Saturday, November 16, 2013

C.I. scoops all outlets on the missing Ashraf 7

C.I. has broken news yet again at The Common Ills.

In today's snapshot, she reports that the State Dept has declared the 7 missing Ashraf residents, kidnapped in the September 1st assault on Camp Ashraf which left 52 residents dead, are not in Iraq.

They have been assumed to be in Iraq still.  The United Nations has believed they were still in Iraq.

But State Dept official Brett McGurk told Congress this week that the 7 are no longer in Iraq.

Where are they?

He would not reveal that in open session.

Marcia called me a little while ago in a panic, "You've got to talk to her."  Her being C.I.

C.I. explained what happened in part of her 'report' she does to the Iraq Study Group at Trina's.

After, Marcia went to ask her if that was going to be in today's snapshot since it hasn't been so far (C.I.'s been reporting on that hearing for three days now).  C.I. said she'd been waiting for someone else to cover it so she could link to it but she'd call _____ (a friend) at ______ and give him the story to break.

Marcia did not like that and called me.  I agree with Marcia.  People have no idea how many times C.I. feeds the press stories that they would otherwise miss.

Her attitude is she's not being paid for this or trying to make a living so she's happy to let people get scoops they wouldn't have without her.

But I called her, as Marcia requested, and said, "It would be stupid for you to give this away.  You were there.  You're the only one reporting on this hearing.  You've got big news out of it and you're going to give it to the ______?  That makes no sense.  You need to write and you need to get the credit."

Thank goodness she listened.  Thank goodness Marcia called me.  Between the two of us, we got C.I. to report it so the story broke at The Common Ills.

I'm sure, as usual, POLITICO will find a way to note the news while refusing to give C.I. credit for it.





"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, November 15, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, the 7 Ashraf hostages were taken out of Iraq (according to the State Dept),  KRG President Massoud Barzani prepares for an important meet up, protests continue in Iraq, Barack Obama continues to object to the Iraq Inquiry in London releasing documents, and more.


Al-Arabia reports, "Former Iraqi interim prime minister and head of Iraqya political bloc Iyad Allawi on Friday accused the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of failing to protect the Iraqi sovereignty, which he said is lost to Iran and its proxy militias." Ayad Allawi is the man who should be the current prime minister of Iraq but the White House forced a second term for Nouri al-Maliki's by brokering The Erbil Agreement which went around the votes of the Iraqi people, the Iraqi Constitution and the the principles of democracy.



US House Rep Gerry Connolly:  What is the relationship, in your opinion, Mr. McGurk, between the government in Tehran [Iran] and Mr. Maliki's government in Baghdad?

Brett McGurk: It's a relationship that is really multifaceted.  Uhm, Iran -- uh -- I mean if you just look at that border, Iraq is going to have cultural, religious, economic relations with Iran.  Uhm, that's something we recognize.  Where we try to draw a line is any sort of security relationship with Iran and we've had some success in that area.  Uh, my experience, in the last decade, whether working with Iraqis or Shia, Sunni, Kurds -- everybody, is that there's really no love loss between Iraqis and Iran.  They remember the very long Iraq - Iran War in the 1980s and that is really felt very deeply in the psychology.  Uh, Iraq also feels --

US House Rep Gerry Connolly:  Can I, can I interrupt you one second?  And you would say that that view is also shared by the Maliki government despite the Shia nature of that government?

Brett McGurk:  Uhm.  Sometimes it's a mischaracterization to say that Shia in Iraq are linked to Shia in Iran.  They have have religious ties but the Shia in Iraq and Grand Ayatollah [Ali  al-]Sistani in Najaf -- and his philosophy of quietism -- is totally 100 degrees opposite to the philosophy of [Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi] Khomeini and [Sayed] Hamid [Rohani] in Tehran, which is kind of clerical rule,  Sistani's view is that more of a democratic tradition -- which we would recognize -- and which there should be separation from the top cleric and the government.  That is something that most Iraqis adhere to.  And it's a critical distinction to really working-working with this problem.  Make no mistake, Iranian influence in Baghdad is very strong, it is there every day.  They've had a presence in Baghdad for ten years.  They've had the same people there who have built relationships that are very deep and it's something we need -- we need to deal with.  We have to recognize they're going to have a relationship.  It's drawing a line at the malign and nefarious influences from Iran, which we're trying to do. 



US House Rep Gerry Connolly made those remarks at Wednesday's US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa hearing on Iraq.   US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the Subcommittee Chair and US House Rep Ted Deutch is the Ranking Member and the witness appearing before the Subcomittee was Brett McGurk, the State Dept's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.    Wednesday we covered the Jewish archives from that hearing, Thursday we covered Camp Ashraf and religious minorities.

Back to Allawi today, Al Arabiya also reports today:



Allawi said he understands the lack of military ability to stop Iran from violating Iraq’s sovereignty but that Prime Minister Maliki does not have the will to use diplomacy and international organizations.
“Iraq could resort to the United Nations, the Arab League, or the Organization of Islamic Conference to force Iran to refrain from violating Iraq’s airspace,” Allawi said.



The point that Nouri could ask others to protect the airspace was also raised in Wednesday's hearing.


US House Rep Brad Sherman: Mailik wants our weapons yet he allows planes to go from Iran to Syria, taking murderers and thugs and the IRGC and weapons with him, he says that he can't defend his own air space but he is certainly not invited Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the United States to defend that air space  from these murderers that fly leisurely across Iraq and do their killing in Syria.


Allawi's comments are not controversial and expose not only Nouri's false claims but those of his lackey Hoshyar Zebari who has repeated Nouri's false claims and repeated them as factual.  I personally don't believe Iraq needs to take a side.  But Nouri claimed in his New York Times column, "After some initial differences, American and Iraqi policies toward Syria are converging."  And a lie's a lie.  Nouri and Zebari have been lying.


Brett McGurk lies as well.  In the hearing, he lied, for example, when he spoke of Iraq's Minister of Defense.  The man he named?  Not the Minister of Defense.  Nouri is.  Nouri did a power grab.  Back in July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."   Those posts have remained vacant.  They were supposed to be filled at the end of 2010.  But filling them meant Nouri couldn't control them so he defied/broke the Constitution and claimed the positions as his own.

Brett lied so often.  Let's go to money.



US House Rep Brad Sherman:  I want to focus on finances.  How much money did we give Iraq this year?  How much do they get from oil?  And are they pumping oil as quickly as they can or are they constraining their production in accordance with OPEC rules?

Brett McGurk:  In terms of money, we're not really giving Iraq much money at all anymore.  Our assistance levels have gone down dramatically.

US House Rep Brad Sherman:  But it's still well over a billion?

Brett McGurk: Uh, no.  I believe that the most recent request is now of under a billion.  It's gone from 1.5 billion last year to, uh, FY13 [Fiscal Year 2013]  to about 880 million.  And I can again brief you on the glide path in terms of our overall presence.  In terms of oil, it's actually quite the opposite.  The Iraqis have done everything they can to get as much oil onto international markets as possible --

US House Rep Brad Sherman:  So they are pumping as much as possible.


