Parry selects a name

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

IN A LATE NIGHT SURPRISE, ONE-TIME JOURNALIST AND ALLEGED PRESIDENTIAL MISTRESS ROBERT PARRY HAS BEEN RUSHED TO THE SIBLEY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.

WITH THE AMBULANCE SIREN WAILING IN THE BACKGROUND, PARRY TOLD THESE REPORTERS -- MUST CREDIT BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   -- THAT HE WAS "A LITTLE NERVOUS BUT HAPPY OVER ALL.  I'VE TOLD THEM TO LET BARRY KNOW I'M EN ROUTE TO DELIVER OUR BABY.  I WAS THINKING OF NAMES, SOMETHING CLASSY LIKE CORETTA -- AFTER CORETTA SCOTT KING.  BUT NOW I'VE DECIDED TO GO WITH ARMAND DE BRIGNAC OBAMA -- YOU KNOW, IN HONOR OF JAY Z AND THE BOOZE LABEL HE JUST BOUGHT."

FOLLOWING PARRY'S CELL PHONE CALL, THESE REPORTERS RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL IN AN ATTEMPT TO SEE HIM BUT HOSPITAL STAFF INSISTED, UNDER DOCTOR'S ORDERS, HE WASN'T BEING ALLOWED ANY VISITORS.



FROM THE TCI WIRE:


He waited until after the mid-term election to announce it, but US President Barack Obama is sending more US troops into Iraq.  CBS News notes, "White House officials said the timing wasn't driven by the political calendar but that the request came from the Iraqi government and was refined over the last several weeks."

Yesterday, the White House issued the following:

             

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

November 07, 2014

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Deployment of Additional U.S. Military Personnel to Iraq

One of the pillars of the United States’ counter-ISIL strategy is building the capacity of local forces to take the fight to ISIL. We have been providing this support for Iraqi Security Forces through advise and assist programs; through the provision of weapons, equipment, and intelligence; and through airstrikes with our coalition partners to enable our Iraqi partners’ success. As a part of our strategy for strengthening partners on the ground, President Obama today authorized the deployment of up to 1500 additional U.S. military personnel in a non-combat role to train, advise, and assist Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces. The President also authorized U.S. personnel to conduct these integral missions at Iraqi military facilities located outside Baghdad and Erbil. U.S. troops will not be in combat, but they will be better positioned to support Iraqi Security Forces as they take the fight to ISIL.
The President took these decisions at the request of the Iraqi Government and upon the recommendation of Secretary Hagel and his military commanders based upon the assessed needs of the Iraqi Security Forces. This mission will be undertaken in coordination with multiple coalition partners and will be funded through the request for an Iraq Train and Equip fund that the Administration will submit to Congress.

In recent weeks ISIL has suffered a series of defeats in Iraq against the Iraqi Security Forces and Peshmerga, with the support of U.S. and coalition air strikes and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, as well as U.S. military advice. The United States and its coalition partners will continue to confront the threat of ISIL with strength and resolve as we seek to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism campaign. The President values the dedication and valor of the American servicemen and women whom he asks to carry out this mission on behalf of the American people.


Again, Barack waited until after the mid-term election on Tuesday to announce his decision.


Possibly, he was fearful of a backlash in the United States?

If so, he was mistaken, sadly.

Peace groups or 'peace' groups have bent over backwards for the baby boy they whored for in 2008.

They've refused to call him out as he's carried out more wars than Bully Boy Bush, carried on the worst policies of Bully Boy Bush and proven to be one of the worst presidents of all time.

To their credit, for a change CodePink had neither their head in the sand or a case of laryngitis and actually noted their opposition to the move:

CODEPINK @codepink  ·  23h 23 hours ago

PR: @CODEPINK Condemns President’s Decision to Send 1,500 More Troops To Iraq: Calls for an End to Funding War: http://codepink.org/article.php?id=6950#sthash.UJb3gOq9.dpuf …

0 replies 8 retweets 1 favorite

Equally true, though, they're part of a campaign to call Hillary a "bitch."  (Little Denny Trainor Junior's campaign -- which won't make him man, but nothing else has either.)

To call her a "bitch" or the c-word or worse.

They think it's 'cute' and 'antiwar.'

And maybe it would be if just one damn time they called Barack a bastard (which, linguistically speaking, he is).

But they can't and they won't call Barack mean names.  They can barely bring themselves to object to his war making.

And that is definition of sexism.

If their approach to protesting war was calling people curse words, then that would be their approach.

And we could examine it or amplify it or critique it or condemn or whatever.

But that's not their approach with men.

It's only how they treat women.

And when you have a double standard, that's the definition of sexism.

Since 2008, they've protested Hillary, heckled her, called her mean names and attacked everything about her.

During this time?  Barack Obama has spent six years as US President.

And they've never called out the precious little baby boy.

No.

They've applauded and cheered and said, "Look, Barack made stinky in the toilet all by himself like a big boy!"

They've applauded and cheered his every baby step towards further destruction and death.

When they look back on the last years, they'll see they've vilified a one-time US Secretary of State while letting the most powerful person in the world, a sitting US president, get away with, yes, murder (see The Drone War for the first of many examples).

Beyond issues of ethics and fairness, their past actions matter because Barack hasn't started another wave of the ongoing Iraq War in a vacuum.

He's done it because the so-called 'left' in the United States hasn't had the backbone, ethics, what have you to call him out.

If only he were a Republican (or a woman), he could be vilified by what passes for a peace movement in the United States.


Instead, so-called 'leftists' still rush to lie that Barack has 'ended' the Iraq War.

Lolita C. Baldor (AP) reports the proposal Barack's making comes with a $5.6 billion price tag and Congress is expected to begin considering it next week. Missy Ryan (Washington Post) observes, "The new training mission in Iraq echoes a much larger effort that the United States initiated after its invasion of Iraq in 2003. That years-long endeavor, which rebuilt Iraqi forces­­ largely from scratch, cost the United States more than $20 billion."  And yet Barack's rushing to spend more billions at a time when he has repeatedly attacked the safety net programs in the US (see, for example, Andre Damon's "Obama budget slashes Social Security, Medicare" at WSWS last year).



Spencer Ackerman and Tom McCarthy (Guardian) report, "Barack Obama has authorized the doubling of US troop levels in Iraq for the war against Islamic State (Isis) militants, further straining his pledge against 'boots on the ground'."  And the press, with the exception of Ackerman and McCarthy, agree to pretend there are no boots on the ground and that US pilots dropping bombs in Iraq are not flying combat missions.

