to avoid guilt and blame is amazing.

The only thing more amazing is the cowed and cowardly US press.

You wasted a full hour on crap -- all it was was crap -- and failed to explore Iraq.

But then exploring Iraq would mean that you used some of those US tax dollars that you get to actually pay for journalism and not just present talking heads and pretending that chat & chews are journalism.  PBS moves further and further from actual reporting every year.  That's nothing to proud of.


9 sentences.  That's all they could offer.  Couldn't even quote US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter who broke the news this morning and who called it what it was: Combat.

9 sentences late this evening.

When the death was known as Americans were waking up this morning.

From this morning's entry:



REUTERS reports, "A member of the US armed services has been killed in northern Iraq, the country’s defence secretary, Ash Carter, said."
Barbara Starr (CNN) adds, "There's no word on any Americans wounded."
RUDAW reports, "Military sources in the area told Rudaw that the incident happened in the vicinity of Tel Skuf, about 28 kilometers north of Mosul. The body of the dead soldier was retrieved by a US helicopter, military sources on the scene said. "
STARS AND STRIPES adds, "It comes as the U.S. steps up its campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, where the U.S. now has several thousand troops deployed to support Iraq security forces and other partners on the ground."



PBS couldn't even identify the fallen this evening in their barely their mention -- this despite the fact that, today at noon,  CNN had identified the fallen.

Barbara Starr and Jeremy Diamond (CNN) reported:

Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV, the grandson of savings-and-loan financier Charles Keating Jr.,died in combat against ISIS in northern Iraq, his family said Tuesday.

"He is our family hero in every sense of the word," cousin Elizabeth Ann Keating told CNN.

[. . .]

A 2004 graduate of Arcadia High School in Phoenix, he was city and region champion in the 1,600-meter run as a sophomore, junior and senior, according to azcentral.com. At Indiana University, he was a member of the 2004-05 track team that finished as a Big Ten runner-up in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, competing in the mile run, the school said in a statement.

His high school track and cross country coach, Robert Wayne Reniewicki, said Keating made the decision to serve his country after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The office of Arizona Governor Doug Ducey issued this statement:

“Our state and nation are in mourning today over the loss of a U.S. serviceman – and one of America’s finest. Navy SEAL Charlie Keating IV, a graduate of Arcadia High School in Phoenix, was killed this morning in an ISIS attack in Iraq.

“Mr. Keating is the third American service member to be killed in direct combat in our nation’s fight against ISIS. His death is a tragic reminder of the daily sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform – fighting evil and extremism on the front lines to protect freedom and democracy at home and throughout the world.

“Our thoughts, prayers and eternal gratitude are with Mr. Keating, his family, his fellow SEALs, and all of the brave Americans who’ve answered the call to serve.

“In honor of Navy SEAL and Arizona hero Charlie Keating IV, I’ve directed that all state flags be lowered to half-staff tomorrow, May 4, from sunrise to sunset. Flags will again be lowered on the day of his interment, for which services are pending.” 

RECOMMENDED:"Iraq snapshot"
"Jill Stein Tweets"
"Another US service member killed in Iraq"
"Shame on them, shame on us"
"Charles Keating IV"
"Is it all soap opera all the time?"
"So glad Barack ended the Iraq War"
"Thank you, worthless PBS"
"She lost! She lost!"
"When does the Iraq War end?"
"the real point"
"One Tweet makes the case"
"Glen Ford's on fire"
"THIS JUST IN! SHE'S A TRAIL BLAZER!"
"Cranky wants a new nickname"

Cranky wants a new nickname

BULLY BOY PRESS &      CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

CRANKY CLINTON'S GOT A SLUSH FUND.

INSTEAD OF RUNNING FROM THE INEVITABLE RICHARD NIXON COMPARISON, CRANKY IS EMBRACING IT.

"YOU DON'T BECOME TRICKY DICK OVERNIGHT," CRANKY EXPLAINED.  "YOU HAVE TO BUILD TO IT.  I LONG FOR THE DAY WHEN SOMEONE CALLS ME 'CRANKY DICK.'  THAT'S WHEN I KNOW I'LL HAVE TRULY BROKEN THE GLASS CEILING FOR WOMEN. AND, YES, GALS, YOU ARE WELCOME."



