Friday, May 08, 2015

Cranky's planning what?

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



THE HIGHLY SECRETIVE CRANKY CLINTON WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT.

SHE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK TO THE PRESS.

SHE DOESN'T WANT TO BE ACCOUNTABLE.

SHE DOESN'T WANT TO BE TRANSPARENT.

BUT SHE WANTS TO BE THE PRESIDENT?

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ATTACK ON AMERICA IS SHE SECRETLY PLOTTING?



FROM THE TCI WIRE:


We've been noting the threats Shi'ite officials have made, threats of violence, against the United States over a bill in the House which calls for the Sunnis and the Kurds to be armed independently of Baghdad since Haider al-Abadi, prime minister of Iraq, has failed to keep his promise to distribute the US provided equipment and weapons equally to the Shi'ites, Kurds and Sunnis.  See yesterday's snapshot and this from this morning especially.

Mustafa Habib (Niqash) reports on the controversy:


The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and a number of his ministers denounced the plan and some prominent Shiite Muslim figures, such as the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, threatened US interests with violence. The military wing of al-Sadr's supporters organised parades in two southern Iraqi cities in a demonstration of strength. And one of the best known female MPs, Hanan al-Fatlawi, a member of the State of Law coalition previously headed by al-Maliki, said that the US embassy in Baghdad should be closed and the US ambassador expelled.



[. . .] 
When al-Abadi took on the Prime Ministership he declared his willingness to form a National Guard in Iraq. Such a force would effectively allow local people to form their own military units and police their own areas and was considered an antidote for the marginalization of Iraq's Sunnis and Kurds that seemed to be one of al-Maliki's central policies.



Two months after al-Abadi's government formed, the different parties in Parliament agreed that the National Guard should happen, with tens of thousands of members; around 70,000 from Iraq's Shiite-dominated provinces, 50,000 fighters from Sunni-dominated provinces and further additions from the Iraqi Kurdish forces. The plan was to have the National Guard armed and controlled by the Iraqi government, so that all of those currently fighting in, and being paid through, informal militias would be back under state control.


But that was months ago. 


From Congress to the State Dept, if you missed it, there's a propaganda war and supposedly ISIS is winning.  Like anyone could ever be better at propaganda than the US State Dept?



They released the following video to 'honor' World Press Day.





For those with streaming issues, the piece is basically a silent film -- set to bad music.  It's one screen shot after another with title cards.


Journalists often put their lives and safety at risk to keep the world informed 

In Iraq and Syria, ISIS has kidnapped, tortured, and murdered journalists.

ISIS has used these acts of brutality to terrorize journalists, extort ransoms, and silence reporting on their atrocities.

Here are some of the Iraqi and Syrian journalists whom ISIS has killed.

Yasser Faysal al-Joumaili, an Iraqi freelance cameraman who was filming the fighting in the Aleppo province. 

On 4 December 2013, he was detained and shot by ISIS at the Syria-Turkey border.

Bashar al-Nuaimi, a cameraman with al-Mosuliya TV. 

On 24 October 2013, he was shot to death near his home in Mosul. 

Nawras al-Nouaimi, an Iraqi presenter working for al-Mosuliya TV, covering stories related to women and children. 

On 15 December 2013, she was shot near her home returning from school

Employees at the Salaheddin TV station -- cameraman Jamal Abdulnasir; Arabic language expert Ahmed Khattab Omar, newsroom director Raad Yassin al-Baddi; archives director Mohammed Abdul-Hameed and news anchor Wassan al-Azzawi.  

On 23 December 2013, following a car bomb detonation outside the TV station near Tikrit, suicide bombers entered the station and shot all five before detonating their vests. 

Al-Mutaz Billah Ibrahim, an anchor with the Sham News Network. 

On 4 May 2014, he was executed after being held hostage and tortured for over two months.

Bassam al-Rayes, a freelance cameraman who was shooting footage of the Syrian opposition.

On 30 June 2014, he was abducted, tortured, and murdered. 

ISIS Threatens Journalists with:
Torture
Crucifixion
Threats against their families
Murder

Under ISIS rule, there is no freedom of speech, there is no truth beyond what they say, and there is no such thing as mercy. 

Think Again Turn Away



The State Dept ignored the assassination of Iraqi journalist Thaer Ali last week in Mosul by the Islamic State.  Ignored it all last week -- in one briefing after another.  But then created the video above to pretend to care about Iraq and journalists (and Syria).

