Saturday, September 15, 2012

Criticism all around


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

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O HAS A LOT OF PROBLEMS.  TURNS OUT, HIS CLAIMS RE RENEWABLE ENERGY WON'T PASS A FACT CHECK

MORE TROUBLE, HIS JOBS MATH ISN'T ADDING UP EITHER.

PUNDITS ARE SAYING HE'S STUMBLING AND IN SHAMBLES.

EVEN BARRY O'S FORMER BOOK CLUB BUDDY HUGO CHAVEZ IS CRITICIZING HIM.

ARE THE RATS SOON TO BAIL THE SHIP AS WELL?


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:  We are closely watching what is happening in Yemen and elsewhere, and we certainly hope and expect that there will be steps taken to avoid violence and prevent the escalation of protests into violence.
I also want to take a moment to address the video circulating on the Internet that has led to these protests in a number of countries. Let me state very clearly -- and I hope it is obvious -- that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America's commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.
To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and we greatly appreciate that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.
Violence, we believe, has no place in religion and is no way to honor religion. Islam, like other religions, respects the fundamental dignity of human beings, and it is a violation of that fundamental dignity to wage attacks on innocents. As long as there are those who are willing to shed blood and take innocent life in the name of religion, the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace. It is especially wrong for violence to be directed against diplomatic missions. These are places whose very purpose is peaceful: to promote better understanding across countries and cultures. All governments have a responsibility to protect those spaces and people, because to attack an embassy is to attack the idea that we can work together to build understanding and a better future.
Now, I know it is hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day. Now, I would note that in today's world with today's technologies, that is impossible. But even if it were possible, our country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.
There are, of course, different views around the world about the outer limits of free speech and free expression, but there should be no debate about the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not acceptable. We all -- whether we are leaders in government, leaders in civil society or religious leaders -- must draw the line at violence. And any responsible leader should be standing up now and drawing that line.
 
 
Protests have taken place around the region all week including today.  Reem Abdellatif, Ned Parker, Laura King, Hashmat Baktash, Alex Rodriguez, Emily Alpert and staff in Beirut and Khartoum (Los Angeles Times) report, "Infuriated protesters in Tunisia stormed the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Tunis, and tore down the American flag, state media reported.  Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas to try to scatter the crowd, the official Tunisian News Agency reported.  Black smoke was seen rising around the embassy compound amid reports that an American school nearby had been set on fire. In Sudan, hundreds of riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and used batons to prevent a wall of hundreds of protesters reaching the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Khartoum, but a grop managed to break through, breach the wall of the embassy and raise a black Islamic flag."
 
Protests took place in Iraq today as well.  All Iraq News reports a protest was held today in Samarra following morning prayers and that protests also took place today in Wasit, Najaf, Missan and Basra.  All Iraq News notes that the Najaf protest saw the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (Ammar al-Hakim's political group) read out a statement denouncing the video and insisting it did serious harm to Muhammed.  AFP reports:
 
In Karbala, Abdul Mehdi al-Karbalai, the representative in the city of top Iraqi Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said during his Friday sermon that "these repeated abuses could threaten peaceful life, especially among (religiously) mixed peoples."
He also condemned violence in response to the film, which portrays the Prophet Mohammed and Islam in a negative light, and sparked deadly fury in Libya, where four Americans including the ambassador were killed on Tuesday in a mob attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.
In Sunni-majority Ramadi, west of Baghdad, hundreds of people demonstrated against the film.
Hamid al-Fahdawi, one of the protest organisers, told AFP that demonstrators want the Iraqi government to dismiss the US ambassador and cut economic ties with the US.
 
When compiling a list of demands, it's probably a good idea to leave unicorns and other myths off the list.  There is no US Ambassador to Iraq currently.  The most recent, James Jeffrey, left Iraq months ago. 
 
Josh Rogin (Foreign Policy) quotes Senator John Kerry, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee speaking about the possibility that Barack's latest nominee might be placed on hold after his confirmation hearing:
 

Make no mistake: Our embassy in Baghdad is one of our most important and what happens there is key to our bilateral relationship and our work in the Middle East. By all accounts, Steve Beecroft is a highly capable career Foreign Service officer who has ambassadorial experience, and it is in America's best interest to get him on the ground as quickly as possible.

 
If the concern is over the empty post of US Ambassador to Iraq, well the administration should have done a better job vetting and never nominated Brett McGurk.  Married and sleeping with another married person in Iraq while working for the US government in Iraq?  It doesn't matter that he married Gina Chon eventually (after both their divorces -- it does matter that she allowed him to vet her copy, which is why her paper fired her), it matters that he had a reputation for disrespecting marriage in Iraq which meant that any Iraqi woman visiting the US embassy was going to be suspect which really matters in a country that practices so-called 'honor' killings.  They never should have nominated him.  His prior behavior in Iraq would have made his appointment an insult to the host country.

There should be an ambassador to Iraq.  But no one forced the White House to nominate the insulting Brett McGurk and no one forced the White House to wait so long to name a new nominee after McGurk's name was withdrawn.  I remember the Attorney General nominations of 1993.  That was rough and Republicans were determined to defeat the nominees.  Plural. Bill Clinton nominated Zoe Baird for the post.  Her nomination was derailed and she withdrew her name January 22, 1993.  Clinton goes on to announce a new nominee: Kimba Wood.  Kimba Wood withdraws her name February 5, 1993.  Clinton then nominated Janet Reno who was confirmed March 11, 1993 on a 98 to zero vote in the Senate.  January 20, 1993, Bill Clinton was sworn in as President of the United States.  March 11th, Reno -- his third nominee -- was confirmed as Attorney General. That's moving quickly.

By contrast?  June 18th McGurk's name is withdrawnLate  September 10th word leaks out that Beecroft is Barack's new nominee and it's made official with an announcement September 11th.  In less than two months, President Bill Clinton names 3 different nominees for Attorney General and gets one confirmed.  Eight days shy of three months after McGurk's name is withdrawn, President Barack Obama is finally able to find someone to nominate for the post (Beecroft, the person who's been doing the work all that time).  If Senate Dems want to whine that Paul's creating a delay on that nomination, Barack's the one who created the delay and dragged his feet.

The average time between confirmation hearings and a vote is said to be ten days.  That would be September 28th and that's awfully close to when senators facing re-election battles have tor return home.  That was also foot dragging by the administration which should have planned it much better.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Barry shot his mouth first, aimed later


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


CELEBRITY IN CHIEF AND PROFESSIONAL AIR HEAD BARRY O ACCUSED HIS POLITICAL RIVAL MITT ROMNEY OF BEING THE TYPE TO "SHOOT FIRST, AIM LATER." 

