Saturday, October 26, 2013

DC rally Saturday at noon


12pm This Saturday, 10/26, in front of Union Station, Washington, D.C.

A Rally Against Mass Surveillance








StopWatching.us is a coalition of more than 100 public advocacy organizations and companies from across the political spectrum. Join the movement at https://rally.stopwatching.us. This video harnesses the voices of celebrities, activists, legal experts, and other prominent figures in speaking out against mass surveillance by the NSA. Please share widely to help us spread the message that we will not stand for the dragnet surveillance of our communications.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit civil liberties law and advocacy center that has been fighting the NSA's unconstitutional spying for years. Learn more at https://eff.org.

I won't be there.  We live in Hawaii now.  But I do want to get the word out on this.  If you aren't able to go either, please try to get the word out.


"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, October 25, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, the protests continue, Nouri's new fondness for Turkey is questioned, Nouri wants the US to provide drones,  Ayad Allawi's healthy, Jalal's not, the State Dept doesn't understand the law or ethics regarding stolen cultural heritage, and more.




Protests took place in Iraq today -- they've been taking place non-stop since December 21st.  Yesterday, Rachel Shabi (Guardian) noted the protests:


All of this worsened in December last year, when forces arrested the bodyguards of the Sunni former finance minister, Rafi al-Issawi, under terrorism laws, prompting mass protests that were brutally dispersed. The violence included an army raid on protesters in Hawija, northern Iraq, in April, killing 50 and injuring many more.


If you'd like to read Shabi's column in Arabic, Al Mada's translated it here.  Dr. Mohammad Akef Jamal (Gulf News) noted Iraq's civil rights movement this week as well and he noted, "The people’s anger expressed through their demonstrations has to be translated into a decisive resolution in the upcoming elections for new faces that no one doubts their devotion towards Iraq and its well-being."

Iraqi Spring MC notes protests took place in Baquba, Samarra, Falluja, Mosul, Rawa, and Ramadi.  National Iraqi News Agency reports thousands turned out in Falluja and Ramadi for the Anbar sit-ins and quote Shiekh Mohammed Fayyad declaring, "The citizens participated in the prayers that held in the courtyard northern Ramadi and eastern Fallujah cities , stressing that the goal of this trickle is to send one again a message to the governing in Baghdad that our demonstrations are peaceful and backed by citizens deep conviction."  Al Mada reports organizers distributed forms in Ramadi and Falluja for families of the detained to fill out in the hopes that they can locate their loved one and determine the status.  Many are held without charges.  Many have been thrown in detention centers, jails and prisons for no reason -- they are accused of no crimes but are related to a suspect the police could not find so family members were knowing rounded up even though they were not suspects.  In Samaeea Sheikh Ziad Madhi noted that the protests are not about political parties but our about justice -- first and foremost, a call to release the innocent detainees.  In Baquba Shebab al-Badri echoed the emphasis on detainees and stated they would continue to demand the release of the detainees and continue to call for an end to the raids (mass arrests) that continue to target Sunni communities.  Kitabat reports on Sheikh Ziad Mahdi in Samarra who noted the detainees remain imprisoned and remain a priority of protesters.  The Sheikh noted the demands for the release of the innocent detainees continue because they have not been released so the sit-ins continue. He noted that Nouri al-Maliki is responsible for the continued deterioration of security in Iraq.  Iraqi Spring MC notes there were calls for the United Nations and others to witness what it really taking place in Iraq, calls for an end to Iranian interference in Iraq, Falluja speakers called for an end to injustice and the flowing of blood in the streets, and Nouri al-Maliki was denounced for using militias to stay in power.  Kitabat also reports on Sheikh Humam Kubaisi in Ramadi and how he noted ten months have passed and still the demands are not met.


The protests have been marked by violence.

Not on the part of protesters, the violent ones have been the so-called security forces.


For example,   January 7th, Nouri's forces assaulted four protesters in Mosul,  January 24th,  Nouri's forces sent two protesters (and one reporter) to the hospital,  and March 8th, Nouri's force fired on protesters in Mosul killing three.


All of that and more appeared to be a trial run for what was coming, the April 23rd massacre of a peaceful 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 rose to 53 dead.  UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).


Iraq was a brief issue in today's State Dept press briefing by spokesperson Jen Psaki:.  As usual, Al Quds' Said Arikat brought Iraq up.




QUESTION: Can we go to Iraq?


MS. PSAKI: Are we – okay. Go ahead. Iraq.


QUESTION: One of the issues eclipsed by this discussion. Anyway, could you confirm or deny that Iraq has agreed to renegotiate strategic arrangements that they had with you in view of the uptick of the violence that is taking place right now, such as perhaps supplying them with drones, or in fact the U.S. using drones to go after terrorist camps?


MS. PSAKI: Well, I’m not aware of that and I have not heard of that, to be honest.


QUESTION: Okay.


MS. PSAKI: We do have an ongoing dialogue with the Government of Iraq to help improve its capacity, and to address and degrade ISIL’s ability. That’s true. Those conversations are of course ongoing. We consider them an essential partner in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq and that’s why we’re focused on it. But in terms of renegotiation of anything, I’m not aware of that as being planned.


QUESTION: The reason I am asking that is this is, of course – Prime Minister Maliki is coming to town next week.


MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.


QUESTION: And Iraqis are saying or claiming that you have assured them to speed up the process, delivery of F-16 fighter jets and also to – they are looking at – they are sort of – they’re looking positively at the idea of the U.S. perhaps using drones in their fight against terrorism. That’s why I’m asking.
So has there been anything in that realm, and that, in fact, Secretary of State Kerry is involved in this process?


MS. PSAKI: Again, I know we’re working with the White House and preparing for this trip, but I’m not aware of the specifics on the plans at this point along those lines. But we work with Iraq closely; this is another opportunity to do that, as they visit.




Good for Said Arikat for bringing up Iraq.  Sad that over and over, in a room full of reporters -- most of them working for US outlets -- Said Arikat is the only one able to ask about Iraq.

He brought up too major issues.  Let's start with drones.  This morning,  Peg Mackey (Reuters) reports Nouri plans to insist upon the US government supplying him with drones.

The US is going to arm Nouri with drones?  Is there a more stupid idea on running around DC right now?  As already noted, he's attacked peaceful protesters.  The fifty-plus that died in Hawija were only able to be killed because the US had supplied him with military helicopters.


Hawija is in Kirkuk Province.  Nouri wanted to attack the protester but needed to get more forces in during the five-day siege of Hawija.  The problem for him was that Kirkuk forces would not let Nouri's SWAT forces enter. Kikruk Governor Najm al-Din Karim discussed this with Shalaw Mohammed (Niqash):




NIQASH: The incidents in Hawija, where protestors were killed by the Iraqi military, also seems to have seen more Iraqi army forces enter Kirkuk.