They don't care.  They're little liars.  Ned Parker had to flee Iraq last month due to threats against him as a result of his reporting.  The threats came from Shi'ite militias supporting the Iraqi government.

They don't care about that, not the State Dept.




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  • Thursday, May 07, 2015

    ISIS smacks dat ass!

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


    IN A TWEET THE ISLAMIC STATE WROTE THEY WANTED THE HEAD OF FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O.

    REACHED FOR COMMENT, THE ISLAMIC STATE REPLIED, "'HEAD'? WE SAID 'HEAD'?  MAN, WE WERE SUPPOSED TO SAY ASS!  WE WANT HIS ASS! WE WANT HIS SWEET ASS!





    FROM THE TCI WIRE:


    Day after day, elements of the Iraqi government have threatened violence against the United States and the only ones denounced by Barack Obama have been members of the US Congress.

    Instead of standing with the Congress or with the country against threats made by Shi'ite leaders and officials, Barack's rushed to insist he's not a part of that.

    As President of the United State, he is a part of it.

    As President of the United States and an American citizen, he is a part of it.

    And he needs to get off his knees and stand upright.

    America and the world needs to see him address this issue and stop being such a little weakling who gets pushed around on the international stage repeatedly.

    Barack is arming these same factions which are publicly threatening violence against the United States of America.

    And he continues to arm them and continues to refuse to address these public threats to the United States and its citizens.

    That is appalling.  That is shameful.  That is shirking the duties of his office.

    A real leader would have publicly threatened to stop the supply of all weapons if Haider al-Abadi did not publicly rebuke the threats being made against the United States.

    But Barack has done and said nothing except play Eddie Haskell rushing to the Shi'ites to insist, 'Hey, I don't like the Congress either.'

    It is disgraceful and it is shameful.

    In his seventh year as president, he should already know that it is his obligation to rebuke any public threat against the United States.

    He looks like a weak and small coward.  And the problem there is that he represents the United States on the international stage.

    The man who elevated fading Russian leader Putin to a rival -- we warned as it went down that this was happening -- is not afraid to talk smack in some cases.

    But he's a coward with regards to Iraq.

    And American really doesn't have time for him to learn how to stand up.

    History will remember that while one leader of this Shi'ite lawmaking faction and that one held rallies threatening the United States with violence, not only did Barack never object but he continued to supply them with weapons -- including weapons beyond guns, weapons like F-16s which could be used to fly to the United States and attack America on US soil.





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    "THIS JUST IN! CRANKY IS GASSY!"



    Wednesday, May 06, 2015

    Bill offers advice on Cranky

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

    NO ONE WANTS TO RUN WITH CRANKY CLINTON.


    REACHED FOR COMMENT FIRST MAN IN WAITING BILL CLINTON INSISTED "IT'S NOT THAT BAD RUNNING WITH HER.  YEAH, SHE GETS GASSY AND STARTS TO FART WITH EVERY STEP AND YOU'LL WANT TO RUN A LITTLE FASTER SO YOU WON'T BE DOWNWIND OF HER BUT THAT'S REALLY ALL."

    SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, RUN FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S NOMINATION, JUST RUAN A LITTLE AHEAD OF HILLARY AND YOU'LL BE FINE.


    FROM THE TCI WIRE:


    Was Barzani being kind when he spoke of strong support today from US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden?

    Let's hope he was being kind, being a nice guest when using terms like "success" to describe it.

    Because the reality is, Massoud was treated like crap.

    He was treated like something you stepped in and then tried to scrape off your shoe.


    The Kurdistan Regional Government and the Kurds should be offended on his behalf.

    Barack was his usual bitchy self.

    By now, don't we all expect that?

    How unimportant was the visit?

    I called a White House friend thinking stuff must have gone into a spam folder and I didn't have time to dig around for it.  Could he send me whatever press releases again?

    Really, there are none.

