Saturday, March 08, 2014

Music and other things

Every now and then, I need to do a little whine.

So let me kick off with that tonight.

A friend who was an art major in college was really mad that I was moving to Hawaii last year.  I was sad that she was mad but Mike and I had been talking about it since 2007 or so (when we stayed at C.I.'s place and she ended up giving Mike a cottage on her property).  We knew it would happen.

We had even noted it at our sites.  Mike was very clear by 2010 that he was ready to move now with an exclamation point.

So while Trina was visiting us, she and Mike did a lot of sight seeing and she and I did some as well.  (I do my therapy sessions so I didn't have as much free time.)  We went to some art galleries and some craft shows and some shops and I found a wonderful sculpture.

I said to Trina, "Isn't that great?"

She agreed and I bought it for my friend.  We immediately went to send it and Trina said, "Insurance and tracking number!"  She was right.

But the down there is that a tracking number let me track it.  So I know it was received.

Four weeks ago.

The first week, I was waiting for the call or e-mail.

Because I just knew she'd love it.

Then I kidded myself that she was writing a letter and that's where there was a delay.

It's four weeks and she hasn't acknowledged the gift so I will just close the door on that friendship.

We have had ups and downs as you do in any friendship.  But we have not spoken since the month before the move.  I did leave messages and they weren't returned.

It's not like we were next door neighbors or even lived in the same state.  I lived on the east coast and she lives in Oregon.  The argument could easily be made that I'm closer to her now that I'm in Hawaii.  But whatever.

Close the door.  Not my choice but I am not going to extend myself repeatedly for someone who can't make any effort.

Carole King has a good song about this called "Changes."  It appears on her Welcome Home album.

On music . . .

"This edition's playlist"

It is now (again) a weekly feature at Third.

A number of e-mails came in saying thank you.

You're welcome but Dona and I both advocated for this feature.

We were joined by others but we've been pushing for this for over 2 years.  We were repeatedly put off.

When we finally returned to doing it, the reaction was, "We should have done this sooner."

Because it's a quick and easy piece.  We're just listing the ten albums (first ten if there are more than ten) we listened to while writing the edition.

Readers enjoy it because who wouldn't?

If you were my neighbor and I was at your house, the first thing I'd want to do is go through your music collection to see what you listen to.

I think we're all curious.

"And farther and farther and farther away from each other . . ."

That's from the album that's playing as I type this.

Mike put it on.

Do you know the album?

Here's some lyrics to the third song on the album:

Early in the morning and I can't do right
Had a little fight with my baby last night
And it's early in the morning 

It's from the seventies.

Another clue?

Singer-songwriter.

Wrote and sang "Best Friend," theme to Bill Bixby TV show The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

The album had three hit singles.

"Jump Into The Fire" hit number 27 on the pop charts and was the lowest ranking of the three singles.  "Coconut" hit number 8 and "Without You" hit number one.

I'm sure everyone who was going to guess has and most of you know it's the late Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson.

My five favorite male singer-songwriters of that period would be Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam), Graham Nash, Harry Nilsson, Neil Young and Jackson Browne   (I don't consider John Lennon of any period and he's always a favorite of mine.)

But I can probably name ten women quickly who are my favorites for their 70s work.

Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Cass Elliot, Melanie, Roberta Flack, Carole King, Janis Ian, Aretha Franklin and Rita Coolidge. That is just the top ten.  I could name many more.  There have been so many strong women artists.

Cass is on the list because of the song she wrote with Dave Mason in this time period before someone insists that Cass didn't write songs.  She also had a hand in songwriting earlier in her career.  She just didn't write with John Phillips (in part because he was a bully).

I went to Crapapedia to get the other song she wrote but I just the mistake C.I. was talking about.  Another regular feature at Third will be the takedown of Crapapedia.  C.I. has several possibilities for us and Cass was one of them -- it's a huge mistake that they have up.  I'll throw my weight behind that for this week's edition of Third.



"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Friday, March 7, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue,  Nouri's assault on Anbar continues, he arrests a flunky for an offense that would warrant firing -- at the most -- anywhere else, the whistle gets blown on the so-called Center for American Progress, and much more.



We've long called out the 'Center' for American Progress and the Podesta boys.  For example, let's drop back  to the March 28, 2007 snapshot:

Interviewed by Bonnie Faulkner (KPFA's Guns and Butter) today, professor Francis Boyle discussed how a 2003 exploration of impeachment by the Democrats was cut short when John Podesta announced that there would be no introduction of bills of impeachment because it would harm Democrats chances in the  2004 election.  Speaking of the measures being applauded by much in the media, big and small, Boyle declared, "It's all baloney.  All they had to do was just do nothing and Bush would have run out of money. . . .  The DNC fully supports the war, that was made clear to Ramsey [Clark] and me on 13 March 2003 and nothing's changed."  John Podesta, former Clintonista, is with the Democratic talking point mill (that attempts to pass itself as a think tank) Center for American Progress -- with an emphasis on "Center" and not "Progress."  


Yesterday, Ziad Jilani blew the whistle on his former employers at the 'Center' noting:


Flash forward a couple years, and the Democratic Party’s lawmakers in Congress were in open revolt over the Afghanistan policy. Our writing at ThinkProgress had opened up a lot on the issue, and I was writing really critical stuff. I worked with our art and design team at CAP to put together a chart showing that Obama’s supposed “withdrawal” plan from Afghanistan would leave more troops in the country than when he began his presidency.
The post was one of the most successful things I had ever written to that point. It was featured by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and the Congressional Progressive Caucus used it in their briefings to criticize Obama’s plan. I felt great — like I was actually doing the right thing about Afghanistan for once at an institution that had remained quiet or supportive of Obama’s policy there, which in my view was accomplishing little but more bloodshed.
But then phone calls from the White House started pouring in, berating my bosses for being critical of Obama on this policy. Obama’s advisor Ben Rhodes — speaking of a staffer who follows policy set by others for his career path — even made a post on the White House blog more or less attacking my chart by fudging the numbers and including both the Iraq and Afghan troop levels in a single chart to make it seem as if the surge never happened (the marvels of things you can do in Excel!). 

