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Wednesday,
Mary 23, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, corruption in Iraq puts
the people at risk, the political crisis continues, pilgrims and police
are among those targeted in the country today, Senator Patty Murray
continues to pursue how US service members and veterans with PTSD ended
up with their diagnoses changed, Senator Ron Wyden asks questions about
who's checking KBR's spending claims, and more.
Chair
Patty Murray: Almost a year ago today, this Committee held a hearing
on VA and DoD efforts to improve transition. We explored a number of
issues including the Integrated Disability Evaluation System. At the
hearing, we had an opportunity to hear from both departments about the
state of the joint program. The Departments' testimony that day spoke
to how the Departments had created a more transparent and consistent
and expeditious disability evaluation process. There testimony also
states that IDES is a fair, faster process. Well now that the joint
system has been implemented nationwide, I have to say that I am far from
convinced the Departments have implemented a disability evaluation
process that is truly transparent, consistent or expeditious. There are
now over 27,000 service members involved in the disability evaluation
system. As more and more men and women return from Afghanistan and as
the military downsizes, we're going to continue to see an even larger
group of service members transition from the military through the
disability evaluation process. This process impacts every aspect of a
service member's life while they transition out of the military. But it
doesn't stop there. If the system doesn't work right, it can also
negatively affect a service member and their family well after they have
left active duty.
This
morning the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing entitled
"Seamless Transition: Review of the Integrated Disability Evaluation
System." Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Committee, Senator
Richard Burr is the Ranking Member. There was one panel of witnesses:
DoD's Dr. Jo Ann Rooney, GAO's Daniel Bertoni and the VA's John
Gingrich. The hearing was prompted by, among other things, the Interim
Committee Staff Report: Investigation of Joint Disability Evaluation
System
Research for the report resulted in
many discoveries including basic errors not being caught such as, "A
servicemember with a lung condition who was being treated with steroids
and immunosuppressive drugs was incorrectly rated at 0% rather than
100%." The report found many problems regarding the VA recognizing TBI
(Traumatic Brain Injury):
Some
VA medical examinations involving TBI failed to address findings on
detailed neuropsychological testing conducted during service. TBI
facets such as memory are reported as "normal" based on "general
conversation" without repeating or referencing prior tests, which
identified the type and severity of the servicemember's TBI deficits.
In a number of cases, TBI and PTSD conditions were rated together when
the evidence suggested that some of the TBI conditions should have been
considered separately. For example:
• Testing
that would help to differentiate between TBI and mental health
conditions was not conducted despite indications of deficits, such as
visual-spatial orientation and memory loss due to organic injuries (such
as trauma to a specific part of the brain associated with certain
deficits).
• VA claims for TBI residuals
were denied or received a lower rating based on the absence of objective
testing. If testing had been conducted, objective evidence of TBI for
symptoms complained of by the servicemember, might have changed the
result.
• Conclusions by VA examiners were
inconsistent with the medical evidence, such as an examination for TBI
which found no TBI to support a diagnosis of post-traumatic headaches,
but indicated that the same veteran's dizziness following an IED blast
injury was due to his TBI.
• A
servicemember diagnosed with anxiety disorder prior to separation was
erroneously denied service-connection for PTSD when the disability had
been diagnosed as anxiety disorder due to combat.
Chair
Murray noted the case of Sgt 1st Class Stephen Davis who is a veteran
of both the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War and was receiving treatment
for Post Traumatic Stress for about a year before he was accused of
"making up his ailments" and he was part of a group at Joint Base
Lewis-McChord: "All of these men and women had been diagnosed with, and
in many cases were receiving treatment for, PTSD during service. But
then, during the disability evaluation process they were told that they
were exaggerating their symptoms, they were labeled as malingerers and
their behavioral health diagnoses were changed. " She noted that a
re-evaluation process of examining 196 service members who were
diagnosed with PTSD and then told they did not have it. The
re-evaluation process has already found that, yes, 108 of those service
members do have PTSD (as originally diagnosed).