This thread was continued with US House Rep Dana Rohrabacher who made a series of statements about the "$880 million in aid" and how it came not only after so many deaths but also "after spending almost a trillion dollars over a decade."

Brett McGurk:  Congressman, thank you, I just want to clarify, the 880 million dollars  is our operating request for, uh, the current budget -- for sustaining our presence in Iraq and doing various things we do there.

US House Rep Dana Rohrabahcer:  That's right.  So why should we do that?

Brett McGurk:  Well we have vital interests at stake in Iraq.  Whether you measure it from al Qaeda in Iraq, whether you measure it from the oil production,  whether you measure it from just the overall stability of the region.  I think withdrawing from Iraq, in terms of our overall diplomatic presence and what we're doing, would have a really devastating consequences to our longer term interests. 


So that we all get what was just said, the US State Dept, from the mouth of Brett McGurk, just declared Iraqi oil is a "vital interest" of the United States government and part of the US government's "longer term interests."  In other words, we have confirmation that Iraqi oil -- "vital interest" -- was one reason the US went to war on Iraq.

Second, Brett's playing with the numbers.  He could have -- as a State Dept friend told me -- have used "about $600 million" as well.  The State Dept is requesting $1.18 billion.  That's not including USAID's request.  The RAND Corporation, just last week, noted the request in Ending the US War In Iraq.  Kerry presented the request to Congress last April.  They've not amended the request.  Brett was being a liar.  No surprise there.

Brett's lies were never ending.  We could spend two more snapshots just documenting the lies from the hearing.

We'll note this one, "I would point you to an important op-ed the Iraqi ambassador wrote on our Veterans Day, thanking all the sacrifice in Iraq."

What?

Nouri wrote only one column in the last weeks.  It was for the New York Times. The Assyrian International News Agency is among those who reproduced the column.  Two US newspapers ran it on Veterans Day but it has nothing to do with veterans.  Nouri never mentions veterans and only brings up service members in two sentences (paragraph three) to say he doesn't want US troops.

I thought I'd somehow missed Nouri's column.  That I'd missed it and no outlet had noted it.  But I checked and there is no other column -- only the one he wrote for the New York Times (published online October 29, 2013).

Brett couldn't stop lying.

And maybe he lied about the whereabouts of the 7 Ashraf hostages kidnapped in September?  I don't know.  I know what he said and he said in an open hearing so why didn't it get reported?  Oh, that's right, we're the only ones in the United States reporting on this hearing.

While the US press filed nothing on the hearing, the US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents issued a statement:




During a hearing on November 13, 2013 by the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, Brett McGurk, when faced with repeated questions by several subcommittee members over the breach of commitments by the US Government and Iraq to protect thousands of Iranian dissidents in Iraq, resulting in the murder of 112 defenseless residents of Camp Ashraf, attempted to exonerate the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of any role in the execution-style murder of 52 residents of Camp Ashraf and the abduction of seven more on September 1st.
Mr. McGurk, to the astonishment of Members of Congress, downplayed the seriousness of this massacre and the daily deadly violence in Iraq, as being ordinary and inevitable. Mr. McGurk did nothing to allay the concerns of anxious families and relatives of the residents, in attendance at the hearing. Nor did he highlight the detrimental sectarian policies and incompetence of the Iraqi Prime Minister as the main causes of the carnage in the country. Instead, Mr. McGurk suggested to the Iraqi people that the only way to stay safe is to leave Iraq.
McGurk minimized the Iraqi government's role in the September 1 massacre. A plethora of evidence and expert testimony, however, make it clear that highest levels of the Iraqi government, including the Prime Minister, were involved in the planning, execution and cover-up of this crime against humanity.
Camp Ashraf is sealed off from the outside by chain-lined fence with barbed wire on top, leaving only two entry gates for the Camp, guarded by an Iraqi army brigade at the west gate and by a Rapid Deployment Unit on the east gate.
Camp Ashraf is under 24/7 guard of 1,200 Iraqi forces in the midst of a highly militarized zone, with hundreds of units of Iraqi army within a 20 mile radius. There are dozens of check points on the only highway that leads from Camp Ashraf to Baghdad to the south and to Kirkuk to the north. As such, U.S. military officers who served in Iraq have stated unequivocally that it is absolutely inconceivable that more than 100 heavily-armed men with a large load of explosives to have carried out this murder without the approval of the highest authorities in Iraq. These officers who trained the Iraqi forces have stated that the assault force employed US tactics and equipment in the attack.
According to statements by European Ministers, as well as past and present United Nations officials and eyewitnesses, the seven hostages, including six women, have been detained and interrogated by the Iraqi army's Golden (dirty) Division in Baghdad. On September 12, Kamel Amin, Spokesman of the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry, told Radio Free Iraq, "Security forces arrested these individuals [seven hostages] for attacking them [security forces]."
Hundreds of Camp Liberty residents in Iraq as well as their relatives and friends in Europe, Canada and Australia have been on hunger strike for the past 77 days. Many are at a critical physical stage and may not survive if the hostages are not released immediately.
The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) calls on President Obama to intervene personally and demand that the Iraqi government release the hostages at once and return them to Camp Liberty. Only in this way, can the US Government atone for betraying its promises and commitments to protect the residents of camps Ashraf and Liberty.






The statement is mistaken.

That's not their fault, no one reported on the hearing and we were saving Sheila Jackson Lee for Thursday and then I kicked her back to Friday to see if anyone would report what happened?

They did not.

The 7 hostages that the US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents are calling for Nouri to release?

They are not in Iraq.

If the US government is telling the truth, the seven are no longer in Iraq.  This was revealed in the final exchange of the hearing, when US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee joined the Subcommittee and, after taking a brief break, began her five minute round of questioning.  Two notes.  "[. . .]"?  We don't have time to include their praise of one another and maybe if that praise hadn't been used to waste time then Sheila Jackson Lee would not have had to ask for more time?  Second "pointed purse"?  I have no idea.  I turned to Ava and asked, "Did she just say 'pointed purse'?"  That's what Ava heard as well.  Who knows what she said, that's what it sounded like.  With that, here's the exchange.


US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee:   [. . .]  But there are hostages in Iraq that we must have now.  There's documentation that those hostages are there by our French allies, by the United Nations and other supportive groups and information.  I can't imagine with the wealth of sophisticated intelligence authorities that we have, that we have funded who have a vast array of information about Americans  cannot pinpoint where starving Iranians, loved ones [are]whose families are trying to save their lives after being on a hunger strike for 73 days.  And so I would ask this question of you, already knowing about your heart and your concern, I will not judge you, I already know that you're committed to getting this right/  Will you -- will you demand of Maliki, not next week or months from now, but can we expect in the next 48 hours a call to the head of the government of Iraq demanding the release of these hostages and demanding their release now?  Or the documented, undeniable evidence that they are not held in Iraq?  Second, would you be engaged with -- or  the Secretary [of State John Kerry] be engaged with -- and I have spoken to Secretary Kerry, I know his heart -- with Maliki to demand the security of those in Camp Ashraf  for now and forever until a relocation to a homeland, a place where their relatives are or where they desire to be? [. . .]