Soon afterwards all of us ThinkProgress national security bloggers were called into a meeting with CAP senior staff and basically berated for opposing the Afghan war and creating daylight between us and Obama. It confused me a lot because on the one hand, CAP was advertising to donors that it opposed the Afghan war — in our “Progressive Party,” the annual fundraising party we do with both Big Name Progressive Donors and corporate lobbyists (in the same room!) we even advertised that we wanted to end the war in Afghanistan.

CAP was begging for money -- as it always does -- and claiming they were trying "to end the war in Afghanistan" but all the little whores were doing is screaming at writers to stop blogging about the Afghanistan War because it was too much for little Barack and his pretty little feelings.

You get how it really operates on the faux left.  Any asshole who didn't mention that Barack sent troops back into Iraq in fall 2012 should now be suspect to you.  They don't offer the truth, they merely repeat what the White House wants them to.  Here, we noted Tim Arango's September 25, 2012 report (in print September 26th):


 
Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. 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.

Where were the whores of Panhandle Media?

Those little bitches who pretend to care, really, really care, about informing you and insist that you give them your hard earned money so they can continue to not report, so they can continue to gas bag while doing the bidding of the White House?

It doesn't matter that it's a Democratic White House.

A kiss ass is just a kiss ass -- regardless of political party or identification.

Yes, US corporate media walked from Iraq.

That didn't mean Panhandle got an excuse to do nothing.  Listen to biggest whore of all Amy Goodman self-proclaiming her greatness of  going 'where the silences are.'  Not on Iraq.

No, the dirty little whore had nothing for Iraq.  Nouri attacked protesters.  A week before he did, Goody Whore talked 'about' Iraq with a guest and neither was interested in the protesters.  This week, she briefly discussed Iraq.  But she wanted to focus not on the tragedy that is Anbar right now but what happened there in 2004 and as soon as Dahr Jamail said the words "Barack Obama," the Goody Whore was pissing herself as she rushed to wrap up her bad segment.

This is what the whores have done and this is why you do not let Medea Benjmain get away with her whorish remarks that the peace movement just walked out on leaders like her.  No, it was Medea and the others who walked away from Iraq.

And it may just be a topic to them, but to many of us, it's a humanitarian crisis -- ongoing -- created by the US government via an illegal war, continued by Barack Obama who refused to back the Iraqi voters when they went to the poll in March 2010 and voted Nouri out.

Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal who started an illegal war.

Also true, when he ceased his occupation of the White House in January 2009, Iraq was in a much better place than it is currently.

Violence was lower, more women served in Nouri's Cabinet, there was an increase in hope via elections on the part of the Iraqi people, the judiciary was receiving assistance and training, the mass exodus of Iraqis from their country appeared to have slowed,  Iraq had two Vice Presidents in the country -- one who spoke out strongly on the human rights abuses, the other who made his key issue the issue of corruption.  Jalal Talabani was President.

Today?

Start with violence.  It increased and increased until now when it's back to 2007 levels.  Nouri named a second cabinet which originally included no women and then found a token -- a woman who said women shouldn't have any rights in Iraq, that's the woman Nouri decided should be in charge of the Ministry of Women's Affairs.  (The insufferable Hoshyar Zarbani was holding this position before Nouri could find a gender-traitor.)  The Judiciary in Baghdad is a joke, all the western governments look at it in shock.  Though the fleeing has yet to reach 2006 levels it has been increasing and increasing -- though only BBC World Services has felt the need to report on this in the last 12 months.  Hope in the elections?  When the Iraqi people voted Iraqiya over Nouri's State of Law and saw the US insist that Nouri won anyway, they saw how little votes could actually matter.

The Vice Presidents?  In 2010, they had three vice presidents -- one more than before.   In 2011, the one who'd focused on calling out corruption stepped down, resigned because Nouri failed to keep his Give-Me-100-Days-And-I-Will-End-The-Corruption promise.  That was spring of 2011.  A the end of 2011, the one who spoke out against human rights abuses, went to the KRG a day before Nouri issued an arrest warrant for him.  He remains Vice President but now spends his time in surrounding countries because Nouri's kangaroo courts have sentenced him to the death penalty -- multiple times.


And President Jalal Talabani?

The punchline to every joke in Iraq.


December 2012,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany. 

When did Jalal return?

February 2013?

No.

Not even by February 2014.

Jalal remains in Germany, he's never returned.

Yesterday, Hamza Mustafa (Asharq al-Awsat) reported

As the countdown begins for Iraq’s parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on April 30, one of the questions on everyone’s lips is about what will be done to address the failure to appoint an acting president following Jalal Talabani’s stroke at the end of December 2012.
Although the presidency in Iraq is largely ceremonial and divorced from day-to-day government, the president is considered the guardian of the constitution and has exclusive jurisdiction following the vote of 2005. The consensus-based nature of governance in Iraq also renders the role of the president indispensable as a mediator in a system of overlapping powers and authorities, in a country where offices of state are divided among ethnicities and sects.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, prominent Kurdish leader Fuad Masum, head of the Kurdistan Alliance in the Iraqi Parliament and one of the founders of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) along with Jalal Talabani in 1975, said Talabani’s absence from the scene left the Iraqi political system unbalanced.