Chair
Patty Murray: Dr. Rooney, let me start with you. We have had in the
past regarding this joint disability rating system and the number of
challenges service members faced while they were going through this
process. Recently, it has come to my attention that some of our service
members involved with the disability evaluation process are facing
retribution and unsupportive behavior from their chains of command while
on limited duty and waiting for a disability decision. I've heard from
service members who were forced to participate in activities in direct
violation of doctors' orders, who've been disciplined while struggling
with behavioral health conditions and who have struggled to get access
to care because their leadership would not cooperate with their
treatment requirements. I think you agree with me, that is completely
unacceptable. Whether in a warrior transition unit or not, leaders have
to understand these medical issues and the difficult process that
these service members are going through and they have to provide the
leadership and support that these men and women need. So I'm going to
begin with you by asking you, Dr. Rooney, what needs to be done to
provide supportive and compassionate leadership for these injured
service members that are forced to wait for a disability decision.
Dr.
Jo Ann Rooney: Clearly the information you just shared is troubling on
many levels and I would be very interested in speaking with you or your
staff so that we can actually determine where those issues are occurring
and make sure that, in fact, the leadership does know -- which is the
department's decision and the leadership that I'm familiar with -- that
that cannot be tolerated, that we must understand what is necessary for
the care, that there are no stigmas with being able to address
behavioral health or mental health issues and that really is the
department's position. So in those cases, if there are those
substantive issues that you mentioned, not only do we need to find out
where those are so we can work directly with that leadership and correct
that situation, but we will continue with our ongoing work at all
levels of command -- not just at the senior level of the department.
But we understand that it needs to go right through the command level
of every installation to ensure, in fact, that the situations you
described are not occurring.
Chair
Patty Murray: Well we need to make sure that's happening because, as we
all know, these are very challenging situations for these soldiers and
any kind of retribution shouldn't be tolerated whether it's one case or
many. But I will share those with you but I want to make sure that
system wide, that leaders throughout the chain of command all the way to
the bottom are clearly understanding what these soldiers are going
through and are not having any kind of repercussions on those
individuals.
Dr. Jo Ann Rooney: Absolutely.
Chair
Patty Murray: Mr. Gingrich, from the perspective of someone who has
served in many leadership positions within the military, what can we do
to educate our military leaders on not only this process but really on
the medical issues facing so many of these young men and women?
John
Gingrich: Madam Chairman, I see a lot of things that the Army's doing
and I know that because I've been in their VCTs. They started, as we're
told by GAO, they're now bringing in in layers all the way up to the
Vice Chief of Staff so they've involved current level discussion groups
-- Brigadier General, Major General, all the way up and they included VA
in every one of those discussion groups. So I think getting the
information is the biggest key that we've got and the biggest challenge
that we have. The Secretary right now, yesterday, spoke to the Sergeant
Major Academy in the Army and the Sergeant Majors are now understanding
that this is a problem that we have to take on as two departments and
not just one. And I think that education is happening.
Chair Patty Murray: Well we still have a lot of work to do --
John Gingrich: Yes, sir -- Yes, ma'am, we do.
Chair
Patty Murray: Okay. Dr. Rooney, there is no doubt that the events at
Madigan have shaken the trust and confidence of service members who are
in the Disability Evaluation System. I believe that transparency and
sharing information about the ongoing re-evaluations that are happening
today and actions the Army and DoD are taking to remedy this situation
will go along ways towards restoring some trust in this system. I wanted
to ask you today what we have learned from the investigations that the
army is conducting into the forensic science unit at Madigan?
Dr.
Jo Ann Rooney: Well as you pointed out earlier, there have been 196
re-evaluations completed to date. Of which, 108 of those have been
diagnosed as having PTSD where before they had not. We also --
Chair
Patty Murray: Let me just say that they had been diagnosed with PTSD.
When they went through the evaluation system they were told they did
not. Now going back and re-evaluating them once they've gone out, we're
saying, "Yes, you did --
Dr. Jo Ann Rooney: Yes.
Chair Patty Murray: -- indeed have PTSD."
Dr. Jo Ann Rooney: Correct. 108 of those 196.
Chair Patty Murray: More than half.
Dr.
Jo Ann Rooney: Correct. There are 419 that have been determined to be
eligible for re-evaluation. 287 from the original group that was
looked at and as you know the Army actually opened the aperture up to
see anybody else who would have gone through the process while forensic
psychiatrists were being used. So that was 419 totally eligible for
re-evaluation. And at this point, there are three in progress and twelve
being scheduled. So what we have learned from that is clearly that the
process that was put into place at that time did not function as
originally designed. Evidence did not show that there was a mean
spirited attempt but really to create similar diagnoses. Obviously,
that was not something that occurred. So the Army has taken the lessons
from here and it's actually going back to 2001 to re-evaluate all of
the cases where we might have a similar situation. What we're doing
from that point is not only learning from what Army is doing and looking
at these re-evaluations where we're using the new standards in many
ways advances in the medical and behavioral health areas to better
diagnose PTSD but also then we'll be taking those lessons learned across
the other services as well. So since Army has the greatest majority of
people going through -- currently about 68% of the people in the
Disability Evaluation Process are from Army -- we will take the lessons
learned from there and apply those across to all the services.