BARRY O MADE THAT REMARK SHORTLY BEFORE DECLARING THAT EGYPT WAS NOT AN ALLY OF THE UNITED STATES.  THE ABSURD REMARK LEFT NBC NEWS' FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT RICHARD ENGEL EXPRESSING DISBELIEF. AND THEN THE STATE DEPARTMENT HAD TO CORRECT BARRY O THAT, YES, EGYPT IS AN ALLY.

POOR, STUPID BARRY O, WHO SHOT FIRST AND AIMED LATER?

FROM THE TCI WIRE:


 
Al Mada reports that the Kurdistan Alliance is stating that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will return next week and address the political problems plaguing the country while Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman states that there is no will among the political blocs to resolve the ongoing crisis.  In March 2010, Iraq held parliamentary elections.  Nouri al-Maliki, thug and prime minister, was not pleased with the results which saw his State of Law slate come in second to the Ayad Allawi-led Iraqiya.  Furious that he was not allowed, per the Constitution, first crack at forming a government, Nouri through a public tantrum for eight months -- with the backing of the White House -- and this is known as Political Stalemate I.  It ends in November 2010 only as a result of the US-brokered Erbil Agreement. 
 
This contract was an agreement between the leaders of the various political blocs and it gave Nouri a second term as prime minister in exchange for his making various concessions.  Nouri used the contract to get his second term and then trashed the contract.  By the summer of 2011, Iraqiya, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Kurds were calling for a return to the Erbil Agreement and that's when the second political stalemate begins.  In December 2011, Nouri demands that Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi be arrested for 'terrorism' and that Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq be stripped of his post (due to remarks al-Mutlaq made to CNN).  Both al-Hashemi and al-Mutlaq are members of Iraqiya and Sunni.  This move begins the political crisis. 
 
Numerous attempts at addressing the political crisis have thus far failed.  This includes Moqtada, KRG President Massoud Barzani and Ayad Allawi attempting to launch a no-confidence vote in Parliament.  That was deralied by Jalal Talabani before Talabani fled to Germany.  It may yet happen.  It also includes Jalal and Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi's call for a National Conference to address the political crisis.  Nouri stalled and objected and, in the end, managed to kill it the day it was scheduled to start.  Talabani has returned to his call for a National Conference.
 
Nouri's being in charge hasn't brought safety to Iraq but has allowed him to demonstrate similarities to Saddam Hussein.  Like Iraq's former and now deceased leader, Nouri doesn't like freedom and doesn't really like people too much.  
 
Dropping back to the September 5th snapshot for Nouri and his thugs:

 
In other violence,  Alsumaria reports that armed forces in police uniforms attacked various social clubs in Baghdad yesterday, beating various people and firing guns in the air.  They swarmed clubs and refused to allow anyone to leave but did make time to beat people with the butss of their rifles and pistols, they then destroyed the clubs.  AFP adds, "Special forces units carried out near-simultaneous raids at around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday 'at dozens of nightclubs in Karrada and Arasat, and beat up customers with the butts of their guns and batons,' said an interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Artists who were performing at the clubs were also beaten,' the official said."  The assaults were ordered by an official who reports only to Nouri al-Maliki. In related news the Great Iraqi Revolution posted video Friday of other attacks on Iraqi civilians by security forces and noted, "Very important :: a leaked video show Iraqi commandos during a raid to Baaj village and the arrest of all the young men in the village .they threatened the ppl of the village they will make them another Fallujah and they do not mind arresting all village's men and leave only women . they kept detainees in a school, and beating them, u can see they burned a car of one of the citizens"
 
 
September 6h, Alsumaria noted that Iraqiya, led by Ayad Allawi, has called out the assault on the social clubs and states that it is violation of the Constitution as well as basic human rights.  Iraqiya spokesperson Maysoun al-Damalouji called on the security forces to respect the rights of the citizens.  Tamim al-Jubouri (Al Mada) added that the forces working for Nouri attacked many clubs including Club Orient which was established in 1944 and that the patrons including Chrisitans who were surprised Tuesday night when Nouri's forces entered and began breaking furniture, beat patrons and employees and stole booze, cell phones and clothing.  So they're not only bullies, they're also theives.  Kitabat explained that the people were attacked with batons and gun butts including a number of musicians who were performing live in the club including singer Hussein Basri.  Alsumaria added that the Baghdad Provincial Council states that they were not informed of the assaults on social clubs.
 
 
 
Unexpected raids on Baghdad's bars, as well as beaten customers, shocked locals last week. But it's not just drinkers who are upset. Activists say it's the government's latest plan to curb personal freedoms while MPs pondering re-election in the mainly-Muslim nation haven't said a word.   
Last week, government security forces raided a number of clubs, bars and other establishments in Baghdad without warning, closing many of them by force that same night. The clubs seem to have been targeted both because they were selling alcohol and because they hosted known intellectual cliques. As a result, the attack has raised serious fears of an attack on personal freedoms and concerns that Islamic parties are trying impose their religious ideology on other Iraqis.
Although Iraq is a mainly Muslim nation and Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, there are also diverse minorities in Iraq and many of these allow alcohol drinks; often members of these groups will be the ones that run bars or liquor stores.  
And on September 4, a number of clubs, bars and restaurants in the affluent Baghdad neighbourhoods of Karrada and Arasat were raided. Many of the patrons on the night – and this included members of the security forces and other officials – were injured or beaten as a result.
 One eyewitness told NIQASH that the raiders had been violent. "They were brutal," he said. "They entered and told us all to get out immediately. They then went around smashing everything up, including tables and chairs. And then those who were guarding the entrance started beating the people who were trying to leave with sticks and their rifle butts."
Ahmed al-Utabi, a well-known poet, was at the Writer's Union Club when it was stormed by security forces. "At first, we thought there was a bomb or an explosive device inside the club and that was why the security forces asked us to leave," al-Utabi said. "Then we were really surprised to see them smashing everything up inside the club."
 
In addition, Nouri has overseen the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community.  This week, BBC kicked off a look at the persecution of Iraq's gay community.  Natalia Antelava, Peter Murtaugh, Bill McKenna and Daniel Nasaw's investigative report is the cornerstone of that coverage.  Excerpt:
 
 
 
Natalia Antelava: In a tiny stuffy room, Ahmed, Nancy and Allou are hiding from their families and the police.  All three have received death threats.  Ahmed has not left this room for over two months now. 
 
