Rahm is a neoliberal. He's part of the (failed) Reinventing Government movement which found so many Democrats calling for the gutting of the safety net. He's attempting to implement plans of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Duncan is also a neoliberal and has been gunning for public schools for some time. So what you have is Rahm trying to pimp yet another assault on public schools.
The teachers may be joined shortly by the janitors union. That's a maybe and they said so on the news tonight.
At WSWS, Joseph Kishore reports:
Emanuel responded to the strike by denouncing the teachers with typical arrogance, declaring that they are engaged in a “strike of choice” that is “unnecessary.” For Emanuel and the Chicago political establishment, the strike is “unnecessary” because it challenges their demand that teachers accept merit pay and procedures to give school authorities a pretext to fire them, elements of a broader strategy to dismantle public education.
The national political implications of the struggle were made clear by the extraordinary intervention of the Republican Party. In the midst of an election season, in which hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on mutual mudslinging between the two parties, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney moved quickly to line up behind the Chicago school board and Mayor Emanuel.
Romney denounced the teachers for exercising their right to strike, saying that the strike “was one of the clearest examples” of the way in which “teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children.”
And WSWS Kristina Betinas gets at what the strike is really about:
The World Socialist Web Site spoke to teachers about the issues in the strike and its political implications. In addition to the specific demands of Emanuel, many teachers said that the primary causes for the strike included inequality in schools, large class sizes and terrible education conditions, including a lack of air-conditioning in the warm months.
Jinny Gerhardt, a 6th and 8th grade special education teacher, and Jillian Forster-DeHaan, a 2nd grade teacher, were picketing early Monday morning outside of Peirce Elementary on the far north side of Chicago. They spoke at length about the strike and the future of education.
“CPS in general isn’t interested. Emanuel and [CPS CEO Jean-Claude] Brizard haven’t showed up to any of the negotiations. [School Board President David] Vitale just showed up a couple of days ago,” Gerhardt said. “And there is a sense this isn’t just about Chicago. A lot of teachers are also struggling in Wisconsin and New York.”
“The 800-pound gorilla in the room is poor kids. CPS doesn’t want to teach them.”
Forster-DeHaan added, “They’re not interested in educating poor kids. I was fired in a turnaround [a privatization scheme in which teachers and staff are fired and the school is sold off to private interests] at a very poor school. It was awful. But it was the only way any increased funding was going to get to that school.”
“In a way, it’s such a bummer that some people don’t support us, because you work so hard. The hours are insane. The job is all-consuming, and it’s always changing. You dream about it. You’re always thinking and reflecting on how you can do better.”
Remember back when Barack was campaigning for president and he said he'd be on the picket lines. He hasn't been so far. You think he's going to make this one? Me neither.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Tuesday:
Tuesday,
September 11, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, a new investigative
report explores the continued persecuting and targeting of Iraq's LGBT
community, Amnesty International decries the sentence of Tareq
al-Hashemi, Jalal Talabani is said to return to Iraq shortly, the US
Senate passes the Veterans Jobs Corps Bill, and more.
Senator Murray Urges Passage of Veterans Jobs Corps Bill
Bill would help train and hire veterans as police officers, firefighters, and at our national and state parks
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Tuesday, September 11th, Senator Patty Murray,
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, spoke on the Senate floor in support of the Veterans Jobs Corps Act of 2012, which she is co-sponsoring. At
a time when over 720,000 veterans are unemployed, this bill would
increase training and hiring opportunities for our nation's
veterans, especially those from the post-9/11 era.
The Veterans Jobs Corps Act would help put our veterans back to work as police
officers, fire fighters, and other first responders, positions that our communities are in
sore
need of after 85 percent of law enforcement agencies were forced to
reduce their budget in the past year. In addition, this bill would also
help train and hire veterans to
help restore and protect our national, state, and tribal forests, our parks, our coastal
areas,
wildlife refuges, and VA cemeteries. Senator Murray pointed out that
the bill contains ideas from both sides of the aisle, is fully paid for
with bipartisan spending offsets, and should not be controversial at a
time when our veterans continue to
struggle. The bill is expected to be considered by the full Senate this week.