Chair
Patty Murray: Well I really appreciate the Army's announcement that
they are now going to do a comprehensive review of PTSD and behavioral
health systemwide throughout the Army. I believe that is a first and
important major step for the Army to be doing. But I did want to ask
you, Dr. Rooney, I have been told by Secretary [of the Army] McHugh
about the issues we were seeing at Madigan were not systemwide. And
then the Secretary announced a comprehensive review across all systems.
So if we didn't believe this was a system wide problem, what led the
Army to look into a system wide review?
Dr.
Jo Ann Rooney: Secretary McHugh and I have had numerous conversations
and I believe the use of the forensic psychiatrists was primarily
isolated to Madigan and that's where I believe that comment of it wasn't
system wide because that type of additional process --
Chair
Patty Murray: So the forensic system wasn't system wide. But system
wide, we have issues with people who are not being diagnosed correctly?
Dr.
Jo Ann Rooney: What we want to do is look across the system and ensure
that if we do have issues we identify those and we're able to get those
individuals back into the system. So I believe at this point, it was
very much a forward leaning approach to say we need to look across the
system, not that we're convinced similar problems existed, but that it's
the right thing to do for the individuals since, as you pointed out, we
saw a number of these re-evaluations ended up with diagnoses changed.
So it's the right thing to do for people to look across.
Chair
Patty Murray: Okay and I think it's extremely important that we find
anybody who was misdiagnosed and get them care. So we'll be continuing
to focus on this.
Later during
Senator Jon Tester's questioning, Dr. Jo Ann Rooney would insist to him
that most of the changed diagnoses "were before 2008" and Chair Murray
would have to step and offer, "Let me just clarify a large number of the
ones who were misdiagnosed or had their diagnoses changed inaccurately
were after the 2008 -- after the forensic psychology system was put in
place."
Ava will cover Tester at Trina's site tonight, as always Kat will grab Ranking Member Richard Burr as the topic for her site and Wally will offer some thoughts on the financial at Rebecca's site.
Still on the subject of the US Senate, we'll note this from Senator Ron Wyden's office:
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Washington, D.C.
– In a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, U.S. Senator Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.) called on the DoD to investigate the excessive expenses
racked up by the legal team of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) – a defense
contractor that operated in Iraq with the contractual ability to pass
all of their legal costs to American taxpayers. A lawsuit against KBR
brought by a group of Oregon National Guard members assigned to provide
security for KBR personnel claims that KBR management knew that the
soldiers were being exposed to toxic chemicals while working at the
Qarmat Ali water treatment plant.
A newly
declassified indemnification provision in the KBR contract with the U.S.
military releases the contractors from all financial liability for
misconduct and allows KBR to pass the on all of their legal costs to the
U.S. government. Recent investigations into the conduct of KBR's legal
team have uncovered excessive legal costs including senior attorneys
billing at $750 per hour, taking numerous international and domestic
first class flights and paying one expert more than $500,000 for
testimony and consultation who has admitted to billing KBR for time
spent sleeping.
"Essentially, KBR was
handed a blank check with the Pentagon's signature, and it seems clear
to me that they intend to run up the bill as much as possible before
cashing that check," Wyden wrote in the letter. "What has DoD done to
ensure that KBR is not taking advantage of taxpayers? Has DoD done a
detailed audit of KBR's legal expenses so far? Has anyone at DoD
checked to see if the legal expenses are excessive? Has any kind of
cost-benefit been done to determine if it would be cheaper to direct KBR
to settle the lawsuit?"
Kellogg, Brown and
Root were contracted in 2003 to perform clean-up work at the Qarmat Ali
water treatment facility in Iraq. Members of the Oregon National Guard
were assigned to provide security for the KBR contractors and were
exposed to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals including sodium
dichromate, a carcinogen that contains hexavalent chromium – one of the
most dangerous chemicals on Earth. A group of exposed soldiers have
brought a lawsuit against KBR based on evidence indicating that KBR
managers "were aware of the presence of dangerous chemicals, but failed
to warn the soldiers working in and around the plant," Wyden wrote in
the letter.