 BBC News reports (link is video) on a reaction to the news today:



Russell Trott:  Despite the lack of security on the streets of the Iraqi capital, some see the announcement of the deployment of   1,500 non-combat US troops as a fresh occupation of their land

Hamd Al Mutlaq (Iraqi Sunni law-maker): The US has sent thousands of soldiers and invaded Iraq and failed to impose security and stability in the country.  What gives us security and stability is the unity of the Iraqi people.  What is needed from the US is for it to help bring the Iraqi people together.

Russell Trott: More bomb blasts in Karbani a border town under siege for more than 40 days now despite the bombardment by US led aistrikes on Islamic State positions, they still control large areas of Iraq and Syria.  In Kobani, they're up against [. . .] and in Iraqi Kurdistan where their own battle with the Islamic State continues, the announcement of more US troops is welcomed but not unconditionally.

Ari Harsin (Defence Comm Head, Kurdish Regional Govt): I hope that they can effectively take part in the battle and, especially, because we need the ground troops.

Russell Trott: That is something Washington has so far resisted.  Three months after  US forces  first launched airstrike, the Pentagon believes Iraqi forces are better prepared to take on Islamic State militants on the ground thanks in part to the training they have received.  


Barack is selling this as a response to a request from the Iraqi government (made weeks ago, did he only now get the message?).  So it's interesting to read All Iraq News:  "The Iraqi Government assured on Saturday 'the decision of sending more international troops into Iraq is welcomed despite the fact that it is too late step'."



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Parry almost gives birth

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

IN THE MIDST OF A PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY, FORMER JOURNALIST ROBERT PARRY CLUTCHED HIS STOMACH AND INSISTED, "IT'S TIME! IT'S TIME!"

AS CURIOUS LOOKERS ON WATCHED, HE DEMANDED A PILLOW, BOILING WATER AND SALT WATER TAFFY AS HE STRUGGLED TO SINK TO THE GROUND.

"THE BABY'S COMING!" HE YELLED FOR ALL TO HEAR.

"IT'S GOING TO TAKE A FEW PUSHES!"

AND THEN, AS EVERY ONE WATCHED, PARRY SQUEEZED OUT ONE OF THE LOUDEST FARTS EVER HEARD IN NORTH AMERICA.

GIGGLING, PARRY STOOD AND SAID, "FALSE ALARM."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Matt Bradley and Ghassan Adnan (Wall St. Journal) report on the budgets (2014 and 2015) today and also on the conflict between the KRG and Baghdad while getting it right -- something few do -- about what came first (Nouri's withholding the 17% of the federal budget the Kurds are entitled to) in this economic battle.  As the 2014 budget continues to elude the Iraqi government, new prime minister Aider al-Abadi is making weapons and violence his spending priority and slashing everything else:

Mr. Abadi’s cuts have pushed budget expenditures this year down to 137 trillion Iraqi dinars ($117.9 billion) from a projected outlay of 171 trillion ($147.16 billion).

The cuts have been painful. Plans were scrapped to hire some 37,000 new government employees—including doctors and teachers—and raises were delayed for existing ones. The government has also postponed plans for new student loans and scholarships, said Majda al-Tamimi, who represents the government-allied Sadrist bloc on the finance committee.

There’s even talk in parliament of cutting spending on orphans and on elementary-education projects, according to some lawmakers.

That helps no one, that's nonsense and it's outrageous but set aside the ethical issues.

It's also stupid politics.

Deeply stupid.

Iraqis need jobs.  Iraq needs doctors and teachers.

The inability to create jobs in the recent past in Iraq led to what?

Oh, that's right, Sunnis joining al Qaeda in Iraq.

Gutting student loans and scholarships?

Exactly what the hell is al-Abadi doing.

And let's stop lying that he's protecting the country.

Getting foreigners to bomb your own country from airplanes -- and tossing a few of your war planes into the air -- is not providing safety or addressing any issues.

It's actually both stupid and cowardly.

It's the Chicken Hawk way for War Hawks to cowardly to fight on the ground.

You want to run the 20,000 or 30,000 people out of country with over 30 million people?

You don't need bombs falling from the skies.

You need people on the ground willing to rebuke, forget fight, the Islamic State.

In 2010, the Iraqi people cast votes to stand for a national identity and that's still possible.

But that embarrassing budget won't do a damn thing to pull the country together.

If the US government, if Barack wanted to help, he would have a US diplomatic delegation in Iraq explaining how to utilize the budget in a manner to pull the country together.


Equally true, the Iraqi government needs to be going after Nouri al-Maliki and Nouri's son whose theft of public monies is an open secret and Iraqis suffering in poverty aren't going to embrace further poverty measures while thieves like Nouri remain unpunished.

He doesn't just remain unpunished, he remains in the presidential palace despite not being prime minister.  He refuses to leave.

If Haider al-Abadi had any sense, he's send the military to force Nouri out and you better believe Iraqis would cheer him on.

When Haider can't even reside in the prime minister's housing because former prime minister Nouri won't leave, he looks weak and inept.

He's looked weak and inept since his September 13 announcement that he had ended the bombing of Falluja's residential neighborhoods -- since he made the announcement and the bombings continued.  NINA notes 9 civilians were killed today and twenty-three more ("including women and children") were left injured from the security forces' bombings.


Let's go back to Barack's press conference.  Here Phil Mattingly is asking a question.

Q    Also if it is your feeling that you have the power to implement any type of agreement that's reached without any action from Congress?  And then, also I just wanted to quickly touch on the AUMF that you mentioned earlier.  Is that going to be more of a codification of the limits that you've put in place for the mission up to this point?  Or what should we be looking for on that when you send it to the Hill?  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  On the AUMF, the leaders are going to be coming here on Friday.  It will be an expanded group, not just the four leaders, but a larger group who all have an interest in the issues we're discussing today.  And I’m actually going to invite Lloyd Austin, the CENTCOM Commander, to make a presentation about how our fight against ISIL is proceeding and I think to answer questions and assure that Congress is fully briefed on what we're doing there.

With respect to the AUMF, we’ve already had conversations with members of both parties in Congress, and the idea is to right-size and update whatever authorization Congress provides to suit the current fight, rather than previous fights. 

In 2001, after the heartbreaking tragedy of 9/11, we had a very specific set of missions that we had to conduct, and the AUMF was designed to pursue those missions.  With respect to Iraq, there was a very specific AUMF.

We now have a different type of enemy.  The strategy is different.  How we partner with Iraq and other Gulf countries and the international coalition -- that has to be structured differently.  So it makes sense for us to make sure that the authorization from Congress reflects what we perceive to be not just our strategy over the next two or three months, but our strategy going forward.

