He doesn't know how to behave on the world stage

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

AT TODAY'S NELSON MANDELA MEMORIAL, REPRESENTING THE UNITED STATES, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O ATTEMPTED TO TURN IT INTO A PARTY FOR HIMSELF -- AS HILLARY IS 44 PREDICTED WOULD HAPPEN.

AS HE JOKED AND CLOWNED, FIRST LADY MICHELLE LOOKED ON VISIBLY ANNOYNED INDICATING THAT AT LEAST ONE PERSON GRASPED THIS WAS A SOLEMN EVENT.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



All Iraq News reports that Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, has declared that the security situation in Iraq has grown worse due to the fact that, "Some officials have assumed some security key posts by paying bribes which resulted in disturbing the security situation."  It's difficult to see the comment as anything but a criticism of Nouri al-Maliki, chief thug and prime minister of Iraq, since Nouri is not only prime minister but the head of all security ministries as a result of his power grab and refusal to obey the Constitution.

Regardless of whether bribes were involved or not, when you've made yourself  Minister of Defense (military) and Minister of Interior (police), you've made yourself responsible for any increase in violence.  So the 309 violent deaths for the month so far?  That would be on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, on Minister of Defense Nouri al-Maliki and on Minister of Interior Nouri al-Maliki.



December 4th, Nouri suffered a high profile defection from his State of Law coalition as the head of SoL in Parliament, MP Izzat al-Shahbandar, announced his resignation and declared Nouri had turned SoL "into a sectarian coalition."  State of Law finally found a response today.  All Iraq News reports MP Maryam al-Rayis offered that State of Law was used to "politician who always change their political stances and relase contradicted statements."  Of course they got used to it -- Nouri's the head of State of Law.  Meanwhile Alsumaria reports that MP Sami al-Askari is going to great pains to insist that he has not also left State of Law.  He states he and Nouri remain tight, their relationship is "good" and he's not leaving State of Law.  Yes, he's formed State of Loyal, a group to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.  Yes, that means he is not running for re-election as part of State of Law.  But that doesn't mean, he insists, that he's left or deserted State of Law.  Again, not running with them, created new group to stand apart from them, but -- he insists -- this departure should not be seen as a departure.  Apparently, like Ross with Rachel, they are on a break.


The Kurdish Globe reports:


At least 2, 461 people have participated in an opinion poll which launched by Kurdistan Institution for Political Affairs. The poll contained different questions to evaluate the performance of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi institutions.
The participants took part across the Kurdistan Region?s cities. They were from different social class models.
The result of the poll shows that around 70 percent of the Kurdish people have no confidence in the Iraqi federal government.
At least 77 percent of the voters said that they have confidence in Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.



In September, the three provinces in the Kurdistan Regional Government (northern Iraq's semi-autonomous region) held provincial elections and, in  "The KRG elections" at Third, Jim and I discussed those elections:


Jim: Right.  But to me the more interesting thing was the KDP's success.


C.I.: Why is that?

Jim: The press has said repeatedly that Massoud Barzani has overstepped his bounds, that he's unpopular, etc.  And you've argued differently for two years now.  If you were wrong, KDP wouldn't be in the lead.


C.I.: I don't know where the nonsense on Barzani got started.  He's very popular.  The press has always insisted that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is popular. He's also a Kurd -- like Barzani -- and he heads what had been the other dominant party, the Patriotic Union Kurdistan.


Jim: That's right.  Going into this election, it was a two party race.  The PUK and the KDP were the dominant political parties in the KRG -- like the Democrats and the Republicans in the US.  With the results of Saturday's elections, that has now changed.


C.I.: Right.  Gorran is now one of the two dominant parties.


Jim: But back to Barzani.  The press, Joel Wing and so many others kept insisting that Barzani was passe, over, loathed, etc.  But his party got the most votes.


C.I.: Well, first of all, he's the head of the party.  Voters voted for the party.  I don't know that you can extrapolate that he's very popular just from the results of this election.  But I do think that if he was as unpopular as many in the press have tried to pretend.  If he were, I would argue, he would have dragged the KDP down and they would not have won the most votes.


FYI, Joel Wing got his panties in a wad over Jim's remarks and then got his panties in a tighter wad when Jim referred Joel to Joel's own writing that backed Jim up. To be clear, no one needs to hear from Joel in an e-mail.  There are many that Jim's ignoring because when you say, "You wrote it here" and provide a link, the next e-mail from Joel needs to "My bad, my mistake" not more crazy justifying rants.  Again, no one needs an e-mail from Joel.

The poll demonstrates the popularity of Barzani.  Those who spent the bulk of 2012 and 2013 insisting Barzani was unpopular -- with no evidence to back it up -- might need to recalibrate.  We'll come back to Barzani.  The 70% that lack confidence in Nouri's government?

The Kurds have many issues with the federal government including who has the right to claim Kirkuk, federal monies and control of their region's own oil.  These are issues that Iraqis in the other 14 provinces (let's ignore Kirkuk Province since Nouri has) don't have.  So you could argue Nouri's popularity could be much higher in the 14 provinces.  But it's also true that being semi-autonomous means the Kurds are far less wrapped up in Nouri's daily failures.  So disapproval of Nouri's government in the fourteen other provinces could be high -- even if not as high as 70%.

I'd argue it is high.  2010 revealed strong disappointment with Nouri al-Maliki as evidenced by the votes in the 2010 parliamentary election which Nouri's State of Law lost.

What's taken place since 2010?

For one thing, violence has increased.  Dramatically.  The Iraqi people are surely not pleased about that and no doubt blame Nouri as well as the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Interior and . . .  Oops.  Back in July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."  Those positions were supposed to be filled -- per the Constitution -- by the end of December 2010.  Three years later and they still aren't.  Because Nouri wanted to make a power grab and steal those positions -- which he did.  He is the Minister of the Interior (police) and the Minister of Defense (military).  So he is completely and 100% responsible for the security and he has failed.

Paul Crompton (Al Arabiya News) reports today:

Iraq’s fragile government is not doing enough to support foreign investment and businesses, which face an ongoing battle against corruption and bureaucracy, experts say.