FROM THE TCI WIRE:



William Rivers Pitt (TRUTHOUT) observes:

Here we are just about two years later, and US soldiers wearing boots are on the ground in Iraq and Syria. The Green Zone in Baghdad has been stormed. The latest US deployments are small, but floods always start with a drip. About 217 US soldiers have been sent to Iraq to augment the more than 4,000 troops already there, along with an additional 250 sent to the urban death zone that is Syria. They're going to a place where hospitals are deliberately destroyed; a medical facility in Aleppo was recently obliterated in an airstrike, killing 14 people. The US blamed the Syrian government, the Syrians and Russians blamed the US, and the dead lie still.
"We see a continual escalation with the now 250 additional troops," said Rep. Barbara Lee. "Whenever you have troops in harm's way, unintended consequences could occur. I'm very worried that our troops, while advisers, are still in the middle of the war and without authorization from Congress." Sen. John McCain, in a rare moment of sense, said, "We used to call it 'mission creep.' I've seen this movie before. It's called Vietnam."


US troops and millions of US tax dollars continue to flood into Iraq.

It's past time that American citizens start asking why and start asking what the policy is, what the plan is.



Today, John Hudson, Dan De Luce and Paul McLeary (FOREIGN POLICY) maintain:


When it comes to Iraq, the world’s attention has largely focused on the military campaign to uproot the Islamic State from its strongholds in Anbar province and Mosul. But the most consequential fight for the country’s future may be playing out in Baghdad’s Green Zone, not with bullets and bombs, but amid an unanswered cry for political reform to a deeply dysfunctional and sectarian state.
The Obama administration’s plan to defeat the Islamic State relies in part on maintaining a reliable political partner in the form of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has so far struggled against vested interests to push through his plans to overhaul the government and fix what is widely decried as a sectarian free-for-all among Iraqi politicians.


And the three are right.


And that 'plan' is and has been wrong from day one.

That 'plan' is why Iraq is in its current state.

It's why Barack Obama has failed Iraq.


In 2010, Iraq held national elections.  Nouri al-Maliki was the prime minister, having been installed by the Bully Boy Bush administration in 2006 (due to their objection to the Parliament's choice of Ibrahim al-Jaafari).  In the 2010 elections, Nouri used every thing he could to try and win and yet he lost.

And yet he got a second term.

How did that happen?

Because Barack decided to give Nouri a second term.

First Nouri refused to step down.

All the whining about Iraq right now -- we'll get to it in a moment -- is just utter nonsense.

For over eight months, in 2010, nothing happened.

Nouri refused to step down after losing the elections and he brought the country to a standstill.

For eight months.

That was a crisis.

Those insisting today's a crisis have really short memories and a lack of context.

Barack had advice.

Samantha Power and Susan Rice loudly advocated for the democratic process in Iraq to be trashed and for Nouri to get a second term because, they both insisted, he would give the United States what they wanted.

What the US government has always wanted has been the hydrocarbon law passed.

The oil and gas law has always been first on the list.

It remains first on the list.




RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Iraq in continued chaos"
"Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "You're Stuck W..."
"Hejira"
"Kat's Korner: Ben Harper serves up a minor masterp..."
"A Monday"
"THE GOOD MOTHER is one of the boys"
"quantico"
"Iraq, TV and comic"
"Hero Moqtada?"
"Larry Johnson weighs in on Barack (and Iraq)"
"She needs to be indicted"
"The push"
"Ben Harper"
"Harper and Simon"

• Truest statement of the week
• Truest statement of the week II
• A note to our readers
• Editorial: Iraq still on fire
• TV: The sickos that run and ruin ABC
• Roundtable
• Film Classics of the 20th Century
• Jill Stein's not laughing
• Just five more days
• Tweet of the week
• Did you catch this?
• This edition's playlist
• Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Votes To Strengthen Online Priv...
• Dheepan—fighter’s flight is a unique take on war v...
• Highlights

"THIS JUST IN! EVEN BILL AGREES!"
"She's the problem"

She's the problem

BULLY BOY PRESS &     CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

LENNY PITTS JR. IS SHOCKED BY SOMETHING OTHER THAN HIS PIT ODOR FOR A CHANGE.