“Despite the fact that, according to the constitution, the vice-president is supposed to replace the president in his absence—and this is what is happening now—from a practical point of view there is a breach of the principle of consensus,” he said. “Talabani has not filled his position for more than a year and there have been no Sunni vice-presidents [since] Tareq Al-Hashemi, who was sentenced to death in absentia. There is now one vice-president, Khodair Al-Khozaei, who belongs to the Islamic Da’wa Party led by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, but from a practical standpoint the position belongs to the Kurds.”

Regarding Talabani’s health, Masum said: “What we know, whether we are leaders in the PUK or the Kurdish or Iraqi street, is what is relayed by those close to him. They are receiving information from his family and his personal physician, the Governor of Kirkuk, Dr. Najmiddin Kari . . . We receive assurances about his health even though his stay in Germany has been a long one. His treatment is proceeding slowly and requires time.”


The PUK isn't very smart.  That's why Goran was able to seize second place (behind the KDP) in last fall's KRG provincial elections.  First off, Tareq is not an ex-Vice President.  Parliament can remove him from office.  No one else can.  Parliament has refused to remove him from office.  That means he's still Vice President (and any convictions were inappropriate because he has legal immunity).  Second, if I was the PUK and I had stomped my feet and insisted that  Jalal hold onto his job for over a year despite not peforming it?

I think I'd down play things too.

But the reality is, Iraq's in a very dangerous spot right now, worse than it's been since the initial invasion.

Try to imagine 2010 without Jalal.

Nouri lost.  He demanded a recount.  He still lost.  He refused to vacate the post.  He brought the government to a standstill (with the help of the White House) and this continued for 8 months.

Without Jalal, what would have happened?

For those who've forgotten, in the summer of 2010, in the midst of Nouri's tantrum, Tareq refused to do nothing and went on a diplomatic tour of the neighboring countries leading to outrage from Nouri and his followers who insisted Tareq was not a vice president, that the country had no vice president.  Now they didn't say that about prime minister but they did say it about the vice presidents.  And it took Jalal speaking up to shut them up.

If Nouri loses this upcoming election and there's no Jalal, what the hell happens?

Jalal was the only thing that held Nouri in semi-check.

What the PUK can't admit, the KDP can.  Judit Neurink (Rudaw) quotes Fuad Hussein (KRG President Massoud Barzani's Cheif of Staff) declaring, "Iraq, maybe, has the last chance to build a democracy.


This is failure and it has happened since Bully Boy Bush finally left the White House.  It can't be pinned on him.  Some War Hawks -- Republicans and some Dems in Congress, for example -- would like to pin it on Barack's refusal to keep a large number of US troops in Iraq.

No.

The above has nothing to do with that.

It does have to do with Nouri getting a second term he didn't win.  It does have to do with Barack having US officials broker The Erbil Agreement -- the contract that gave Nouri a second term if Nouri agreed to concessions and power-sharing.

And he did.  For 24 hours.  He signed the contract along with the other leaders of the political blocs.  And he used it to be named prime minister-designate.  He then announced that he would implement the contract but couldn't right away.

His second term is coming to an end in less than two months and he's still not implemented it.

This has created the political crisis which led to the protests which morphed into a human rights crisis as well as a security crisis.

None of that has to do with US troops on the ground.

It does have to do with the White House -- with Barack -- screwing up everything so that things are now worse in Iraq than when he was first sworn in as US President.

That's not even getting the assaults on the Ashraf community under Barack or the asaults on the LGBTs under Barack.

Instead of putting the needs of the Iraqi people front and center, the faux left whored for Barack and never gave a damn about the people around the world -- certainly not the ones in Iraq.

Yesterday, the US State Dept issued a travel warning on Iraq which included:


The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Iraq. Travel within Iraq remains dangerous given the security situation.  This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated September 5, 2013, to update information on security incidents and to remind U.S. citizens of ongoing security concerns in Iraq, including kidnapping and terrorist violence.  The ability of the Embassy to respond to situations in which U.S. citizens face difficulty, including arrests, is extremely limited.

U.S. citizens in Iraq remain at high risk for kidnapping and terrorist violence.  Methods of attack have included roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including explosively formed penetrators (EFPs); magnetic IEDs placed on vehicles; human and vehicle-borne IEDs; mines placed on or concealed near roads; mortars and rockets; and shootings using various direct fire weapons.  These and other attacks frequently occur in public gathering places, such as cafes, markets and other public venues.  Numerous insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, remain active and terrorist activity and violence persist in many areas of the country at levels unseen since 2007.  Iraqi forces are conducting military operations in Anbar Province and elsewhere against insurgent and terrorist organizations.  Baghdad International Airport has been struck by mortar rounds and rockets.  Due to the potential of political protests and demonstrations to become violent, U.S. citizens in Iraq are strongly urged to avoid protests and large gatherings.
The U.S. government considers the potential threat to U.S. government personnel in Iraq to be serious enough to require them to live and work under strict security guidelines.  All U.S. government employees under the authority of the U.S. Chief of Mission must follow strict safety and security procedures when traveling outside the Embassy.  State Department guidance to U.S. businesses in Iraq advises the use of protective security details.  Detailed security information is available at the U.S. Embassy website.


It does continue but it leaves out the most important part for anyone considering traveling to Iraq:  Your plane may not land there.