And it will be a process of listening to members of Congress, as well as us presenting what we think needs to be the set of authorities that we have.  And I’m confident we're going to be able to get that done.  And that may just be a process of us getting it started now.  It may carry over into the next Congress.

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

AT A BABIES 'R US TODAY, AN INCREASINGLY FAT ROBERT PARRY INSISTED THAT THE LOSSES TUESDAY NIGHT STEMMED FROM HIS AFFAIR WITH THE PRESIDENT.

BARRY O, PARRY INSISTED, HAD SPENT "FAR TOO MUCH TIME COURTING ME AND GETTING TO KNOW MY NOOKS AND CRANNIES, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, SPREADING THE BUTTER, IF YOU GET MY MEANING, DOING SOME HEAVY TILLING, IF YOU CAN FOLLOW ME, THAN HE DID HELPING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY."

AS PARRY TRIED OUT STROLLERS -- MAINLY TO REST ON, HIS EXPANDING BELLY IS TAKING A REAL TOLL ON HIS BACK, HE EXPLAINED -- HE SAID HE'S READY TO FORGIVE BARRY O "IF THE EXPERIENCE HAS PROPERLY HUMBLED HIM.  OUR BABY NEEDS A DADDY."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Barack has his own problems.  Spencer Ackerman (Guardian) reports, "The Pentagon has denied that the US strategy against Islamic State (Isis) is in disarray after a series of setbacks as the war known as Operation Inherent Resolve stretches into its fourth month."

The argument that Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby made today was that the Syrian government, particularly Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is not benefiting from the 'focus' the US government is placing on Iraq.

Focus?

As Akerman points out:

US military officials frequently describe their strategy as “Iraq first”, reflecting what some in the administration suggest is a more realistic ambition, compared to the complexity of the neighbouring Syria conflict. The US has renewed its mentorship of the Iraqi military it built during the 2003-2011 occupation. But the administration is signaling that a counteroffensive to oust Isis from Iraq, led by the Iraqis and backed by US airpower and Iranian-supported Shia militias, will not proceed until spring 2015. 


Until spring of 2015?


Barack plans to keep bombing and pretending that's a 'plan'?

Long after Barack leaves the White House, Iraqis will have to rebuild.

And what Arabic social media is noting, though the western press has avoided, it is the Sunni areas that are being destroyed with these bombings.  When the bombing finally ends, it is the Sunnis who will be living in destroyed, shelled neighborhoods.  There are many Arabic commentators on social media who don't feel this is an accident but part of the continued persecution of the Sunnis.


Changing topics . . .

Who in the world do you think that you are fooling?
Well I've already done everything that you are doing
-- "Two Kinds of Love," written by Stevie Nicks, first appears on her Rooms On Fire

The always laughable (and always sexist) Kevin Drum wags his tiny cock-lette at Iraq and figures out there's no 'plan.'  Did the universe just offer a collective "Duh!"  How many weeks, how many months have we been pointing that out?

I was going to be kind and ignore David Zucchino's nonsense for the Los Angeles Times.

But his ridiculous report is what 'enlightened' Kevin Drum.

So let's note that it's a miserable 'report' that's ahistorical and embarrassing.

The article fails to address that the military has been without a head.  In the US, we call it the Secretary of Defense (currently Chuck Hagel).  In Iraq, they call it the Minister of Defence.  And from 2010 until his ouster this summer -- four long years, Nouri al-Maliki refused to nominate anyone to head the Ministry of Defence (it was a power grab -- Ayad Allawi was the first to rightly call it that).

So for four years they had no one.

But, even more importantly, the Los Angeles Times has reported on the Defense and Interior Ministries (Interior is a security ministry, it is not parks and wildlife -- Nouri also refused to nominate anyone to head that ministry).

Ned Parker -- often on his own, often with others -- repeatedly reported on the corruption and crime in the ministries.  He did spectacular reporting, in fact, on one particular floor in the Interior, the corruption there.


With all that to build on, Zucchino's article was disappointing.

He's a strong reporter and he'll do strong reporting again, I'm sure.

But Kevin Drum finds a stitched together article that fails to get at the realities -- which includes ignoring Nouri not wanting training from the US (for those who've forgotten, Barack was told to find other uses for the money the White House planned to spend training the Iraqi police in 2012) -- wonderful and inspiring.

Kevin would, wouldn't he?

He did, after all, cheer on the Iraq War.

Which makes you wonder why Mother Jones keeps trying to turn him into a star (he's too ugly for TV), why two women running the magazine and website are bound and determined to turn an elderly White man into a media star instead of devoting those resources to men of color or women?

Related, every now and then FAIR and others will gripe about how those people who were wrong about Iraq in 2003 continue to be respected voices in the media.  But they never have the guts, do they, to point out all the 'left' voices (like Drum) who cheered on an illegal war and yet are employed by left sites like Mother Jones?

If FAIR's really worried about accountability, they need to call on Mother Jones to ditch Kevin Drum who helped sell the illegal war.

Just last June, FAIR was whining about CNN bringing back on pundits who cheered on the Iraq War -- so when does FAIR find the guts to call out Mother Jones for hiring Drum?

Until they do, they look like whiny, little hypocrites.

There should be much more anger that a supposed left publication like Mother Jones is providing a forum for these pundits who got it wrong than the supposedly 'neutral' or 'mainstream' or 'middle' CNN.



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


FUTURE MOMMY-TO-BE ROBERT PARRY IS RETHINKING HIS FUTURE.

"I'M SURE I'LL BE TIED DOWN WITH NURSING AND MOMMY BLOGGING," INSISTS THE ONE-TIME JOURNALIST, "BUT I'LL BE HAPPY WITH THIS LIFE."

BUT WHITE HOUSE INSIDERS SAY OTHERWISE AND CALL PARRY'S CLAIMS TO BE PREGNANT WITH FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O'S BABY "SO MUCH BUNK!"

HIS OPPONENTS SAY HE'S LYING AND THAT HE'S ATTEMPTING TO EXTORT MILLIONS FROM BARRY O AND HIS WEALTHY DONORS.

WHEN PRESSED FOR A REASON WHY, THEY POINT TO PARRY'S FAILED NEWS ENTERPRISE CONSORTIUM NEWS.


AS IF TO CONFIRM THESE RUMORS, PARRY RECENTLY TWEETED:

Robert Parry @Consortiumnews  ·  Oct 31

Editor Robert Parry makes a last call for donations to Consortiumnews' fall fund drive, still $6,000 short,

MORE ON THIS STORY AS IT DEVELOPS.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



US President Barack Obama has no plan.  He keeps calling doing the same thing (bombing from the air) a 'plan' but it's not a plan.