Brett McGurk:  [. . .] We can pinpoint where the people are and I'd like to follow up with you on that.  The seven are not in Iraq.  But I will guarantee in my conversations with Maliki on down, the safety and the security of Camp Ashraf, Camp Liberty, where the residents are, the government needs to do everything possible to keep those poeople safe  but they will never be safe until they're out of Iraq.  And we all need to work together -- the MEK, us, the Committee, everybody, the international community -- to find a place for them to go.  There's now a UN trust fund, we've donated a million dollars and we're asking for international contributions to that fund for countries like Albania that don't have the resources but are willing to take the MEK in.  And we need to press foreign captials to take them in because until they're out, they're not going to be safe and we don't want anyone else to get hurt.  We don't want anymore Americans to get hurt in Iraq, we don't want anymore Iraqis to get hurt in Iraq  and we don't want any more residents of Camp Liberty to get hurt in Iraq and until they're out of Iraq, they're not going to be safe.  This is an international crisis and we need international help and support. 


US House Rep Sheila Jackson Lee:  May I follow -- May I just have a minute more to follow up with Mr. McGurk, Secretary McGurk?  And I hear the passion in your voice but let me just say this. We're in an open hearing.  You know where they are.  Who is going to rescue them?  Whose responsibility will it be to get them from where they are into safe haven?  Because otherwise, we're leaving -- we're leaving Maliki now without responsibility.  We're saying, and you're documenting that they're not there.  Let me just say that when my government speaks, I try with my best heart and mind to believe it.  But I've got to see them alive and well to believe that they're not where I think they are, they're in a pointed purse.  I'm glad to here that but I want them to be safe but I want them to be in the arms of their loved ones or at least able to be recognized by their loved one that they're safe somewhere.  So can that be done in the next 48 hours?  Can we have a-a manner that indicates that they are safe?

Brett McGurk:  I will repeat here a statement that we issued on September 16th and it's notable and I was going to mention this in my colliquy with my Congressman to my left, that within hours of the attack, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Score issued a statement praising the attack.  We issued a statement on September 16th calling on the government of Iran to use whatever influence it may have with groups that might be holding these missing persons to secure their immediate release.  And I can talk more about details and the status of these individuals.  And I've briefed some members of the Subcommittee. I'd be happy to follow up. 


I don't possess Sheila Jackson Lee's alleged ability to see into the heart of people.  But I do know the law.  If seven hostages were taken out of Iraq by whatever forces, the US government has to rescue them or pursue it.  That's because Genevea didn't and doesn't end -- the law covering the US government's obligations to the Ashraf community -- until the Ashraf community is safely out of Iraq.  7 hostages kidnapped and taken out of the country?  The US has failed and must secure their release.  The US has failed.

I loathe Bully Boy Bush, my life's much better with him out of the White House.  But somehow when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House, no one was murdered in Camp Ashraf and no one was kidnapped from it.


Protests continued today in Iraq.  Since December 21st,  ongoing protests have been taking place in Iraq.  Layla Anwar (An Arab Woman Blues) explained the reasons back in February:


Protests are raging throughout Iraq...thousands upon thousands are demanding the following :

- End of Sectarian Shia rule
- the re-writing of the Iraqi constitution (drafted by the Americans and Iranians)
- the end to arbitrary killings and detention, rape and torture of all detainees on basis of sect alone and their release
- the end of discriminatory policies in employment, education, etc based on sect
- the provision of government services to all
- the end of corruption
- no division between Shias and Sunnis, a one Islam for all Iraqi Muslims and a one Iraq for all Iraqis.

The protests in Anbar, Fallujah, Sammara, Baquba,  Tikrit, Kirkuk, Mosul...and in different parts of Baghdad stress over and over 1) the spontaneous nature of the "popular revolution against oppression and injustice" 2) its peaceful nature  i.e unarmed  3) the welcoming of ALL to join the protests regardless of sect or ethnicity as ONE Iraqi people and 4) and the March to Baghdad.


Layla Anwar and Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi are among the few who can publicly note what led to the protests.  The western press likes to reduce it to one event.  The arbitrary arrests have not ended and, as they continue, they continue to inflame an already tense situation.  Human Rights Watch notes today:


Baghdad residents told Human Rights Watch that between November 7 and 11, SWAT and counterterrorism forces carried out mass arrests in the Dora and Adhamiyya neighborhoods. A tribal leader said that a security force he could not identify raided homes and conducted random arrest sweeps in Adhamiyya, arresting more than 30 people without warrants, insulting them and calling them “humiliating names,” then turned them over to a battalion from the army’s 44th brigade, 11th division. Interior and Defense Ministry officials told Human Rights Watch in February and May that it is illegal for Defense and Interior Ministry security forces to detain suspects, rather than transfer them to the custody of the Justice Ministry.

The tribal leader told Human Rights Watch that he and other elders from the neighborhood visited the battalion to request the detainees’ release. “They let some of them go, but this has become the norm,” he said. “Every Ashura, security forces come, raid the neighborhood, arrest people, and hold them for a while. Once Ashura is over they release most of them, but they are never charged.”

He said that the army battalion commander told him that, after Ashura, “The people who are wanted will stay and the others will be released.” A lawyer working with him told Human Rights Watch that most of the people “were arrested randomly, without warrants” and that some were laborers from outside Baghdad. The lawyer said he had heard that security forces conducted similar operations on the same days in Baghdad’s Tarmiyya and Dora neighborhoods, also majority Sunni, but that he did not know how many people they arrested.

Another Adhamiyya resident told Human Rights Watch that on November 7, security forces began conducting raids in the neighborhood that continued until November 10, the date of the interview. “We can see them everywhere [right now], but we don’t know how many people they are arresting,” she said.

A resident of Dora told Human Rights Watch that on November 7, “a huge number” of SWAT forces dressed in black surrounded the neighborhood at 10 a.m. and raided “every single house” in an operation that lasted until 5 p.m. “They brought at least five trucks,” she said, “and arrested so many young men – at least 50 of them. They put them in the trucks and took them away. The women were coming out and crying, and none of the men have returned.”

She said the families of the arrested men are “terrified” and do not know where their relatives are being held. “People are afraid to leave and afraid to stay in their homes,” she said. She said many of the people arrested “looked very young” but did not know whether they were under 18.

A teacher from Hitt, a majority Sunni city in in Anbar province, told Human Rights Watch that between 5 and 6 a.m. on November 10, SWAT forces surrounded entire neighborhoods in the city and arrested dozens of young men over the course of several hours. The teacher said she saw security forces “everywhere” in the streets and watched them arrest two people. Several students told her later that day that SWAT forces arrested several of their family members, in at least one instance taking a student’s uncle and all of her cousins from their house, she said.

A local news correspondent living in Ramadi told Human Rights Watch that residents and tribal leaders told him security forces from theJazeera and Badiya Operations Command arrested 90 people from Falluja, 63 from Hitt, and 42 from rural areas in Anbar on November 9 and 10.

On November 9, Anbar police chief Hadi Resij, announced that local police and SWAT forces had arrested 43 people in the Shouhadaa neighborhood that evening during a “security operation” south of Falluja, apparently referring to one of the several arrest sweeps that witnesses described to Human Rights Watch. He said all those arrested were “leaders of al-Qaeda,” but did not offer any evidence given that none of the detainees have faced trial. Human Rights Watch was unable to reach other Interior and Defense Ministry officials for comment.