Al-Din Karim: Actually those forces did not come through Kirkuk - they entered Hawija by helicopter. They tried to come through Kirkuk but we prevented them from doing so. I know the Prime Minister disapproved of this – he told me so last time we met.



53 dead, 8 of them children.  And this is just with helicopters.  What's he going to do the Iraqi people if he has drones?

On his August visit to the US, Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari made clear the government wanted drones.  Indira A.R. Lakshmanan (Bloomberg News) reported, "The top Iraqi diplomat’s comments are the first time he has publicly raised the possibility of working with the U.S. on anti-terrorist drone strikes, a clandestine program whose use against terror groups in Pakistan has fueled widespread protest and damaged the U.S. alliance there."  At the start of this month,  John Hudson (Foreign Policy) reported that Iraq will not get the US drones that the Iraqi government has been calling for:


In 2013 alone, Iraq is averaging 68 car bombings a month. The United Nations reports that 5,740 civilians were killed since January, which is almost two times more deaths than recorded in all of 2010.
Despite the staggering numbers, the U.S. isn't about to open up a new drone war in Iraq. "The use of lethal drones has not been discussed nor is it even under consideration for Iraq," an administration official tells The Cable.


That should still be the case.  Thamer Hussein, in his wheelchair, went to the Hawija square with his son Mohammed Thamer to participate in the sit-in.    BRussells Tribunal provided his testimony about what ended up happening as Nouri's forces desceneded:




My son, who stood next to my wheelchair, refused to leave me alone. He told me that he was afraid and that we needed to get out of the area. We tried to leave. My son pushed my wheelchair and all around us, people were falling to the ground.
Shortly after that, two men dressed in military uniforms approached us. One of them spoke to us in Persian; therefore we didn’t understand what he said. His partner then translated. It was nothing but insults and curses. He then asked me “Handicapped, what do you want?” I did not reply. Finally I said to him, “Kill me, but please spare my son”. My son interrupted me and said, “No, kill me but spare my father”. Again I told him “Please, spare my son. His mother is waiting for him and I am just a tired, disabled man. Kill me, but please leave my son”. The man replied “No, I will kill your son first and then you. This will serve you as a lesson.” He then took my son and killed him right in front of my eyes. He fired bullets into his chest and then fired more rounds. I can’t recall anything after that. I lost consciousness and only woke up in the hospital, where I underwent surgery as my intestines were hanging out of my body as a result of the shot.

After all of what has happened to me and my little son – my only son, the son who I was waiting for to grow up so he could help me – after all that, I was surprised to hear Ali Ghaidan (Lieutenant General, Commander of all Iraqi Army Ground Forces) saying on television, “We killed terrorists” and displaying a list of names, among them my name: Thamer Hussein Mousa.

I ask you by the name of God, I appeal to everyone who has a shred of humanity. Is it reasonable to label me a terrorist while I am in this situation, with this arm, and with this paralyzed leg and a blind eye?

I ask you by the name of God, is it reasonable to label me a terrorist? I appeal to all civil society and human rights organizations, the League of Arab States and the Conference of Islamic States to consider my situation; all alone with my five baby daughters, with no one to support us but God. I was waiting for my son to grow up and he was killed in this horrifying way.

I hold Obama responsible for this act because he is the one who gave them these weapons. The weapons and aircrafts they used and fired upon us were American weapons. I also hold the United States of America responsible for this criminal act, above all, Obama.




Nouri does not need drones.  More importantly, the Iraqi people do not need a Nouri armed with drones.



The second issue Said Arikat raised was the visit itself.   Hurriyet Daily News observed earlier this week,  " Al-Maliki will be visiting Washington next week to meet President Barack Obama. It could be a good starting point for the U.S. to own up its responsibility in the Iraqi saga, and persuade al-Maliki, who needs U.S. support and equipment to end the violence in Iraq, to become more conciliatory towards different groups. If he can compromise, then a stable Iraq would be a good starting point towards a peaceful Middle East. An unraveling Iraq, on the other hand, would easily ignite even more ugly manifestations of sectarian, ethnic and political conflicts in the region, which even the U.S. would not be able keep under control."


Al Raifdayn reports that Nouri declared in his Wednesday address that what was needed was an international conference in Baghdad.  Yes, provided people brought ideas, it probably would be helpful since Nouri has no ideas himself.  Nouri also declared this week that he (suddenly) wants improved relations with Turkey.  As Sheikh (Dar Addustour) wonders what's changed with Turkey and Iraq?  They're still, for example, providing asylum to Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi -- despite Nouri's railing against that.  Sheikh wonders if this talk of improved relations is just campaign talk as Nouri seeks a third term as prime minister.  FYI, Dar Addustour has retooled their site.  I think we noted that already.  But we've long noted As Sheikh and if you'd like to put a face to his writing, click on the link to his column which prominently features a photo of the columnist.


Turning to today's violence,  National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 police officer was shot dead in Ramadi, am armed attack in Heet left two school guards wounded, a roadside bombing "south of Baquba" claimed the lives of 1 man and 1 woman, a Rutba suicide bomber took his own life and that of 1 Iraqi soldier and 1 police officer (while leaving two more police members injured), Imam Bara Juma al-Dulaimi was shot dead outside his Ramadi home, a Tikrit suicide tanker bombing claimed the life of the bomber as well as the lives of 2 police officers (four more were injured), a Baiji roadside bombing claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers, a Dijail car bombing claimed the lives of 2 civilians with a third left injured, and six Almohandiseen bombings left five people injured.  AFP notes 7 dead and eight injured in the Alohandiseen bombing.   Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) adds a Youssifiyah market bombing claimed 5 lives and left fifteen people injured.  Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) adds, "Also in the province [Anbar], one policeman was killed and another was seriously injured when unidentified gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in the central of the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, the source added" and a Ministry of Justice employee was shot dead outside his Baghdad home.  Ammar al-Ani (Alsumaria) reports a Baghdad bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more injured, a north Baghdad bombing claimed the lives of 4 Iraqi soldiers and left five more injured, and a south Baghdad bombing claimed 2 lives and left three more injured.  Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 841 violent deaths so far this month.


Yesterday's snapshot included:

Press TV adds that an "armed assailants shot dead Bashar Abdulqader Najm, a cameraman working for al-Mosuliya television station, in the northern city of Mosul, police officials reported. He is the third journalist to be killed in the city this month."