LENNY CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTERS WON'T GET BEHIND CRANKY CLINTON.

BUT BILL CLINTON TOLD THESE REPORTERS THAT IT WAS COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDABLE.

"I HAVE TROUBLE GETTING BEHIND HER," HE EXPLAINED, "OR IN FRONT OR ON TOP OR UNDERNEATH.  WHY DO YOU THINK I TOOK UP WITH MONICA TO BEGIN WITH?"



FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Well color me surprised.

1. Zuhair Hussainزهير ‏@zuhair47  60m60 minutes ago

   #Iraqi Protesters Storm Baghdad Parliament, State of Emergency Declared http://bit.ly/1YYG9Oj 

   1 retweet0 likes

Zuhair Hussainزهير ‏@zuhair47  1h1 hour ago

#العراق:فيديو: هو هو نوري المالكي والله انجلطك قيس الخزعلي اكبر قنذر هوهو حنان الوسخة نوري المالكي اليوم انجلطك

1 retweet1 like

Zuhair Hussainزهير ‏@zuhair47  1h1 hour ago

#العراق:فيديو :غراب مجلس النواب عباس البياتي داخل السياره والمتضاهريين يحاصروووه

0 retweets0 likes

Moqtada al-Sadr's protesters live chiefly in Basra (they didn't come into Baghdad today) and in the Sadr section (usually called "slum") of Baghdad.  That last group has been protesting in Baghdad, outside the Green Zone, on his orders.

They made it into the Green Zone.

Zuhair Hussainزهير ‏@zuhair47  44m44 minutes ago

#Iraq Protests Update: Everything You Need To Know About The Civil Unrest In Baghdad’s Green Zone

2 retweets0 likes

Everything you need to know?


Not really.


Tear gas was fired.

After.

After the protesters were inside the Green Zone and had stormed the Parliament.


After they had stormed the Green Zone and made it into the Parliament.

After.

There's a point here, if anyone's paying attention.


In all the years of the Green Zone, it was only almost stormed once and that was shortly after Nouri al-Maliki became prime minister in 2006.

People were shot.

People were shot dead.

Immediately after, the 'Bremer walls' went up.


Moqtada al-Sadr's protesters made it into the Green Zone today.


Not because they're particularly smart.

Certainly not because they have super powers.

Clearly because either orders weren't followed regarding what to do when people attempt to breach the Green Zone or because there was a stand down order allowing them to seize the Green Zone.



Which was it?

It honestly doesn't matter at this point -- not for Haider al-Abadi.


Nouri al-Maliki was prime minister from 2006 through 2014 and the Green Zone was never breached.

Haider al-Abadi hasn't even been prime minister for two years and it's already been breached.


Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"Jill Stein Tweets"
"Does your member of Congress support the GI Bill?"
"Jill Stein Tweets"
"Iraq Tweet of the week (and it's from Jill Stein)"
"Joe Biden back in Iraq"
"White House using your tax dollars to support cens..."
"They bomb hospitals, don't they?"
"is there a point to 'scandal' anymore?"
"MOTHER'S DAY"
"Zoe Saldana triumphs in NINA"
"Music (Stevie Nicks) and a passing (Father Berrigan)"
"Missing Hillary"
"Ghostbusters"
"Movies and Medicare"
"The Originals (farewell Cammie)"
"Grilled Cheese Sandwich in the Kitchen"
"Steve"

"Every American has the right"
"That cowardly Jane Arraf"
"How important was Marisa Tomei?"
"casey champagne needs to be arrested"
"John Stauber waves goodbye to the Sanders campaign"
"I'm so sick of Women's Media Center"
"Can Martha Burk shut up?"
"Yes, it's sad, scary and depressing"
"Blog and they shall respond"
"Discussion you should check out"
"THIS JUST IN! WHY WAIT ON WINNING A NOMINATION?"
"Ted's got a plan!"