Iraqi Spring MC notes protests took place in Falluja,  Mosul, Samarra, Baiji, Rawah, Tikrit, Ramadi,  The protests are regularly ignored by the western media.  They do have a Tweet this morning:











  • On protests?

    Patrick Cockburn (Independent) can never be bothered with reporting these massive, ongoing citizens protests.  But let oil enter the picture and the 'reporter' is suddenly interested.  Yesterday, he reported:

    Hundreds of foreign workers are being hurriedly evacuated from Basra in southern Iraq following violent protests by Iraqi oil workers and villagers over two incidents.
    In one of them, a British security man tore down a poster or flag bearing the image of Imam Hussein, a figure highly revered by Shia Muslims. The violence may make international oil companies more nervous about operating in Iraq, which is at the centre of the largest oil development boom in the world.

    Oil, oil, oil.  Patrick Cockburn doesn't give a damn blood flowing in Iraq but offer him an oil angle and suddenly he's all horned up.

    Strange, he's covering Basra and oil but can't mention Hassan Juma Awad.   Earlier this week, US Labor Against The War noted:

    USLAW received a brief message from Hassan Juma'a Awad, President of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions, informing us that at a court hearing in Basra today, all charges against him filed by the Ministry of Oil and South Oil Company were dismissed.

    This is the second time criminal charges were thrown out by the court.  After the first dismissal in July, the Ministry of Oil and management of South Oil Company appealed the decision.  The appellate court reinstated the charges and sent the case back to the lower court for another hearing.  That hearing was held today, November 10, 2013.
    In his message, Brother Juma'a thanked U.S. Labor Against the War, Solidarity Center, American, European and other unions and labor federations for support and solidarity, without which he would likely have been convicted and could have been imprisoned for three years and fined huge sums.



    National Iraqi News Agency reports a Shweich roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two more injured, a Haweeja suicide bomber left three members of Sahwa commander Aziz Mohammed Khalaf's family injured, a Samarra sticky bombing left one person injured, Baghdad Operations Command announced they shot dead 2 suspects,  1 civilian was shot dead in Kirkuk, a Mosul bombing left three police members injured, the Badush Prison Inspector was shot dead in Mosul, and a Mosul roadside bombing left 1 woman dead and six more people injured.  All Iraq News adds that Diyala University Professor Thabit al-Khazraji was assassinated while leaving a Baquba mosque, Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 334 violent deaths so far this month.


    On violence, Prashant Rao (AFP) reports that the head of UNAMI, Nickolay Mladenov, declared today that Iraqi security forces are in need of "re-training."  He told journalists in Baghdad:

    There is a culture within the security forces, and the way they do things, which needs to change.  One that is more respectful of human rights. If you want to talk about the immediate security response to the crisis, the police, the army, etc. need massive amounts of re-training... in relation to human rights, and how they respect international standards of human rights, how they undertake operations.

    Yes, they do need something more than what they have.  But the person over them is Nouri al-Maliki and that's also part of the problem.  He may be commander in chief per the Constitution but he only presides over the police due to a power grab.  (The police are under the Ministry of the Interior.  He has refused to nominate anyone to head the ministry so that he can control the ministry.)

    Until Nouri gets replaced -- if that ever happens -- don't expect those under him to possess traits he neither cultivates nor values.

    Nouri is in charge of the Ministry of the Interior -- that's the ministry that launched the assault on Iraq's Emo youth and gay -- and perceived gay -- males.  That's the ministry that went into the schools declaring these people 'evil' and stating it was okay to attack and kill them.  The Ministry of the Interior denied doing that when an international outcry built to the attacks; however, Al Mada and Alsumaria corrected that lie by printing the official handout from the Ministry of the Interior that was distributed during their school presentations.


    Let's turn to political.  In 2014, Iraq's supposed to hold Parliamentary elections.  This will mean, among other things (if elections are held), that someone will be selected to be President of Iraq.


    The KDP is coming off a huge victory and KRG President Massoud Barazani is looking for the next post to tackle.  What if that post is the Iraqi presidency?  Which would see him resign as the KRG President and possibly upgrade his nephew, the current prime minister of the KRG, into the post of presidency?

    A major meet-up is taking place this weekend.  Turkey's Hurriyet notes political implications -- for one person, in Turkey:

    Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün ruled out assumptions that Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani’s upcoming meeting with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Diyarbakır was the ruling party’s ploy to get more votes in the local elections.

    AFP adds, "Ankara: Turkey’s prime minister will hold talks on Saturday with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani aimed at restarting a stalled peace process, with decades-old divisions between Ankara and the Kurds far from over.  The talks -- branded 'historic' by Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- come at a sensitive time for the Turkish government after a peace deal with Kurdish rebels stalled in September."   Rudaw notes, "As a prominent Kurdish leader, Barzani will be the first to visit Diyarbakir and be received as the president of the Kurdistan Region. This has symbolic significance at the minimum. Unlike previous Turkish governments, Turkey’s foreign policy under Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has shown flexibility and leniency toward the Kurds."

    Current President Jalal Talabani has been out of the country for eleven months.  Couldn't run for re-election from a hospital bed in Germany.  (The Iraqi Constitution bans Talabani from a third term but when is the Constitution followed in Iraq?)

    Barzani's got two years tacked on to his presidency of the KRG.  That's 2014 and 2015.  Then what?

    He can't have a third term (the two years tacked on was consolation for the fact that, during his first term, the law was passed limiting the office to two terms).  He has an international presence.

    Hoshyar Zebari's a joke.  Even his own party, PUK, is now lukewarm on him and that's before he attempted to stab the Talabani family in the back.

    A Kurd as prime minister of Iraq?  Not happening in 2014.  So that leaves the presidency or Speaker of Parliament and, of the two, the presidency has more prestige.

    And the Kurds consider it their position.  Talabani  insisted to US Vice President Joe Biden (in the fall of 2010) that the presidency belonged to the Kurds.  (Talabani was being asked to step aside and let Ayad Allawi take the post since his Iraqiya got the most votes and since the US government would not allow Allawi to be prime minister because they were backing Nouri.)

    If it's a Kurdish position, Barzani would be the most likely choice to fill it.


    Yesterday, Shi'ite pilgrims were targeted in Iraq.  The US Embassy in Iraq issued the following:

    U.S. Deplores Attacks Targeting Religious Pilgrims Commemorating Ashura

    November 14, 2013
    The United States Embassy deplores recent attacks around Iraq targeting religious pilgrims commemorating Ashura. The deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, particularly those exercising their faith, is cowardly and reprehensible. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families and wish for a rapid recovery for those who were injured. The United States is committed to partnering with the Government of Iraq in its efforts to combat terrorism.


    On the topic of people being targeted in Iraq due to their religion, Ewan Palmer (International  Business Times) reports:


    Christianity is in danger of becoming extinct in the countries where it was founded because of persection, a senior Tory has warned.