Earlier this month, Sami Waheed Karim (Niqash) reported on the targeting of journalists in Mosul:


Extremists are targeting journalists in the troubled state of Ninawa. After killing the governor’s spokesperson and two TV reporters they distributed fliers saying that any journalist who turned up for work risked death. Locals say a special team of assassins is at work and that security forces know who they are but won’t stop them.  

It seemed a simple assignment for the reporter and camera man from Iraqi satellite station, Al Sharqiya: they would go down to the crowded markets in central Mosul and film the shoppers in action before the upcoming Eid Al-Adha holiday. But while Mohammed Ghanem and Mohammed Karim were in the Sarjakhana neighbourhood, they were gunned down by a group of men armed with pistols with silencers. Their attackers appeared suddenly, let off a hail of bullets and then disappeared into the crowded streets.

A witness, a woman in her 50s, complained about how local police had reacted to the scene. She said she saw one of the victims moving his hand and saying something but police only stood and watched, she recalled, “as the young man’s blood ran out of him”.

“The state of Ninawa – with Mosul – as its centre is witnessing a collapse in security,” says a local police officer who only wanted to be known as A. Mohammed. There are an estimated 50,000 military and security staff deployed throughout the province and there are checkpoints in all Mosul’s major streets.

“But we’re not able to protect ourselves,” the officer explained. “how are we supposed to protect the public?”

About 3,500 of those security staff quit their jobs over the past few days, MP Faris al-Sanjari, a member of the Sunni Muslim-dominated Iraqiya bloc, the major opposition in Iraq’s federal parliament, told NIQASH. “They left their jobs after they received threats from militants and because they’ve seen dozes of their colleagues killed and the homes of other colleagues bombed.”

Journalists like Karim and Ghanem have also been targeted, al-Sanjari said. And not just while they’ve been working but also in their own homes: al-Sanjari was referring to the murder of a presenter for local TV station, Sama Al Mosul, who was gunned down at home in front of his wife and child.

Most recently locals say they’ve seen fliers in their neighbourhoods which threaten journalists and media workers with death if they continue their jobs. Anyone reporting to work risked death, the fliers said.





Ayad Allawi is the leader of the political slate Iraqiya (they won the 2010 elections).  He Tweeted the following yesterday.





  • اتوجه بالشكر الجزيل لكل من تفضل بسؤاله عن صحتنا بعد إتمام إجراء العملية بتمام والحمد لله.
  • Had a successful operation and would like to thank you all for your kind wishes and support.




  • We ignored the two stories in Iraqi media about his supposedly being very ill.  They didn't appear to be based on facts and seemed more rooted in his enemies desires.  We'll note the above and note that he is raising the issue of his health and doing so while another Iraqi leader hides his health.


    Yes, we're talking about Jalal Talabani.  Last December,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.

    NINA reports that Nouri met with Jalal's advisor Abfdul Lateef Jamal Rasheed today and that the man insisted to Nouri  "that President Talabani's health is improving."  Yeah, they've been saying that for months now.  It's time for Jalal to be excused from office.  He's failed the Iraqi people in many ways for many years.  But right now, he fails them by being in Germany for almost 11 months.  That's not how you operate as president of Iraq.

    Jalal can't speak and isn't cognitive or coherent.  That's what people are saying.

    So why is he still president?

    As we were saying earlier this week, 'independent' MP Mahmoud Othman does not speak for the Kurdish political blocs.  That's why we didn't take seriously his claim that, as soon as Eid al-Adha was over, the Kurds would drop their objections to the proposed elections bill which Parliament would then pass an election law.  Eid's over.  Where's the passage of the law?

    Today NINA reports that MP Aref "Tayfur said the Kurdistan Alliance believes that the new election law bring great prejudice and unfairness response for Kurds in comparison with other provinces, in terms of the number of votes and seats."  All Iraq News reports that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi plans to visit the KRG to meet with KRG President Massoud Barzani to discuss the proposed election law." Mustafa Habib (Niqash) offers an analysis which includes:


    Iraq’s elected representatives have been talking about the same topic for weeks now: the laws that will govern next year’s parliamentary elections. These are scheduled to be held in April 2014.

    The debate about the law regarding next year’s election is a complicated one that will decide on exactly what kind of system of representation the country uses. There are various different models used in different democracies around the world and currently Iraq is trying to decide which one it wants. This year, the results of the provincial elections were newly governed by a mathematical formula called the Sainte-Laguë formula. This system stops larger parties from gobbling up the votes smaller parties have won, if the smaller parties haven’t won enough votes to pass a certain threshold.


    Obviously it is important to decide which system is going to be used in Iraq’s 2014 elections and apparently a deadline – Oct. 30 - has been set for the debate to end and the new system to be legally adopted. Currently though, the debate continues in Baghdad and some have even suggested that if the political parties legislation isn’t renovated in time, that the current prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki may use the delay as an excuse to postpone the elections.


    However while MPs are debating this law, several other very important laws continue to languish in a legislative no man’s land. And now, if elections do go ahead on time, they may never be voted on, debated or passed – because Parliament has only six months to finish its current business.   


    “Parliament has been busy discussing the 2014 electoral law for weeks,” says Bahaa al-Araji, a leading member of the Sadrist bloc. “And now time is running out [for these other laws]. We only have a few months before this session of parliament ends and that might not be enough to get through these laws, which have been suspended for months already.”





    Turning to the US and the issue of cultural ownership.  A trove was discovered in Iraq and imported to the US to be restored.  The US National Archives explains:


    On May 6, 2003, just days after the Coalition forces took over Baghdad, 16 American soldiers from Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, a group assigned to search for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, entered Saddam Hussein’s flooded intelligence building. In the basement, under four feet of water, they found thousands of books and documents relating to the Jewish community of Iraq – materials that had belonged to synagogues and Jewish organizations in Baghdad.
    The water-logged materials quickly became moldy in Baghdad’s intense heat and humidity. Seeking guidance, the Coalition Provisional Authority placed an urgent call to the nation’s foremost conservation experts at the National Archives. Just a week later, National Archives Director of Preservation Programs Doris Hamburg and Conservation Chief Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler arrived in Baghdad via military transport to assess the damage and make recommendations for preservation of the materials. Both experts share this extraordinary story and take you “behind the scenes” in this brief video [http://tinyurl.com/IraqiJA]. This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The National Archives encourages its use and free distribution.
    Given limited treatment options in Baghdad, and with the agreement of Iraqi representatives, the materials were shipped to the United States for preservation and exhibition. Since then, these materials have been vacuum freeze-dried, preserved and photographed under the direction of the National Archives. The collection includes more than 2,700 Jewish books and tens of thousands of documents in Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and English, dating from 1540 to the 1970s. A special website to launch this fall will make these historic materials freely available to all online as they are digitized and catalogued. This work was made possible through the assistance of the Department of State, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Center for Jewish History.
    The Jews of Iraq have a rich past, extending back to Babylonia. These materials provide a tangible link to this community that flourished there, but in the second half of the twentieth century dispersed throughout the world. Today, fewer than five Jews remain. 