The World Bank’s annual Doing Business Report, which measures business regulations worldwide, put Iraq near the bottom of the list in their 2012 report, just three spaces above Afghanistan.

Yes, there's the issue of corruption.  Iraq remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.  In 2012, Transparency International ranked 177 countries, the higher up the list, the more transparent and less corrupt you were.  In 2012, out of 177 countries, Iraq came in at 169 -- 168 countries in the world were more transparent than Iraq.  This month, Transparency International released their latest rankings.  You might think nothing could be worse for Iraq than being 168 on a list of transparent countries.  You would be wrong.  It has now fallen to 171 out of 177.  Only six countries in the world are considered more corrupt than Iraq (Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia).  Corruption just gets worse in Iraq.

Those with longer memories may remember the early 2011 protests in Iraq -- taking place while the media focused on Egypt and other countries.  Nouri, fearing that he would be overthrown by the Iraqi people, announced he would not seek a third term.  He's now going for a third term -- his word is meaningless -- and just visited Iran to get the support of officials there.  Cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has stated Iraq does not need a third term of Nouri.  Aswat al-Iraq reported Saturday that Iraqiya weighed in, "In a statement today, the bloc pointed out that Iraq lived for eight years in a state where political visions are absent and bad deteriorated security condition, in addition to corruption."


In early 2011, Nouri promised not to seek a third term and he promised that if the people would give him 100 days he would end the corruption.  He was never going to end the corruption -- he's part of the corruption.  He's stealing money from the government -- from the Iraqi people, it's their money.  He lived in near poverty when he lobbied the US government to invade Iraq back in those years when he fled Iraq.


Yet now, he and his family are rolling in the dough.  As noted at CNN  last year:


Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party’s official newspaper, Khebat, revealed that Nouri Maliki’s son has expensed over $150 million of the Iraqi people’s assets purchasing castles and hotels in foreign countries. The newspaper wrote quoting a source: After his father became Chairman of the Dawa Party, Ahmed Nouri al-Maliki purchased the Marry Anderson Castle in London for a price of £40 million. In addition, he purchased the Seyedeh Zainab Ambassador Hotel in Damascus at a price of $35 million, and is now purchasing the Ajmon Ambassador Hotel at a price of $75 million.
The source added that Ahmed Nouri al-Maliki has purchased an 85 thousand square meter land in front of the Zainab Hotel for $52 million.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party’s official newspaper, Khebat, added: Iraqis who live with power outages and no public services, and while a day doesn’t go by that a number of people don’t lose their lives as a result of explosions, ask the Maliki government: Where does Maliki’s son bring all this money from?


When a video posted to YouTube exposed the lavish lifestyle Ahmed was living in London, YouTube was ordered to take it down by the government of Iraq.  And being the cowards that they are, YouTube did remove the video.  And it's description.

Fortunately, we'd noted the video and its description prior to that so we can still include the description that Nouri's government demanded YouTube censor:


In this short video, Ahmed, the gangster son of one of the world's most corrupt leaders Nuri Al-Maliki, drives his Ferrari around central London, while he was on a �200 million property spending spree with Iraq's money. Ahmed was of course cleared of all charges in a huge corruption case involving Iraqi Government procurement of Russian arms in 2012. 
Nuri Al-Maliki is known to own numerous several properties and a hotel in the UK, and has long been rumoured to be planning to live here when his time as the chief bribe taker in Iraq is over.
He also owns the Seyedeh Zainab Ambassador hotel in Damascus.
London is the natural home of blood soaked African warlords, Russian gangsters/Oligarchs, and of corrupt Middle Eastern despots, and their offspring.Iraqi puppet leader Nuri Al-Maliki's gangster son Ahmed is spending the Iraqi people's money very wisely
Iraqi puppet leader Nuri Al-Maliki's gangster son Ahmed is spending the Iraqi people's money very wisely
Iraqi puppet leader Nuri Al-Maliki's gangster son Ahmed is spending the Iraqi people's money very wiselyIraq,Corruption,Bribery,,London,London,C­ity of,United Kingdom (UK/GB)


You need to ask yourself how Nouri's son can afford a Ferrari, let alone all the other stuff.  Nouri  was a pauper in exile.  He was the outside of Iraq 'head' of Iraq's Dawa political party but that wasn't a money making position.  Dawa's efforts were focused on overthrowing Saddam Hussein.  That's where the focus was and that's what the limited money was focused on.  Nouri, his wife Fareeha Khalil and their five children lived at near poverty levels in Iran, Syria and Jordan.   Not all exiles struggled economically.  Some had money they earned, some had family money.  Nouri had nothing.  Which is why the press didn't note his efforts prior to 2003 (or, really, until Bully Boy Bush installed him as prime minister in 2006).  Exile Ahmed Chalabi, for example, had money.  (Some of which came from questionable means -- at one point, he was facing charges in Jordan, those charges were dropped.)  And the press sucked up to Chalabi.

But Nouri had nothing.  And his son's driving a Ferrari in England and buying properties?  Where'd the money come from?


In October, Peg Mackey (Reuters) reported, "Production of nearly 3 million bpd earned Baghdad $94 billion in 2012 and netted $61 billion in the first eight months of this year."

Where all the billions go, no one can answer.  Nouri's head of the government and he can't -- Excuse me, he won't say where the money is going. It's not going to the Iraqi people.  But Nouri's son, when not terrorizing Iraqi people by attacking them in their homes, zips around in pricey cars.




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Why he's a hater

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

BARRY O WILL FOREVER BE THE LITTLE HALF-WHITE BITCH RAISED BY WHITES.

EXCEPT FOR THE 'BITCH' PART, NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

EXCEPT BARRY O HAS DADDY ISSUES.

MOMMY WAS WHITE AND DADDY WAS BLACK.

MOMMY KIND OF STAYED AND DADDY WALKED.

SO BARRY O HAS HUGE DADDY ISSUES AND FEELS THE NEED TO CONSTANTLY INSULT BLACK FATHERS.

HE ALSO HAS A NEED TO ATTACK OLDER BLACK MEN.

WHICH IS WHY HE'S TAKEN TO INSULTING AND DISRESPECTING U.S. HOUSE REP. CHARLIE RANGEL.