It fails to adapt, it fails to address.

It's just violence responding to violence.

Your latest clue is the inability of the State Dept to utilize what is taking place.


Want to get Sunnis on board with the government?  Give them a reason.

Especially give them a reason when the actions of the Islamic State are prompting revulsion.

I've noted before, over and over, that new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi needs to make grand gestures to the Sunni community in order to make clear that the targeting they experienced under Nouri al-Maliki is a thing of the past, that they are welcome and wanted in the government and the country.

This is where you do it.

When the Sunni community is reeling from what is supposed to be a 'message sent' from the Islamic State, a warning not to cooperate with the government, that is when you have the best chance to make your case for a new Iraq.

But the State Dept can't do it and Haider al-Abadi is proving to be incredibly inept.  In the face of the above killings, he announced he would increase bombings.

That does nothing to help the Sunni community.

It does physically destroy the land they call home but it doesn't help them.


And while he had a public comment on the massacre carried out by the Islamic State, he had none on the massacre carried out by his own forces.


Sunday, Human Rights Watch released an alert which opened:

Victims of a massacre in a mosque in Diyala province by Iraqi pro-government militias and security forces recognized the attackers and knew them by name. The Iraqi government should promptly make public any investigation of the attack on the Musab Bin Omair mosque on August 22, 2014, which killed 34 people, and bring those responsible to justice.

According to accounts by five witnesses, including one survivor of the attack, armed men, some wearing civilian clothes and others in police uniforms, attacked the mosque at midday in the village of Imam Weiss in Hamreen, Diyala province, about 50 kilometers northeast of Baaquba, the provincial capital. The attackers shot to death 32 men, one woman, and one 17-year-old boy, all of whom witnesses said were civilians who were attending Friday prayer when they were killed, with PK-type and AK-47 Russian-made automatic weapons, the witnesses said. All of the witnesses said they recognized the attackers and knew them by name.
“Pro-government militias are becoming emboldened and their crimes more shocking,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. “Iraqi authorities and Iraq’s allies alike have ignored this horrific attack and then they wonder why the militant group Islamic State has had such appeal among Sunni communities.”

Witnesses, all of whom asked Human Rights Watch not to reveal their identities for their protection, said the shooting began at about 12:10 p.m., during the imam’s Friday speech. A survivor, who was inside the Sunni mosque, said he saw a man enter wearing the dark green T-shirt, pants, and headband typically worn by militiamen affiliated with Asa’ib Ahl al-Haqq, a pro-government militia. He was carrying a PK-type automatic weapon.

“He shouted, ‘Do not move. No one leave!’” the witness said. “He aimed his first shot at the sheikh [imam], and then he continued shooting at the rest of us. When I heard the first gunshot I dropped to the ground.”

The gunman continued shooting at random, the witness said. ”People were on the ground screaming and crying, saying, “Allahu akbar [God is great], La ilaha illa Allah [there is no God but God].”

Three of the witnesses entered the mosque after this first attack. They said they saw eight armed men leaving the mosque. When they entered, they saw about 10 people who appeared to be already dead and about 30 more injured. “What I saw was indescribable, inhuman,” one said. “Most of the people were injured, not dead, and were crying out for water and for help with their injuries. I saw a man whose left side of his head was completely blown off.”

Two witnesses said they had begun carrying the wounded into the garden in front of the mosque when, after about 10 minutes, they heard more shooting as a second group of between 20 and 30 armed men headed toward the mosque. The witnesses fled, leaving the wounded behind. Another witness who was watching from his house about 100 meters away confirmed this account.

All of the witnesses said they then heard screams and more gunshots. The second round of shooting lasted approximately 15 minutes, they said.

The witnesses told Human Rights Watch that all of the 34 dead except one were from the Beni Weiss, a Sunni tribe in Diyala. None of the witnesses knew the reason for the attack, but one said he believed it was in retaliation for an attack with an improvised explosive device earlier that day about 20 kilometers north of Imam Weiss that killed five militiamen. The witnesses all said there were no fighters in or around Imam Weiss at the time of the attack.

The witnesses said there was an army checkpoint about 200 meters from the mosque and a police checkpoint about 150 meters from the mosque, but that no security forces responded to the attack even though the shooting was broadcast over the mosque loudspeaker and could be heard from at least 600 meters away, where one witness heard the shooting from his home.

Two witnesses said they called for army assistance and for an ambulance, but none arrived until nearly an hour later. At about 1:30 p.m., they said, soldiers from the 5th brigade of the army’s 20th division arrived in an army ambulance and a cargo truck, which carried the dead to the hospital morgue in Muqdadiyya, 15 kilometers away.


Hadier al-Abadi either can't or won't control the military.  September 13th, he ordered them to stop bombing the residential neighborhoods of Falluja.

The bombings have not stopped.

In fact, Iraqi Spring MC notes the latest results of these War Crimes (bombing civilian areas are defined as War Crimes): 4 civilians dead and three injure.

In the face the continued bombings of Falluja, in the face of the slaughter carried out by the Iraqi forces, why should Sunnis believe in a buy-in of the new government?

They shouldn't and they don't.

al-Abadi looks like a fool or a liar.

NINA reports Sunday saw him insisting that the rights of all minorities were protected in Iraq -- all Christian minorities.  And yet he's silent on the attack on the Sunni mosque, the attack carried out by his own forces.






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"THIS JUST IN! PARRY SPILLS ON SEX WITH BARRY!"

The dirty details of the dirty affair

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

FAILED JOURNALIST AND PRESIDENTIAL MISTRESS ROBERT PARRY HAS GROWN WEARY OF WHAT HE SEES AS "DEAD BEAT FATHERING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE."

IN AN ATTEMPT TO FORCE THE HAND OF FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O, PARRY IS GOING PUBLIC WITH DETAILS OF THEIR LIFE, THEIR LOVE LIFE.


"THE PRESIDENT HAD ME LIKE SO MANY LAYS POTATO CHIPS AND HE HAD ME IN THE CALVIN COOLIDGE ROMPUS ROOM IN THE EAST WING.  WE MET MANY LATE NIGHT HOURS. HE HAD ME ON MY BACK, HE HAD ME ON ALL FOURS,  HE HAD ME ON MY BELLY AND HE HAD ME WITHOUT MY DRAWERS," PARRY DECLARED PAUSING TO DAB HIS EYES WITH A LARGE BEACH TOWEL.