The world learned that yesterday.  From Thursday's snapshot:

On top of all that, he [Nouri] can't explain why a flight didn't land in Baghdad.  What an idiot.  The basics, as explained by Kitabat, a plane took off in Lebanon headed for Baghdad.  Twenty minutes after take off, the decision was made by someone in Baghdad that the plane would not be allowed to land.  This was then conveyed to Beirut and the plane with the plane then turning around and heading back to Beirut.  Why?  Ghassan Hamid (Alsumaria), citing Nouri's spokesperson, reveals Nouri is claiming no one knows who gave the order.
Nouri's government has created an international incident -- demonstrating yet again what a joke his leadership is.  Dana Khraiche (Daily Star) reports:

MEA’s Public Relations Officer Rima Makkawi said the carrier was investigating why the plane was forced to return to Beirut, saying the earlier statement quoted rumors “and not the company’s reasoning.”
“We want to investigate what happened,” Makkawi told The Daily Star.



Right now, the best guess on what happened?  The plane waited six minutes after scheduled departure for Mahdi al-Amiri and a friend to be found and board.  They didn't.  The plane took off.  al-Amari's father threw a hissy fit -- yet another reason Nouri shouldn't appoint his friends and lackeys to positions of powe.  See Mahdi al-Amiri's father is Hadi al-Amiri is the Transportation Minister.  His son didn't make the flight.  The easiest explanation is that his father refused to allow it to land so it would turn around, go back to Beruit, where it would pick up little prince Mahdi.
Leave out the motive and who gave the order and this is what Oliver Holmes and Jamal Said (Reuters) report happened, "A passenger plane flying from Lebanon to Iraq on Thursday turned back after the Iraqi transport minister's son missed the flight and phoned Baghdad to stop the aircraft from landing, Middle East Airlines (MEA) said."  It also fits with the original statement issued by Middle East Airlines -- one they only retracted when Nouri began blustering and declaring he was going to launch an investigation immediately.  And it's certainly more believable than the statement made by Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Kareem al-Nuri who denied that was even supposed to be on the plane and that the reason for the refusal was that they "were cleaning operations in the airport and specific measures were taken.  We asked all flights not to land in Baghdad airport after 9 am (0600 GMT) but this flight arrived after this time, so we asked it to turn back."



CNN reports on the incident and notes it's become a Twitter topic with CitizenDeCat Tweeting, "You might consider getting . . . to the gate on time, Mahdi al-Amiri."  And that was a smart move by CNN, to note the Tweeter reaction.  Let's copy their move and notice how it's all over the world:



  1. Leia atentamente: Avião quase no destino volta atrás para buscar filho de ministro Por Redação Mahdi al-Amiri,...
  2. Ulah arogan seorang anak menteri diperlihatkan oleh Mahdi al-Amiri, yang merupakan putra dari seorang menteri...
  3. Iraqi Transport Ministers son al-Amiri misses his plane then phones ahead to have it denied landing, another Uday another dollar!
  4. You might consider getting your arse to the gate on time, Mahdi al-Amiri.
  5. Mahdi al Amiri fils du ministr d transport a fait revenir un avion qui étai parti dep8 21min parce kil étai en retard


Isn't that something.  The corruption is noted everywhere.

You know what else is something?  Nouri's 'answer.'

AFP quotes Nouri's spokesperson Ali Mussawi declaring, "[Deputy Airport Head Samer] Kubba was arrested . . . because his action was wrong and harmful to the prestige of the Iraqi state."

How stupid is Nouri that he thinks the world is that stupid?

Does anyone in their right mind honestly believe that the deputy head of an airport gives a damn if some little spoiled prince misses a plane?

No.

The only reason he cares is because people above him -- including the little prince's daddy -- want the plane to turn around.

As usual, Nouri al-Maliki has demonstrated how corrupt he is and how there is no justice in Iraq.

First of all, guilt in this should result in dismissal, not an arrest.

Second, it makes no sense on the face of it.  Everyone knows this was about the Minister of Transportation protecting his little baby boy.

And it's outrageous and it stinks and it should be tied around Nouri's neck as yet another example of how he and his cronies live high on the hog and abuse their positions while the Iraqi people suffer.

Targeting some low level flunky for the actions of one of Nouri's friends is corrupt beyond belief.

Samer Kubba should be immediately released and he should receive an apology from both Nouri and the little spoiled prince's daddy.

It's an international incident.  Anything Kubba did or didn't do resulted from orders issued by people up the chain above Kubba.

All Iraq News notes,  "Dozens of citizens demonstrate in Baghdad and several other provinces on Friday calling to cancel the privileges to the key officials by the Pension Law."

From Iraq's relations with Lebanon, let's move to Jordan.  Missy Ryan (Reuters) reports:

The United States recently sent a small number of special forces soldiers to Jordan to train with counterparts from Iraq and Jordan, a new step in the Obama administration's effort to help Baghdad stamp out a resurgent al Qaeda threat, a U.S. defence official said on Friday.

This is step one.  Is America ready for step two?  Probably not because there have been no honest discussions about step one.