    Baroness Warsi, the government's minister for faith and communities, claimed that Christians were being driven out of Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq and Syria by being targeted for "collective punishment" for the actions of Western powers.
    [. . .]
    Warsi, who was Britain's first female Muslim cabinet minister, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the Christian population in Iraq had fallen from 1.2 million in 1990 to 200,000 today. She added that the war in Syria had "masked the haemorrhaging" of its Christian population.



    Let's move to England.  Matt Carr (Huffington Post) notes England's Iraq Inquiry which has still not produced a report and which now appears to be blocked from reporting what they unearthed -- blocked by US President Barack Obama:


    This week however, the British public were presented with further evidence of how hollowed-out the democratic process has become, when the Chilcot Inquiry revealed that it was being denied access to 25 notes sent by Tony Blair to George Bush, and 130 documents relating to conversations between the two architects of the Iraq War, in addition to dozens of records of cabinet meetings.
    There is no more serious decision that a government can take than a declaration of war, and there is no more serious test of a democracy than the ability to hold its leaders to account over why and how such decisions are taken, especially when a war is declared on false pretenses and results in a tragic and bloody disaster of the magnitude of the Iraq War.
    The Chilcot Inquiry was established by Gordon Brown with the fairly mild remit to establish 'lessons' from the Iraq war, rather than 'apportion blame.' Much to its own surprise no doubt, it has shown more teeth than anyone expected, to the point when its investigations threaten the reputations - and the cash flow - of those responsible.




    Sarah Lazare (Mint Press News) observes that "the U.S. government is forbidding the release of communications between Blair and Bush in the lead-up to the war, declaring it classified information and pressuring British Prime Minister David Cameron to wipe this information from the report."  The Voice of Russia (link is audio) speaks with the Guardian's Richard Norton-Taylor about the latest scandal while  Robert Fox (The Week) argues:



    The refusal to disclose presidential correspondence and conversations is yet another example of US exceptionalism, a principle often cited by President Obama.
    Today 'exceptional' means not being accountable - not having to explain to your allies why you want them to make war, not having to justify extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib or chaotic secretive military courts.
    The Chilcot Inquiry has, by many accounts, already unearthed glaring evidence of government mismanagement and worse. Chilcot should steal himself and publish all he knows, whatever Britain's exceptional allies might think and say. It is a duty he owes the public


    This is becoming a huge scandal and we've noted it three days in a row now.  People need to be asking why so-called 'independent' US outlets are ignoring the story?  I'm not talking about MSM or corporate media.  I'm talking about the whore beggars always insisting you need to send money to keep their magazine or their radio program afloat because only they will tell you the truth.

    Iraq briefly came up during today's State Dept press briefing by spokesperson Jen Psaki.  We'll close with that exchange:



    QUESTION: Okay. On KRG and Turkey --


    MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.


    QUESTION: -- the President of KRG, Mr. Barzani, is going to visit Turkey tomorrow. First of all, do you have any reaction to that? And I have couple other questions.


    MS. PSAKI: Well, the U.S., as you know, has a strong and positive relationship with both Iraq and Turkey. We’re encouraged by recent efforts on both sides to improve relations, including recent reciprocal visits. Improvement in Iraq-Turkey relations is critical for regional stability and cooperation, so we continue to encourage that.

    QUESTION: There is – an oil pipeline is about to – according to news reports, is going to start pumping oil very soon – maybe weeks, maybe months – from KRG to Turkey. What’s your view on that matter?

    MS. PSAKI: Well, our consistent position hasn’t changed, which is that we don’t support oil exports from any part of Iraq without approval of the Iraqi Federal Government. So we continue to urge the Federal Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to reach a constitutional solution.

    QUESTION: There was a phone call between the Vice President Biden and the KRG President Barzani --

    MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.

    QUESTION: -- and some statements came from Ankara today that Turkey can help KRG and Baghdad to distribute this income from this KRG sale. And there are other reports that the U.S. can do this. Do you have any view on that subject?

    MS. PSAKI: I would point you to the White House, the Vice President’s office, on the specifics of that call. I don’t have any details on it and what may or may not have come out of it, what’s accurate.





    cnn

    Thursday, November 14, 2013

    Lone Justice

    Isaiah had 2 comics this week and now I'm noting The World Today Just Nuts "Babs Visits DC."




    babs visis dc


    Now here's some good news from Antimusic:

    It can be difficult to capture the live power of band in a studio recording. Luckily for us, Lone Justice (Maria McKee, Ryan Hedgecock, Marvin Etzioni, and Don Heffington), forerunners of the alt-country movement, went to Suite 16 Studios in December of 1983 and laid down much of the set list with which they were packing Los Angeles area clubs.

    Recorded direct to two-track tape by engineer David Vaught and with no overdubs, those 12 tracks can finally be heard in their entirety as This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983, out January 14, 2014 on Omnivore Recordings. As Los Angeles music journalist Chris Morris writes in his liner notes, the release "offers the best representation of the band in its infancy — hot, full of piss and vinegar, and ready to take on the world."



    I loved Lone Justice.  I remember seeing them before they had an album.  C.I. had dragged me along with a group of her friends (I remember Neil Young being at the table and an Eagle but I can't remember which Eagle).

    Maria McKee had a voice like no one else.  She could sing.  She could flutter up to high notes, she could bellow from the chest. Her singing was poetry, raw and passionate.

    What happened?

    They signed with Geffen and were altcountry.  Geffen didn't know what to do with them.  The second album really drove that home.  Then it was over.

    Maria was going solo and.  I loved the first album and liked the second but soon Geffen -- still not able to sell her -- lost interest.

    The first time I heard Alanis Morissette on the radio, it was the song "Hand In My Pocket."  I thought she was ripping off Maria (I still think that) and didn't have the pipes to pull it off.


    "Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
    Wednesday, November 13, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, another mayor is assassinated in Iraq, Congress holds a hearing on Iraq, Brett McGurk attempts to lie about a 'discussion,' Iraq War vet Mike Prysner reflects on the war, and more.




    Due to his own texts, we know that Gina Chon gave Brett McGurk blue balls before they both decided to cheat on their spouses in Iraq, the question is: Who stuffed Brett full of crap?

    Judging by his demeanor and statements to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, Brett stuffed himself and goodness how the nonsense poured out of him.

    US House Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the Subcommittee Chair and US House Rep Ted Deutch is the Ranking Member.  In addition to those two, US House Reps David Cicilline, Steve Chabot, Juan Vargas, Joe Wilson, Grace Meng, Brad Schneider, and Dana Rohrabacher were present.  I hope I didn't miss anyone.

    The way this is going to play out is that we're going to focus on some of the hearing today and some of it tomorrow.  I also attended a VA hearing today and would like to work that in but with two snapshots being needed for Subcommittee hearing (and that may go into three), it may be next week before we get to the VA hearing.




    Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  Before we begin this afternoon's hearing I will hand Deputy Assistant Secretary McGurk an envelope and ask that he please deliver it to Secretary [of State John] Kerry.  These are my previous letters to Kerry pleading for the United States to help the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty and to prevent another deadly attack like the one from September at Camp Ashraf which left 52 dead and 7 hostages who are still missing. There's also a video taken by the residents of Camp Ashraf during the last assault that I urge Secretary Kerry and all members of this Subcommittee to view.  And finally, a letter to Secretary Kerry regarding the return of Iraqi-Jewish community artifacts that are now on display at The National Archives.  In 2003, US and coalition forces found a  trove of Iraqi-Jewish cultural artifacts being warehoused in the basement of Saddam Hussein's secret police headquarters.  And the US subsequently brought them here, to The National Archives, for restoration, preservation and display; however, these artifacts are scheduled to be returned to Iraq where the government will claim possession of these artifacts which were unjustly taken from the Iraqi-Jewish community.  The US government must not return those stolen treasures to the Iraqi government but instead should facilitate their return to their rightful owners or descendants.  Therefore, on behalf of me, Congressman Steve Israel and over 40 of our House colleagues, we ask you, Deputy Secretary McGurk, to personally deliver this letter to Secretary Kerry and the Dept of State ensures that the Iraqi-Jewish community does not get robbed again of its collective memory and treasures. 



    That was the Chair speaking at the start of the hearing.  After opening statements, Chair Ileanna Ros-Lehtinen started by noting the contents of the envelope she was asking McGurk to pass on to Kerry and asked about the issues she'd noted above.

    McGurk elected to go with the issue of the Jewish archives.




    Brett McGurk:  I'll start with the Jewish archives.  As you know, the archives are on display at The National Archives. I went to see them last week.  It is a really remarkable display -- both about the Jewish heritage and the tragic history of this community in Iraq.  Uhm, we are also in a daily conversation with the government of Iraq, uhm, and with the Jewish community here in Iraq -- uh, this morning, I was in communication with Rabbi Baker from the American Jewish Council.  I've also been in regular conversation with Ambassador Fahly who's here, uh, representing the Iraqi government.  Uh, as you know, we have a commitment from an agreement in 2003 to return, uh, the archives to Iraq, uh, next summer -- by the end of next summer.  Uh, we have paid for Iraqi archivists who are here now training with The National Archives to make sure uh that these archives are preserved -- and protected.


    At this point, the Chair noted that her time was brief and she needed him to touch on her other topics and that she was sure others present would ask about the archives.


    Brett McGurk:  I'll say just briefly on the archives, we're open to discussions on discussing this position of the archives and I know the ambassador agrees with that.  And I'm happy to discuss this further. 


    What was Brett McGurk saying?

    He was lying.

    He was lying plain and simple.

    Discussions?

    Doesn't it sound like, from his words, that the State Dept is reconsidering their pact?

    Because they should be.  The artifacts were stolen property, stolen by the government of Iraq (Saddam Hussein's government).  So they don't belong to Iraq or the Iraqi government.  In fact, if they're turned over to the Iraqi government, the government will be in possession of stolen property.

    There is no legal binding contract despite the nonsense from the State Dept and the White House.  Only the owner of the property can enter into a contract regarding the property.

    A thief cannot steal property and legally sell it.  A thief has no ownership rights to property they stole.

    But McGurk thought he could lie.  He wasn't expecting so many members of the Subcommittee to be interested in this topic.  Let's note this exchange.



    Ranking Member Ted Deutch:  I'd actually like to get back to the issue of the archives.  And you said that you're "open to discussions."  And these are just a couple of observations -- and I appreciate the attention that you've paid to this issue already.  Iraq, Babylon, was the center of Judaism for a thousand years and-and these documents, tattered as they were, found a decade ago are -- according to the agreement that was reached with the -- with the Coalition Provisional Authority were supposed to be sent -- were supposed to be sent back to a place where the number of Jews, the number is perhaps in the single digits.  The documents -- many of the documents are very personal in nature, records of the community, things that are of real value to the members of the community and their descendants who simply aren't there.  So help me.   I understand what the agreement was.  You've also said you're now open to discussions. And can we explore that a little bit?  Can we explore that a little bit?  And if you could just continue where you left off?   What discussion can we have?  And what can we do?  What -- what would be the hold up to ensure that these items are so, so personal to the community that is no longer living in the country can actually reside with the community?

    Brett McGurk:  All I can say is that is that everybody should go see the exhibit and if you meet the technicians who actually traveled to Baghdad in the heart of the worst -- one of the worst periods of the war in 2003 to preserve these materials, it's really a remarkable effort by The National Archives.  The State Dept's proud to be a partner with them in that -- in that effort.  They will be on display at the archives.  They will -- they will then be on display in New York.  The commitment that we made in 2003 is a legal agreement to get them out of Iraq to preserve this important material.  Without that agreement, the material never would have been preserved.  Uhm, they will be on display in New York and then under this commitment, they will -- they will transfer to Baghdad in the late summer of next year.  All I can say is that, uh, we have an agreement with the, uh, Iraqi ambassador here to begin a conversation about, uh, long-term loans here in the United States to make sure that people can --  can view them, but that will be an ongoing discussion.  It's November now.  We have until the end of the summer, so we do have some time to discuss this.  We have heard very loudly and clearly the concerns of the community.  We've listened to them, we've taken them to heart and we'll see what we can do.

    Ranking Member Ted Deutch:  And I would -- I would just add to that there are, as I understand it, some 2700 books, tens of thousands of documents.  It certainly seems that -- that it would be possible to be able to have the ability to highlight the-the community that existed in Iraq in some fashion while still ensuring that the bulk of these records continue to stay with-with those who are the most closely affiliated with them and presumably whose lives they effect. 

    And there we find out that Brett McGurk lied.

    Are we surprised?

    So there are no discussions currently about this most important topic: Legal ownership.

    The Iraqi government has no legal ownership.

    And that's actually the first thing you establish.

    Try to get just how crooked and corrupt the State Dept is on this.

    I swipe your emerald necklace.

    The US government sees that the stones need polishing.  They take it to polish the stones and tell me they'll get it back to me.  You show up and say, "That necklace is stolen property!  It belongs to me!"  Brett McGurk hears you "very loudly and clearly."

    Brett shows up at my door to tell me . . .


    that I should probably let the necklace be displayed in New York.

    Why is he negotiating with me about possible showings of property I've stolen?

    That's so insulting and it's so stupid.  You establish ownership first and foremost.

    And the US should have done that in 2003 before entering into any agreement.

    But the law's the law.  And the law is not 'the US must honor the contract!'  No, the law is the contract is invalid if the property was stolen.  That does not mean ownership goes to the US -- it does mean the US has to hand it over to the rightful owners.

    As it is, the US government has wasted a ton of a tax dollars -- US tax dollars -- making the property more valuable and it's about to hand this increased worth over to thieves.

    And that's what the Iraqi government is -- not Saddam, the current one -- if they're trying to grab stolen property which they have no claim to.


    Can you imagine if all the Shi'ites had been run out of Iraq in 1993 and Saddam was holding items he stole from them in 1984?  Can you imagine the outrage?

    And it would be justifiable outrage.

    I'm honestly surprised the clerics, like the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have not spoken on the matter since we are talking religious artifacts and heritage.  You'd think the Shi'ite  religious elders, who knew what it was to suffer under Saddam Hussein, would be the first to speak up and say, "Stolen Jewish artifacts do not belong to our country, they belong to the Jewish people."