    As noted Wednesday, Senator Chuck Schumer is calling for the archives not to be shipped back to Iraq but handed over to their rightful owners, the Jewish community.  Dan Friedman (New York Daily News) reported:


      Schumer Wednesday urged the State Department “to do everything in their power to ensure that these treasured artifacts remain available and accessible to Jews worldwide.”
    In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State John Kerry, Schumer urged the department to work with Jewish groups in the United States and abroad to find another home for the documents.
    "Since the exile of Jews from Iraq, virtually no Jewish life remains in the country,” Schumer wrote. “This treasured collection belongs to the Jewish community and should be made available to them."



    Schumer is not alone.  US House Rep Ilena Ros-Lehtinen's office issued the following statement:






    “It’s imperative that we preserve the history of the Jewish community of Iraq so that future generations will always remember their ancestors’ experiences and historical contributions”
    (WASHINGTON) – Today, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a senior member of the Florida congressional delegation, co-authored a letter, along with U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, urging Secretary of State John Kerry to return historic communal and religious items currently on display at the National Archives to the Iraqi Jewish community and their descendants, and not the government of Iraq. These artifacts, discovered in a decrepit state by U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq in 2003, were rescued and brought to the United States for repair and preservation.  Next spring, these items are scheduled to be sent back to Iraq but Ros-Lehtinen and Israel are asking that they be returned to their rightful inheritors.
    Statement by Ros-Lehtinen: “I’m pleased to join my colleague Steve in urging Secretary Kerry and the State Department to return these ancient Jewish artifacts to their rightful owners. The Iraqi government has absolutely no right or legitimate claim to these artifacts. These communal, religious and personal items were left behind in a temple in Baghdad to be safeguarded as the vast majority of Jews were forced to flee Iraq due to rampant persecution, harassment and anti-Semitic hatred, only to see them stolen by Saddam Hussein and his thugs. Once thought to be lost and gone forever, we now have a remarkable opportunity to restore a piece of an ancient Jewish community’s collective memory. It’s imperative that we preserve the history of the Jewish community of Iraq so that future generations will always remember their ancestors’ experiences and historical contributions. It would be criminal for the U.S. government to be complicit in denying the Jewish community what is rightfully theirs.”
    Statement by Israel: “I am grateful that these artifacts, which represent the rich and vibrant Jewish community that once existed in Iraq, have been restored. However, I do not believe that we should send these treasures back to the Iraqi Government. That’s why I’m working with my colleague Rep. Ros-Lehtinen to urge the U.S. Government to facilitate a process by which we can return the artifacts to their rightful owners or their owners’ descendants.”
    #######




    JNS.org notes, "The State Department plans to return the archive to the Iraqi government, in line with a written agreement between the two parties."  A written agreement regarding the return of property is not binding when it's discovered that the property in question was stolen.  The Iraqi government had no legal rights to the property and committed fraud by signing the agreement.  Fraud can be prosecuted.  The agreement has no legal standing.  But the State Dept is insisting it will be followed.  The Jewish Week reports today:



      In response to Schumer’s letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, a State Department spokesman, Pooja Jhunjhunwala, told The Jewish Week in an e-mail that the Department would abide by its August 2003 agreement with Iraq.
    “We are committed to returning the material to Iraq following the completion of the preservation project and the exhibition of the material in the United States,” he wrote. “Much of the project has now been completed by the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), and NARA has announced that the material is being readied for exhibition in Washington at the National Archives.”






    We'll close in the US with this from Ms.:





    WEEKLY ROUND UP | October 25, 2013Catch up on what you missed, and check in throughout the last week to get our bloggers' latest takes on news and culture.


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    WORK

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    Detroit: The Road to Bankruptcy Hits Women Hard
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    HEALTH

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    Thursday, October 24, 2013

    Still not indicted, still behind bars





    That's a video by Adam Kokesh, political prisoner, held behind bars for over 100 days and still not indicted.

    Alex Allen (Digital Journal) pointed out last month, "A former high school teacher was recently released, having served an astonishingly small sentence of only thirty days after raping a fourteen-year-old. Meanwhile, political activist Adam Kokesh is still in prison and has been for more than 90 days for simply loading a shotgun in Washington, D.C.,[. . .]"


    All charges should be dropped against Adam.  Clearly, the government didn't do its job if it has failed to indict over 100 days after they arrested Adam.

    It's amazing how much silence there is about Adam.  He's an Iraq War veteran.  Usually, that's enough for massive US coverage.

    But I guess it's easy to write pieces calling out minor villains harming veterans but to point out that the US government is harming veterans?

    Guess that silences a lot of people.




    "Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
    Wednesday, October 23, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri gears up to run for a third term, Zach Roth wastes everyone's time, some focus on the upcoming meet-up between Nouri and Barack, US Senator Charles Schumer calls for an archive to be returned to its rightful owners, not a government, and more.


    The crazy never ends because it's fed all over the world.  As an American, I should point the finger first at my own.  That means MSNBC and Zach Roth.  Roth made his bad (minor) name at CJR where he proved he could play partistan but demonstrated skills for little else.  He's at MSNBC now - -and are we surprised. He suddenly 'cares' about Iraq.  Why?  So he can bash Bush again.

    Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.  He will probably never be punished.  Henry Kissinger still walks free.  At some point, you let go and you focus on what matters or else you're the crazy pushing a cart down the street and ranting to yourself.  Zach's doing his version of Ross Geller (Friends) screaming, "We were on a break!" At this point, life has gone on, why can't you go with it?


    Peter Baker's published a book that's not going to break sales records.  It's about the Bush administration.  So, on the left, some of us will use it for source material and inspiration and some of us will read those articles.  But most people won't buy the book.  Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House.  I have nothing against Baker, who is a strong journalist, and we'll gladly give his book a mention and link.


    But not only do I have limited interest in reading it (I'm thrilled Bully Boy Bush is out of the White House, why would I want to relive those days?), I don't have the time.  Because Iraq's on fire.  Some people complain about the snapshots of late -- where are veterans (good question, I'm trying to work them in this week), where's Syria, where's the war press, where's The Drone War.

    The snapshots of late really have just focused on Iraq because so much is going on there.