GATHERING HIS WITS, "HE USED TO CALL ME BUTTERCUP AND THE LITTLE PONY HE LOVED TO RIDE BUT I GUESS HE'S FORGOTTEN ALL OF THAT NOW."

THE WHITE HOUSE HAS A CALVIN COOLIDGE RHOMPUS ROOM?




FROM THE TCI WIRE:





NewsinEnglish.no reports, "Norway’s government has confirmed plans to send a total of 195 military personnel to Iraq and Afghanistan as a contribution to the US-led international efforts to combat terrorism. The decision announced Thursday was critizised by some left-wing politicians, but the opposition Labour party said it supported the move." Steven Chase (Globe and Mail) reports, "Canadian warplanes are poised to start striking targets in Iraq, with the government saying bombing of Islamic militant forces should begin very shortly."  Emily Kent Smith (Daily Mail) reports England's gearing up to provide Apache helicopters to Iraq and "If Apaches are sent to Iraq - which are piloted by the Army Air Corps - it would mark the first British Army involvement in a conflict role in the country."


For those who've forgotten who else is bombing Iraq, the US Defense Dept helpfully notes, "Among the coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq are the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain."


That's a lot of countries and so many more lining up for their chance to destroy Iraq.

The US Defense Dept boast, "Separately, officials said, U.S. and partner-nation military forces conducted two airstrikes in Iraq yesterday and today, using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL terrorists. [. . .]

  In Iraq, an airstrike near Bayji struck a small ISIL unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, and an airstrike west of Ramadi struck an ISIL checkpoint."

Tom Bowman (NPR's Morning Edition, link is text and audio) notes:

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been on the defensive recently about the strategy to take on the Islamic State. American warplanes have been bombing targets in Iraq and Syria, but militant fighters are still on the move.
"We have made it very clear, I have and President Obama has, that this is a long, difficult effort," Hagel said.
Difficult, some critics say, because the U.S. military is not bombing enough targets and is not deploying any U.S. ground troops in the fight. There are also critics who say the U.S. does not have effective partners on the ground and is not training a sufficient number of local troops or militias.

"This sounds like a Goldilocks approach. We're looking for a solution that's just right," said Fred Hof, who worked in the Obama administration on Syria policy.



Greg Miller (Washingon Post) adds, "The magnitude of the ongoing migration suggests that the U.S.-led air campaign has neither deterred significant numbers of militants from traveling to the region nor triggered such outrage that even more are flocking to the fight because of American intervention."


If you're not grasping what a failure US President Barack Obama's 'plan' has been, Xinhua reports, "A total of 255 tribesmen and local policemen were executed by the militants of the Islamic State (IS) after the group took them from their villages and towns in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said on Thursday."

Here's the thing about little boys and their war toys, it stops being a fun game quickly.  They end up like gamblers at black jack, they just can't walk away..  They're losing but they keep betting because now they've lost face, now everyone's looking at them.  And they know they're not doing anything different and they're not planning to do anything different, but if they keep bluffing, surely (they hope) their luck will change.

Luck is all Barack's hoping for at this point to save his 'plan.'


  Al Arabiya News notes,  "Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants executed 46 people and besieged 500 families in the Iraqi city of Heet, Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent to Anbar reported on Wednesday."  Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin (AP) add, "Hit was captured by Islamic State militants earlier this month after heavy clashes with the government security forces and tribal militias."  Earlier this month.

When you're losing cities, you aren't making "gains."  Even if you retake them, you are not making "gains." The Pentagon keeps labeling this and that "Islamic State propaganda" but the Defense Dept isn't averse to circulating its own propaganda.

Loveday Morris (Washington Post via the UK Independent) provides the reality that the Defense Dept keeps glossing over:

But a visit to the Sunni settlement this week laid bare the huge cost of that victory. The town is now emptied of its 80,000 residents, and building after building has been destroyed – by air strikes, bombings and artillery fire.
After four months of battles between the Isis and the Iraqi army, about 10,000 pro-government Shia militiamen were poured into this area in Babil province for a final push, according to Hadi al-Amiri, who leads the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade and co-ordinated the operation.
Defeating the militants involved clearing out all the residents and leaving the town nearly flattened, underscoring the challenge the Shia-led government faces in areas where demographics do not work in its favour.


And that's what the Pentagon -- and White House -- insists is a 'success.'





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Robert Parry wants his Baby Daddy

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

FAILED JOURNALIST AND PROFESSIONAL ODDITY ROBERT PARRY HAS DECIDED TO EMBARRASS THE FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF.

"IF BARRY O WON'T ACKNOWLEDGE THE PRODUCT OF OUR LOVE,"  PARRY SAID POINTING TO HIS BULGING BELLY, "I'LL JUST HAVE TO START EXPOSING SOME OF HIS SIGNATURE MOVES."

PARRY INSISTED THIS ISN'T ABOUT "VINDICATION OR GETTING EVEN.  I JUST WANT MY BABY DADDY BACK.  YOU HEAR ME, BARACK, I JUST WANT MY BABY DADDY BACK!"

PARRY BEGAN STOMPING HIS FEET LOUDLY UNTIL HE LET A PARTICULARLY NOXIOUS FART RIP.

A SHEEPISH PARRY DECLARED, "THE PREGNANCY'S CHANGING MY BODY."



FROM THE TCI WIRE:




Erik Prince is back in the news but all those who had "glory hole scandal" haven't won -- yet.  No, Prince has a book and is busy promoting it.  Justine Drennan (Foriegn Policy) reports:


In his book Civilian Warriors, as well as in a relatively rare interview ahead of its paperback release Tuesday, Prince vehemently rejected such claims and argued that Blackwater was scapegoated by vindictive Democrats and a State Department and Pentagon that couldn't come to terms with the government's growing dependence on private contractors. "I'm no hero. The world knows all too well about my mistakes. But I was never meant to play the villain," he wrote in his book. "Seeing the company I'd built torn down for no reason was almost too much to bear." 


Really?


Democrats kicked his Blackwater out of Iraq?


The State Dept and the Pentagon sued his mercenary company Blackwater?


He doesn't own Blackwater anymore.


He sold it to escape legal culpability.


Now he attempts to escape reality.


Ali Abbas Mahmoud can't escape the reality of what Blackwater did back in September of 2007.  Last week, Ali Abbas Mahmoud spoke about it to Jonathan S. Landay (McClatchy Newspapers) following the convictions of four men who had worked for Blackwater and took part in the attack:

One of the dead boys was Mahmoud’s 11-year-old nephew, Qasim Muhammad Abbas. Qasim’s father, Muhammad Abbas Mahmoud – Ali Abbas Mahmoud’s elder brother – also died. The boy’s mother was wounded.