Ahmed: I came here because I was gay and I was threatened by my family -- my immediate family -- and some unknown guys from my neighborhood.  The situation a few years ago was very bad.  But at that time, they did not pay any attention to gays.  Now they have nothing to do but look for gays -- to kill them.
 
Allou: The threat is much bigger now than before.  It's not only the militias now.  It's the police, the government who are going after us.
 
Natalia Antelava: I really wish we could show you their faces.  Ahmed's got big, dark, worried eyes on his thin face.  Nancy's really pretty and I would have never guessed that she was born male.  And Allou's got this very trendy haircut which would be completely normal in the West but here in Iraq, this sort of hair could get you killed.  Nancy is especially vulnerable in Iraq.  Born a transgender, she dreams of a sex change operation but it is impossible to have it done in Iraq, she says, and she has no way of leaving the country.
 
Nancy: My mom tried to persuade me to act like a man because I am supposed to be a man   I couldn't.  She didn't know what was inside me.  She couldn't understand that.  I can't tell you how many times I've been raped at checkpoints -- with the police, it's countless.  The worst incident was at a checkpoint on Al Sadun street.  They asked me for my ID, then asked me to get out of the car.  It was dark.  They put me against the blast wall.  Nine of them raped me.   There was nothing I could do.  If I had resisted, they would have arrested me.
 
Natalia Antelava:  If you could have anything that you wanted, what kind of life would you want to have?
 
Nancy: I want to live the life I want.  I want to be a woman and to be treated like one.  I am a human being and this is my right.
 
Natalia Antelava:  It's not just transgender, Allou had been raped too.   And I heard many other similar stories -- gay men, with even a slightly feminine appearance say they're often raped by police at checkpoints.
 
Allou:  I am so tired, so sad.  I have no freedom.  I can't say that I am gay.  I can't live my life.  I can't go home.  I have to stay here doing nothing and just wait.
 
[. . .]
 
Natalia Antelava:  Radical milita groups are believed to be behind this hit list.  Although officially they've been disbanded, militias still pose the greatest threat to homosexuals. But those we spoke to say that they're just as fearful of countless police and military checkpoints that are supposed to be making Baghdad safe.  This checkpoint is manned by the Interior Ministry troops.  But in Iraq, one's uniform never tells you the full story.   In this country, you can be a police man by day, a militia man by night.  These blurred lines and mixed allegiances have made it easy for the government to blame militia groups for the killings of gays. But we've discovered evidence that directly links the police with attacks on gays in Iraq. Qais is gay and a former police man. He told me he had been ordered to go after homosexuals.  He couldn't refuse and so he quit his job.
 
Qais: In 2006, 2007 and 2008, we were busy fighting terrorsm.  We didn't pay attention to gays.  On top of it, the Iraqi government had to respect the rule of law when the Americans and the British were here.  But now?  They have a lot of free time and the police are going after gays.
 
Natalia Antelava:  Have you ever been called to arrest gays or kill gays or go after gays in any way?
 
Qais:  Yes, twice.  We had to arrest this guy.  He was having an argument with someone.  Once they arrested him, they accused him of being gay. We were told to send him to another town where he was wanted for being gay.  We sent him to that town and he disappeared.  His family came to ask about him and we sent them to another town where they could not find him. Then they got a death certificate from the police but they never got the body.
 
Natalia Antelava:  With so much secrecy, fear and loathing, it's difficult to establish the exact level of the government's involvement in the persecution. But 17 gay men interviewed for this investigation said they believed they were being singled out and hunted by the state. 
 
 
And they are right to feel that way, the government is often behind it, Nouri is often behind it.
For example, in March of this year, the world's attention turned to the attacks on Iraqi youth -- Emo kids and gay Iraqis -- and those suspected of being both or either.
 
Who gave the orders for that targeting?
 
The Ministry of Interior.  They put it on paper.
 
Nouri is the head of the Ministry of the Interior.
 
He refused to nominate anyone to that post or any of the security posts.  He is in charge of the Ministry of the Interior.  It was Ministry of Interior forces that did the targeting, it was those forces that went into schools to talk up the 'threat' these young people posed.  Nouri was responsible. 
 
Iraqi LGBT's Ali Hilli writes about the persecution of the LGBT community in Iraq for the BBC:

Members of our organisation and the gay men and women we interviewed have said consistently that, under arrest, they have been forced to give names and addresses of other homosexuals or suspected homosexuals.Taken together, this is why we believe the Ministry of the Interior tracks sexual minorities with the aim of eliminating them.
Iraq LGBT is based in London, and it has become increasingly dangerous for us to operate inside Iraq. But we have been trying.

Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"Was Mitt wrong? Who knows?"
"The response is largely silence"
"NPR's biased to which party"
"More bad news about the economy"
"When Barack got a book . . ."
"elizabeth warren's many problems"
"I am going to have to agree with Mitt on this one"
"Hal David"
"It was because of the kiss"
"Thank Goodness for Hillary"
"Terry's fluff and nonsense"
"At least there was Hillary"
"THIS JUST IN! AP LAUNCHES A MANHUNT!"
"Implicated? Seriously, AP?"

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Implicated? Seriously, AP?



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

IN LIBYA AND CAIRO THIS WEEK, THUGS TOOK TO ATTACKING U.S. EMBASSIES BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD.

IN THE REAL WORLD, YOUR LOVED MIGHT GET CALLED FAT.  IN THE REAL WORLD, YOUR DREAMS MAY BE CRUSHED.  IN THE REAL WORLD, YOUR HERO OR GOD MIGHT GET INSULTED.

THOSE ARE THINGS THOSE OF US LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD GRASP. 

DON'T ACCUSE THE A.P. OF EVER LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD:

The search for those behind the provocative, anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egypt and Libya led Wednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.

GOOD TO KNOW THAT WHEN 4 U.S. EMBASSY STAFF ARE KILLED IN LIBYA, A.P. LAUNCHES A MANHUNT FOR A FILM DIRECTOR.  

AND COULD SOMEONE TEACH A.P. BASIC ENGLISH?


FROM WEBSTERS:

  1. Show (someone) to be involved in a crime: "police implicated him in more killings".
  2. Bear some of the responsibility for (an action or process, esp. a criminal or harmful one): "he is heavily implicated in the bombing".