Under KBR's contract, the
government has the ability to direct KBR's legal defense and require the
company to settle with Oregon Guard Members.
Yesterday dust storms forced the closure of an airport in Iraq. Today Al Mada reports
that most of Iraq should experience only "light dust" except for
southern Iraq where dust storms will continue. (Even if you can't read
Arabic, you can enjoy the large photo with this Alsumaria report
which shows the dust storm turning Baghdad into a hazy, golden glow.)
The weather is of great interest to the US government today as Bagdhad
hosts a meet-up on Iran and nuclear power. AFP explains,
"The talks, set for May 23, will see Germany join the veto-wielding
permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France,
Russia and the United States -- look to head off a dangerously
escalating standoff over Iran's nuclear programme." Baghdad
International Airport was open today. Alsumaria reports
that delegations from the European Union, China, France and the US
arrived today and were met by Iraq President Jalal Talabani and Prime
Minister and thug Nouri al-Maliki. (Iran arrived yesterday. The
group then proceeded to Nouri's home in the Green Zone for their
meeting. Al Sabaah notes
that Iran's hoping to see economic sanctions lifted while Russia,
China, France, Germany, the UK and the US want concessions from Tehran
on the unrainium enrichment program.
RTE reports, "Around 15,000 Iraqi police and troops will protect the venue inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone." In addition, James Reynolds (BBC News) explains,
"Outside the International Zone (formerly known as the Green Zone),
Iraqi soldiers wearing balaclavas stand up on the turrets of armoured
jeeps." AFP offers,
"Thousands of additional Iraqi security personnel have been deployed in
areas north, west and south of Baghdad to try to prevent the firing of
mortars and rockets into the capital, a security official said. The
official also said without providing figures that additional forces
have been deployed at checkpoints in the Iraqi capital, and that
searches have been increased. " Fars News Agency adds,
"Iran's top negotiator Saeed Jalili, who is in Baghdad to hold talks
with the representatives of the six world powers, held separate meetings
with several high-ranking Iraqi officials." Press TV notes
that Jalili met yesterday with Talabani who declared the talks were "an
important step twoards finding an appropriate solution to Iran's
nuclear issue." Ali Akbar Dareini and Lara Jakes (Associated Press) note
that Iran expects to leave the conference with a more relaxed stance
from the other countries towards their nuclear plans; however "no
breakthrough accords are expected in the talks in Iraq's capital,
suggesting that all sides are still shaping their strategies and the
negotiation process is likely to be long." ITV speaks (link is video) with
the UK's Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander who declares, "I
think this is a time for clear minds and calm words. We want to see a
peaceful, diplomatic resolution to this issue. And I hope the British
governmnet -- with the other governments represented at this critical
meeting in Baghdad today -- are concentrating their efforts on finding a
successful, peaceful and diplomatic resolution to these issues. Well
there are very real concerns about whether Iran is determined to develop
a nuclear weapon and the impact of that on the wider Middle East.
But that's why I think all of our efforts should be directed torwards
sustaining the peaceful pressure on Iran and in good faith taking
forward the negotiations that are going to be the basis of talks in
Baghdad today." Alexander is a Labour Party member and part of Labour
Party Leader Ed Miliban's shadow cabinet. Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi tells Alsumaria that the meet-up is, in part, Iran's attempt to bolster Nouri's shaky image within Iraq. James Reynolds (BBC News) speaks
with hotel owner Khaled who states, "We don't care about Iran. We care
about our country. We want our country to be safe and everything."
Heart on hand, Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq's Ammar al-Hakim swears to Fars News Agency, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always acted upon international rules and mechanisms since its establishment." In the lead-up to the meeting, various things have taken place. Yesterday, AP noted
today that the two countries have exchanged the remains of "98 Iranians
and 13 Iraqis" from the 8 year war between the two countries that
kicked off in 1980. Al Mada uses a larger figure of 222 and states that 124 are the remains of Iraqis.
AFP reports
3 Baquba roadside bombings resulted in 3 deaths and fourteen injured
while a Baghdad roadside bombing left four people injured. AP adds that a bus enroute to Baquba was attacked resulting in 2 deaths and seven people being injured. Reuters informs that a Ramadi roadside bombing left 3 Lebanese pilgrims dead and another seven injured. And AFP notes that attacks in Kirkuk claimed the lives of 2 police officers and left five more injured.