FOR BARRY O, CHARLIE RANGEL IS ALL THE STRENGTH AND, YES, ALL THE BLACKNESS HIS COWARDLY ASS WILL NEVER POSSESS.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



As so much silence surrounds what takes place in Iraq -- so much western media silence -- let's move to the topic of reporting.   Saturday, Aswat al-Iraq reported:

Press Freedoms Observatory reported that the Iraqi police are "pressing" journalists to "sign written pledges not to practice their field work", as well as detaining them for hours in Najaf and Missan cities. 
 Baghdadiya correspondent in Najaf Rasha al-Abidi said to the Observatory that she "suffered reactions by the people when covering the latest floods in the city". 
 She added that one of police officers demanded her to sign a written pledge not to work in journalism "for good" in order to release her, but she refused till some personalities interfered for her release, while her camera was kept with the security force.

These are Nouri's forces and this is what they're doing to journalists -- on Nouri's orders.

Nouri doesn't want reality conveyed.  He wants to shut down the press -- especially now as he's seeking a third term.

And instead of joining the Iraqi press in a fight for truth, the world press leaves them alone, leaves them stranded.

And at a time like this, you'll see people reveal their true natures -- not meaning to, but they just can't help themselves -- Freud noted the criminal's compulsion to confess and it must be something similar for 'journalists' who don't report.   US 'journalist' in Iraq Jane Arraf re-Tweets the following from her former boss (at CNN) Eason Jordan.

1. Eason Jordan ‏@EasonJordan now

   In 1990, @CNN televised live worldwide #Mandela's release from prison... long before other TV news nets existed.

   Retweeted by jane arraf

   Expand         

Oh, you big brave men -- I mean Eason and Jane.  Eason and Iraq?  I believe he's best known for what CNN didn't broadcast.  If you're new to that topic, check out his self-justifying and minimizing column for the New York Times "The News We Kept To Ourselves."  It was published April 11, 2003 -- after the start of the Iraq War and revealed that for "the last dozen years," CNN hadn't really 'reported' from Iraq.  Out of fear, you understand.  And if they learned Saddam Hussein or his sons planned to assassinate someone -- they kept it to themselves.  Except to warn the monarchy in Jordan.


For that, they broke their stay silent rule for.  Of course, the monarchy has its own security and its own intelligence agency so they greeted CNN's 'tip' as what it really was -- an attempt by a press outlet to suck up.

Eason was over Jane's 'reporting' -- isn't it time she got honest herself?

When Eason's column was published, Margaret Wente (Canada's Globe and Mail) offered a response which included:


Last week, I learned there was a children's prison in Baghdad where they locked up the kids of parents deemed disloyal to the regime.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. As more and more information emerges about Saddam Hussein's Iraq, we're learning how awful it really was. Still, I was stunned. What kind of regime locks up and tortures children?
[. . .]
Some of the major media knew, too. In a stunning piece called The News We Kept to Ourselves, published last Friday in The New York Times, CNN news chief Eason Jordan reveals that the network never did come clean on everything it knew about Iraq. It never told its viewers that local CNN employees were abducted and tortured. It never passed along what Mr. Jordan learned on some of the 13 trips he made to Baghdad to schmooze with the regime in exchange for reporters' visas. On one trip, Saddam's son Uday told him he planned to kill his two brothers-in-law (he did). On other trips, Iraqi officials told Mr. Jordan Saddam was a maniac who had to be removed.
"I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me," he confessed. But he says CNN had to keep quiet in order to protect its employees.

The way others see it, CNN had to keep quiet in order to protect its access. In their view, CNN soft-pedalled the horrors of the regime so it could keep broadcasting from Iraq. In this, it was not alone. That's the usual quid pro quo for reporting on dictators, and Iraq was unusually vigilant in the way it kept tabs on the media. Every foreign journalist was tended by an official minder; if the regime didn't like their stories, they were kicked out.


Jane Arraf certainly internalized that policy (she was CNN's Baghdad bureau chief under Eason Jordan)  -- which explains why she writes nothing critical of Nouri today and why she ignores the violence in Iraq, and the journalists who are killed in Iraq.  She's the happy musings 'journalist' based in Iraq.  Former CNN journalist Peter Collins responded to Eason Jordan's 2003 column with one of his own entitled "Corruption at CNN" (Washington Times) and here he talks about CNN's efforts to 'get' a sit-down interview with Saddam Hussein:


I took part in meetings between the CNN executives and various officials purported to be close to Saddam. We met with his personal translator; with a foreign affairs adviser; with Information Minister Latif Jassim; and with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
In each of these meetings, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jordan made their pitch: Saddam Hussein would have an hour's time on CNN's worldwide network; there would be no interruptions, no commercials. I was astonished. From both the tone and the content of these conversations, it seemed to me that CNN was virtually groveling for the interview.
The day after one such meeting, I was on the roof of the Ministry of Information, preparing for my first "live shot" on CNN. A producer came up and handed me a sheet of paper with handwritten notes. "Tom Johnson wants you to read this on camera," he said. I glanced at the paper. It was an item-by-item summary of points made by Information Minister Latif Jassim in an interview that morning with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jordan.
The list was so long that there was no time during the live shot to provide context. I read the information minister's points verbatim. Moments later, I was downstairs in the newsroom on the first floor of the Information Ministry. Mr. Johnson approached, having seen my performance on a TV monitor. "You were a bit flat there, Peter," he said. Again, I was astonished. The president of CNN was telling me I seemed less-than-enthusiastic reading Saddam Hussein's propaganda.

As Jane stays silent on one thing after another in her 'reports' for Al Jazeera and the Christian Science Monitor, grasp that the above passed for 'ethics' when she was at CNN.




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The humbler?

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


CHRISSY MATTHEWS TOSSED SOFTBALLS TO CELEBRITY CHIEF BARRY O WHO GOT EACH ONE LIKE A GOOD DOGGY AND HOWARD FINEMAN (THE HUFFINGTON POST) IS CALLING IT A "HUMBLER" BARRY O.

HUMBLER?

ISN'T THAT THE NAME OF A MALE CHASTITY DEVICE?