    Zach Roth's nonsense isn't helping the Iraqi people.  The Iraq War did not end -- rising death tolls make that very clear as did Tim Arango's September 2012 reporting for the New York Times noting (in the middle of the report) that Barack had sent more US troops into Iraq ("At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.")  The only thing that ended in Iraq was American media interest.

    Zach Roth makes that clear yet again with another story about America.  It's funny that on the left, we repeatedly -- and rightly -- complain about American journalists writing books about Iraq that ignore Iraqis.  How is that any different Roth's unnecessary and useless article that doesn't note the Iraqi people?

    Let's all hope that at the end, as Roth typed one handed and used the other to grind his tiny gherkin, he reached climax because, truth be told, his bad article doesn't do a damn thing for anyone else, especially not the Iraqi people who continue to suffer all these years after Bully Boy Bush left the White House.


    Zach's offered us a useless piece that demonstrates bad writers shouldn't fancy themselves George Lucas and falsely think that they can handle the epilogue of American Graffiti.  Zach can't.  Even at his embarrassing and limited task, he fails.  Because sexist trash eventually fails.  He included Dan Senor.  Why?  Is Dan Senor an architect of the Iraq War?  No.   Is he even the early public voice -- spokesperson division -- for the illegal war?  No, that would be Victoria (aka "Tori") Clarke who was the Pentagon spokesperson in the lead up to the war and after.  We get it,  empty sack Zach, your piece wasn't journalism.  It was chance to attack Republicans.  And Senor worked on Mitt Romney's campaign.  So you plug him in and you ignore Clarke.  But, as Danny Schechter observed years ago, "Pentagon publicist Victoria Clarke, around the time the war began, said that journalists who went out on their own were 'putting themselves at risk'."  Here's SourceWatch on Victoria Clarke:


    In early 2002, as "detailed planning for a possible Iraq invasion" began, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke launched an effort to recruit "key influentials" to help sell a wary public on the war, reported the New York Times's David Barstow in April 2008. Clarke and her senior aide, Brent T. Krueger, eventually signed up more than 75 retired military officers, who appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The Pentagon referred to the military analysts as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates," and held weekly meetings with them, which continued at least until the time of the April 2008 Times report. [4]
    The Defense Department also paid for some analysts to travel to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, encouraging them to counter negative press with Pentagon talking points. Former NBC military analyst Kenneth Allard called the effort "psyops on steroids." Many of the analysts were also lobbyists for defense contractors, and boasted of their Pentagon access to potential clients. This financial conflict discouraged the analysts from questioning or criticizing the Pentagon's claims. The Pentagon also tracked what the analysts said, via a six-figure contract with Omnitec Solutions, as William V. Cowan learned. He was fired from the Pentagon analysts group after saying on Fox News that the United States was "not on a good glide path right now" in Iraq. [4]


    In April 2003, a month after the Iraq War started, Democracy Now! did a piece on Victoria Clarke.  From the intro:



    In many ways Victoria Clarke has become the voice of the Pentagon. As the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Clarke oversees daily press briefings. She has also been credited with forming the idea of embedded journalists.
    Her ability to spin the news should come as little surprise. Clarke came to the Pentagon after a successful career at PR giant Hill and Knowlton.
    You may recall Hill and Knowlton and its role before the first Gulf War. A decade ago, Hill & Knowlton crafted a PR campaign that purposely mislead Congress to help justify the bombing of Iraq.
    At a Congressional hearing, Hill and Knowlton represented a woman who testified she saw Iraqi soldiers throw Kuwaiti babies out of hospital incubators. But what Hill and Knowlton didn’t say was that the 15-year-old girl identified as Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador and that what she said wasn’t true. She had left Kuwaiti long before the Iraqi soldiers arrived.
    The White House has also tapped another PR pro, Margaret Tutwiler, to serve as spokesperson to the Pentagon’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq.



    The segment featured John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine,  who had just 'debated' (they weren't live, as he pointed out, they were "adjacent") Victoria Clarke on 60 Minutes.

    John R. MacArthur:  You'll recall that before the war a lot of people assumed, or the administration wanted us to assume, that the Iraqi people would rise up and help overthrow Saddam Hussein.  And, of course, we were rudely surprised and were not welcomed. In fact, at this time, it seems like the welcome has already worn thin -- even among the people who are glad that Saddam is gone.  So instead of addressing that, she says-says -- and this, again, speaks to the brilliance of their p.r. campaign -- she says, 'You'll recall that before the war, a lot of anti-war people said that Arab countries would rise up in rage -- that the street, the Arab street would rise up in rage against the United States if we invaded Iraq or entered Iraq.  And that hasn't happened.'  You see, so she completely changes the subject.  Instead of addressing the fact that we weren't welcomed, that there was not an uprising welcoming us, she says, 'You see, the leftists, the anti-war people were wrong about the Arab street rising up and overthrowing other Arab governments. 




    Even at bad journalism, Zach Roth fails and it's probably past time that outlets started examining whether or not their 'reporters' are working biases or reporting.

    Zach's crazy helped no one -- barring his own nutting at the end.  Again, Zach, let's hope you reached climax, you'd be the only one in the room but that's probably true of most time times you climax.

    FYI, Lucas' American Graffiti is now 40 years old.  One of the first events observing the anniversary is Candy Clarke's Friday and Saturday appearances in Fort Worth, Texas:



    Friday and Saturday, Clark will return to her Tech stomping grounds as part of a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Graffiti. At 9 a.m. Friday, the school will present “A Conversation With Candy Clark” in the school auditorium as part of its Green B. Trimble Distinguished Lecturer Series.
    From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the school will present the Central City Fall Festival & Classic Car Show, a tribute to Graffiti, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Director George Lucas’ movie recalled his youth in Modesto, Calif., by telling the stories of several young people on the cusp of adulthood during one eventful night on the streets of a small Northern California town.

    Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/10/23/5269888/american-graffiti-star-candy-clark.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy



    Candy Clark played Debbie Dunham in American Graffiti and in the sequel More American Graffiti.  For the first film, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.  Also in the cast of the 1973 classic were Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers, Mackenzie Phillips, Paul Le Mat, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Charles Martin Smith, Kathleen Quinlan, Manuel Padilla Jr., Bo Hopkins, Kay Lenz, Debralee Scott and Susan Richardson, among others.  And for those who don't get the connection between the film classic and Zach's bad 'reporting,' American Graffiti follows events on a fall 1962 night and, at the end, features a where-are-they-now epilogue to explain what happened to the characters.  George Lucas can pull that off. Zach Roth can't pull of his attempted imitation.  Or even note he's ripping off the film as American Graffiti celebrates its 40th anniversary.