PEOPLE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS.  THE NORMAL REACTION TO A FILM, THE ACCEPTED REACTION TO A FILM, IS NOT RIOTING AND MURDER.  APPARENTLY THE A.P. STRUGGLES WITH THE REAL WORLD AS MUCH AS UNEDUCATED ISOLATIONISTS.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


 
It has not been a smooth time for members of the diplomatic corps.  All Iraq News notes Taha shukr Mahmoud Ismail has died of a heart attack.   That's all the article notes except to say he was born in 1940.  I'm told he was born in 1947 (and that he died Saturday).  What follows is the other information I was told.   He had been Iraq's Ambassador to Chile.  He was born in Mosul in 1947, spoke three languages (Arabic, English and German) earned his degree at the University of Baghdad, first joined the diplomatic corps in 1975 and previously served as Ambassadors to Nigeria and Venezuela.  Taha shuker Mahmoud Alabass is survived by his wife and their five children.  
 
Four Americans were killed in Libya yesterday when the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi was attacked.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted (link is text and video) in a speech today,   Excerpt:
 
Heavily armed militants assaulted the compound and set fire to our buildings. American and Libyan security personnel battled the attackers together. Four Americans were killed. They included Sean Smith, a Foreign Service information management officer, and our Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. We are still making next of kin notifications for the other two individuals.
This is an attack that should shock the conscience of people of all faiths around the world. We condemn in the strongest terms this senseless act of violence, and we send our prayers to the families, friends, and colleagues of those we've lost.
All over the world, every day, America's diplomats and development experts risk their lives in the service of our country and our values, because they believe that the United States must be a force for peace and progress in the world, that these aspirations are worth striving and sacrificing for. Alongside our men and women in uniform, they represent the best traditions of a bold and generous nation.
In the lobby of this building, the State Department, the names of those who have fallen in the line of duty are inscribed in marble. Our hearts break over each one. And now, because of this tragedy, we have new heroes to honor and more friends to mourn.
Chris Stevens fell in love with the Middle East as a young Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Morocco. He joined the Foreign Service, learned languages, won friends for America in distant places, and made other people's hopes his own.
In the early days of the Libyan revolution, I asked Chris to be our envoy to the rebel opposition. He arrived on a cargo ship in the port of Benghazi and began building our relationships with Libya's revolutionaries. He risked his life to stop a tyrant, then gave his life trying to help build a better Libya. The world needs more Chris Stevenses. I spoke with his sister, Ann, this morning, and told her that he will be remembered as a hero by many nations.
Sean Smith was an Air Force veteran. He spent 10 years as an information management officer in the State Department, he was posted at The Hague, and was in Libya on a brief temporary assignment. He was a husband to his wife Heather, with whom I spoke this morning. He was a father to two young children, Samantha and Nathan. They will grow up being proud of the service their father gave to our country, service that took him from Pretoria to Baghdad, and finally to Benghazi.
The mission that drew Chris and Sean and their colleagues to Libya is both noble and necessary, and we and the people of Libya honor their memory by carrying it forward. This is not easy. Today, many Americans are asking – indeed, I asked myself – how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be.
But we must be clear-eyed, even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group – not the people or Government of Libya. Everywhere Chris and his team went in Libya, in a country scarred by war and tyranny, they were hailed as friends and partners. And when the attack came yesterday, Libyans stood and fought to defend our post. Some were wounded. Libyans carried Chris' body to the hospital, and they helped rescue and lead other Americans to safety. And last night, when I spoke with the President of Libya, he strongly condemned the violence and pledged every effort to protect our people and pursue those responsible.
 
The speech is worth reading or viewing in full.  We don't have room because we also have to cover a Congressional hearing today.  One part of it we do need to emphasize:
 
Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet. America's commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear – there is no justification for this, none. Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith. And as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace.
 
 
As Mike noted last night, Hillary made a strong statement yesterday.  Today was not, for her, grab the mop and try to clean up her mess.  That's not true of everyone.  Some felt that elements of the US government were apologizing.  Cedric and Wally noted this morning that some elements appeared to be taking US Vice President Joe Biden's speech at the DNC last Thursday and changing, "If you attack innocent Americans we will follow you to the end of the earth" and changing it to, "If you attack innocent Americans we will follow you to the end of the earth to grovel, apologize and beg you to forgive us."  This impression is in part due to a statement that was issued but shouldn't have been and the failure of the White House to address the attacks yesterday -- verbally address them to the nation.  The failure to do so allowed Barack Obama's Republican challenger in the presidential race, Mitt Romney, to dominate the news cycle last night when he issued the following statement:
 
I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi.  
It's disgraceful that the Obama Administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.
 
 
 
 
The attacks were also noted this morning by US House Rep Buck McKeon who is also the Chair of the House Armed Services Committee.  At the start of this morning's hearing, Chair McKeon observed, "This morning, we're reminded once more of what a dangerous world we live in and the risk many Americans take to serve our country abroad.  My thoughts and prayers together with those of the members of the Committee are with the families of the loved ones of those that we've lost in Libya."
 
With that noted, McKeon then moved on to the point of the hearing: Is anyone learning?
 
The short answer is: No, no one is.
 
The hearing was about the financial costs of war and the oversight needed to ensure that
the money is spent appropriately and as intended.  The Defense Dept has largely washed its hand of Iraq and the State Dept now is the department spending billions of US tax dollars on Iraq.  This has thrown Congress which appears unsure of exactly how to examine the work done in Iraq -- instead of a turf war, it's more of a hot potato with no one wanting to touch it.  But the Defense Dept continues to spend huge sums in Afghanistan and it is thought and hoped that somehow the Iraq War and the ten years already in Afghanistan at least provided some lessons in how to improve the financial aspects of warfare.  We're talking contracting, as DoD's Assistant Secretary on Logistics and Material Readiness Alan F. Estevez made clear in his remarks. 
 
It's good that there was some clarity somewhere in his remarks.  Pacific Command and the Japanese tsunami?  No one is really interested when you're supposed to be talking about money spent on warfare.  In fact, not only are they not interested but the Committee appeared to collectively eye roll as they pondered whether or not the tsunami was brought up because that's the only thing DoD can point to with pride when it comes to spending?
 