The assault on Anbar Province continues.  UNHCR issued the following today:


GENEVA, March 7 (UNHCR) The UN refugee agency on Friday said the continuing fighting in western Iraq's Anbar province has forced thousands more people to move to safety. Those affected are in various locations across the province, moving westwards from previously safe locations.
"During the last week the number of displaced people in the town of Heet and surrounding areas which lies to the northwest of [the city of] Ramadi has increased by some 25,000-30,000 people," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva.
Elsewhere in Anbar, an inter-agency mission this week by UNHCR, the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund assessed the living conditions and the needs of displaced people living in Al-Obaidy, some 450 kilometres northwest of Baghdad in the Al Qaim area.
Due to the poor security situation, the mission was forced to postpone part of their assessment. Al Qaim district hosts some 5,000 Syrian refugees, some 2,000 of them are in camp Al Obaidy while others are in host communities. The team met with people displaced to temporary houses and two collective shelters in Al-Obaidy town.
The team members identified many with specific needs, particularly female-headed households with large numbers of children. In one home, three female-headed families were cramped together in one small house with 13 children.
While the local communities have generously assisted the displaced, people are still in need of food and health care. Families living in unfinished houses lack blankets, mattresses, cooking facilities and clothing. As an immediate step, UNHCR is distributing aid packs to 300 families the team visited.
"The humanitarian needs of the displaced are growing rapidly. Prolonged displacement is putting pressure on both the displaced and host communities as they begin to exhaust their resources," Edwards said.
UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies are receiving an increasing number of requests for humanitarian assistance and support. UNHCR and partners are continuing to conduct assessments of the humanitarian needs. At present the shortage of shelter remains one of the most pressing issues.
Close to Baghdad, the city of Fallujah remains under siege, the roads remain closed and there are reports of shortages of fuel, food and other basic items. Armed clashes have been reported in the north, south and east of Fallujah, even during a 72-hour ceasefire initiated by the government of Iraq last week.
The situation in Ramadi is also volatile. Shelling and clashes have continued in recent days in the city and in rural neighbourhoods. As the situation deteriorates in the Al-Malab, Al-Bothaib and 20th Street areas, small groups of residents have fled and headed to Heet. The local council in Heet is still welcoming those fleeing, despite the significant burden on the local infrastructure, lack of sufficient accommodation and overstretched services. The district already accommodates some 11,250 displaced families.
To the north-east of Anbar, the first UN humanitarian assistance has in the past few days reached some 200 displaced families living in dire conditions in Sulayman Beg, Salah Al-Din governorate. They fled clashes last week in the north-east of the governorate.
As of Thursday, the number of people displaced in Anbar and the other governorates of Iraq is approximately 380,000. This represents almost 64,000 families, some 42,000 of whom have been displaced in Anbar, the largest governorate in Iraq.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Migration and Displacement and the UN launched a strategic response plan to address the immediate humanitarian needs of people affected by the fighting in Anbar. The plan calls for US$103.7 million to cover the provision of assistance to 240,000 internally displaced people as well as host communities and those stranded in conflict-affected areas.
UNHCR requires US$26.3 million to address humanitarian needs of people displaced by the crisis in Anbar over the next six months. These needs are 11 per cent funded.


Nouri risks the lives of innocent civilians as he pursues collective punishment.  Collective punishment is legally defined as a War Crime.  The United States government recognizes that definition.  And yet the White House continues to arm the tyrant Nouri al-Maliki who then uses the weapons to attack the Iraqi people.


Through yesterday, violence has killed 228 people in Iraq this month according to Iraq Body Count.  Today?


Bombings?


National Iraqi News Agency reports 2 Khirbet Aziz Village roadside bombings left two Iraqi soldiers injured, an eastern Mosul roadside bombing left 1 Iraqi soldier dead and three more injured,  a suicide car bomber in Ramadi took his own life and the lives of 3 Iraqi soldiers with four more left injured, a Baquba roadside bombing left three people injured,  a Tahrir roadside bombing left 1 person dead and two more injured, an al-Musayyib roadside bombing left 1 person dead and another injured, a second Ramadi suicide car bomber took his own life and the lives of 7 police members, and, dropping back to late last night, a Musayyib home bombing left five family members injured.


Shootings?


National Iraqi News Agency reports an Alakhsaf battle left 6 rebels deadJoint Special Operations Command announced they killed 10 suspects in Falluja,  Abdul Rahman al-Izzi and his brother Lt Gen Mahmoud al-Izzi were shot dead in al-Yarkon Village,  and, dropping back to late last night,  1 government official was shot dead in Khanaqin last night and a government employee left injured.


Corpses?

All Iraq News notes 1 corpse was discovered dumped in Nasiriyah.

Back to the US, David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which won the CLR James Award. We'll close with this from Bacon's "STRIKES AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE PROTEST FIRINGS AND DEPORTATIONS" (Working, In These Times):

SAN LEANDRO AND EAST PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, 2/26-7/14

For the last six months, community and labor activists-mostly young- have sat down in front of buses carrying people to detention centers for deportation. In Tucson, they obstructed and chained themselves to ICE vans. In San Francisco, a few days after blocking a bus carrying deportees to detention, "Dreamer" Ju Hong-a young immigrant whose deportation was deferred in the White House's executive action two years ago-challenged President Obama during a local speech. "You have the power to stop deportation," the protester told him.

In response to these actions and others like them, the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have passed resolutions demanding a moratorium on deportations;  San Francisco is imposing a halt in immigration-related firings as well.

And the pressure is only intensifying. Last week, unions and community organizations closed down an intersection in front of a Silicon Valley supermarket chain where hundreds were fired after an inspection by ICE of company personnel records (an I-9 audit), intended to identify undocumented workers for termination. The next day, immigrant recycling workers in one San Leandro, Calif. trash facility walked out of work when their employer and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency threatened their jobs in a similar audit.

These protests are a direct response to the deportations and firing that have intensified as a result of the Obama administration's immigration enforcement policies. 

















Thursday, March 06, 2014

Drones and Hillary's droning


CNN reports, "Five Afghan soldiers were accidentally killed early Thursday in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan, authorities said."

Remember that the next time we're informed that one of Barack's drones murdered 'terrorists' or when Nouri al-Maliki lies that he killed 'terrorists.'

There's too much war.  But damned if Hillary Clinton feels that way.  Did you hear about that?