(YES, IT IS. NOT SAFE FOR WORK, CLICK HERE.)

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Next topic, are you an undocumented worker in the US?  Better hope you're related to the President of the United States.  As his aunt and uncle demonstrate, when you're related to him, even though you've been ordered out of the country, you get to stay.  Everybody else, the White House insists, get out.

In his first term alone, he deported over 1.4 billion people. Wednesday morning, Cedric's "He can't stop lying" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! HE LIES ABOUT EVERYTHING!" -- joint-post -- noted an interesting development in Onyango Obama's drunk driving case -- he told the judge that Barack lived with him for three weeks.  The White House had insisted, following Onyango Obama's 2011 drunk driving arrest, that Barack had never, ever met his uncle (the only brother of Barack Obama Sr.).

Well pop goes the weasel!


Here's how Jeff Mason (Reuters) rushes to cover for Barack:

President Barack Obama lived briefly with his Kenyan-born uncle while attending law school, the White House said on Thursday, reversing earlier statements that there was no record of the two men ever having met.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said he clarified the issue with the president directly after reports that Onyango Obama, who faced deportation from the United States, said he had housed his nephew temporarily.

I know about the drunk driving only through Cedric and Wally's previous coverage.  It's not an 'issue' I follow. But even I knew that the White House stated the two had never met.

You can be sure Barack Obama also knew the White House stated it.

Or is this another moment of, "Nobody told me!"

For two years, Barack let a lie stand.  For two years, he refused to correct the record.

And now he's only doing it because his uncle's remarks in court leaked out.

Maria Sacchetti (Boston Globe) reminds:


In November 2011, a White House spokesman said he had no record of the two ever meeting. The Washington Post had also reported that scholars believed the two had never met.
The White House never moved to correct the record, until the president’s famously private uncle took the witness stand in Boston immigration court two days ago.

It's a lie.

That's not, "Impeach him!  For lying!"  But don't pretend that it didn't happen.  I'd actually be more forgiving if we were told the clarification included a lie -- because this claim that he hadn't spoken to the man in 10 years and hadn't been face-to-face with him in 20?

That's disgusting.

Barack groupie Bruce Springsteen has a song entitled "Highway Patrolman" (first appears on Nebraska):

Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band
Played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good.

Barack had no blood relatives on the mainland (Hawaii's not the mainland, love the state, have a home there, but it's not the mainland).  At that time or after.  So to have an uncle in Boston when Barack's living in Chicago and Barack has no contact with him?

That's disgusting.

Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good

Apparently 'Dreams of My Father' are safe because Daddy's dead but to have your father's brother alive?  You can use him when you're going to college but you have no desire to make your own living blood relative on the mainland part of your life?  That's really sad.

But the lying part?  To the American people, that's just unacceptable.  It's not crime, you can't be impeached for it.  But it's really sad that Barack is so unable to tell the truth.  As Rebecca observed last night, noting Bruce A. Dixon's audio commentary for Black Agenda Report about Barack and Attorney General Eric Holder's remarks versus actions, "they just never stop lying, this administration."

Again, his latest lie?  Not a crime, not an impeachable offense.  It does, however, go to pattern and it goes to character.  There's a reason he's polling so poorly and is considered untrustworthy. Maybe Ann Dumham didn't teach him Aesop's fable about The  Boy Who Cried Wolf?  Let's review it by way of a scene from season two of Kate & Allie, the "Rear Window" episode written by Stu Hample -- Susan Saint James played Kate, Jane Curtin played Allie and Fred Koehler played Chip.

Allie: Have you ever heard the story of the little boy who cried wolf?

Chip: Yeah, it's about a little boy who cried wolf.

Allie:  A shepherd.  The little shepherd went into the field one day and he got bored so he cried wolf.  And all the villagers came running.

Kate:  Right and when they saw there was no wolf, they got mad and they went home.

Allie:  And the next week, he went into the field again, and he got bored again and he cried wolf again

Kate:  And all the villagers came and when they saw there was no wolf there, they really got mad and went home again. 

Allie:  But the next time there really was a wolf.  And the little boy cried wolf but nobody came. And the wolf ate the little boy.  


In the wake of yesterday's NSA spying revelations, Barack wanted to vouch for the NSA in an interview today, wanted people to believe him.  Matthew Hoye (CNN) quotes Barack declaring, "I've said before and I will say it again, the N.S.A. actually does a very good job about not engaging in domestic surveillance, not reading people's emails, not- listening to their- the contents of their phone calls. Outside of our borders, the N.S.A.'s more aggressive."

He wants to be believed.

After "If you like your plan, you can keep it."  After misleading the American public with a tale of never having met his uncle.  After that and so much more, he wants to be believed.

It's not that easy.

The lies that you tell 
Will leave you alone
They'll keep you down
They'll catch you up and trip you up
Keep you hangin' around
-- "Love You By Heart," written by Carly Simon, Jacob Brackman and Libby Titus, first appears on Carly's Spy



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Barry O looks to the future

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



IN OHIO, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O'S APPROVAL RATING HAS FALLEN TO 34%, 60% DISAPPROVE OF BARRY O'S JOB PERFORMANCE AND 57% SAY HE IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY.

AS HIS POPULARITY CONTINUES TO CRATER, BARRY O ATTEMPTS TO PREPARE FOR HIS NEAR FUTURE AND, NO SURPRISE, THE VAPID DEBUTANTE SEES HIS FUTURE IN TV, SPECIFICALLY AS AN ESPN HOST.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, AN ESPN PRODUCER TOLD THESE REPORTERS, "WELL SURE, WE'D CONSIDER IT.  BUT WE'D CHECK THE RESUME AND EXPERIENCE BECAUSE, UNLIKE THE U.S. PRESIDENCY, ESPN DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO LEARN THE JOB AS YOU GO ALONG."



FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Stephen McDonnell (Australia's ABC News) reports that US Vice President Joe Biden was in China today talking about trust, "Candour generates trust.  Trust is the basis on which real change, constructive change, is made."  It was really the wrong day for US officials to be preaching 'trust,' on the day when major revelations about NSA spying broke.   It could have been worse possibly.  For example, Biden could have been making those remarks in Cuba November 24th -- when Pravda reported:

The Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed the existence of a subversive program of six million dollars against Cuba. This information was known due to an error when using an unprotected line to send documents to U.S. diplomats in Havana. The plan was part of the semi-clandestine ploy to overthrow the communist government.
The material reveals that the entity launched last July the initiative SOL-OAA-13-00110 and at least 20 NGOs requested funding for the program which was to train dissidents in Cuba in the next three years, with a fund of $6 million. The goal was to provide opportunities for the opponents of the revolution traveling abroad , where they would acquire technical skills in a "number of areas considered important for the development of democracy and civil society" in Cuba,  in clear subversion of the political order.

At the US State Dept Press briefing today, spokesperson Marie Harf was jabbering away about the "critical leadership role" played by the US government.

QUESTION: Marie, do you have a response to the Pew Research poll that was released yesterday which found that for the first time since the polls started, a majority of Americans say that the U.S. plays a less important and powerful role as a world leader than ever before?


MS. HARF: Well, I haven’t seen that poll. I’m happy to take a look at the numbers and see if I have anything additional to say on it. I think we’ve been very clear that -- in our policies all around the world that the U.S. plays a critical leadership role, and whether it’s economically, diplomatically, and a host of areas. And that’s why you see the Secretary traveling so much around the world to promote our interests and our values and talk about this all the time with different world leaders. So I would, I think, take issue with the notion, but I’m happy to look at the numbers and see if I have more analysis for you of it.



Poor Harf, she's always got at least one foot in her mouth.  The the illegal spying?  This evening Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani (Washington Post) filed a major report:


The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

The records feed a vast database that stores information about the locations of at least hundreds of millions of devices, according to the officials and the documents, which were provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. New projects created to analyze that data have provided the intelligence community with what amounts to a mass surveillance tool.


The Washington Post has an illustrated walk through or flow chart on how this is taking place.  Dana Liebelson (Mother Jones) goes through the Post's report and identifies five revelations including, "This is the big one -- 'A central feature of each of these tools is that they do not rely on knowing a particulat target in advance, or even suspecting one.  They operate on the full universe of data in the NSA's [repository] which stores trillions of metadata records, of which a large but unknown fraction include locations,' wrote the Post.  An intelligence lawyer said the data collection is not covered by the Fourth Amendment, which outlaws unreasonable searches and seizures."


The ACLU issued the following statement today:

December 4, 2013

CONTACT: media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The NSA is tracking the locations of a huge number of cell phones around the world, according to an article published today by The Washington Post. The report, based on documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, says the agency is analyzing the movements of many millions of cell phones worldwide, including those belonging to Americans travelling abroad. Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, had this reaction:
“It is staggering that a location-tracking program on this scale could be implemented without any public debate, particularly given the substantial number of Americans having their movements recorded by the government. The paths that we travel every day can reveal an extraordinary amount about our political, professional, and intimate relationships. The dragnet surveillance of hundreds of millions of cell phones flouts our international obligation to respect the privacy of foreigners and Americans alike. The government should be targeting its surveillance at those suspected of wrongdoing, not assembling massive associational databases that by their very nature record the movements of a huge number of innocent people.”
More information on NSA spying is at:
aclu.org/nsa-surveillance

Michael Winter (USA Today) notes, "The NSA said it does not intentionally target Americans' whereabouts but gets location data 'incidentally,' which the agency has declared lawful and aimed at foreign intelligence targets."  Oh, well then, that takes care of it because the NSA would never lie.  Oops, James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence lied to Congress.  Fred Kaplan (Slate) observed in June:

Back at an open congressional hearing on March 12, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Clapper, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?” Clapper replied, “No sir … not wittingly.” As we all now know, he was lying.

We also now know that Clapper knew he was lying.

Not only did Clapper lie but the White House sent the message that it was okay for Clapper to lie.  President Barack Obama sent this message by refusing to call for Clapper's immediate resignation.  Under Barack Obama, it is acceptable to lie to the Congress and the American people.  When an administration has no ethics, it's one scandal after another (thereby summing up 2013).  The lying never ends.  And it's not limited to the White House.  As Ali Watkins (McClatchy Newspaper) reminds, Senator Dianne Feinstein spoke about this spying in October but the NSA said she was wrong and Feinstein then avoided the press and had a statement issued about her being mistaken in her statements.


Monday, Kevin Gosztola (FireDogLake) reported:


A sheet of talking points for employees of the National Security Agency and Central Security Services, was sent out ahead of Thanksgiving to help guide conversations with family and friends during the holiday season.
Firedoglake obtained a copy of a two-page document that was sent out on November 22. It was clearly put together for rebutting statements about the NSA from news stories on documents disclosed by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, and it encouraged employees to “share the following points with family members and close friends.”

The “talking points” sheet suggests that employees make five key points: (1) NSA’s mission is of great value to the Nation”; (2) NSA performs its mission the right way—lawful, compliant and in a way that protects civil liberties and privacy; (3) NSA performs its mission exceptionally well. We strive to be the best that we can be, because that’s what America requires as part of its defense in a dangerous world; (4) The people who work for NSA are loyal Americans with expert skills who make sacrifices to help protect the freedoms we all cherish; (5) NSA is committed to increased transparency, public dialog and faithful implementation of any changes required by our overseers. (No emphasis added. Underlines appear in the document.)


Creating an official series of talking points which are secretly distributed to government employees?  That's dangerously close to a form of propaganda that's illegal in the United States -- the sort of propaganda which legally prevents The Voice of America from broadcasting over US radio airwaves.  Mike Masnick (TechDirt) observes, "The NSA defends this program, arguing (as it always does) that there's nothing wrong with doing what it's doing. Billions of people living around the globe might disagree."  Spencer Ackerman (Guardian) rebuts the talking points here.



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He can't stop lying

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


AFTER BARRY O'S UNCLE WENT ON HIS DRUNK DRIVING SPREE AND GOT ARRESTED AND AFTER IT WAS REVEALED SAID UNCLE HAD BEEN REPEATEDLY TOLD TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY BUT REFUSED, THE WHITE HOUSE STATED BARRY O HAD NEVER EVEN MET THE MAN.