Estevez and Brig Gen Craig Crenshaw turned in a joint-written statement.  They delivered individual statements orally to the Committee.  Crenshaw stated that they had addressed past mistakes in their joint-statement.  It would be good if they had done that.  The Congressional Research Service's Moshe Schwartz would testify that experts were stating, "DoD must change the way it thinks about contracting."  But there was nothing that indicated it had or that it was trying to.
 
And at the root of that is the refusal to learn from past mistakes.  You can't learn from them if you can't admit them.  The refusal to acknowledge the past mistakes may be sadder than Estevez desperation for a 'win' that led to his highlighting Pacific Command's response to Japan's tsunami.  A statement that on its first page of text (the actual first page was a cover sheet) quickly states, "Without dwelling on the past . . ."?  That's a joint-statement that's not going to be admitting to much of anything. 
 
 
So no, in the joint-written statement, Estevez and Crenshaw do not "acknowledge our past weakneesses."  And this failure to do so -- this repeated failure -- may go a long way towards explaining why money continues to be wasted -- why large sums of money continue to be wasted.
 
 
Large sums of money?
 
Schwartz's testimony also included,  "According to DoD data, from Fiscal Year 2008 to Fiscal Year 2011, contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan represented 52% of the total force -- averaging 190,000 contractors to 175,000 uniformed personnel.  Over the last five fiscal years, DoD obligations for contracts performed just in the Iraq and Afghanistan areas of operation ($132 billion) exceeded total contract obligations of any other US federal agency.
 
 
The Congressional Research Service had three recommendations:
 
1) Senior leadership must focus on articulating the importance of contract support in a sustained and consistent manner.
 
2) The Professional Military Education curriculum must incorporate courses on operational contract support throughout its various efforts.
 
3) Training exercises must incorporate contractors playing the role that they would play on the battlefield.
 
Those are good suggestions but let's explain why they're needed before we evaluate them.  They're needed because oversight of contractors is not valued (that's the culture) and what happens is, once in the war zone, someone gets appointed to do oversight.  This person hasn't been trained in oversight of contractors.  These observations were made in this morning's hearing.
 
These observations have been made in repeated Congressional hearings, before the Commission on Wartime Contracting and elsewhere.  They are not new.  If you've attended even one hearing on contracting in war zones, you've heard the three suggestions in some form already.
 
This stuck in the same worn groove aspect was slightly touched on in the hearing when the Government Accountability Office's Tim DiNapoli noted that it was June 2010 when the GAO "called for a cultural change -- one that emphasized an awareness of contractor support throughout the department.  Consistent with this message, in January 2011, the Secretary of Defense identified the need to institutionalize changes to bring about such a change." 
 
But nothing changes.  And getting answers is like pulling teeth.  For example, grasp that US House Rep Susan Davis is asking basic questions and watch the witness run from these basic issues.
 
US House Rep Susan Davis: As you've gone through a number of these areas, I think some of it falls into a category that we might call common sense.  I mean, obviously you need to plan, you need to have data, you need to have oversight.  And yet I guess to someone just listening in on that, they'd say, "Well yeah."  I mean what gets in the way of those good practices?  And I wonder if you could talk more about the different kinds of contracting then and where that becomes a greater problem because if it's related to the war fighter and contingency operations, I would think in many cases that's a difficulty, as I think you've expressed, of planning.  You don't necessarily know what your situation is going to be until you're in the middle of it.  And on the other hand, if you're talking about operational, it would seem to me that that's -- there's enough standardization in that -- that you shouldn't have to go back to the drawing board every time. So can you help?  What gets in the way of those different areas that we're not able to, I guess, accomplish what we really want to do?
 
Moshe Schwartz There are a number of issues that you raised and I think it's an excellent question.  One of the challenges that has occured in Afghanistan is that there's a frequent rotation among personnel -- uniform personnel as well as contractors, as well as civilian personnel -- and so often someone who gets to theater who has never engaged in a counter-insurgency operation --  which Afghanistan has the policy now being pursued there -- it takes them a learning curve and they say, "Oh, I get it.  I see what's going on.  And now I'm three months from going home."  And then someone else comes in who may not have had that learning curve.  That definitely has an impact  of the ability for continuity in some of these common sense issues.  For example, contracting in war time is fundamentally different than contracting in peace time so someone who has done contracting for years and years here to build a road is thinking: Cost, schedule, performance.  When they get to Afghanistan, perhaps cost, schedule and performance and perhaps, "Wait, stealing the goods. We can't take them to court.  What effect is this having on the local village?"  And when they start getting up to speed, as I mentioned, they start rotating back.  That's one problem.  A second problem is sometimes you hae personnel who, because of the rotation policy, don't have the experience in that area.  When I was in Afghanistan last summer, a former helo pilot was working on contracting strategy.  He had never done that before.  Incredibly talented individual but it took him also some time to get up to speed.  So I think that is one factor that  makes a difference.  I think the other factor sometimes is simply exposure to the magnitude of what one might be dealing with.  For example --
 
US House Rep Susan Davis:  I guess, so where -- Are there, because you talk about gaps in data and in that collection process, how do you mitigate these issues which are, again, they're obvious.  There's a certain level of uncertainty that you can't necessarily plan for.  How do -- What's the best way of getting around that, if that's the issue.  The other thing, and I just wanted to see if you had some thoughts on or a sesne of what is the cost of unpreparedness and the lack of planning?  Has anybody tried to quantify that? And particularly to the extent that we obviously need to do better planning and there is a cost to that as well.  So where is that balance and what do we think that is?  I mean is that 10% of the budget?  Is that 3% of the budget?  So the first one, how do you get around those issues that you mentioned that are obviously difficult to plan for?
 
Moshe Schwartz:  Let me address just the data.  Would you like me to respond to that one?
 
US House Rep Susan Davis:  Yeah.
 
Moshe Schwartz:  So there a couple of strategies that have been suggested that could assist.  One is that what's happened often in Afghanistan is that you have somebody collecting data but they don't know how to get it into the system because, for example, the Sidney System, the system that is being used in Afghanistan, they're not familiar with it.  The user interface hasn't been done in a way so that someone who isn't experienced in programming is necessarly capable of using effectively.  In that area, training and education can make a substantial difference as well as [. . .]
 
And on and on he yammered.  Want numbers?  Don't ask the witnesses because despite the fact that they should have an answer to these questions, should arrive for the hearing with answers to these questions, they never provide them.  Davis went over her time in the excerpt above.  When Schwartz was finally done yammering, she would quickly ask if -- by hand in the air -- could anyone indicate that they had a rough idea of the cost that was being talked about?  No one could.
 