The family was sitting inside a pickup when the shooting broke out. Members of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority, they were hauling furniture to a new home in a Shiite neighborhood after tensions with minority Sunni Muslims forced them to leave their old house.
Ali Abbas Mahmoud, a 52-year-old Ministry of Housing employee who agreed to speak by telephone but refused a face-to-face interview, said he’d never forget how his sister-in-law, frantic with grief and terror, called him as she sat bleeding inside the pickup.
“She made me hysterical when she called me and told me that my brother had just been killed,” he recounted. “She was in the vehicle. She screamed, ‘They slaughtered your brother and they slaughtered your nephew and I’m injured.’ She made me as hysterical as she was.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/23/244476/in-iraq-blackwater-verdict-provides.html?sp=/99/117/416/103/#storylink=cpy

Is Ali Abbas Mahmoud a Democrat?


A Pentagon official?

A State Dept official?

No, he's an Iraqi citizen.



Erik Prince is very good about rewriting history.  Some day, the pool may pay off and he may get busted on his knees in a truck stop men's room -- at which point, he'll try to rewrite that as well.


But all the revisions don't change the fact that his company killed innocent Iraqis.


His company was out of control.


It was out of control because that's the way he wanted it.


There was no training on the need to avoid wounding or killing civilians.


Iraqis, the same people who do not matter to him today, did not matter to him when he ran Blackwater and the actions of his employees reflected that.




At the Pentagon today, spokesperson Rear Adm John Kirby declared, "While we recognize that a major Iraqi offensive against ISIL may still be a ways off, these are encouraging reports that highlight Iraq's determination to take the fight to ISIL."


They continue to spin the inability of the Iraqi military to do its job as 'good news.'


But every day that the Iraqi army fails to do its job, more US taxpayer dollars are thrown away in Iraq, "millions a day," Kirbay declared today.


And the tab for the latest wave of the never-ending Iraq War just keeps growing.



Q: On ISIS. Does the department anticipate forwarding a request for additional money to Congress for 2015 for the ISIS fight?


REAR ADM. KIRBY: I think you've heard [Defense] Secretary [Chuck] Hagel and the chairman [of the Joint Chiefs, General Martin Dempsy] talk about this. I think certainly there's going to have to be some considerations going forward, but I wouldn't get ahead of specific budget moves that haven't been made yet.

I think, you know, we've gone to the Hill, we've testified to the operations, and again, Secretary Hagel has been very clear that certainly considerations for added funding are going to have to be part of the calculus going forward. But we're just not in a position right now where we can detail what that would look like, what form it would be, how much it would be, that kind of thing.


Going to nail down the cost someday soon, huh?  Like they nailed down what was happening in Iraq?

The administration failed to heed warning, failed to listen to intelligence, failed to use common sense and was completely surprised this summer to discover the Islamic State in Iraq.


Tonight PBS' Frontline examined the Islamic State and how they came to be major players in Iraq.  Michael Iskikoff (Yahoo News) recaps:

The film, reported by correspondent Martin Smith, offers a richly detailed account of how the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki alienated the country’s disenfranchised Sunni population, making reckless accusations of terrorism against Sunni leaders — including the country’s Vice Prime Minister Tariq al-Hashimi. Those allegations — flatly denied by al-Hashimi on camera — were based on the testimony of bodyguards who, it is strongly suggested, were tortured.

With little pressure or engagement from Washington, al-Maliki’s anti-Sunni agenda — driven by his  “paranoia,” as one of Smith’s interlocutors says — paved the way for ISIS radicals to march through huge swaths of Iraqi territory this spring, seizing arsenals of U.S.-made weapons from a collapsing Iraqi army. This, of course, was the same army that the U.S. spent billions arming and training. In fact, terrorism expert Ken Katzman suggests in the film, they were a phantom led by do-nothing officers.

Nouri was only in office, in his first term as prime minister, for a few months when we noted in 2006 his paranoia which the US government thought (at that time) would make him more "manageable" (as the CIA analysis termed it).  By the time WikiLeaks was publishing the State Dept cables in 2010, the US government's knowledge of Nouri's paranoia was on full display for anyone who wanted to see.

Yet the White House, Barack's White House, continued to support Nouri.





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He's got a sweet tooth

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

ONE TIME JOURNALIST AND SELF-IDENTIFIED PRESIDENTIAL MISTRESS ROBERT PARRY INSISTS THAT HE IS STILL BEING SHUNNED BY THE WHITE HOUSE BECAUSE HE IS CARRYING THE CHILD OF FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O.


HE MADE THIS DECLARATION AS HE OCCUPIED A FAST FOOD LOCALE.


"I KNOW THIS IS DIFFERENT," EXPLAINED A SWEATY PARRY,  FROM A STALL IN THE BATHROOMS OF BRAUM'S ICE CREAM AND BURGERS.  "BUT TIMES HAVE CHANGED.  THESE DAYS, A WOMAN CAN BE A CABINET SECRETARY AND, YES, A MAN CAN HAVE A BABY.  I AM NOT GOING AWAY."

AS IF TO PROVE IT, PARRY OCCUPIED THE WOMEN'S ROOM IN BRAUM'S FOR 6 HOURS TODAY, INSISTING HE THOUGHT HIS WATER MIGHT BE BREAKING.

ASKED WHY THE WOMEN'S ROOM AND NOT THE MEN, PARRY HISSED, "MEN ARE NASTY!  IF I HAVE THE BABY TODAY, NO WAY I'M HAVING IT IN A ROOM WITH URINALS!"

THE BRAUM'S STAFF WAS ABLE TO LURE HIM OUT WITH THE PROMISE OF SEVERAL FREE CARTONS OF ICE CREAM.



FROM THE TCI WIRE:



And Barack should be asked about them.  Why is there no televised prime time press conference focusing on Iraq?

Oh, that's right.

Because the US press can't focus on Iraq.


If Helen Thomas were still around, you can be sure she'd be asking about one topic  everyone should be asking about?





That's Lance Cpl. Sean P. Neal (photo from Facebook).   We noted his death in Saturday's snapshot.

Missy Ryan (Washington Post) notes, "The Pentagon said Neal’s death was the first U.S. casualty in Iraq since the Obama administration began its 'Inherent Resolve' mission, which now includes airstrikes against the extremist group in Iraq and Syria and a growing number of U.S. military personnel on the ground in Iraq in August."