THING IS SAID UNCLE JUST TOLD A JUDGE BARRY O LIVED WITH HIM FOR THREE WEEKS AT THE END OF THE 80S.

THE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF HAS ALREADY BEEN CAUGHT LYING ABOUT 'IF YOU LIKE YOUR PLAN, YOU CAN KEEP YOUR PLAN.'  NOW THE WORLD DISCOVERS HE ALSO LIES ABOUT FAMILY.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Yesterday, Alsumaria noted, Nouri gave some of his empty remarks he's so famous for and posed at a meeting with over 16 women -- only one of whom didn't wear a veil or hijab.  Nouri insisted, in front of this group of women who were a delegation from the Council of Iraqi Businesswomen, that women make real contributions and strengthen and advance nations.  Here's a photo from the photo op that was posted to Nouri's official website.






That's beyond stupid, that State of Law and Nouri think that meaningless photo-op amounts to anything is beyond stupid.

Nouri sitting around a table with women will only remind Iraqi women that Nouri's second Cabinet included no women to start with.  In fact, the Minister of Women?  That was (male) Hoshyar Zebari for months before Nouri found a woman who was willing to stand up in public and insist that women's rights would lead to victimization of women and that a woman should just do what some man told her.

Let's talk money because money is one of the things that prompted the photo op.

What brings in big money to Iraq besides oil?

Right now, outside of the KRG, big money's really only comes in as international aid.

And most of that money requires basic human rights be observed in Iraq.  A government -- not the US -- explained to Nouri that some of his aid from their western country was in jeopardy due to the way Iraqi women are being systematically stripped of their rights.

It was thought that he needed to make some sort of a 'statement' in order for Iraq to continue to receive various grants.

It was also thought that Nouri should speak out against violence.

That was too much for Nouri even when the government official pointed out that others already had.

Let's drop back to last week for this from the November 26th snapshot:

Back in March, Rania Khalek (Muftah) noted it wasn't always women under attack in Iraq:

Contrary to popular imagination, Iraqi women enjoyed far more freedom under Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’athist government than women in other Middle Eastern countries. In fact, equal rights for women were enshrined in Iraq’s Constitution in 1970, including the right to vote, run for political office, access education and own property. Today, these rights are all but absent under the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki.
Prior to the devastating economic sanctions of the 1990s, Iraq’s education system was top notch and female literacy rates were the highest in the region, reaching 87 percent in 1985. Education was a major priority for Saddam Hussein’s regime, so much so that in 1982 Iraq received the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award for eradicating illiteracy. But the education system crumbled from financial decay under the weight of the sanctions pushing over 20 percent of Iraqi children out of school by 2000 and reversing decades of literacy gains. Today, a quarter of Iraqi women are illiterate, more than double the rate for Iraqi men (11 percent). Female illiteracy in rural areas alone is as high as 50 percent.
Women were integral to Iraq’s economy and held high positions in both the private and public sectors, thanks in large part to labor and employment laws that guaranteed equal pay, six months fully paid maternity leave and protection from sexual harassment. In fact, it can be argued that some of the conditions enjoyed by working women in Iraq before the war rivaled those of working women in the United States.

BBC News has a photo essay entitled 'In Pictures: Women At Risk In Iraq."  Umed Sami (Kirkuk Now) reported Sunday that it is Domestic Violence Awareness Week which actually lasts two weeks and that there are many different actions because there are "20 women's rights organizations in Kirkuk."  From the article:


No to Violence against Women is a women’s rights organization founded by a group of women’s rights activists back in 2010.  It is one of the organizations planning to organize a protest rally on November 25 in front of the governor’s office as they protest against the poor conditions of women’s rights and their struggles.
In the meantime, the Kurdistan Women’s Union, a women’s organization affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim, is a member of the political bureau boycotting the activities of No to Violence against Women and who view their rally as an “opposition against the governor and not demanding the women’s rights.”
Women’s activist Naska Muhammad told Kirkuk Now “The majority of the women’s rights organizations have boycotted the rally as we feel it is more targeted against the governor and it is politically driven.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government noted the kick off on Monday and that Monday was International Day Against Violence Against Women (that's a United Nations day around the world).  KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani addressed a large group of men and women -- including ministers of government, MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and the Kurdish Parliament, regional official and diplomats --  in Erbil.  Barzani noted that violence against women is violence against human rights and the issue is not a 'women's issue' but one for the entire community to work on.  He called for justice which means changing the laws in the KRG so that the light penalities for husbands killing wives are eliminated (he noted the KRG law currently mirrors the law for the rest of Iraq).  He noted that they need to address the issue of child brides and the practice of female genital mutilation.  He cited figures finding that reported violence against women had fallen in 2012 but he stated that the gains were not enough and the community needed to work harder to address the issue.

Iraq's Human Rights Ministry also had an event.  Compare the photos.  Even if you can't read Arabic, you'll note many things.  For example, the Baghdad turnout?  Not that impressive in terms of numbers. The KRG photo displays ten packed rows of attendees (and the photo cuts off with the impression that there are rows not displayed in the photo).  In Baghdad, they take up about six rows -- with a lot of empty spaces.  In the KRG, you see shiny, healthy hair on the heads of men and women.  In Baghdad, most women have their hair covered.  (Four brave women on the second row do not cover their hair.) Nouri's Prime Minister of Iraq.  Did he address the gathering?

Nope. 

He couldn't be bothered with the topic.  

Ibithal al-Zaidi was present.  Declaring she (now) believes in equality between the sexes -- based on the law and religions.   Whatever.  

How important was the event?  

They don't even bother to finish the press release -- it cuts off before the end of the release.

Nouri should have been present.  By refusing to show up for the Baghdad event, let alone speak at it, he made clear that violence against women does not qualify as a serious issue to him.

We're not done with the KRG yet.  Al Mada reports that KRG President Massoud Barzani issued a statement decrying violence against women saying it was inhumane and against the basic principals of humanity.  He noted the sacrifices and actions Iraqi women had taken part in to create a better Iraq and called for rights to live safely and free from oppression, discrimination and violence.