Another point to note, we said DoD does less.  DoD is not gone from Iraq.  And this was briefly noted in the hearing.
 
US House Rep Mike Coffman:  I think my first question would be how many contractors -- or is anybody aware of how many contractors we have in Iraq today
 
Alan Estevez:  Iraq today, end of third-quarter number is about 7,300.  DoD contractors.
 
US House Rep Mike Coffman:  7,300.  And what kind of missions are they performing at this time?
 
Alan Estevez:  They're still doing some base support, delivery of food and fuel, some private security, some security missions.
 
Those are not State Dept contractors, those are DoD contractors.
 
Let's not Estevez's title again: Assistant Secretary of Defense Logistics and Material Readiness.  He is qualified to answer that question.  He did answer that question. 
 
Quickly, if US House Rep Dennis Kucinich wanted to contribute anything before he leaves Congress (he lost his primary and has no election to run in), he could chair or co-chair a hearing on what we learn from the Iraq War that deals with realities and not just dollars and cents.  US House Rep Lynne Woolsey, who decided not to seek re-election, would make a good chair for such a hearing.
 

Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"6 dead, 13 wounded so far today"
"Iraq's persecuted LGBT community"
"The teachers strike"
"NBC disrespects 9-11 twice today"
"The issues"
"full service: hollywood and prostitution"
"West Nile"
"Paul Simon's Graceland"
"Hepburn, Tracy, Burr, prostitutes and more"
"What does it mean?"
"Another death at Guantanamo"
"Who's the grown up in the room?"
"Groveling 101"
"THIS JUST IN! LEAD FROM WEAKNESS!"

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Groveling 101


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

YESTERDAY, U.S. EMBASSIES IN EGYPT AND LIBYA WERE ATTACKED AND U.S. AMBASSADOR J. CHRISTOPHER STEVENS WAS KILLED IN LIBYA.

IN A SIGN OF HOW LACKING IN LEADERSHIP THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS, FOLLOWING THE ATTACKS, THIS IS THE STATEMENT THAT WAS PUT OUT:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others
JUST LAST THURSDAY, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN DECLARED, "IF YOU ATTACK INNOCENT AMERICANS WE WILL FOLLOW YOU TO THE END OF THE EARTH."

APPARENTLY HE WAS CUT OFF AND THE FULL STATEMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN, "IF YOU ATTACK INNOCENT AMERICANS WE WILL FOLLOW YOU TO THE END OF THE EARTH TO GROVEL, APOLOGIZE AND BEG YOU TO FORGIVE US."




THIS IS WHAT HAS PISSED OFF SO MANY ABOUT CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O'S TENURE IN THE OVAL OFFICE, IT'S BEEN A NON-STOP APOLOGY.  AMERICANS ARE THREATENED, HARMED OR KILLED AND IT'S 'OH, WE ARE SO SORRY THAT SOMEONE SPAT ON OR PISSED ON OR BURNED OR SAID THEY WOULD THE KORAN OR DREW A CARTOON OR . . .'  NO.  GROW THE HELL UP.  IF YOU RESORT TO VIOLENCE, YOU RESORT TO VIOLENCE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, NO ONE ELSE.  THERE IS NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR TENDER LITTLE FEELINGS AFTER YOU'VE WOUNDED OR KILLED PEOPLE AND THE NON-STOP APOLOGY TOUR THAT BARRY O KICKED OFF IN 2009 LEAVES A LOT OF AMERICANS LESS THAN HAPPY.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Senator Murray Urges Passage of Veterans Jobs Corps Bill
Bill would help train and hire veterans as police officers, firefighters, and at our national and state parks
 
 
Watch video of Senator Murray's speech HERE.
 
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Tuesday, September 11th, Senator Patty Murray,
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, spoke on the Senate floor in support of the Veterans Jobs Corps Act of 2012, which she is co-sponsoring. At a time when over 720,000 veterans are unemployed, this bill would increase training and      hiring opportunities for our nation's veterans, especially those from the post-9/11 era.
The  Veterans Jobs Corps Act would help put our veterans back to work as police
officers, fire fighters, and other first responders, positions that our communities are in
sore need of after 85 percent of law enforcement agencies were forced to reduce their budget in the past year. In addition, this bill would also help train and hire veterans to
help restore and protect our national, state, and tribal forests, our parks, our coastal
areas, wildlife refuges, and VA cemeteries. Senator Murray pointed out that the bill contains ideas from both sides of the aisle, is fully paid for with bipartisan spending offsets, and should not be controversial at a time when our veterans continue to
struggle. The bill is expected to be considered by the full Senate this week.
 
And we're jumping to Senator Murray's remarks on the bills:
 