Murtaza Hussain (Intercept) offers:

Cpl. Neal was only 19 years old. He would have only been eight at the outset of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and merely six on 9/11 – a child at the time of both these events.  The fact that he ended up losing his life in Iraq is on one hand tragic, and on the other completely absurd.
The tragedy here is that a young man with a long future ahead of him ended up dying in a distant country before even reaching the age of twenty. The absurdity is that men such as him are still losing their lives as a result of still-inexplicable decisions made over a decade ago. The Iraq War never ended, but now it’s being fought by men who were just children when it started. Walter Lippman once said, “I don’t think old men ought to promote wars for young men to fight.” In our time, old men have been promoting wars that kids would ultimately end up fighting.

You know what?

Those statements are offensive.

And it's why the Intercept is such a lame venture.

It's a bunch of   sexist jerks like Murtaza Hussain, Glenn Greenwald (if his sexism is news to you, where have you been the last decade), Jeremy Scahill and so many others.

And when you hire sexists, you get garbage like what Hussain's offering, garbage that renders the US female service members who've fought in the ongoing Iraq War -- and who've died in it -- invisible.

It is a complete, 100% tragedy that Sean Neal is dead.  It is a huge loss.  But Hussain makes an ass out of himself by reducing it to "men."

If the Intercept wants to have any future at all -- most likely it doesn't, Libertarians online have long been sexist -- it's going to have to accept the fact that half the world is female.

Shame on all the useless jerks (Dan Froomkin, that means you) who have treated Hussain's sexist rambles as manna from heaven.  Shame on you.

Last May, The Daily Beast offered Kate Hoit's "The Names You Don't Hear: Nearly 200 Women Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan."  Froomkin, who has made time to attack female artists, didn't really have time to give props to Hoit for that piece.

Too bad.  The sexism needs to end and it needs to end now.

It is insulting to the women who have served -- and to the memory of the women who died -- to write such sexist nonsense as Hussain did.  Hussain, The Intercept and every man who Tweeted that article without pointing its fatal and sexist flaw should issue an apology -- but they won't.  The day will come when sexists are shunned in the same way that racists are.  That day is in the future.  When it does come, history will not be kind to the many men -- including those at Intercept -- who regularly engaged in sexism -- history will not be kind, nor should it be.


Spencer Ackerman (Guardian)  points out, "Technically, Neal may not have been the first US fatality of the Iraq-Syria war against the Islamic State. Naval forces assigned to US Central Command, which has operational control of the war, acknowledged on October 3 that a Marine, Corporal Jordan L. Spears, went missing at sea in the North Arabian Gulf after bailing out of his MV-22 Osprey. Spears took off from the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, which carried Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, assigned to support the war in Iraq and Syria."  UPI notes Spears was (or is) 21-years-old.  RT notes that the commander of Spears unit wrote online, "Cpl. Spears was a cherished member of our MEU family, and he fulfilled a key role in our aviation combat element."  Stars and Stripes notes:



Cpl. Jordan L. Spears, 21, of Memphis, Ind., was one of two aircrew members who went into the water when the Osprey’s pilot lost control of the aircraft, which the Navy said was participating in flight operations in support of the missions over Iraq and Syria. The pilot regained control of the Osprey, and the other aircrew member was recovered.


I have no idea about Sean Neal's unit, but the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Jordan Spears' unit, there are women in that unit -- I know that would shock Murtaza Hussain -- there are several women who are part of the current deployment of that unit.


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"Child birth fears"
"THIS JUST IN! FRIGHTENED MOMMY-TO-BE ROBERT PARRY"

Child birth fears

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

FIRST MISTRESS AND SOMETIMES JOURNALIST ROBERT PARRY REVEALED TODAY TO THESE REPORTERS -- MUST CREDIT  BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX  -- HIS REASON FOR GOING PUBLIC WITH HIS PREGNANCY:  HE WANTS FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O TO BE AT THE BIRTH.


"I WANT A NATURAL CHILD BIRTH, YOU KNOW," HE STATES.  "I'D LIKE BARRY TO BE MY BIRTHING PARTNER, AFTER ALL, HE IS THE DADDY.  AND I'M GOING TO NEED A LOT OF HELP, YOU KNOW.  I ONCE WENT ON AN ALL DAY CHEESE BINGE AND THE NEXT DAY NEARLY BLEW OUT MY RING HOLE TAKING A MASSIVE DUMP.  I'M NOT SURE I'M UP TO PUSHING OUT A BABY ALL ON MY OWN."


FROM THE TCI WIRE:




The numbers on Barack Obama's kill list just keep growing.  Add another American to the list.

Yesterday, the Defense Dept released the following:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Release No: NR-539-14
October 24, 2014

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

  The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.

Lance Cpl. Sean P. Neal, 19, of Riverside, California, died Oct. 23, in Baghdad, Iraq, from a non-combat related incident. The incident is under investigation.
He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command, whose headquarters element deploys from Camp Pendleton, California.
For more information, media may contact the I Marine Expeditionary Force Public Affairs Office at (760) 763-7039 or after hours at (760) 207-5865.

Well, of course, he didn't die in combat.  Hasn't US President Obama insisted US troops would not see combat in Iraq?  And hasn't the press gone along with that lie?


However he died in Baghdad, Lance Cpl Sean P. Neal died in Baghdad.

And Barack's the one who sent him there.

Hey, hey, BHO, how many people did you bury below?

Barack sent Neal and many others into Iraq.

Any deaths are on Barack's hands.

Hey, hey, BHO, how many people did you bury below?

And the deaths of Iraqis are on his hands as well.

Especially the ones killed by Iraqi forces.

Barack hopped in bed with previous prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and is in bed with current prime minister Haider al-Hadi.  Under both, civilians have been terrorized by Iraqi forces throughout Iraq.

This includes, but is not limited to, the ongoing bombing of Falluja's residential neighborhoods -- a legally defined War Crime.  One that has been taking place since January of this year.

Hey, hey, BHO, how many people did you bury below?


Will this awaken the so-called peace 'leaders' in the United States?

Or will they continue to direct their outrage at Bully Boy Bush -- a man who left the White House in January 2009?

Maybe they'll continue to obsess over Hillary Clinton?

Anything to avoid growing the hell up and calling out the person running the wars today.


Lance Cpl Sean P. Neal's death is on Barack's hands but never forget CodePink, Win Without War and so many other fake ass organizations are culpable in Neal's death and the deaths of so many Iraqis.


Hey, hey, BHO, how many people did you bury below?





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

FIRST FAMILY AVOIDS PREGNANT CONSPIRACY NUT AND IT IS LEAVING ROBERT PARRY DISTRESSED AND THREATENING THE PREGNANCY.