And we're jumping to Senator Murray's remarks on the bills:
Senator Patty Murray: "Our veterans have what it takes to not only find work, but to excel in the workforce of the 21st century."
"We
cannot and should not let that training – or the millions of dollars we
have invested in these men and women - go to waste. But in far too many
instances that's what has happened. Too often, on the day our service
members are discharged, we as a nation pat them on their back for their
service, without also giving them a helping hand into the job market.
This has to end."
"I
urge my colleagues to build on the successes we have had in passing
bipartisan veterans employment legislation. Veterans returning home all
across the country are watching us and they certainly don't have time to
let politics block their path to a job that will help serve their
community."
The full text of Senator Murray's speech:
"Mr. President, last Friday, we were again reminded of the difficult employment picture our nation's veterans continue to face.
"In the monthly unemployment report for August, we saw that across the country there are over 720,000 unemployed veterans.
"It's
a number that includes over 225,000 post-9/11 veterans - many of whom
have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan - and have sacrificed
time and again for our safety.
"Put simply, this shouldn't be the case.
"Our veterans have what it takes to not only find work, but to excel in the workforce of the 21st century.
"In
fact, the characteristics that our veterans exemplify read like the job
qualifications you might find at any major company or small business.
That's because they have: leadership ability; discipline; and technical
skills.
"They know the value of teamwork like few others, and they certainly know how to perform under pressure.
"And they have these skills because, as a country, we have invested in training them.
"We cannot and should not let that training – or the millions of dollars we have invested in these men and women - go to waste.
"But in far too many instances that's what has happened.
"Too
often, on the day our service members are discharged, we as a nation
pat them on their back for their service, without also giving them a
helping hand into the job market.
"This has to end.
"And
Mr. President, this Senate has taken bipartisan action in the past to
begin to change the way our veterans transition from the battlefield to
the
job market.
"We were able to pass the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which I co-authored, and which was signed into law last year.
"Importantly,
that new law transforms the way that we provide transition training to
our service members when they leave the military.
"It
also includes a provision that today in my home state, and all across
the country, is providing thousands of dollars in tax credits to
businesses that are hiring veterans.
"In
addition to that bill, we have also worked to build partnerships with
private sector businesses in order to tap into the tremendous amount of
goodwill that companies have toward our returning heroes.
"Sometimes
this is a simple as working with companies to show them easy steps that
help bring veterans aboard, like ensuring they are advertising job
openings with local veterans service organizations and on local military
bases, or having veterans in their HR departments. Or just having
someone on staff that can help translate the experience of veterans into the work a company does.
"Time
and again - at big companies like Microsoft and Amazon – or much
smaller businesses I have seen these steps make an impact.
"Particularly,
when veterans unemployment rates among young veterans ages 18-24
continues to hover around 20% action must be taken. Because that is one
in five of our young veterans who can't find a job to support their
family; one in five that don't have an income that provides stability;
and one in five that don't have work that provides them with the
self-esteem and
pride that is so critical to their transition home.
"It's
a problem that manifests itself in veterans homelessness, in broken
families, and far too often in our veterans taking their own lives.
"It's a problem that neither the veterans themselves, nor government
alone can solve.
"But it is also one we need to do everything we can to address.
"And here in the Senate that means a bipartisan 'all hands on deck' strategy.
"And that is exactly what the Veterans Jobs Corps represents.
"Over
the next five years, the Veterans Jobs Corps will increase training and
hiring opportunities for all veterans using successful job training
programs from across the country.
"It
will help hire qualified veterans as police officers, fire fighters and
other first responders at a time when 85 percent of law enforcement
agencies were forced to reduce their budget in the past year.
"It
will also help train and hire veterans to help restore and protect our
national, state, and tribal forests, our parks, and other public lands.
"All
at a time when we face a $10 billion maintenance backlog for our public
lands – a backlog I have seen personally in many of the parks and lands
in my home state of Washington.