    There's this which is circulated to the press but so unimportant (or maybe they're taking a page from Haider al-Abadi's book) that it's not even up at the White House website:


    President Obama participated in a meeting at the White House with Vice President Biden and Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. They discussed a range of issues, including the campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL and the status of ongoing political initiatives to address the needs of the Iraqi people and foster cooperation across all communities. President Obama and Vice President Biden reaffirmed the United States' strong and continued support to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the Kurdish people. They also reaffirmed the United States' enduring commitment under the Strategic Framework Agreement to a united, federal, and democratic Iraq, as defined in the Iraqi constitution.
    President Obama and Vice President Biden each commended the bravery of the Kurdish Peshmerga and expressed condolences to the victims of ISIL throughout Iraq. President Barzani thanked President Obama and Vice President Biden for the significant military support that the United States has provided to Kurdish Peshmerga in coordination with the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Security Forces, including the military action taken to protect Erbil and other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan following the fall of Mosul. Both sides agreed on the importance of strengthening relations between Baghdad and Erbil and underscored their continued shared commitment to provide support to the millions of civilians displaced by the violence in the region.



    That's really it.

    "Hell," he told me, "POTUS didn't even put Barzani on the daily schedule."

    This is all Barzani has to show for the visit.




    This lousy little photo that's not even a good one of him, that doesn't even zoom in to frame him in the shot.


    You'll note Barack's mouth is running.

    As usual, he's pontificating about something.


    You'll note in this, the only photo released, the only real document of the meet-up, Barack's not even looking at Massoud Barzani.

    The Kurds were treated with more respect by War Criminal Henry Kissinger when he was selling them down the river years ago.

    This humiliation was done to appease Haider al-Abadi, the man Barack installed as Iraq's new prime minister, as well as various Shi'ite thugs in elected office.

    And Haider can be happy and proud . . . for about three seconds.

    This bitchery?

    That's all Barack can pull off today.

    It's not just that he's lame duck, it's that he's lame.

    Fools whine, "Why can't he work Congress like LBJ did?"


    LBJ was a member of Congress.


    Barack barely served two years before he started his endless campaign.

    He doesn't know a damn thing about Congress.


    His Senate career is as laughable as his legal career.

    He had no cases to point to with pride as an attorney.

    As a Senator he never even chaired a hearing -- not even of the Subcommittee he was over.

    He doesn't know anything beyond show up and smile for the camera.


    And his little stunt today?

    I called a few friends in Congress.

    They didn't find it amusing.

    The KRG has friends in Congress on both sides of the aisle.

    And the humiliating manner in which Barack treated Barzani?

    It's unleashing a lot of ill will.

    Members of Congress were already pissed that the White House refused to call out the threat made against them by Iraq's thuggish Minister of Transportation.

    And now Barack thinks he can insult the leader of the KRG?

    Well he can.

    He did.

    But Barack doesn't get the last word.

    And all his bitchery did was enrage Congressional support for the KRG.

    That shouldn't be surprising.

    The last seven years demonstrate that Barack fails at everything he tries.

    No surprise that his effort to snub Barzani would, in the end, backfire as well.

    No joint press appearance for Barzani, no one-on-one photo op,  and, again, it didn't even make Barack's official daily schedule.

    It gets even worse.

    The photo we posted above?

    It made Joe Biden's Twitter feed.

    It made Brett McGurk's Twitter feed.

    It did not make The White House Twitter feed.

    It did not make the BarackObama Twitter feed.

    This is a huge insult.

    It's a gob of spit hurled onto Massoud Barzani's face.

    It makes as little sense as that ridiculous lime green sherbet like dress Susan Rice wore for a photo op on the White House lawn today.


    Again, the KRG and the Kurds should grasp just how rudely Barzani was treated by the White House today.


    They should remember, yet again, the White House is not their friend and Barack has never been their friend.

    More than anyone else, he used Massoud to sell The Erbil Agreement and that legal contract promised that Article 140 of the Constitution would finally be implemented.

    Barack gave his word.

    The fact that nearly five years later it still hasn't been implemented should have let the Kurds know they can never, ever trust Barack Obama.


    Someone should probably repeat that to Haider al-Abadi as well.

    I haven't seen any press coverage of the statement.

    But, especially in the US, I'm sure stupidity will run free.

    I'm sure it will be, "The White House backs Baghdad!"

    Barack talks out of both sides of his mouth as well as his ass.







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    "THIS JUST IN! CRANKY WANTS TO TWERK!"






    Tuesday, May 05, 2015

    Cranky wants to shake it

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



    CRANKY CLINTON IS SAID TO HAVE REVIVED THE SLEAZE FACTOR.