 
Senator Patty Murray: "Our veterans have what it takes to not only find work, but to excel in the workforce of the 21st century."
"We cannot and should not let that training – or the millions of dollars we have invested in these men and women - go to waste. But in far too many instances that's what has happened. Too often, on the day our service members are discharged, we as a nation pat them on their back for their service, without also giving them a helping hand into the job market. This has to end."
"I urge my colleagues to build on the successes we have had in passing bipartisan veterans employment legislation. Veterans returning home all across the country are watching us and they certainly don't have time to let politics block their path to a job that will help serve their community."
The full text of Senator Murray's speech:
"Mr. President, last Friday, we were again reminded of the difficult employment picture our nation's veterans continue to face.
"In the monthly unemployment report for August, we saw that across the country there are over 720,000 unemployed veterans.
"It's a number that includes over 225,000 post-9/11 veterans - many of whom have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan - and have sacrificed time and again for our safety.
"Put simply, this shouldn't be the case.
"Our veterans have what it takes to not only find work, but to excel in the workforce of the 21st century.
"In fact, the characteristics that our veterans exemplify read like the job qualifications you might find at any major company or small business. That's because they have: leadership ability; discipline; and technical skills.
"They know the value of teamwork like few others, and they certainly know how to perform under pressure.
"And they have these skills because, as a country, we have invested in training them.
"We cannot and should not let that training – or the millions of dollars we have invested in these men and women - go to waste.
"But in far too many instances that's what has happened.
"Too often, on the day our service members are discharged, we as a nation pat them on their back for their service, without also giving them a helping hand into the job market.
"This has to end.
"And Mr. President, this Senate has taken bipartisan action in the past to begin to change the way our veterans transition from the battlefield to the
job market.
"We were able to pass the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which I co-authored, and which was signed into law last year.
"Importantly, that new law transforms the way that we provide transition training to our service members when they leave the military.
"It also includes a provision that today in my home state, and all across the country, is providing thousands of dollars in tax credits to businesses that are hiring veterans.
"In addition to that bill, we have also worked to build partnerships with private sector businesses in order to tap into the tremendous amount of goodwill that companies have toward our returning heroes.
"Sometimes this is a simple as working with companies to show them easy steps that help bring veterans aboard, like ensuring they are advertising job openings with local veterans service organizations and on local military bases, or having veterans in their HR departments. Or just having
someone on staff that can help translate the experience of veterans into the work a company does.
"Time and again - at big companies like Microsoft and Amazon – or much smaller businesses I have seen these steps make an impact.
"Particularly, when veterans unemployment rates among young veterans ages 18-24 continues to hover around 20% action must be taken. Because that is one in five of our young veterans who can't find a job to support their family; one in five that don't have an income that provides stability; and one in five that don't have work that provides them with the self-esteem and
pride that is so critical to their transition home.
"It's a problem that manifests itself in veterans homelessness, in broken families, and far too often in our veterans taking their own lives.
"It's a problem that neither the veterans themselves, nor government
alone can solve.
"But it is also one we need to do everything we can to address.
"And here in the Senate that means a bipartisan 'all hands on deck' strategy.
"And that is exactly what the Veterans Jobs Corps represents.
"Over the next five years, the Veterans Jobs Corps will increase training and hiring opportunities for all veterans using successful job training programs from across the country.
"It will help hire qualified veterans as police officers, fire fighters and other first responders at a time when 85 percent of law enforcement agencies were forced to reduce their budget in the past year.
"It will also help train and hire veterans to help restore and protect our national, state, and tribal forests, our parks, and other public lands.
"All at a time when we face a $10 billion maintenance backlog for our public lands – a backlog I have seen personally in many of the parks and lands in my home state of Washington.
"And because training and hiring our veterans has never been, and should never be, an effort that divides us along partisan lines - the Veterans Jobs Corps takes good ideas from both sides of the aisle.
"In fact, the bill will provide veterans with access to the internet and computers to conduct job searches at one-stop centers and certain other locations an idea championed by Senator Toomey. It will help guarantee
that rural and disabled veterans' have access to veterans' employment representatives a bill from Senator Tester. It will increase transition assistance programs for eligible veterans and their spouses a bill that was introduced by Senator Boozman. And it will require consideration of a veteran's training or experience gained while serving on active duty when they seek certification and licenses a bill cosponsored by Democrats and Republicans.
"This bill says that all good ideas are welcome, because our veterans need all the help they can get.
"And it is also fully paid for in a bipartisan way.
"It has been endorsed most recently by the National Association of Police
Organizations but but there are also many veterans service organizations that stand behind this bill.
"And they do so because they know that helping veterans find employment is critical
to meeting so many of the challenges they face returning home.
"You know, Mr. President our veterans don't ask for a lot.
"Often times they come home and don't even acknowledge their own sacrifices.
"My own father never talked about his time fighting in World War II.
"In fact, I never saw his Purple Heart, or knew that he had a wallet with shrapnel in it,
or a diary that detailed his time in combat, until after he had died and my family
gathered to sort through his belongings.
"But our veterans shouldn't have to ask.
"We should know to provide for them.
"When my father's generation came home from the war – they came home to
opportunity.
"My father came home to a community that supported him.
"He came home to college - then to a job.
"A job that gave him pride.
"A job that helped him start a family.
"And one that ultimately led to me starting my own.
"That's the legacy of opportunity this Senate has to live up to for today's veterans.
"I urge my colleagues to build on the successes we have had in passing bipartisan veterans employment legislation.
"Veterans returning home all across the country are watching us and they certainly
don't have time to let politics block their path to a job that will help serve their
community.
"Surely, this is something that we can show them that we can come
together on, no matter how close or far away we are from an election.
"Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor."
 
 
Kathleen Hunter (Bloomberg News) reports the bill passed the Senate today with 95 senators voting for it and one voting against it.
 
Today the White House issued the following list of nominations:
 
 
Robert Stephen Beecroft, of California, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Iraq.
T. Charles Cooper, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, vice Jeffrey J. Grieco.
Rose Eilene Gottemoeller, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, vice Ellen O. Tauscher, resigned.
F. Scott Kieff, of Illinois, to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission for the term expiring June 16, 2020, vice Daniel Pearson, term expired.
Joshua D. Wright, of Virginia, to be a Federal Trade Commissioner for the term of seven years from September 26, 2012, vice J. Thomas Rosch, term expiring.
 
 
Robert S. Beecroft is Barack Obama's 4th nominee to be the US Ambassador to Iraq.  Senator Barack Obama participated in this process by voting to confirm presidential nominees.  But Barack's only been president since January 2009 -- not yet four years.  No, it is not common for a president to have to repeatedly nominate people to the same post over and over in one term.  And, no, no one died in the post. 
 
When Barack was sworn in, Ryan Crocker was the US Ambassador to Iraq.  Barack nominated Chris Hill who, once confirmed and in Iraq, quickly set a record for afternoon naps.  When it was realized that Chris Hill wasn't working, James Jeffrey was nominated.  Then Jeffrey wanted out and Brett McGurk was nominated.  But he withdrew his name, as Press TV notes "over a sex scandal" and  Peter Baker (New York Times) notes, when "Democrats were unwilling to defend him because he previously worked for President George W. Bush."

Currently, Robert Stephen Beecroft  is the Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Baghdad.  This means he's been running things since the US has no Ambassador to Iraq at present.  Yesterday, Barack Obama nominated Beecroft to be the latest in his conga line of US Ambassadors to Iraq.  Unlike Chris Hill and Brett McGurk, Beecroft actually speaks Arabic.


From June 6, 2008 through June 4, 2011, he was the US Ambassador to Jordan -- he was sworn in to that post July 17, 2008 with his wife Anne and their daughter Blythe present as then-Secretary of State Condi Rice conducted the ceremony.   Their daughter attended Brigham Young University, as did Robert S. Beecroft (if you're wondering, yes, he is a Mormon and his missionary work was done in Venezuela).  Anne and Robert Beecroft married in 1983, Blythe is their oldest child (22) followed by Warren, Sterling and Grace.  After practicing law for six years (UC Berkeley Law School, 1988), Robert Beecroft  joined the diplomatic corps in 1994.
Iraq, we were told, was a democracy -- or at least an emerging one.  If that were true, it certainly would have needed a steady hand in terms of the US diplomatic mission.  It didn't get that.  And possibly that's allowed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Maliki Thugettes to believe they could get away with anything?
 