"And
because training and hiring our veterans has never been, and should
never be, an effort that divides us along partisan lines - the Veterans
Jobs Corps takes good ideas from both sides of the aisle.
"In
fact, the bill will provide veterans with access to the internet and
computers to conduct job searches at one-stop centers and certain other
locations an idea championed by Senator Toomey. It will help guarantee
that
rural and disabled veterans' have access to veterans' employment
representatives a bill from Senator Tester. It will increase transition
assistance programs for eligible veterans and their spouses a bill that
was introduced by Senator Boozman. And it will require consideration of a
veteran's training or experience gained while serving on active duty
when they seek certification and licenses a bill cosponsored by
Democrats and Republicans.
"This bill says that all good ideas are welcome, because our veterans need all the help they can get.
"And it is also fully paid for in a bipartisan way.
"It has been endorsed most recently by the National Association of Police
Organizations but but there are also many veterans service organizations that stand behind this bill.
"And they do so because they know that helping veterans find employment is critical
to meeting so many of the challenges they face returning home.
"You know, Mr. President our veterans don't ask for a lot.
"Often times they come home and don't even acknowledge their own sacrifices.
"My own father never talked about his time fighting in World War II.
"In fact, I never saw his Purple Heart, or knew that he had a wallet with shrapnel in it,
or a diary that detailed his time in combat, until after he had died and my family
gathered to sort through his belongings.
"But our veterans shouldn't have to ask.
"We should know to provide for them.
"When my father's generation came home from the war – they came home to
opportunity.
"My father came home to a community that supported him.
"He came home to college - then to a job.
"A job that gave him pride.
"A job that helped him start a family.
"And one that ultimately led to me starting my own.
"That's the legacy of opportunity this Senate has to live up to for today's veterans.
"I urge my colleagues to build on the successes we have had in passing bipartisan veterans employment legislation.
"Veterans returning home all across the country are watching us and they certainly
don't have time to let politics block their path to a job that will help serve their
community.
"Surely, this is something that we can show them that we can come
together on, no matter how close or far away we are from an election.
"Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor."
Kathleen Hunter (Bloomberg News) reports the bill passed the Senate today with 95 senators voting for it and one voting against it.
Today the White House issued the following list of nominations:
Robert
Stephen Beecroft, of California, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign
Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of
Iraq.
T. Charles Cooper, of Maryland, to be
an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development, vice Jeffrey J. Grieco.
Rose
Eilene Gottemoeller, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of State for
Arms Control and International Security, vice Ellen O. Tauscher,
resigned.
F. Scott Kieff, of Illinois, to
be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission for the
term expiring June 16, 2020, vice Daniel Pearson, term expired.
Joshua
D. Wright, of Virginia, to be a Federal Trade Commissioner for the term
of seven years from September 26, 2012, vice J. Thomas Rosch, term
expiring.
Robert S.
Beecroft is Barack Obama's 4th nominee to be the US Ambassador to Iraq.
Senator Barack Obama participated in this process by voting to confirm
presidential nominees. But Barack's only been president since January
2009 -- not yet four years. No, it is not common for a president to
have to repeatedly nominate people to the same post over and over in one
term. And, no, no one died in the post.
When
Barack was sworn in, Ryan Crocker was the US Ambassador to Iraq.
Barack nominated Chris Hill who, once confirmed and in Iraq, quickly set
a record for afternoon naps. When it was realized that Chris Hill
wasn't working, James Jeffrey was nominated. Then Jeffrey wanted out
and Brett McGurk was nominated. But he withdrew his name, as Press TV notes "over a sex scandal" and Peter Baker (New York Times) notes, when "Democrats were unwilling to defend him because he previously worked for President George W. Bush."
Currently, Robert Stephen Beecroft is the Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Baghdad. This means he's been running things since the US has no Ambassador to Iraq at present. Yesterday, Barack Obama nominated Beecroft to be the latest in his conga line of US Ambassadors to Iraq. Unlike Chris Hill and Brett McGurk, Beecroft actually speaks Arabic.