    The lies of Brett McGurk never ended.  It was as though everyone of us in that room were his first wife and he was all insincere charm insisting to us that he wasn't sleeping with some crazy reporter with the Wall St. Journal.

    The lies started immediately.  Even though the Chair said his  full written statement would be entered into the record, he attempted to read all ten pages.

    He lied at the start about Baghdad and Erbil, but we'll come back to that.

    It was offensive to hear him go on and on about Shi'ite victims of violence.  Violence is awful no matter who is harmed.  But there are levels of violence.

    It's awful when anyone goes on a mad tear to destroy and harm.  But when it's the government?  That's even worse.

    Brett did not want to acknowledge, for example, the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.
    AFP  reported  the death toll rose to 53. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

    The 52 dead are not more dead than, for example, a Shi'ite pilgrim.  But the fact that the killers were tools of a government which is supposed to protect the population, which exists for that reason first and foremost?  That makes the violence worse.

    Brett McGurk kept blustering about al Qaeda in Iraq and 2011 and 2012 and how the US sent al Qaeda in Iraq running and blah, blah, blah.

    But just as he refused to note the Hawija massacre, he didn't want to note that Nouri's responsibilities.  His failures.

    Chief among them?

    Back in July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."   That's still true.

    And it's not a minor point at any time but it's especially not a minor point that you've got no Minister/Secretary of Defense, Interior and National Security as your country's security unravels.

    I have yet to hear -- during all this time those spots have been empty -- one member of Congress challenge a witness as to whether or not Nouri's refusal to fill those seats may have helped violence increase in Iraq.


    It was so irritating to hear Brett McGurk babble on endlessly.


    Brett McGurk:  In short, Iraq's hydrocarbon sector is vital to U.S. interests in the region, and its development is essential to Iraq's long - term stability. These shared interests have led to a close and ongoing partnership as to how Iraq can best manage its abundant resources to generate increasing revenues and align the interests of disparate groups in a unified and federal Iraq. For example, four export platforms that came on line south of Basra in 2012 -- each with capacity to export 900,000 barrels per day -- were the result of joint efforts beginning in 2007 to address serious deficiencies in Iraq's infrastructure. Today, U.S. policy is focused on a similarly ambitious -- and achievable -- vision: a strategic pipeline from the super giant oil fields in Basra (with 80 percent of Iraq's proven reserves) to the Haditha refinery in Anbar province; south west through Jordan to the Red Sea; and connected to the north , Turkey and the Mediterranean. These three export routes -- the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, and Mediterranean  -- will build redundancy into Iraq's national export infrastructure, facilitate prosperity to all parts of the country, and align the interests of regional partners in a stable and prosperous Iraq. Coupled with this vision is a revenue sharing agreement to ensure that revenues are shared equitably, and, longer term, new legislation to manage the hydrocarbon sector and ensure legal predictability to market entrants . The United States wants to see Iraqi oil from all parts of the country  --  north to south -- reaching global markets as soon as possible, and in a manner that reinforces stability. Iraq today is producing 3 million barrels-per-day, but the IEA projects under its central scenario potential increases to 6 million barrels-per-day by 2020 , and 8 million barrels-per-day by 2035 , with revenues over this period approaching $5 trillion.


    Ignore the numbers and Brett McGurk was saying this same crap in 2006 and 2007 and 2008 and . . . (McGurk was an Iraq War cheerleader in the administration of Bully Boy Bush.)

    There is no hydrocarbons law.

    For those who've forgotten, the hydrocarbons law was in the 2007 benchmarks.  The White House made that a benchmark and Congress would see success on it and not cut off funds!

    There was never any progress on it but a spineless Congress refused to follow up.

    That's not fair.  An uncaring Congress.  By 2008, there was only one member of the House who was asking where the progress was on the benchmarks: US House Rep Lloyd Doggett.

    We have heard over and over that a hydrocarbon law is on its way.

    It has never, ever happened.


    Why does that matter?

    It's at the heart of the problems between Baghdad and Erbil to hear Brett tell it.  (He skipped over Kirkuk.  He skipped over so much.)

    Not only that, he had the nerve to insist, "The United States does not take sides in the internal disputes regarding the distribution of revenues and management of oil resources."


    The how about someone explain this statement issued by Victoria Nuland November 23, 2011, "We have always advised and continue to advise all oil companies, including Exxon-Mobil, that they incur significant political and legal risks by signing any contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government before national agreement is reached on the legal framework for the hydrocarbon sector."


    The US government has been taking sides on the oil issue from day one of the illegal war.

    They led Nouri to believe they could get the ExxonMobil contracts cancelled.  I noted in passing here that they couldn't which led the State of Law MP that reads this site to deluge the public account with e-mails about how this works.

    That's when I realized that many Iraqis -- at least Nouri's State of Law -- were living under the misguided assumption that the US government owned oil companies.  In Iraq, they had state-controlled oil and the government could dictate. That was not the case in the US.  In fact, if anything, the multi-national oil conglomerates control the US government.



    Brett McGurk offered testimony that things were improved between the Baghdad and Erbil due to US "diplomatic engagement."


    Brett McGurk:  Due to a series of disagreements over the Iraqi budget, and in the disputed boundary areas of northern Iraq, Kurdish ministers and parliamentarians were boycotting the central government, and its Peshmerga forces faced off against Iraqi Army units -- with both sides daring the other to open fire. Fortunately, intensive diplomatic engagement led to a detente , with both sides pulling back and disputes returning to the political arena where they belong. On June 10 , Prime Minister Maliki visited Erbil for the first time in tw o years; then, on July 7 , IKR President Barzani visited Baghdad, for the first time since late 2010 . As a result of these visits, the IKR and the central government established seven joint committees with mandates to address the most difficult issues of federalism : security cooperation, revenue sharing, and balancing powers between the central and regional governments. Since then, there has been progress in the area of security cooperation, and we are working to facilitate serious discussions on revenue sharing, to help ensure that all Iraqis -- in all parts of Iraq -- benefit equitably from Iraq's national patrimony. 

    Hmm.  The US brokered peace between Baghdad and Erbil?  Set aside that it's no lasting peace as last week demonstrated.  Brett claimed other US victories.


    Brett McGurk:  Beginning in March, the United States launched a quiet but active campaign to ease tensions with Turkey, settle accounts with Kuwait, strengthen ties to Jordan, and accelerate efforts to reintegrate Iraq with its Gulf neighbors. These efforts are important to bolstering Iraq's independence, and, when combined with economic and security initiatives, aligning its long -- term interests to ours. These efforts have seen some success . Iraq and Kuwait settled key accounts dating to the 1991 Gulf War, and in June the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to finalize a process to normalize relations between both countries. Two weeks ago, the Iraqi cabinet voted to open Kuwaiti consulates in Erbil and Basra. In April, the United States began a trilateral process with Iraq and Turkey, focused on mutual interests . This week , Turkey’s Foreign Minister visited Baghdad for the first time in [. . .]



    I'm sorry, this makes no sense.  And maybe that's why Nouri's government is so screwed up.