    REACHED FOR COMMENT, CRANKY NODDED HER HEAD FURIOUSLY, "YEAH, I'M BRINGING SLEAZEY BACK, AND CHEESEY BACK, AND GREASY BACK, AND BACK FAT BACK.  IN FACT, AT MY RALLIES, I WANT MY SUPPORTERS TO CHANT 'BACK IT UP! BACK IT UP! BACK IT UP!' AND I'LL BE TWERKING.  YOU HAVEN'T LIVED UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN ME TWERK AND SHAKE WHAT MY MOMMA GAVE ME!"




    FROM THE TCI WIRE:




    "Self-Defeating Brutality" is the name of Aki Peritz' essay on Iraq at Slate:




    Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was in the U.S. last month, begging for arms and cash in order to fight ISIS. His requests come none too soon; the Iraqi military is reportedly gearing up for a summer offensive against ISIS in Anbar Province. But the impending series of battles will result in little intelligence gathered for the conflict-to-come in Mosul, Syria, and elsewhere. This spells bad news for Baghdad, Washington—and Tehran.


    Why? Here’s one answer: Buried in a recent New York Times article about Iraq’s liberation of Tikrit from ISIS is this startling fact: The Iraqi militias battling ISIS took no prisoners of war. That was despite a fierce series of battles taking place in a dense urban area, resulting in hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties.
    To take zero prisoners during a major military operation probably means only one thing: Iranian-backed militias executed every single ISIS fighter they found under any and all circumstances. One spokesperson for the Badr brigade copped to as much. He said, “To be honest, everywhere we captured them we killed them because they were the enemy.”


    Read the entire essay and grasp the disaster that was the assault on Tikrit.


    For those who've forgotten, Tikrit was where the Iraqi government was supposed to show how strong their forces -- armies as well as the thugs in the militias like the Badr brigade.  The operation was going to move quickly, insisted the government.  And, by mid-week, the government was insisting that by Friday they would be in Tikrit.

    Didn't happen.

    Didn't happen in the second week.

    Weeks into the operation, Holly Williams (CBS News -- link is text and video) reported:





    A condition of the U.S. strikes is that the militias go home. Just outside Tikrit two weeks ago an Iraqi general -- Bahaa al-Azawi -- confidently told us that victory was days away.
    "We got the ability, we got the capability to defeat terrorism, and push them away from Iraq," al-Azawi said at the time.


    But the Tikrit offensive stalled -- even though one senior Iraqi politician told us ISIS may have only 20 fighters left in the city.


    Yeah, with minimal Islamic State members in Tikrit, they still couldn't pull it off.  Iran was calling the shots via Iranian Quds Force General Qasem Soeimani and flexing muscle -- or what passed for muscle -- and the attempt to take Tikrit took weeks.

    And might still be going on if Hadi al-Amiri had his way.

    Who?

    The Minister of Transportation most infamous in Nouri al-Maliki's second term for refusing to allow a plane to land in Baghdad because it had not waited hours for his son to board.

    He's still Minister of Transportation -- this despite the failures in transport in Iraq.  (During Nouri's first term, they used to make a show of train successes.  They gave up that pretense early on.)

    He also the head of the Bard brigade -- even though you weren't supposed to be allowed to run for Parliament if you were part of a militia.

    As head of the Bard brigade he sort-of directed the Tikrit operation (Qasem Soleimani really called the shots) and he publicly insisted, week after week, that they did not need US air strikes.

    Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi begged for US air strikes -- and the White house demanded Soleimani leave first -- and they were the only thing that saved the month-long operation from total failure.

    But it's not accurate to call it a "success."

    Not even all these weeks later.

    Zaid Al-Ali explores Tikrit at The New York Review of Books:


    The offensive to liberate Tikrit, launched in March 2015, involved a disparate group of armed groups, including regular forces, militias, volunteer fighters, local tribal forces, Iranian advisers, and US war planes. Throughout the campaign, dozens of bodies were transported daily to Wadi el-Salam, the world’s largest cemetery, in the Shia holy city of Najaf. Displaced Tikritis noted with consternation as Baghdad’s mainly Shia neighborhoods were lined with funeral notices for the young men who were dying in the battle to liberate their city.
    One month after ISIS’s defeat, many locals who had left still consider it too dangerous to return to Tikrit. Since the liberation, hundreds of criminals have been operating freely, looting and destroying property. In one district, more than a quarter of the homes were destroyed after its liberation, and reports of property destruction are still coming in. The elected provincial council and the governor have not been able to return to the city. Municipal services have yet to be restored and few businesses have reopened. Many Tikritis are furious at the army and the police’s failure to restore order, and the government’s refusal to acknowledge the problem. 