    And if you want to talk about the Iraq War and the US, if you want that conversation to take place, maybe you show the guts Bruce A. Dixon (Black Agenda Report) does and address Jeh Johnson?

    Let's move to crazy in northern Iraq, in the KRG where kissing is being painted as a crime.

    kiss

    BBC News notes, "Kurdish photographer Kamaran Najm posted Facebook photos of himself and his Dutch girlfriend on the pedestal where the statue stood in Azadi Park, in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah. The artwork, created by local artist Zahir Sidiq in 2009, had been set alight days earlier." Who's having a ridiculous fit over this?   Ahlul Bayt News Agency reports:

    The two Kurdish Islamic parties; Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) and Kurdistan Islamic Movement (KIM) denounced the couple’s actions and said their deeds were against Islamic traditions.
    “We are against anything that may be offensive, and we recommend that the love statue be replaced with one of executed Kurdish youths,” said KIM spokesperson Shwan Qaradaghi.
    [. . .]

    Meanwhile, Human and women rights activists have taken to social media to criticize the Kurdish Islamists.
    “In my country kissing is forbidden, but braking graves and statues and blowing yourself up is OK,” wrote women’s rights activist Avin Ibrahim on her Facebook page.





    The photos are, the kiss is, an embrace of life and the living.  That a statue of kissing offends you goes to some serious problems you have that are only underscored by your highly messed up statement that you want a statue "of executed Kurdish youths."  Maybe you can offer realistic blood on that statue too, right?  Maybe your overwrought condemnation of a kiss, your rejection of love and your embrace of violence, goes to your own sickness?  Maybe you do everyone a favor and stop trying to spread it?


    Rudaw reports:

    “Our kiss was not the first kiss between two lovers in this city or anywhere in the world,” said Kamaran Najm, whose picture of him kissing his Dutch girlfriend went viral on the Internet. “Every day people kiss each other for love, for accepting each other.”
    Najm’s act won the support of many intellectuals and artists inside and outside Kurdistan. But it also brought the condemnation of many, among them the public prosecutor in Sulaimani, who said “the couple should be jailed for acting against public.


    You can't talk crazy in Iraq without talking Nouri al-Maliki.  The thug and prime minister is gearing up for a DC visit where he expects to receive the White House's approval for a third term.  The White House approval is necessary because the White House insisted he become prime minister in 2006 and insisted he be given a second term in 2010.  He has never been the choice of Iraqis.

    AFP reports, "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki warned on Wednesday that the country is facing a 'war of genocide' after officials said militants had killed 48 people in two days of attacks."  I try to be nice most days because AFP is one of the few outlets with a staff in Iraq.  But, damn, can they crawl any higher up Nouri's ass?  If they must report that, don't they need to offer perspective?

    Let's do the work AFP fails to.  The two days of attack?  That death toll is insignificant when compared to the numbers for other days.  Why is Nouri finally worried?  Because it was his forces that got killed.

    When 80 people died from violence on Sunday, no statement from Nouri, but, according to Iraq Body Count, only two of those are listed as security forces.  No word from Nouri last Thursday when 69 people died from violence (again, only two are listed as security forces).

    So when 80 people die in one day, he doesn't give a damn and makes no statement.  But when 20 or so of his security officers die in a 48 hour period, he's unhinged and railing in public.

    This goes to who he is.  He does not defend the Iraqi people, he does not provide security and he's not bothered by death or violence unless it targets his own.  He's failed to represent Iraq, he's failed to heal Iraq. He's not a leader, he's a divider.

    He does have his sycophants, such as Abbas J. Ali (Middle East Online) who has a new column.  We can agree on this:


    The scheduled meeting between President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Al-Maliki, on November 1, should be an opportunity for Maliki to frankly convey to President Obama the state of the current situation in Iraq. The Iraqis expect that their Prime Minister will use this opportunity to express their feelings, aspirations, and disappointments. They are fed up with a dysfunctional governing system and the failure of the U.S. to live up to its responsibility of building a functional unified democratic country free of daily atrocities and with independent and healthy institutions.
    That Maliki should assertively articulate the depth of the Iraqis’ suffering to President Obama is not only a moral responsibility but a necessity, as Americans in general are more attentive and receptive to frank talk than avoidance of serious issues. The daily atrocities in Iraq seem to be either ignored or no one is willing to hear about them. In just one terroristic incident on the same day that terrorists attacked a Kenyan mall, more Iraqis were killed thanKenyans. Nevertheless, the media extensively covered the latter and almost all governments denounced it, while the same governments remained mute about the more frightening atrocitiesin Iraq.
    Maliki should provide a coherent and organized presentation that realistically conveys the seriousness of the ongoing calamities,while at the same time emphatically emphasize that the perpetrators of these tragedies are free and have never been brought to justice. In particular, he should focus on critical and primary issues, including:


    That's all we can agree on because Ali is deeply dishonest and always has been.  I believe we last addressed him in "Abbas J. Ali loves Nouri al-Maliki."  We don't have time for all his latest crazy or his latest lies.

    As disclosed many times before, I know US Vice President Joe Biden and I like him.  I've known and liked him for years.  When we have to here, I hold him accountable.  I write things here about him that make me cringe but it's how everyone else gets treated so he gets the same.  When he does something that needs calling out, we call him out.

    But doing that also means when someone lies about him and Iraq I can defend him.

    Abbas J. Ali is deeply stupid and a real liar.  Joe is not trying to break up Iraq.  As a US senator, Joe supported what I saw and see as breaking Iraq up into three regions: Kurd, Shi'ites and Sunnis.  He didn't see it that way and referred to it as federalism.  As we stated here repeatedly, year after year, if Iraqis decided to split their country into thirds, that was their choice but it should not be imposed upon them by a foreign country.  Not only has Joe Biden not advocated for federalism or splitting up Iraq as Vice President, he walked away from the idea in his last year as a US Senator -- and did so publicly.  At the start of 2008, he noted that if the idea didn't garner support in Congress, it was dead.

    Over five years ago, he publicly walked away from the proposal and has never raised it again yet liar Abbas J. Ali wants to attack him for pushing it today and insist that he's only meeting with the Speaker of Parliament (Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni) because it's an effort to split Iraq.

    How does a Pennsylvania university justify employing such a dishonest person?  UPI offers an analysis of Iraq today which includes:


    Unlike the Americans, who eventually realized they had to win over the Sunnis if they wanted to beat al-Qaida, Maliki's government is not getting a flow of intelligence from Sunni tribal leaders who turned against al-Qaida. Instead, he is trying to eliminate them.
    There has also been a surge in executions by Maliki's government under the country's draconian 2005 Anti-Terrorism Law, generally viewed as an attempt to intimidate his political opponents.
    Amnesty International reported Oct. 10 that 41 men and one woman had been hanged in Iraqi prisons in a two-day period after what the human rights group described as "grossly unfair trials."
    All told, 125 people have been executed this year, making Iraq one of the world's most prolific executioners after China and Iran.