From violence to risking children's health, Alsumaria reports
that children in the province of Dhi Qar have been given expired polio
vaccinations. This shouldn't be an issue of the children being harmed
by that shot because when this happened a few years back in
Pakistan health authorities rushed to assure there was no physical
danger. The danger potential exists in terms of not knowing who got the
expired vaccine. If Dhi Qar's records aren't accurate, a child whose
parents believe to be vaccinated is in fact not and at risk of polio.
Iraq has been polio free since 1999. As a result of the 1999 outbreak, Iraq administered the vaccine. In the weeks ahead of the start of the Iraq War, UNICEF offered
children's immunizations and UNICEF has continued to offer them since
then. While 1999 seems a lifetime ago -- especially in a country like
Iraq where the median age is 20.9 years -- the outbreak of 16 cases in 1999
caught people by surprise. Equally true, the infrastructure is much
worse than it was in 1999 and exposed sewage increases health risks
across the board.
The risk of a parent falsely
believing their child to be immunized is not a minor one and its a sign
of how deep the corruption is in Iraq that this took place. When
Iraqis took to the streets in 2011 and protested one of the items at the
top of their list was corruption. Nouri lied to them and told them to
give him 100 days and it would be taken care of. As usual with Nouri,
it was just an attempt to shut people up, distract them and then do
nothing. And nothing exactly what happened. He never addressed the
corruption and made a mockery out of the concerns of the Iraqi people.
Still
not getting how bad the corruption is? Iraqis can't count on
electricity. Four to six hours a day, for many, is having electrical
power. They have to utilize generators and many, lacking potable water,
have to boil it before drinking it or risk getting cholera or other
diseases. And none of this is new. And each year beginning with 2006,
Nouri has promised basic services would get better. They haven't. And
that was another demand when Iraqis took to the streets in 2011. While
the people have long suffered from the lack of basic services, Al Sabaah reports
a new potential victim is emerging: The National Museum in Baghdad.
Lack of electricity is putting at risk the manuscripts, artificats and
relics the museum houses. Currently, a generator's being used in an
attempt to maintain a level temperature.
When
Iraqis took to the street in 2011, among their demands were that the
innocents be released from the blackhole known as "justice." With
untold thousands of Iraqis disappeared near daily and lost in the legal
maze, families were left not even knowing if their loved ones were still
alive. Amnesty International is calling for the release of Ramze Shihab Amhed from Iraqi detention: Ramze Shihab Amhed has already had eight trials and says he was tortured while in secret detentionAmnesty
International is calling for the release of a British man who has been
detained in Iraq for nearly two-and-a-half years, denouncing new
attempts to put him on trial as "politically-motivated".Ramze
Shihab Ahmed, a 69-year-old dual Iraqi-UK national who has lived in the
UK since 2002, is detained in Baghdad with the Iraqi authorities
saying they are investigating his alleged involvement in terrorist
offences.
However, Mr Ahmed has already
been through eight trials and acquitted in each one. Most recently, on
10 May, he was found not guilty over alleged terrorist offences, but
immediately told that he must remain in detention while further
allegations are investigated. Amnesty believes that he has been in
custody long enough for investigations into further charges to have been
completed.
The Iraqi government has
recently ordered the arrest of a number of Arab Sunnis in the country,
including officials, and conducted trials against ex-army officers. The
circumstances surrounding the continuous detention of Mr Ahmed, an
ex-army officer from the Arab Sunni community, suggests his prosecution
and detention may be politically-motivated.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
"This is looking more and more like a politically-motivated effort to persecute Ramze, a Sunni and a former military man.
"The
Iraqi authorities have already put Ramze through a staggering eight
trials across two and half years, and have had more than enough time to
investigate any alleged wrongdoing.
"Unless the prosecution
can demonstrate a legitimate reason to detain Ramze, they should put an
end to his ordeal and release him.
"The Iraqi authorities should allow him to return to his wife in Britain and
investigate the allegation that he was tortured while held in a secret jail."
Ramze
Shihab Ahmed was originally arrested by security officials in a
relative's house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on 7 December 2009.
The previous month he had travelled from the UK to Iraq in an effort to
secure the release of his detained son 'Omar. However, after himself
being arrested, he was held for nearly four months in a secret prison
near Baghdad, during which time his whereabouts were completely unknown
to his family. During this period Mr Ahmed alleges he was tortured -
including with electric shocks to his genitals and suffocation by
plastic bags - into making a false "confession" to terrorist offences.