    And the failure inside the city may explain why so few have returned.  Mustafa Habib (Niqash) notes:



    A combination of pro-government forces expelled the Islamic State, or IS, group from Tikrit in early April. But as yet there's no real civilian life here, no schools open, hospitals, courts of justice or police stations active. Residents of the city who fled their homes some time ago – the city was largely empty when the security forces arrived to fight the IS group – remain displaced, in cities around Iraq waiting for an official decision as to whether they should return. In fact, the city is more like a ghost town at the moment, populated only by wraiths from the various kinds of security forces in charge of different areas around the city.

    Getting to Tikrit is hardly fun at the moment either. The soldiers deployed along the highways leading from Baghdad to Tikrit look terribly tired and they all seem to be in a bad mood. They certainly don't trust strangers. They act as though everyone coming through here may as well as be a member of the IS group, until they can prove otherwise.

    Once inside Tikrit, it's not particularly easy to move around. There are three types of security forces inside the city and each controls its own areas. The first and most powerful is composed of members of the unofficial Shiite Muslim militias, composed of volunteers who took up arms to fight the IS group. Those most obvious here are Hezbollah in Iraq, the League of the Righteous, (or Asaib Ahl al-Haq in Arabic) and the Najbaa brigades.

    The second strongest organisation in Tikrit is the official Iraqi army, including counter terrorism units and special forces. And the third group here are the local police, who appear to have only limited resources and powers.

    NIQASH was asked not to report which areas are under control of which groups for security reasons. Additionally all of the forces present in Tikrit are not happy to let those they consider “strangers” take pictures in the areas they supervise. After journalists reported on some members of the Shiite militias who burned and looted property and exacted their revenge on locals they thought were IS members, the militia men do not trust journalists. However both the Shiite militias and the soldiers were happy to give visitors pictures they had taken themselves.



    Despite the failures of the Tikrit operation, the high profile failures, nothing has been learned.







    ‫#‏الثورة_العراقية‬ :
    The Iranian Hadi Al-Amiri : We will get into Anbar without taking permission from any person
    What do you say to Al-Amiri


     · Comment · 
    • Denis Savic, Yaman Asfour, Abulmugheera Alkhateeb and 4 others like this.
  • Ayad Babakhan I say to Stinky Hadi Go FYS!!!

    • Abulmugheera Alkhateeb You may hurry to die Hadi with your troops ... Tomorrow is too soon.




    That lovely Hadi.  The thug's in the news today for other things as well -- apparently threatening the United States.  Rudaw reports:

    Iraqi Shiite leader Hadi Ameri, who is currently commanding Hashd al-Shaabi fighters in the Anbar military campaign against ISIS militants, has threatened “all parties working to dissolve Iraq.”
    Ameri’s controversial comments came days after a new bill introduced by Republicans in the US Congress called on the White House to directly arm and assist the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Sunni Arab tribes against the Islamic State.



    Rudaw, like nearly every other outlet, is wrong to designate the bill to Republicans in the US House of Representatives.  We went over this at length last night but we'll note this press release on the bill:








    H.R. 1735 Passes
    House Armed Services Committee
    60-2
    WASHINGTON - The House Armed Services today passed H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016 by a vote of 60-2.  Details of the bill can be found here.  Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the Committee, made the following statement on passage:

    "This is a bill the entire Committee can be proud of.  After a day of extensive debate, we have produced legislation that is the first step in a process of substantial reform at the Department of Defense.  Those reforms will enhance our military's efficiency and begin restoring its agility.  I look forward to bringing this legislation to the floor in the weeks ahead."  



    It passed the Committee on a vote of 60 in favor and 2 against.  That's not a "Republican bill" -- that's a bipartistan bill.

    The bill makes formal what Haider was supposed to have done.

    The US government has supplied Haider with weapons to fight the Islamic State.

    The weapons were supposed to go to the Shi'ites, yes, but also to the Sunni and Kurds.

    Haider's been more than a little greedy with the weapons. And the US Congress has covered this in one hearing after another.


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