This believe that they can get away with anything and that others have no rights and no right to expect safety or human kindness goes a long way towards explaining how members of a group that was an oppressed majority less than ten years ago is now represented by thugs who want to harm others, not lift Iraq to a higher place.
 
 
 
First Iraqi Man:  They came to me face-to-face and told me that I have to stop being gay otherwise we will kill you. 
 
Second Iraqi Man: They made every excuse to get us out of the car.  They took us away and five men started raping us. 
 
 
Natalia Antelava: In a tiny stuffy room, Ahmed, Nancy and Allou are hiding from their families and the police.  All three have received death threats.  Ahmed has not left this room for over two months now. 
 
Ahmed: I came here because I was gay and I was threatened by my family -- my immediate family -- and some unknown guys from my neighborhood.  The situation a few years ago was very bad.  But at that time, they did not pay any attention to gays.  Now they have nothing to do but look for gays -- to kill them.
 
Allou: The threat is much bigger now than before.  It's not only the militias now.  It's the police, the government who are going after us.
 
Natalia Antelava: I really wish we could show you their faces.  Ahmed's got big, dark, worried eyes on his thin face.  Nancy's really pretty and I would have never guessed that she was born male.  And Allou's got this very trendy haircut which would be completely normal in the West but here in Iraq, this sort of hair could get you killed.  Nancy is especially vulnerable in Iraq.  Born a transgender, she dreams of a sex change operation but it is impossible to have it done in Iraq, she says, and she has no way of leaving the country.
 
Nancy: My mom tried to persuade me to act like a man because I am supposed to be a man   I couldn't.  She didn't know what was inside me.  She couldn't understand that.  I can't tell you how many times I've been raped at checkpoints -- with the police, it's countless.  The worst incident was at a checkpoint on Al Sadun street.  They asked me for my ID, then asked me to get out of the car.  It was dark.  They put me against the blast wall.  Nine of them raped me.   There was nothing I could do.  If I had resisted, they would have arrested me.
 
Natalia Antelava:  If you could have anything that you wanted, what kind of life would you want to have?
 
Nancy: I want to live the life I want.  I want to be a woman and to be treated like one.  I am a human being and this is my right.
 
Natalia Antelava:  It's not just transgender, Allou had been raped too.   And I heard many other similar stories -- gay men, with even a slightly feminine appearance say they're often raped by police at checkpoints.
 
Allou:  I am so tired, so sad.  I have no freedom.  I can't say that I am gay.  I can't live my life.  I can't go home.  I have to stay here doing nothing and just wait.
 
Natalia Antelava:  He doesn't know what he's waiting for.  The situation in Iraq he says is only getting worse and without the support of international organizations, they can't find the way out of the country. They appear regularly without a warning. Each  neighborhood gets its own hit list with  names and addresses of local residents who are believed to be gay.  Each time, it drives the already hidden gay community here further underground and further into panic.  Each time, one of the gays told me, it signals the beginning of a new witch hunt.  Radical milita groups are believed to be behind this hit list.  Although officially they've been disbanded, militias still pose the greatest threat to homosexuals. But those we spoke to say that they're just as fearful of countless police and military checkpoints that are supposed to be making Baghdad safe.  This checkpoint is manned by the Interior Ministry troops.  But in Iraq, one's uniform never tells you the full story.   In this country, you can be a police man by day, a militia man by night.  These blurred lines and mixed allegiances have made it easy for the government to blame militia groups for the killings of gays. But we've discovered evidence that directly links the police with attacks on gays in Iraq. Qais is gay and a former police man. He told me he had been ordered to go after homosexuals.  He couldn't refuse and so he quit his job.
 
Qais: In 2006, 2007 and 2008, we were busy fighting terrorsm.  We didn't pay attention to gays.  On top of it, the Iraqi government had to respect the rule of law when the Americans and the British were here.  But now?  They have a lot of free time and the police are going after gays.
 
Natalia Antelava:  Have you ever been called to arrest gays or kill gays or go after gays in any way?
 
Qais:  Yes, twice.  We had to arrest this guy.  He was having an argument with someone.  Once they arrested him, they accused him of being gay. We were told to send him to another town where he was wanted for being gay.  We sent him to that town and he disappeared.  His family came to ask about him and we sent them to another town where they could not find him. Then they got a death certificate from the police but they never got the body.
 
Natalia Antelava:  With so much secrecy, fear and loathing, it's difficult to establish the exact level of the government's involvement in the persecution. But 17 gay men interviewed for this investigation said they believed they were being singled out and hunted by the state.  All see the police as a major threat.  All have recently had friends or boyfriends killed.  All said arrests were still happening.  Until recently, Ghaith worked a a police station.  One day, he came to work to find his boyfriend in a pre-trial detention cell.
 
Ghaith: Being gay is not illegal in Iraq, it's not a crime. But he was told he was arrested because he was gay.  They call gays "puppies." They would beat him, saying,  "Puppies are destroying our country.  We must rid our country of you. We must kill you all.   He was in the police station for a week.
 
Natalia Antelava: The last time  Ghaith saw his boyfriend was the day before he died.
 
Ghaith:  I was upset. I lost all control, had a fight with the guards.  I was screaming, "Why did you kill my lover!"  They said, "Since you're like him, you should be dead too."  I started looking for any document related to his death.  I told them I was going to international human rights organizations and tell them everything.
 
Natalia Antelava:  Ghaith is now in hiding, terrorfied that he is next.
 
 
Credit to the BBC which has been the world leader on this issue for broadcast outlets. No other broadcast news outlet has done as much to raise this issue or to report on the violence as the BBC has. In print form, the Denver Post has done more than any other daily newspaper and Boston's The Edge has done more than any other weekly (especially reporter Kilian Melloy).  And I don't want to take anything away from those three news outlets but it is a real shame that their strong work has not been matched by others in what is not a one day or one month or one year story but what is a story that's been going on since the start of the war and a story whose latest wave of persecution has been going on for nearly four years.  A big thank you to those who have done such a great job covering the story (and there are others who have -- especially among the LGBT press) but it is shameful that so many outlets -- so many name news outlets -- have elected to ignore this story -- repeatedly ignore it.



RECOMMEND: "Iraq snapshot"