From June 6, 2008 through June 4, 2011, he was the US Ambassador to Jordan -- he was sworn in to that post July 17, 2008 with his wife Anne and their daughter Blythe present as then-Secretary of State Condi Rice conducted the ceremony. Their daughter attended Brigham Young University, as did Robert S. Beecroft (if you're wondering, yes, he is a Mormon and his missionary work was done in Venezuela). Anne and Robert Beecroft married in 1983, Blythe is their oldest child (22) followed by Warren, Sterling and Grace. After practicing law for six years (UC Berkeley Law School, 1988), Robert Beecroft joined the diplomatic corps in 1994.
Iraq, we were told, was a democracy -- or at
least an emerging one. If that were true, it certainly would have
needed a steady hand in terms of the US diplomatic mission. It didn't
get that. And possibly that's allowed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
and the Maliki Thugettes to believe they could get away with anything?
This
believe that they can get away with anything and that others have no
rights and no right to expect safety or human kindness goes a long way
towards explaining how members of a group that was an oppressed majority
less than ten years ago is now represented by thugs who want to harm
others, not lift Iraq to a higher place.
Natalia Antelava, Peter Murtaugh, Bill McKenna and Daniel Nasaw (BBC News -- link is video) report on the targeting of Iraq's LGBT community. Excerpt.
First Iraqi Man: They came to me face-to-face and told me that I have to stop being gay otherwise we will kill you.
Second Iraqi Man: They made every excuse to get us out of the car. They took us away and five men started raping us.
Natalia
Antelava: In a tiny stuffy room, Ahmed, Nancy and Allou are hiding from
their families and the police. All three have received death
threats. Ahmed has not left this room for over two months now.
Ahmed:
I came here because I was gay and I was threatened by my family -- my
immediate family -- and some unknown guys from my neighborhood. The
situation a few years ago was very bad. But at that time, they did not
pay any attention to gays. Now they have nothing to do but look for
gays -- to kill them.
Allou:
The threat is much bigger now than before. It's not only the militias
now. It's the police, the government who are going after us.
Natalia
Antelava: I really wish we could show you their faces. Ahmed's got
big, dark, worried eyes on his thin face. Nancy's really pretty and I
would have never guessed that she was born male. And Allou's got this
very trendy haircut which would be completely normal in the West but
here in Iraq, this sort of hair could get you killed. Nancy is
especially vulnerable in Iraq. Born a transgender, she dreams of a sex
change operation but it is impossible to have it done in Iraq, she says,
and she has no way of leaving the country.
Nancy:
My mom tried to persuade me to act like a man because I am supposed to
be a man I couldn't. She didn't know what was inside me. She
couldn't understand that. I can't tell you how many times I've been
raped at checkpoints -- with the police, it's countless. The worst
incident was at a checkpoint on Al Sadun street. They asked me for my
ID, then asked me to get out of the car. It was dark. They put me
against the blast wall. Nine of them raped me. There was nothing I
could do. If I had resisted, they would have arrested me.
Natalia Antelava: If you could have anything that you wanted, what kind of life would you want to have?
Nancy:
I want to live the life I want. I want to be a woman and to be treated
like one. I am a human being and this is my right.
Natalia
Antelava: It's not just transgender, Allou had been raped too. And I
heard many other similar stories -- gay men, with even a slightly
feminine appearance say they're often raped by police at checkpoints.
Allou:
I am so tired, so sad. I have no freedom. I can't say that I am gay.
I can't live my life. I can't go home. I have to stay here doing
nothing and just wait.
Natalia
Antelava: He doesn't know what he's waiting for. The situation in
Iraq he says is only getting worse and without the support of
international organizations, they can't find the way out of the country.
They appear regularly without a warning. Each neighborhood gets its
own hit list with names and addresses of local residents who are
believed to be gay. Each time, it drives the already hidden gay
community here further underground and further into panic. Each time,
one of the gays told me, it signals the beginning of a new witch hunt.