Amnesty
has campaigned for Mr Ahmed's allegations of torture to be
independently investigated and has urged the UK government to make
representations to the Iraqi authorities on his behalf concerning this.
Mr
Ahmed "reappeared" in late March 2010 when he was able to make a phone
call to his wife Rabiha in London, imploring her to seek help from the
UK authorities. However, partly on the basis of his coerced
"confession", he was subsequently put on trial, including on various
terrorism charges.
Ramze Shihab Ahmed's wife Rabiha al-Qassab, a 64-year-old former teaching assistant who lives in north-west London, said:
"I'm appalled at what they're doing to Ramze. He's an innocent man who's already been through so much.
"Though
I've lost a lot of faith in the Iraqi justice system, I still hope the
Iraqi authorities can see that they're holding an innocent man who has
had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. Surely after eight trials
they can now see that?
"UK
officials have been very helpful to my husband and have offered their
support, but I think the time has come for the UK government to
absolutely insist on Ramze's release."Note to editors:
Over
6,000 Amnesty supporters have lobbied the Foreign Secretary William
Hague over the case. UK consular officials have visited Ahmed in jail in
Baghdad and the Foreign Secretary has raised his case with the Iraqi
Foreign Minister.
Amnesty supporters are
currently lobbying the Iraqi embassy in the UK, calling for Ramze's
release if the prosecution authorities fail to show good reason to hold
him longer and for an investigation into his allegations of torture
(see: http://amn.st/KNliHB).
In Iraq, the political crisis continues . . . for over a year now. Al Mada continues to be one of the leading press outlets in the Middle East today with their latest scoop. They publish a letter
signed last Saturday by various leaders (KRG President Massoud Barzani,
Moqtada al-Sadr, Ayad Allawi and Speaker of Parliament Osama
al-Najaifi). The letter, agreed to and signed at Moqtada al-Sadr's home
on Saturday, calls on the National Alliance to propose an alternative
to Nouri al-Maliki. The letter references a written reply from National
Alliance leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari (presumably the message Moqtada was
waiting on at the end of last week) and how it did not make clear the
response to demands for the implementation of the Erbil Agreement. Kitabat reports
that al-Najaifi released a statement yesterday referencing the letter
and stating that it gave the National Alliance one week to find an
alternative to Nouri. Citing unnamed sources, Al Sabaah states that the National Alliance has rejected the call to find an alternative. Al Mada reports
that representatives of the National Alliance will meet with the reps
from the Kurdistan Alliance in Baghdad today. Yesterday, Nouri's
supporters attempted to change the narrative by insisting (after it was
learned that there were over 163 votes to oust Nouri) that they had 163
votes to oust Osama al-Najaifi as Speaker of Parliament. Alsumaria notes the whisper campaign against the speaker includes the allegation that he's in service to a foreign country. Al Mada adds
that Nouri's State of Law insists this vote is taking place! Just as
soon as Parliament's back in session. (That would be weeks and weeks
from now.) Alsumaria explains
Iraqiya is calling State of Law's claims false and stating they do not
have the votes they claim to; however, that Nouri does have time to act
to stop a no-confidence vote. (The deadline Moqtada gave him expires
Sunday.) Rumors continue
to fly that Iraqiya's Saleh al-Mutlaq made a deal to save his own ass
(Nouri had been trying to oust him as Deputy Prime Minister) which now
will find him betraying Iraqiya and siding with Nouri. When these
rumors started last week, we noted al-Mutlaq's denial. Currently,
he's issued no denail to the rumors. In related news, Alsumaria reports
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani states that a date for a national
conference will be set soon. Of course, Talabani earlier set the date
at April 5th but, less than 24 hours before that meet-up was to take
place, it got cancelled. State of Law will have to cancel their
whisper campaign that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is on their side. Al Mada notes
that al-Sistani's aids have rejected the rumors that the Grand
Ayatollah has admonished Moqtada al-Sadr not to split ranks with the
Shi'ite politicians. The Grand Ayatollah has issued no such statement
and is not involved in the political process except to say that the
crisis needs to be resolved. This position is in keeping
with al-Sistani's position for over a year now. The rebuke to those
spreading the rumors may also result from the fact that the attacks
earlier this year on the Grand Ayatollah's supporters and clerics were
thought to have been carried out by Nouri's associates.
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