He is supposedly the leader of Iraq.  The two-week "week of violence against women" is continuing.  Yet the leader of the country has never denounced violence against women.

He's never called it out.

And under pressure from a foreign government, the best he could do was assemble a group of women for a photo op in his attempt to ensure that no foreign aid gets cut off.

The e-mail from the State of Law MP accused me of being part of a conspiracy to destroy Nouri al-Maliki.  I'd argue Nouri's doing such a good job destroying himself that nobody else needs to take part, we just need to step back and enjoy it.

Al Mada reports women activists gathered Sunday at a cemetery in Sulaymaniyah province to note that 130 graves in the cemetery are of women who were killed in so-called 'honor' killings.  These 130 graves do not even contain the names of the women because 'honor' killings weren't enough apparently, the women had to be disappeared.   Hannah Xuan, one of the organizers, told Al Mada that the women were killed by family and that few people are ever prosecuted for these brutal crimes.


Yet Nouri stays silent about violence against women.




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

JUST WHEN CELEBRITY-IN-CHIEF BARRY O THOUGHT THINGS COULDN'T GET WORSE, HE'S FACING GROWING DISAPPROVAL IN CALIFORNIA.

A NEW POLL FINDS THAT THE ONCE FIRMLY BARRY O BACKING STATE NOW VOICES A 43% DISAPPROVAL RATE OF BARRY O -- AN INCREASE OF 8%.

MEANWHILE, NATIONALLY, GALLUP'S NEW POLL FINDS THAT 53% OF AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF THE JOB OR 'JOB' BARRY O'S DOING.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, WHITE HOUSE PLUS-SIZE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY TOLD THESE REPORTERS TODAY, "WELL 47% APPROVE, WE CAN WORK WITH THAT, WE CAN REBUILD FROM THAT."

INFORMED THAT, IN FACT, GALLUP FINDS ONLY 40% OF AMERICAN APPROVE OF BARRY O'S JOB PERFORMANCE, CARNEY RESPONDED, "OH, CRAP!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Also over the weekend,  All Iraq News reported cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr declared today that Iran refuses to back Nouri for a third term.  Today Ahmed Chalabi offered harsh words for Nouri al-Maliki.  NINA quotes him denouncing a third term for Nouri, stating it "will lead to a further deterioration in security and corruption as well as continuing foreign interference."  He further stated, "The policy of the country is moving towards authoritarianism and dictatorship and our future role is to put Iraq on the path of real democracy through a comprehensive process of change, not only at the political level, but in all areas."

Let's stay with political news out of Iraq.  All Iraq News reports today that arrest warrants have been issued against two members of Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc -- MP Jawad al-Shihaili and Baha al-Araji.  al-Araji is charged with "damaging general properties" and al-Shihaili is charged with "stealing state's revenues."  These warrants come only after Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports MPs are accusing Nouri al-Maliki of misuse of state resources on his recent trip to Basra -- including, Moqtada's bloc pointed out, Nouri offering up land plots.  MPs see the visit as typical Nouri trying to bribe for votes but the difference this time is that a law's been passed to make this illegal.


Nouri refuses to follow the laws which is one of the reasons protests have been taking place in Iraq since December 21st.  They've continued to protest despite multiple attacks on them by Nouri al-Maliki's forces, the worst being the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead.   UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).  They haven't given up despite Nouri's empty words.  Monday, Nickolav Mladenov, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Iraq and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, addressed the United Nations Security Council.

Nickolay Mladenov:  Protests continued in Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Kirkuk and Diayala governorates in the form of unified Friday prayers.  Compared to the past reporting period, the protests assumed a lower profile, owning in part to increased attention to the protesters' demands by newly elected local administrations. Indeed, the Anbar Governorate Council elected Sabah Karhout, a member of the Arab Iraqiya party, as its chair, and Ahmed Khalif al-Dulaimi, a member of the Muttahidoun party, as Governor.  In Ninewa, the Governorate Council re-elected Atheel al-Nujaifi, a known supporter of the protestors and brother of the Speake of the Council of Representatives [Osama al-Nujaifi], as Governor.  On 5 October dialogue between the Government and the protestors resumed following a meeting between the Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki] and the Governor of Anbar, who was nominated by the demonstrators to represent their interests.  While the meeting was described as positive and fruitful by the Prime Minister's office, no progress has been announced to date in addressing the demonstrators' demands.  


This month, the protests hit the one year mark.  19 days from now, in fact.  The protesters have been attacked, arrested and murdered.  And still they protest.  Speaking to Patrick Cockburn (Independent) last week, cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr shared his thoughts on Nouri and the protests:

Mr Sadr is particularly critical of the government’s handling of the Sunni minority, which lost power in 2003, implying they had been marginalised and their demands ignored. He thinks that the Iraqi government lost its chance to conciliate Sunni protesters in Iraq who started demonstrating last December, asking for greater civil rights and an end to persecution.
“My personal opinion is that it is too late now to address these [Sunni] demands when the government, which is seen as a Shia government by the demonstrators, failed to meet their demands,” he said. Asked how ordinary Shia, who make up the great majority of the thousand people a month being killed by al-Qa’ida bombs, should react, Mr Sadr said: “They should understand that they are not being attacked by Sunnis. They are being attacked by extremists, they are being attacked by external powers.”





December 21st, the protests will have hit the one year mark -- that's twenty days away.  Today, All Iraq News reports:

The Coordination Committees of the Sit –In yards in Ramadi city announced on Monday withdrawing their authorization for the Governor of Anbar to negotiate with the Central Government over the demands of the demonstrators.

The demonstrators and chieftains in Anbar announced on September 3^rd authorizing the Governor of Anbar Ahmed Khalaf to negotiate with the CG to implement their demands. 

They're not pleased with the talks Governor Ahmed Khalaf has had with Nouri -- which have produced no results.  But they're especially bothered by the fact that the Governor is not working for them.  Some feel he's working for the United States' government.