"I WAS AT THE DOCTOR'S TODAY," A SHAKEN ROBERT PARRY EXPLAINED TO THESE REPORTERS --  BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX   EXCLUSIVE  MUST CREDIT BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX   --  "AND MY HEALTH HAS TAKEN A TOLL -- FROM THE PREGNANCY AND FROM THE STRESS OF BEING SHUNNED.  MICHELLE NEEDS TO GRASP THAT BARACK IS MY BABY DADDY TOO.  AND I NEED TO BE WITH MY BABY DADDY -- FOR MY BABY AND FOR ME!"

AT THIS POINT, PARRY PULLED OUT A SCARF AND BLEW HIS NOSE ON IT REPEATEDLY.

COMING UP FOR AIR, HE SAID, "WHEN I TOLD THE DOCTOR I WAS PREGNANT HE SAID IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE.  AND I GET IT.  I'M NOT A TEENAGER ANYMORE.  A MAN MY AGE, PREGNANT?  AT MY AGE?  IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN.  BUT I AM KEEPING THIS BABY.  AND MICHELLE NEEDS TO GET WITH THE PROGRAM.  SOON THERE WILL BE ANOTHER OBAMA AND SHE JUST NEEDS TO DEAL. AT THE END OF THE DAY, THIS AIN'T ABOUT HER AND IT AIN'T ABOUT ME.  IT'S ABOUT THE BABIES.  THE BABIES!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:




As Barack Obama's nonplan continues in Iraq, there are whispers of another plan (a post-mid-term election one).   Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) reported yesterday that the White House thinks it has another 'plan' for addressing the Islamic State in Iraq.  This one would be termed a "battle plan" and a sure sign of its weakness can be found in the belief that it will take place "gradually."  DeYoung explains:

The plan, described as methodical and time-consuming, will not begin in earnest for several months and is designed to ensure that Iraqi forces­ do not overextend themselves before they are capable of taking and holding territory controlled by the militants.

It may also include U.S. advisers in the field with the Iraqis, should that be recommended by American military commanders, said the official, who updated reporters on administration strategy on the condition of anonymity under rules imposed by the White House. The advisers, the official said, would not participate in combat. President Obama has said repeatedly that no U.S. ground forces would be deployed to Iraq.

You can be sure that the "may"s will disappear after the start of the next month when Barack will no longer have to worry about the immediate voter fallout.

Bill Van Auken (WSWS) offers:

And, as for Obama’s promise about no “ground forces,” this term is used in a manner that does not apply to special operations troops, advisers and other smaller units, but rather to the deployment of full combat brigades.
The announcement that the topic was discussed by US and Iraqi officials almost certainly indicates that preparations are being made to substantially increase the number of US military personnel deployed in Iraq, which, according to official figures, now stands at over 1,400.

Leaving what's around the corner to take a look at what's on the road now, Lolita C. Baldor (AP) notes, "The Pentagon says Iraq's new defense minister says his troops will go on the offensive against Islamic State militants who have taken over large sections of the country."

They'll go on the offensive, will they?


Anytime soon?

Sunday, World Bulletin noted the Iraqi military's efforts to retake Baiji ended when a bomb blew up "an armored vehicle" killing 4 Iraqi soldiers and leaving seven more injured.  The military insists the vehicle blown up was driven by a member of the Islamic State and that the military mistook it for one of their own vehicles and, most importantly, they'll try again to retake Baiji.  Real soon.  But still not yet, not as of today.

And today Saif Sameer and Ned Parker (Reuters) report that the Islamic State seized Zauiyat albu Nimr Village in Anbar Province and that, during the battle, the Iraqi military began escaping via a helicopter.

They're going on the offensive when?

Do they understand what "offensive" means?


They just might be as confused as Valerie Jarrett who, two Sundays ago on NBC's Meet The Press, declared Mount Sinjar to be an important "success." Today,  Saif Sameer and Ned Parker (Reuters) also report, "U.S. President Barack Obama authorized air strikes on IS in Iraq in August, citing the duty to prevent an impending genocide of minority Yazidis at the hands of the jihadist insurgents who attacked them around Sinjar Mountain."


Air strikes on Mount Sinjar.  Just like the latest wave started August 8th.

What's really changed since then?

Nothing.

And I keep waiting for US Senator John McCain to haul out his whack-a-mole talk from the previous administration and point out that any minor victory in X leads to a loss in Y.


Mount Sinjar came up in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by Jen Psaki:



QUESTION: Can you confirm reports or do you have any comment on the fact that Yezidis are once again trapped on Mount Sinjar and requesting help, expecting an assault again by ISIS fighters?

MS. PSAKI: Well, obviously, as you know, we had taken recent action, relatively recently I should say, over the course of the summer. I don’t have anything new to predict for you. We remain committed to addressing humanitarian crises as we see them and to continuing to assist those who are impacted by the threat of ISIL. But operationally, I would point you to DOD to see if there’s anything they would want to preview about anything they’re planning.

QUESTION: Just to follow up on that, the Administration has said repeatedly that, for example, Kobani in a city of itself doesn’t have a lot of strategic import in the overall fight. I’m wondering if you have any idea what ISIS’s – what their aim is in trying to get Sinjar. Why? Do you have any idea why Sinjar is such a prize? They keep going back to it, so --

MS. PSAKI: Well, I don’t think – I know this is not what you asked, but even on Kobani I can’t tell you why – we can’t tell you why, aside from their desire to have a propaganda victory, that they are focusing there either. The reason --

QUESTION: Well, the border. They could control the border there.

MS. PSAKI: But in terms of their focus on Sinjar, I don’t know that I have analysis on why strategically ISIL is going after it more.

QUESTION: But the reason that you undertook the action in the first place is because you thought that ISIS was trying to launch a genocide against the Yezidis.

MS. PSAKI: Right. That’s right.

QUESTION: So aren’t you still concerned about that?


MS. PSAKI: Well, we certainly remain concerned about any group that’s threatened by ISIL, and we’ve taken action in the past. I have nothing to preview for you in terms of future operations, as would be typically the case.





Saif Sameer and Ned Parker (Reuters) report, "U.S. President Barack Obama authorized air strikes on IS in Iraq in August, citing the duty to prevent an impending genocide of minority Yazidis at the hands of the jihadist insurgents who attacked them around Sinjar Mountain."  But AFP reports, "Islamic State group jihadists besieging Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq have killed a commander of forces from the Yazidi religious minority defending the area, a fighter said yesterday. The commander, Al Sheikh Khayri, had returned from Germany, which has large Yazidi community, to fight, and was killed on Wednesday night, Khalaf Mamu said by telephone."





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