First, she compares Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, to Hitler.

Then she tells everyone they need to do what Barack says to do.

Shut the f**k up, you stupid stupid woman.

I am a grown up and I don't need orders from some smarmy politician.  She's so damn bossy.

(Yeah, say it: No wonder Bill cheats.)



"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Wednesday, March 5, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri's assault on Anbar continues, Nouri lashes out at another Sunni politician (Osama al-Nujaifi), in the US Hillary Clinton foams at the mouth and embarrasses herself again while, in Ireland, her husband again proves who was fit to be president, and much more.



And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I've had enough
But I'm gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough

Fronting Big Brother & the Holding Company, Janis Joplin took "Piece of My Heart" to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 November 9, 1968.  And women can be tough and they can be tender and they can be everything under the sun.  Before Janis' hit, in 1965, Nancy Sinatra had offered "These Boots Are Made For Walking."  Many would come after Janis.  Carly Simon would deliver "You're So Vain," Tina Turner would explain "Better Be Good To Me,"  Alanis Morissette would offer "You Oughta Know" and Erykah Badu would take on "Tyrone."

There are many other examples but Janis had a career and all the other women have a career because they offered varieties of strength and other things.

But then there is the one note Hillary Clinton.

We get it, you're the baddest bitch in the whole damn town.

But are you anything else? Because for the last five or so years, you've been like the worst Hillary Clinton impersonator.

Leadership is not snarling and bellowing.

Leadership is not taking an already heated topic and making it worse.

Vladimir Putin is not Adolf Hitler and its deeply insulting to the world -- let alone the Jewish community -- for Hillary to froth at the mouth and make these ridiculous claims.  Who's Hitler?  People may start calling her "Hillary Hitler."  Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report) points out, "With the U.S. and NATO now poised at Russia’s door, as was Germany in 1941, Hillary Clinton attempts to flip the clear historical parallel by ranting that it is President Putin who seeks a 'Greater Russia.' The Kremlin has every reason to believe the barbarians are at the gate."



Her latest raving was noted by Jake Tapper (CNN) and, as he points out,  Karen Robes Meek has the audio at Los Angeles Daily News.  And what does Hillary do when called on it?

Refuse to own her mistake.  That's not leadership either.  Nor is crawling up Barack's ass thinking she can hide there.  But she's not even content with that. She also thinks she can tell Americans what to do, "And it is important for us in this country to recognize the complexity of the situation as it evolves and to support the very careful diplomacy that the president and secretary Kerry and others are undertaking."

People are waving at Hillary right now across America and it's not a hello, it's a middle finger gesture that says stop trying to tell Americans what do so.

You're in trouble because you can't shut your big mouth and you then try to fix that by telling Americans what to do?

And check out the hypocrisy and sense of entitlement there.  Hillary works the crowd by bringing up Hitler and then has the gall to tell Americans they have "to recognize the complexity of the situation as it evolves and to support the very careful diplomacy that the president and secretary Kerry and others are undertaking."  As Barry Grey and David North (WSWS) observe, "The US-backed coup in Ukraine has triggered the most dangerous international crisis since the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. American and European officials are denouncing Russia for sending troops into Crimea in response to the installation of an anti-Russian regime in Ukraine that has seized power through a coup d’état staged by fascist militia."  And in that crowded theater of blood, Hillary wants to scream "Hitler!"?

She doesn't have what it takes to be president.  Each year she devolves more and more and scares off those who support her husband who has a natural ability to communicate.  We'll be talking about Bill later in the snapshot, I planned to.  I didn't plan to talk about Hillary but she's one psycho meltdown after another these days.



This week's. Black Agenda Radio, hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey (first airs each Monday at 4:00 pm EST on the Progressive Radio Network),  features coverage of the Urkaine.  Excerpt. 


Glen Ford: The United States and western Europe have succeeded in toppling the elected government of the Ukraine -- a nation on the border with Russia.  Neo-Nazi thugs led the opposition forces which have for decades enjoyed financial and political support from Washington.  The US has also been seeking regime change in Venezuela since at least 2002 when it backed an attempted coup against the late president Hugo Chavez.  Sara Flounders of the International Action Center in New York says the United States is engaged in a general offensive of subversion and disruption across the globe.

Sara Flounders:  What's happening is that with enormous US support and mobilization of the 1% in Venezuela and the upper class and the middle class and those who feel threatened, their social position is threatened by very progressive changes made in Venezuela.  Venezuela is key to a whole bunch of countries in Latin America who have broken free of US domination and who were under the thumb of the US since the Monroe Doctrine, one military dictatorship after another. They've broken free and they've passed quite a bit of progressive legislation [. . .] And we could look at what is happening in the Ukraine where, again, mobilized groups are aided and funded by the US, where they give them political support and enormous media coverage for their actions.  It's not to provide any solutions for the society, it's just to see what can be done to destabilize the country as a whole.

Glen Ford:  And in these targeted countries NGO has become a curse word, a very bad name because of how the United States has funded NGOs to spread dissension and destabilize those countries.

Sara Flounders: Very much so.  The NGOs have become a vehicle, also called civil society.  Now the US bragged that before the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine ten years ago, they had established 40,000 -- that's an incredible number -- 40,000 NGOs in the Ukraine.  Both US funded, they're also German, Swiss, and French and Scandinavian and  all sorts of private foundations.  An incredible number, a network of NGOs which at the time was actually employing 10 percent of the population.  These were people who were sent to the West for training and in every way cultivated to be a dissenting force within society and one that was completely oriented to the West and an effort, also, like a brain drain, attract the most interested, young, political people to say, 'Your society has no solutions, look to the West, attend this conference in Geneva, this meeting in New York.  We'll give you a scholarship, you're going to Chicago.'