Where did they get that idea?  Who knows.  But Sunday, these remarks from Brett McGurk were posted repeatedly on Arabic social media:

In the Sunni majority provinces of Ninewa and Anbar, provincial elections had been delayed due to security concerns. We were clear from the outset that this decision was unwise, and pushed to ensure the elections took place, which they did on June 20. The outcome led to a status quo in Ninewa, with the brother of Speaker Osama Nujaifi retaining the governorship; but new leaders emerged in  Anbar, and these new leaders, with our encouragement, are engaging the central government. 

Prime Minister Maliki met the new Anbar Governor, Ahmad Khalaf al-Dulaimi, before traveling to Washington, and we expect to see additional meetings soon, with a focus on coordinating security and political efforts. 

 McGurk is the US State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and, last month, he testified to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.  We covered his testimony in the November 13th "Iraq snapshot," the November 14th "Iraq snapshot" and in the November 15th  "Iraq snapshot."  And the statements that were so popular on social media yesterday are from his opening statement which you can read in full here.

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Taken to the woodshed

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

A SOBBING BARRY O CONFRONTED THESE REPORTERS TODAY, A CRUMPLED COPY OF THE OVERNIGHTS IN HIS HAND.

"HE BEAT ME!" SCREAMED THE DAHLIBAMA.

WHAT HAD THE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF SO UPSET?

GARTH BROOKS, WHO HASN'T RECORDED A NEW ALBUM SINCE 2001, MANAGED TO DESTROY BARRY O IN THE RATINGS.

"I'VE GOT FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES TOO!" A DESPERATE BARRY O SOBBED. "HAVE PEOPLE NOT SEEN JAY CARNEY?  OR KATHLEEN SEBELIUS?  DOES IT GET ANY LOWER THAN THOSE TWO?


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports 18 corpses, bullets in head, were found dumped in the town of Mishada.  BBC News adds the 18 were abducted from their homes hours prior to being dumped and that the kidnappers "were wearing police uniforms, according to eyewitnesses."  AFP offers, "The victims, all male, were taken on early Friday by men wearing military uniforms and driving around six SUVs, which looked like army vehicles. The victims' families were told that they were suspects in an official investigation and were being taken away for questioning, witnessed told AFP."

AFP and Al Jazeera rush to name al Qaeada.

It must be nice to be a crook in Iraq, the press always willing to cover for you, always willing to lie.

They lied in 2006 as well.  Repeatedly.

This is why the ethnic cleansing lasted two year -- media felt their job was to protect Nouri and his goons, even if Nouri and his goons were the ones doing the killings.

One of the few to tell the truth was the human rights organization Human Rights Watch.  October 29, 2006 they issued a statement which opened:

The Iraqi government must move quickly to prosecute all Ministry of Interior personnel responsible for “death squad” killings in Baghdad and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said today.
“Evidence suggests that Iraqi security forces are involved in these horrific crimes, and thus far the government has not held them accountable,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. “The Iraqi government must stop giving protection to security forces responsible for abduction, torture and murder.”
Every month, hundreds of people are abducted, tortured and killed by what many believe are death squads that include security forces. To terrorize the population, the killers often dump the mutilated corpses in public areas.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the recent suspension from duties of the 8th Iraqi Police Unit pending an investigation into their complicity in abductions and killings. The US military has claimed that the unit was responsible for the October 1 kidnapping of 26 Sunni food factory workers in southwest Baghdad, 10 of whom were later found dead. The news agency Inter Press Service reported that the unit used Ministry of Interior vehicles and, according to witnesses, some wore black “death squad” uniforms.


AFP and Al Jazeera cite police for the 'proof' that the culprits are al Qaeda.

Neither damn outlet notes the reality that the police and the military -- all the security forces Nouri controls -- were active killing Iraqis as part of the ethnic cleansing from 2006 to 2007.  It's the same way they covered up the Ministry of Interior targeting and killing men suspected of being gay only a little while ago.

Apparently truth telling and 'reporting' don't go hand in hand.

Today, 18 people are pulled from their homes by people wearing security uniforms and driving security vehicles.

AFP and Al Jazeera rush to tell you that it's al Qaeda.

They have no proof.  They'll lie and whore -- because that's what the press does -- and insist that they're just including details to flesh out the 'reporting.'

Those aren't details, those are accusations.  A detail?  That would be noting the long history Nouri's forces have for conducting 'extra-judicial' killings.

Borzou Daragahi (Los Angeles Times) reported in October 2006 on the response from Jawad Bolani to accusations that police forces were carrying out "sectarian death squad killings."  Daragahi noted:


Few sectarian gang members who have been arrested were employees of the ministry, Bolani said. Often they worked for a separate Iraqi security force that guards government buildings, or are security guards at other ministries or for politicians. Some arrested have been linked to the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, he said.

But AFP and Al Jazeera can't be bothered noting any of that.

Why?

Because the Ministry of the Interior has a sterling reputation today and is run by . ..

Oh, wait.  It's reputation is worse today than it was back then.  In addition, it has no minister heading it.  Nouri never nominated anyone to.  Nouri is the one overseeing it.

So little suck-ass 'reporters'?  They hump Nouri's leg while whimpering and pretending that passes for reporting.

We know it doesn't.

We all know it doesn't.

What it does do is demonstrate how biased AFP and Al Jazeera are, how they suck up to power and turn a blind eye to the suffering.

But we already knew that, right?  Al Jazeera and AFP didn't say one damn word about today's massive protests.


They ignore so very much.  The ignore that Nouri al-Maliki is supporting Shi'ite militias.  Tim Arango (New York Times) broke that story at the end of September:

In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and, ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.

Asaib al-Haq have badges and weapons supplied by Nouri.

A Shi'ite death squad.

Unnamed police 'sources'?  AFP and Al Jazeera run with it ignoring the fact that such sources are hardly unbiased.  While they include those sources, they ignore many others.  Here's one example.

        

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Aymenn J Al-Tamimi ‏@ajaltamimi 7h

#Iraq: MP Ahmed al-Alwani accuses Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq of widespread targeting and killing of Sunni Arabs: pic.twitter.com/vwhAhrWhFp

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For the record, a member of Parliament?  Official source.  But not in Nouri's tent.  So  AFP and Al Jazeera feign ignorance.


They are pretending, right?

There's no way that two news outlets could be that ignorant, is there?




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