    Maybe what Nouri needs to talk about in his DC meet-up is that or how peaceful protesters are targeted and killed in Iraq?   Ali Mamouri (Al-Monitor) reports:


    Two years ago, famous Iraqi activist Hanaa Edwar stood up against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki while attending the National Conference on Human Rights in Iraq. She told him that he harbored hatred toward civil society organizations operating in Iraq, and that he was trying to destabilize them by fabricating accusations of terrorism and collaboration against them, instead of arresting the real criminals.

      Edwar’s action came after several attempts on the government's part to crack down on civilian activists — many were arrested and  others assassinated. It should be noted that until now there has been no serious investigation in this regard. The relationship between the government and civil society has worsened. Today, the civil movement in Iraq is facing great hardships, as various parties have issued threats and accusations against it. Every now and then some governmental and militia parties express their dissenting voices against the civil movement, especially those activists in social society, media and journalism.
    The last governmental stance was expressed by former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in a speech delivered as part of the Charter of Honor and Social Peace Conference. He said, “We are going through media turmoil these days. This is the will of Western countries, the countries that withdrew their camps and bases and maintained their presence in the form of civil organizations, media outlets and empires.” Days prior to this speech, Kataib Hezbollah — a militiaman claiming to have close links with the Iranian government — disseminated a video saying that the group had acquired documents about CIA officers attempting to jeopardize stability in Iraq. According to the video, someone by the name of Louis Mendoza, who is in charge of some youth movements waging protests in Baghdad every now and then, met with a leader of these movements in the Iraqi capital. The video also mentions someone called Dwayne Davis carrying out vandalism in Iraq under the umbrella of civil society.
    The escalating attacks of the government and militias against the civil movement have received wide criticism; the government and militias, unable to stop the increasing terrorist acts in Iraq, instead attack civil society organizations that are not protected by any official or nonofficial party. It seems that the cause of this campaign is that the civil movement in Iraq has started to unite and to become more effective after having started a number of demonstrations in the past few years.

    The true opposition in Iraq has moved from the parliament to the street. On the streets of Iraq, people are near boiling point, while spontaneous demonstrations carry banners that are also spontaneous and unorganised or studied. Some of these banners may harm Iraq, as they push towards violence and chaos, especially after they have been infiltrated by foreign groups with their own agendas for Iraq.
    I have previously pointed out that Iraq will only be rescued by its own people that do not have any interest in fighting each other, while the Green Zone goblins eat away at the country’s flesh.
    The people’s anger expressed through their demonstrations has to be translated into a decisive resolution in the upcoming elections for new faces that no one doubts their devotion towards Iraq and its well-being.
    Not everyone is supportive of the human rights movement in Iraq.  Hamza Mustafa (Asharaq al-Awsat) files an overview on Iraqi violence which includes:


    For his part, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hayes, a senior member of the Anbar Salvation Council told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Al-Qaeda has returned to Anbar province, and it has expanded to other regions from here, including Mosul, not the other way round.”
    Hayes has blamed the anti-government protests and sit-ins taking place in western Iraq for “opening the door” to Al-Qaeda.
    “We said from the beginning that these protests and sit-ins have nothing to do with any kinds of popular demands, whether legitimate or illegitimate, rather they have one central goal and that is to facilitate Al-Qaeda’s missions in the western provinces of Iraq,” the Sons of Iraq Council chairman added.

    al-Hayes regularly attacks the protesters.  As a government employee, he should probably be ordered to stop the verbal attacks.  As someone whose livelihood depends on unrest in Sunni areas, his remarks are as questionable as his shady reputation.

    Hurriyet Daily News observes, " Al-Maliki will be visiting Washington next week to meet President Barack Obama. It could be a good starting point for the U.S. to own up its responsibility in the Iraqi saga, and persuade al-Maliki, who needs U.S. support and equipment to end the violence in Iraq, to become more conciliatory towards different groups. If he can compromise, then a stable Iraq would be a good starting point towards a peaceful Middle East. An unraveling Iraq, on the other hand, would easily ignite even more ugly manifestations of sectarian, ethnic and political conflicts in the region, which even the U.S. would not be able keep under control."

    Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi delivered a major address last week -- you can read his speech in full via the National Council of Resistance of Iran. or here.  Aswat al-Iraq emphasizes  his remarks that he should be "the president of Iraq because I am the first vice-president of the country when the president is absent."  He is correct.  And yet he's not able to because Nouri's targeted him in violation of the country's Constitution.  Maybe Nouri can explain that?  Or why his country has gone almost eleven months without a president?

    Last December,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.

    Tareq al-Hashemi is the next in line.  Maybe that's why Nouri and his political party have refused to call for Jalal to be removed as president?



    Turning to the most recent violence,  Prensa Latina notes, "Twenty-five police officers and three civilians were killed last night and in the early morning hours, in extremist attacks in the western province of Al Anbar, Iraq, official sources are reporting." Mary Casey and Joshua Haber (Foreign Policy) add, "Four of the attacks targeted a police station and checkpoints in the town of Rutba, about 70 miles from the Syrian border. Gunmen also hit a checkpoint in Ramadi, killing three security forces and injuring a fourth. No one has taken responsibility for the attacks, although al Qaeda linked militants have frequently targeted Iraq's security forces."

    Leaving Anbar Province, NINA reports a mall in Mosul was blown up "killing 5 women and two children" with twelve more people injured,  an armed attack in Tikrit claimed the life of 1 police officers and left three injured, a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers, a Baghdad roadside bombing claimed 4 lives and left eleven people injured, 1 farmer was shot dead "in one of the orchards near Abu Garmah,"  2 Baquba bombings left five people (including three security forces) injured,  a bombing in southern Baghdad Mada'in) left 3 people dead and eight more injured, a northern Baghdad (Shula) bombing left 2 people dead and seven injured, and 2 Sahwa were killed in Kirkuk by men wearing Iraqi military uniforms.