    Nouri created the problems with Turkey -- as he has with all neighbors except Iran.  He's attacked everyone, dubbed foreign leaders terrorists, accused them of upsetting the balance n Iraq and said the most rude and threatening remarks imaginable.

    And Brett McGurk wants to tell the Congress that the State Dept is wasting over a billion US tax payer dollars in Iraq each year to go around smoothing things over for Nouri?

    At what point does Nouri put on his big boy pants and solve his own damn problems?  Ones that he created?

    Bully Boy Bush installed Nouri as prime minister in 2006.  The 2010 elections saw Nouri's State of Law come in second to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya.  That meant Nouri was out.  But he refused to step down and brought the government to a stand still for eight months.  Barack had Brett McGurk and others negotiate The Erbil Agreement (the Kurds don't like McGurk, Iraqiya doesn't like McGurk) which gave Nouri a second term in spite of the votes of the people.

    So get ready to laugh as we quote Brett's election wisdoms.


    Brett McGurk:  Shortly after Prime Minister Maliki’s return to Iraq last week, the parliament broke a deadlock to enact the law to govern national elections in 2014. These elections are now set for April 30, 2014. This will be the third election for a full - term national parliament, but the first since the departure of U.S. forces in 2011. Thus, it is a critical test of Iraq’s democratic process, and we have made clear to all Iraqi contacts that the elections must be on time, well prepared, and designed to produce a genuine and credible result. Our Embassy team is working closely with the United Nation s Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to ensure preparations remain on track.



    The US has not supported democracy in Iraq.  Not under Bully Bush, not under Barack Obama.

    Iraqis don't get to decide who their leaders are.  So far the US government has made the choices.

    In the hearing, US House Rep Steve Chabot noted, "Iraq may very well be on the verge of a civil war." Ranking Member Ted Deutch noted there have been over 7,000 violent deaths in Iraq so far this year.
    He pointed out,  "Many believe that the rise in sectarian violence to be a result of the efforts by Prime Minister Maliki to consolidate political power at the expense of Sunni and Kurdish opponents."


    And violence in Iraq was on the grand scale today.  AP reported an attack on "Shiites marking Ashoura in the eastern city of Baqouba, a former al-Qaida stronghold, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. That attack killed eight people, including two children, and wounded 35, a police officer said."  Reuters emphasized, "10 people were killed when a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into a police checkpoint in the town of al-Alam near Tikrit, police said."

    National Iraqi News Agency notes that Falluja Mayor Adnan Hussein was shot dead.  Alsumaria adds a bodyguard of the mayor's and an engineer who was traveling with the mayor were also injured.  Last month, at least 5 mayors were assassinated in Iraq.  Much more fortunate, NINA notes, was Baghdad Mayor Ali Timimi who survived an assassination attempt today (five bystanders were left injured).

    National Iraqi News Agency also reports an eastern Mosul attack left 2 police members dead, a Mosul roadside bombing left one police officer injured, an armed clash in Imam Village left 5 militants dead and one Iraqi soldier injured, a western Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of 3 police officers and left two more injured, 2 Baquba bombings claim 3 lives and leave thirty injured, 2 police homes in Qarma were blown up killing 4 people and leaving seven more injured, an armed clash in Dujail left 2 militants dead and five police officers injured, and a Baghdad roadside bombing left three police officers injured.  Xinhau adds, "In northern Iraq, a soldier was killed and four others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their patrol in the town of Riyadh near the city of Kirkuk, about 250 km north of Baghdad, a local police source said."  By nightfall, more violence had been reported.  NINA notes a Baghdad attack that left 2 brothers dead, a Baghdad attack that left a military colonel dead, a Mosul attack left 2 police members dead and a third injured, and an Abu Ghraib bombing claimed 2 lives and left four people injured.

    That's  46 reported dead and  ninety-eight injured. Iraq Body Count counts 241 violent deaths for the month so far through Monday.

    Still on violence, Jomana Karadsheh and Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) report:


    A Western security contractor was brutally assaulted in southern Iraq this week by a Shiite mob after he reportedly insulted their sect of Islam.
    A 10-minute video circulating on social media sites showed an angry mob of men carrying metal rods, a pickax and other sharp objects attacking the car the man was in, smashing the glass and dragging him out.



    Yesterday, the White House issued the following:



    The White House
    Office of the Vice President

    Readout of Vice President Biden's Call with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani

    Vice President Biden spoke today with President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani.  The two discussed Iraq’s security challenges and the need for close coordination between Erbil and Baghdad to isolate terrorist networks.  The Vice President affirmed the United States’ commitment to partner with Iraq against al Qaeda.  Vice President Biden congratulated President Barzani on the recent passage of a law to govern Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections.   The two also discussed Iraq’s important progress in building relations with its neighbors, including Turkey.



    Alsumaria notes it here, National Iraqi News Agency notes it here.


    Campaigning continues in Iraq in expectation of parliamentary elections on April 30th.  All Iraq News notes Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq's leader Ammar al-Hakin declared today that the next big fight in Iraq will be defeating corruption. Corruption's a seriously problem but the inability of the Nouri-led government to address the security issues don't speak well for the ability of the government to address much these days.

    Yet again, the optics are not good for Nouri's own campaigning -- All Iraq News notes Sadr City is flooded for the sixth day in a row.  That's due to Nouri's refusal to spend any of oil billions pouring into Iraq each month to give Iraq a decent sewage system -- Nouri's refusal to do that for seven years now.  All Iraq News notes Iraqiya MP Qais al-Shathar states the streets flooded with water demonstrate the failurs of the government:


    The services provided to the citizens cannot be compared with the allocated funds for the services sector.  The specified budgets for the services must be spent and be reflected on the services level.  There should be an investigation over the spent funds for the services sector.




    Bill Dores wrote the following:


    Contradicting peace gestures by the Obama administration, U.S. warplanes attacked Syria. U.S.-made F16s fired U.S.-made missiles at two bases of the Syrian Arab Army on Oct. 31, allegedly causing large explosions. On the same day U.S. planes also fired missiles into the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killing two young men.
    The U.S. government announced the attack on Syria, saying it was carried out by Israel. But the only difference between a U.S. air strike and an Israeli air strike are the colors painted on the fuselage of the airplanes. Israel’s warplanes and air-to-ground missiles are made in the U.S. Israeli pilots train in the USA and may be U.S. citizens. Israel’s military machine runs on U.S. dollars.
    The very evening of the attack, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told a Zionist dinner in New York City that Israel would be the first state to receive the Marine Corps’ new V22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and that production was being sped up to get them there quickly. “The Israeli and American defense relationship is stronger than ever, and it will continue to strengthen,” Hagel said.




    That's his opening to his piece for Workers World which is our way of noting that Workers World has new content up after a week or so of being in frozen mode.


    Iraq War veteran Mike Prysner is a co-founder of March Forward.  At his Twitter feed today, he reflected on lessons from the war.





  • I was told we had to invade cuz they had "no freedom to protest." Since been in countless peaceful protests violently attacked by cops
  • I was told we had to invade cuz they "kill their own people." Came home to a place where cops kill innocent ppl daily.
  • I was told we had to invade b/c they had no freedom of speech. Since then I've been arrested 5 times for exercising free speech.






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    jomana karadsheh