For more from Sara Flounders, you can refer to her latest column  at Workers World:


When Kiev’s City Hall was seized with guns and Molotov cocktails, one of the first acts of the Euromaidan street fighters was to unfurl a number of flags and insignia. Prominent among the flags were swastikas, Iron Crosses, Nazi SS lightning bolts, the Celtic cross used by the Ku Klux Klan, and the Confederate “stars and bars” flag of slaveholders in the United States. (tinyurl.com/ltfu4vq)
This is no accident. The flag of the U.S. Southern slaveholders and the Klan cross are symbols understood around the world. They stand for racism, reaction, lynchings and mass terror, for keeping oppressive institutions intact and for beating down people of color and all those who struggle for a better world.


The Voice of Russia's John Robles interviews (link is audio and text)  Francis A. Boyle is an attorney and a professor of international law.  He's also the author of many books including, most recently, United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law.   Excerpt.


Boyle: It doesn't look good at all, John. Instead of the Obama Administration trying to sit down with president Putin and negotiate a way out of this in good faith, all the signs are that the Obama Administration is going to try to quote “cement” unquote, as Nuland put it, their neo-nazi gang of thugs in Kiev into power.
Today already rumors has it that the OSCE (The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), they seem to be on board with this project. NATO just came out with a statement, they seem to be on board with this project, the EU under Barroso came out with an appalling statement supporting this saying, that Nuland's neoNazi thugs in Kiev 'reflect European values'.
It is simply astounding.
You saw Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday on Meeting the Press completely out of control, he does not sound to be rational at all.
He is flying over there to Kiev to cement these neo-nazi thugs in power. UK Foreign Secretary Hague was over there this weekend for the same purpose.
Obviously if people were serious about solving this problem, they would be flying over the Moscow and meeting with president Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. Instead they are telling president Putin that he should be negotiating with their gang of neo-nazi thugs in Kiev.
So this notion you are seeing –they are trying to find an off-ramp for Putin, it is absurd that is propaganda.
Again, they are trying to consolidate into power this gang of neo-nazi thugs who launched a coup d'état against the democratically elected government in Ukraine.
By the way, we're not linking to Ron Jacobs' nonsense.  Barack's the US president.  When little Ron learns to call him out, we might give a damn what the coward says.  Please note, I've called out John Kerry this week and I know and like John.   I've again called out Hillary above.  And I've never been a little weasel who was too scared to call out a sitting president of either party.  Ron Jacobs needs to grow up.  We will note Renee Parsons (CounterPunch):

Listening to the US media, even the most diligent news junkie would find it difficult to know that the U.S. State Department played not only a vital role in the violence and chaos underway in Ukraine but was also complicit in creating the coup that ousted democratically elected President Viktor Yanuyovch.    Given the Russian Parliament’s approval of Putin’s request for military troops to be moved into Crimea, Americans uninformed about the history of that region might also be persuaded that Russia is the aggressor and the sole perpetrator of the violence.
Let’s be clear about what is at stake here:     NATO missiles on the adjacent Ukraine border aimed directly at Russia would make that country extremely vulnerable to Western goals and destabilization efforts while threatening Russia’s only water access to its naval fleet in Crimean peninsula, the Balkans, the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East – and not the least of which would allow world economic dominance by the US, the European Union, the IMF, World Bank and international financiers all of whom had already brought staggering suffering to millions around the globe.

Also noting spin from the media passed off as 'reporting' is Russ Baker (Who What Why) who observes:

The problem is, you can only believe that the West truly cares about the people of Ukraine and their democracy if you have zero historical memory. Or if your analysis of all of these events comes from news organizations that don’t ever really, fully do their jobs.
The US corporate media never changes its spots. After being tricked and lied to on Vietnam, the first Gulf War, the Iraq invasion, Libya, Syria, and just about everything else, it once again takes the US foreign policy establishment at its word that it only wishes to do the right thing. The right thing. It bears repeating.
We’re told that the U.S. and its allies are just thrilled about people going into the streets to overthrow corruption and excesses by financial elites.
Yet, when people tried that in….the U.S.…the police were there in force to shut them down. Occupy looked a bit like the Ukrainian uprising, except that the US establishment was desperate to crush it. (For the ultimate in this, see our exclusive report on a suppressed FBI investigation into plans to use high-powered snipers to kill Occupy leaders….no, this is not a joke.)


Or you can look to Iraq where protests have been ongoing for a year and two months and counting.  Did the US government back the peaceful protesters?


Nope.

Did they at least condemn Nouri when he called them "terrorists" or had his forces attack them?


Nope.

And the White House still has nothing to say about the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead.   UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).


"The Iraqi problem is that they don't have an inclusive government either and if they did, if they followed your lead, they would've been in better shape."  That's a US official speaking.

John Kerry?  Barack Obama?

No.

It's former US President Bill Clinton.  Sky News notes he made that statement to a group he was speaking to in Northern Ireland today.


Let's hear from Bill Clinton one more time,  "The Iraqi problem is that they don't have an inclusive government either and if they did, if they followed your lead, they would've been in better shape."

And that's true.

Thank goodness one American official can speak some sort of truth on Iraq today.

Yesterday saw a suicide attack in Samarra.  The US Embassy in Baghdad issued the following:

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Condemns the March 4 attack on the Local Council of Samarra

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad condemns in the strongest possible terms the March 4 terrorist attack on the Samarra Local Council.  We extend our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and hope for a rapid recovery for those who were injured.