    Lastly, US Senator Chuck Schumer is in the news regarding Iraq -- specifically over Jewish archives.  Sunday, we covered the archives at Third in "Editorial: Stolen property does not belong to the thief"


    Last year, a guy broke into my home and stole all my family albums and scrapbooks.  Then he ran me out of town.  Now he's insisting he has the right to keep my family albums and scrapbooks.
    That actually didn't happen to us.
    It happened to the Jews of Iraq.
    For background, let's go the US National Archives:


    On May 6, 2003, just days after the Coalition forces took over Baghdad, 16 American soldiers from Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, a group assigned to search for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, entered Saddam Hussein’s flooded intelligence building. In the basement, under four feet of water, they found thousands of books and documents relating to the Jewish community of Iraq – materials that had belonged to synagogues and Jewish organizations in Baghdad.
    The water-logged materials quickly became moldy in Baghdad’s intense heat and humidity. Seeking guidance, the Coalition Provisional Authority placed an urgent call to the nation’s foremost conservation experts at the National Archives. Just a week later, National Archives Director of Preservation Programs Doris Hamburg and Conservation Chief Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler arrived in Baghdad via military transport to assess the damage and make recommendations for preservation of the materials. Both experts share this extraordinary story and take you “behind the scenes” in this brief video [http://tinyurl.com/IraqiJA]. This video is in the public domain and not subject to any copyright restrictions. The National Archives encourages its use and free distribution.
    Given limited treatment options in Baghdad, and with the agreement of Iraqi representatives, the materials were shipped to the United States for preservation and exhibition. Since then, these materials have been vacuum freeze-dried, preserved and photographed under the direction of the National Archives. The collection includes more than 2,700 Jewish books and tens of thousands of documents in Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and English, dating from 1540 to the 1970s. A special website to launch this fall will make these historic materials freely available to all online as they are digitized and catalogued. This work was made possible through the assistance of the Department of State, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Center for Jewish History.
    The Jews of Iraq have a rich past, extending back to Babylonia. These materials provide a tangible link to this community that flourished there, but in the second half of the twentieth century dispersed throughout the world. Today, fewer than five Jews remain. 


    The Jews of Iraq may have had a rich past.  But since 2003, they've all but disappeared to the point that the total number of Jews now in Iraq can be counted on one hand.  Judit Neurink (Rudaw) notes:


    Director Saad Eskander of the National Library in Baghdad will be glad to receive the archives. From the start, he was against their trip to the United States, although he admits that Iraq could not look after them in 2003. “Iraq was in a chaos. Nobody was interested in our cultural heritage.”
    Yet, the documents should have stayed, he says: “Instead of taking them away, the Americans should have taught the Iraqi’s how to repair and maintain them.”

    The US shouldn't have taken these documents out of the country to restore them?
    That was the crime, was it?
    No, the crime was thieves stealing them from Iraqi Jews.
    The crime is people like Saad Eskander thinking they have a right to stolen property that has nothing to do with their own heritage.  Stewart Ain (Jewish Weekly) reported last week:



     Harold Rhode, who discovered the trove while working as a Defense Department policy analyst assigned to Iraq’s transitional government, said he is “horrified” to think the material would be returned when it had been “stolen by the government of Iraq from the Jewish community.”
    “It would be comparable to the U.S. returning to the German government Jewish property that had been looted by the Nazis,” he told The Jewish Week.
    Attorney Carole Basri, whose great-grandfather served as chief rabbi of Iraq, pointed out that there was “no consultation” with the Jewish community before the Bush administration entered into that agreement. International law stipulates that national treasures be returned to the country of origin.
    Rhode said the material, which been stored on the second floor of a Baghdad synagogue by Iraqi Jews at the time of their mass exodus in 1950-52 – some 135,000 Jews left the country, allowed to carry no more than one suitcase of clothing each – was taken by Saddam Hussein in 1984. (There are thought to be only five or so Jews left in all of Iraq.)
    Joseph Dabby, 67, an Iraqi Jew in Los Angeles who was one of about 25,000 Jews who initially remained in his homeland, said he fears that should the items be returned, they would simply be locked away and never exhibited. Board chairman and former president of Los Angeles’ Kahal Joseph Synagogue, home to 300 Iraqi Jewish families, said he escaped from Iraq in 1971 after several imprisonments and does not trust the present Iraqi leadership.



    The National Archives notes the collection includes:






  • A Hebrew Bible with Commentaries from 1568 – one of the oldest books in the trove;
  • A Babylonian Talmud from 1793;
  • A Torah scroll fragment from Genesis - one of the 48 Torah scroll fragments found;
  • A Zohar from 1815 – a text for the mystical and spiritual Jewish movement known as “Kabbalah”;
  • An official 1918 letter to the Chief Rabbi regarding the allotment of sheep for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year);
  • Materials from Jewish schools in Baghdad, including exam grades and a letter to the College Entrance Examination Board in Princeton regarding SAT scores;
  • A Haggadah (Passover script) from 1902, hand lettered and decorated by an Iraqi Jewish youth ; and



  • The stolen property belongs to the Jewish community and with the Iraqi government having failed to protect the Jewish community, they certainly have no right to stolen property.

    End of editorial.  Today, The Yeshiva World News reports:

    U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today urged the State Department to not return more than 2,700 Jewish artifacts to Iraq. In 2003, American soldiers found the collection of Iraqi Judaica in a flooded Baghdad Intelligence Center. The collection, which includes partial Torah parchments and ancient prayer books, had been seized by Saddam Hussein’s troops and belonged to members of the once-vibrant, exiled Iraqi Jewish community. The collection is being preserved by the National Archives in Washington, DC and the United States has agreed to return the materials to Iraq in 2014.
    Schumer said that because these ancient items were stolen, they do not belong to Iraq and therefore, the United States should not return them. Schumer is asking the State Department to work with Jewish organizations and the Iraqi Jewish community to determine an alternative location for these sacred artifacts.

    Dan Friedman (New York Daily News) adds:


      Schumer Wednesday urged the State Department “to do everything in their power to ensure that these treasured artifacts remain available and accessible to Jews worldwide.”
    In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State John Kerry, Schumer urged the department to work with Jewish groups in the United States and abroad to find another home for the documents.
    "Since the exile of Jews from Iraq, virtually no Jewish life remains in the country,” Schumer wrote. “This treasured collection belongs to the Jewish community and should be made available to them."
    Schumer is now the most public face of a growing movement of people saying these documents do not belong to the Iraqi government.  There are Jewish people in this movement but it not limited to Jewish people.  My objection to this is rooted in the ethics of anthropology.  I feel the need to stress for Iraqi readers because Al Mada recently reposted an article from World News Daily making the (false) claim that this is a Jewish movement.  I am not Jewish, I was not born Jewish, I never converted to the faith.  I'm not a practicing or non-practicing Jew.  This has to do with the rights a people have to their culture -- and how a government cannot steal it from them and have legal or ethical rights to that property.