This is from their summary:
He declared, "today, I would say (the greatest threat to national security) is this assault on President Trump. Let's be clear what he's being accused of is treason. This has never happened in America, that we had a Russian agent in the White House. Cohen believes Flynn did nothing wrong by talking to the Russian ambassador, describing it as 'his job' to do so.
He then illuminated the indelible fact that there is a 4th branch of government, the intelligence community, who have been meddling in American foreign affairs, obstructing the other 3 branches of government.
"In 2016, President Obama worked out a deal with Russian President Putin for military cooperation in Syria. He said he was gonna share intelligence with Russia, just like Trump and the Russians were supposed to do the other day. Our department of defense said it wouldn't share intelligence. And a few days later, they killed Syrian soldiers, violating the agreement, and that was the end of that. So, we can ask, who is making our foreign policy in Washington today?"
Professor Cohen added, "you and I have to ask a subversive question, are there really three branches of government, or is there a 4th branch of government? These intel services. What we know, as a fact, is that Obama tried, not very hard but he tried for a military alliance with Putin, in Syria, against terrorism and it was sabotaged by the department of defense and its allies in the intelligence services."
This is a very interesting period.
Don't be misguided by the nonsense or hot air.
"Iraq snapshot"(THE COMMON ILLS):
Wednesday, April 17, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, The Mosul Slog continues, time for a new SOFA, and much more.
Iraqi troops on the brink of recapturing Mosul from ISIS dailym.ai/2qnSR19
On the brink.
It's day 210 of The Mosul Slog.
210 and they're "on the brink."
Finally "on the brink."
And what a huge 'success' it's been.
Hundreds of thousands who fled the fighting in #Mosul have abandoned everything. They need help & protection: ow.ly/1KHd30bM6ue #Iraq
"It’s a particularly important moment [to] keep Iraq on the radar screen."UNICEF Director of Emergency Ops .@Manuel_Fontaine visits E Mosul.
The supposed point of finally moving to 'liberate' Mosul last October (the city was seized by the Islamic State in June of 2014) was to rescue the civilians.
That's really not been a concern to judge by what's taken place.
This also includes the Iraqi forces taking it upon themselves to decide who is ISIS and who is a civilian and who lives and dies. Daniel Brown (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:
ISIS fighters are sometimes executed at the front lines, while others are executed after being interrogated, a Mosul-based commander told Integrated Regional Information Networks, a nonprofit media site that focuses on conflict zones.
Extrajudicial killings of ISIS fighters have been emerging pretty much since the fight for Mosul began about seven months ago.
[. . .]
"[K]illing captured combatants or civilians is a war crime, as is the mutilation of corpses," Belkis Wille, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher in Iraq, told IRIN.
It is a War Crime.
Mohamed Walid and Serhad Shaker (ANADOLU AGENCY) report, a suicide bomber in Mosul today took his own life and the lives of 3 Iraqi soldiers, 2 Mosul car bombings left 4 police officers and 3 Iraqi soldiers dead and:
Meanwhile, 25 civilians were killed in a U.S.-led coalition raid in western Mosul, according to Iraqi officer Sadoun Fahd.
He
said the airstrike targeted a group of Daesh militants in the city's
western side. "The militants were preparing to carry out an attack
against Iraqi forces in al-Refai district," he said.
He said nine women and three children were among the victims of the attack.
'Liberation'?
The Mosul Slog continues with so little to show for it.
In the meantime, where's the reconciliation in Iraq?
See? I wasn't just making things up. Senior Iraqi Shia cleric holds views about Christians similar to ISIS
As we noted Saturday:
The Islamic State has been the most wonderful gift to empire and its whores in the western press.
It's allowed everyone to indulge in historical amnesia and pretend that, goodness, if it just weren't for the Islamic State, Iraq would be wonderful.
The Islamic State was never the problem.
It's a terrorist organization.
It could have been taken apart by the people.
But for that to happen, the reasons for its existence would have to be demolished.
Persecution in Iraq allowed it to rise.
Continued persecution in Iraq means it will continue or something similar will take its place.
And this should have been obvious to everyone.
For those who still can't see reality.
#Iraq: Christian MPs condemn a speech by head of Shi'ite endowment says: Christians should either convert to Islam, pay Jizya or be killed.
ALSUMARIA reports that Alaa al-Moussawi, head of the Shi'ite Endowment, declared that Iraqi Christians could convert to Islam, pay or a tax or be murdered.
For those who've forgotten, these were the same terms the Islamic State gave to the citizens of Mosul when they took over the city in June 2014.
The Islamic State is a Sunni terrorist organization.
Repeating, Alaa al-Moussawi is Shi'ite.
Want to keep pretending the problem is the Islamic State?
Let's see how many more have to die before you wake up to the reality that the leaders (most installed by the US -- few chosen by Iraqis) have got to call for one-Iraq-for-all or the future is never ending violence in Iraq.
As this takes place, the KRG and US White House officials meet up.
PRESS RELEASE - KRG delegation led by @masrour_barzani meets tops White House officials @BayanRahman #FuadHussein bit.ly/2rnz3sO
.@masrour_barzani - @KurdistanRegion is an island of stability in tumultuous region, as result of our people & competent security services
Many details to firm up.
Apparently, these details also include a Status Of Forces Agreement. Carlo Munoz and Dan Boylan (WASHINGTON TIMES) report:
With U.S. and Iraqi officials talking of the imminent defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq, President Trump faces a challenge to swing a deal that President Obama failed to nail down: an agreement with Baghdad to keep U.S. forces in Iraq after the fighting ends.
Negotiations between Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and U.S. officials in Baghdad on a new status of forces agreement began in earnest this month, senior U.S. officials said. The deal would outline the legal and diplomatic parameters underpinning a long-term U.S. military presence in the country, and avoid the power vacuum that critics say developed after American forces pulled out in December 2011.
The issue is sensitive in Iraq, and Mr. al-Abadi this month insisted that there would be no “combat troops” in Iraq once the Islamic State is defeated, even though both sides said talks on the long-term role of the U.S. military in the country continue. An official who traveled to Baghdad with Defense SecrNetary James Mattis recently said “nothing has been finalized.”
Negotiations between Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and U.S. officials in Baghdad on a new status of forces agreement began in earnest this month, senior U.S. officials said. The deal would outline the legal and diplomatic parameters underpinning a long-term U.S. military presence in the country, and avoid the power vacuum that critics say developed after American forces pulled out in December 2011.
The issue is sensitive in Iraq, and Mr. al-Abadi this month insisted that there would be no “combat troops” in Iraq once the Islamic State is defeated, even though both sides said talks on the long-term role of the U.S. military in the country continue. An official who traveled to Baghdad with Defense SecrNetary James Mattis recently said “nothing has been finalized.”
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