The attack bears the hallmarks of the heinous suicide and vehicle bomb attacks that have murdered so many innocent Iraqis.  The United States stands with the Iraqi people in the fight against terrorism, and will continue to work closely with the Government of Iraq to confront the threat posed by terrorist groups.


World Bulletin notes that Baghdad was slammed with multiple bombings today.  NINA notes a Shula car bombing, 2 Sadr City car bombings and one Bayaa roadside bombing left 3 people dead and thirty-five injured.  Citing police sources, World Bulletin counts 21 dead and sixty-seven injured in Baghdad bombings. AFP also reports 21 dead from Baghdad bombings.

Prensa Latina observes, "The crisis deepened in al-Anbar in December 2013 after authorities dismantled the main Sunni anti-government protest camp in the country, on the outskirts of Ramadi."

And the assault on Anbar continues.

NINA reports the military's bombing of Falluja left 4 civilians ("including a child") dead and seven more injured.  And the military's airstrike in Ramadi left a man and a woman dead and three more in their "civilian car" injured.

At what point does the US government get honest that Nouri is terrorizing the Iraqi people, not hunting down terrorists?

Today someone did get honest.  We'll note it in the snapshot.  Sadly, it wasn't anyone in the current administration -- an administration which appears determined to set new records for lying.

In other violence?

Bombings?


National Iraqi News Agency reports a Jurfi-ssakhar roadside bombing left two people injured, and a Ramadi suicide car bomber took his own life and the lives of 3 security forces with three more injured.



Shootings?

National Iraqi News Agency reports  a Hermat battle left two Iraqi soldiers injured, a Miqdadiya attack left 1 Indian tourist dead and four more injured,  Joint Operations Command states they killed 2 suspects in Mosul,


Corpses?

National Iraqi News Agency reports  1 corpse was discovered "dumped near a water stream" in al-Muqdadiyah.  All Iraq News notes Babel police discovered 5 corpses dumped in the Euphrates River.



Xinhua observes, "Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years."

All that violence and he thinks he deserves a third term?

Aswat al-Iraq reports that Ayad Allawi, leader of Iraqiya issued a statement this week regarding the assault on Anbar, calling it a failure in terms of its announced goals and declaring, "It is unreasonable leading our youths towards death for political and electoral gains, amid lack of training and armaments."  If there's somehow time or space tomorrow, we'll back up Allawi's call with Congressional testimony from February 11th.



All he's done is create even more violence by refusing to listen to peaceful protesters, by verbally attacking them, by physically attacking them, by tearing down their protest sites.

For over nine weeks, he's attempted to 'solve' issues with violence.

It has not and is not working.

Only an idiot continues down this path.

But Nouri al-Maliki is a real idiot -- which is why Bully Boy Bush made him prime minister to begin with and why Barack Obama insisted he get a second term even though he lost the 2010 elections.


From yesterday's snapshot:

Parliament wants to address the ongoing assault on Anbar in a Thursday session.  Groups are announcing they will be present.  Iraqiya says they will be attending.  The Kurdish Alliance says they will be attending. Yesterday, Al Mada reported on the refusal by Nouri's State of Law to attend and quoted them insisting that such a hearing would be nothing but insults.  And today?  NINA reports:

MP, of the State of Law Coalition, Sadiq al-Labban said that his coalition is boycotting the meetings of the Council of Representatives, and will not attend the meeting of the Council to discuss Anbar crisis, on Thursday . "
He told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /: "The issue of the Anbar is a military issue , not a political , therefore it cannot be discussed in the House of Representatives , on the grounds that the armed forces are fighting the terrorists of ISIS , backed by Anbar tribes ."



Not only is there no military solution, Nouri's assault on ANBAR has only revealed how weak he truly is as one city or town after another has been lost to him.


All Iraq News reports today:

MP Hassan Showerid, of the Iraqiya Alliance, called the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to attend the Parliament session to discuss the current security and political situation in Iraq.Showerid reported in a statement received by AIN ''The Parliament should be the supreme authority in Iraq in terms of issuing the resolutions and the Premier should attend the Parliament session since the Iraqi people have the right to get acquainted with the situation in Iraq.''


NINA reports MP Sadiq Labban (with Nouri's State of Law) insists that State of Law will continue to refuse to attend sessions of Parliament.  While Nouri's State of Law boycotts Parliament, NINA notes that Nouri has stated Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi is "disrupting the work of the Council" of Ministers.


Nouri's gone after many Sunnis and Iraqiya members -- usually they're both.  Iraqiya was the slate that beat Nouri in the 2010 parliamentary elections.  He's held a kangaroo court against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, for example.  He's often trashed Nineveh Province Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, brother of the Speaker of Parliament.

But he's largely stayed clear of Osama al-Nujaifi.

Now he's going after him.

And he's not just accusing al-Nujaifi of harming his pretty little Council.  NINA notes Nouri's also blaming the failure of the 2014 budget on Osama.   And All Iraq News reports:

The Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, accused the parliament Speaker, Osama al-Nijaifi, of hindering the nomination of the security ministers.

In his weekly speech on Wednesday, Maliki said "Nijaifi and those who target the political process always state that the security ministers are not nominated, but they refuse to ratify the names of the nominees for the Interior and Defense Ministers posts." 


How crazy is Nouri?

He was supposed to make those nominations no later than December 2010.  He never did.  And now, as his second term draws to an end, now he wants to pretend it's Osama's fault?


Let's pretend for a moment it was and that, for years now, Osama's blocked him.

That would only go to how weak and pathetic Nouri is that he waited until a month before his term winds down to announce he was blocked on the security ministries.

What a lying piece of filth Nouri al-Maliki is.