Radical milita groups are believed to be behind this hit list. Although
officially they've been disbanded, militias still pose the greatest
threat to homosexuals. But those we spoke to say that they're just as
fearful of countless police and military checkpoints that are supposed
to be making Baghdad safe. This checkpoint is manned by the Interior
Ministry troops. But in Iraq, one's uniform never tells you the full
story. In this country, you can be a police man by day, a militia man
by night. These blurred lines and mixed allegiances have made it easy
for the government to blame militia groups for the killings of gays. But
we've discovered evidence that directly links the police with attacks
on gays in Iraq. Qais is gay and a former police man. He told me he had
been ordered to go after homosexuals. He couldn't refuse and so he quit
his job.
Qais:
In 2006, 2007 and 2008, we were busy fighting terrorsm. We didn't pay
attention to gays. On top of it, the Iraqi government had to respect
the rule of law when the Americans and the British were here. But now?
They have a lot of free time and the police are going after gays.
Natalia Antelava: Have you ever been called to arrest gays or kill gays or go after gays in any way?
Qais:
Yes, twice. We had to arrest this guy. He was having an argument with
someone. Once they arrested him, they accused him of being gay. We
were told to send him to another town where he was wanted for being
gay. We sent him to that town and he disappeared. His family came to
ask about him and we sent them to another town where they could not find
him. Then they got a death certificate from the police but they never
got the body.
Natalia
Antelava: With so much secrecy, fear and loathing, it's difficult to
establish the exact level of the government's involvement in the
persecution. But 17 gay men interviewed for this investigation said they
believed they were being singled out and hunted by the state. All see
the police as a major threat. All have recently had friends or
boyfriends killed. All said arrests were still happening. Until
recently, Ghaith worked a a police station. One day, he came to work to
find his boyfriend in a pre-trial detention cell.
Ghaith:
Being gay is not illegal in Iraq, it's not a crime. But he was told he
was arrested because he was gay. They call gays "puppies." They would
beat him, saying, "Puppies are destroying our country. We must rid our
country of you. We must kill you all. He was in the police station
for a week.
Natalia Antelava: The last time Ghaith saw his boyfriend was the day before he died.
Ghaith:
I was upset. I lost all control, had a fight with the guards. I was
screaming, "Why did you kill my lover!" They said, "Since you're like
him, you should be dead too." I started looking for any document
related to his death. I told them I was going to international human
rights organizations and tell them everything.
Natalia Antelava: Ghaith is now in hiding, terrorfied that he is next.
Credit
to the BBC which has been the world leader on this issue for broadcast
outlets. No other broadcast news outlet has done as much to raise this
issue or to report on the violence as the BBC has. In print form, the Denver Post has done more than any other daily newspaper and Boston's The Edge
has done more than any other weekly (especially reporter Kilian
Melloy). And I don't want to take anything away from those three news
outlets but it is a real shame that their strong work has not been
matched by others in what is not a one day or one month or one year
story but what is a story that's been going on since the start of the
war and a story whose latest wave of persecution has been going on for
nearly four years. A big thank you to those who have done such a great
job covering the story (and there are others who have -- especially
among the LGBT press) but it is shameful that so many outlets -- so many
name news outlets -- have elected to ignore this story -- repeatedly
ignore it.
In Iraq, the persecution and the violence continues. Today All Iraq News notes a Falluja home invasion of a police officers home in which 1 family members was killed and five more were left injured. Alsumaria notes 2 corpses were found dumped on a main road in Mosul, both men had been shot to death.
The political crisis continues in Iraq. Al Rafidayn notes that Nouri has been very skillful in playing various political blocs against one another, tossing them off balance and allowing him to continue doing whatever it is that they had been objecting to before he pitted them against one another. (They also note Sunday's violence -- over 100 dead, over 400 wounded -- and speak with analyst John Drake who feels that the violence was more likely carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and not supporters of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.)
The political crisis has lasted over a year. You can chart its beginning to the end of December 2010 when it should have been clear that Nouri was trashing the US-brokered Erbil Agreement (which gave him a second term as prime minister) or the summer of 2011 when Iraqiya, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Kurds were all calling for a return to the Erbil Agreement publicly. The political crisis can be seen as beginning in December of 2011 when Nouri's war on the Sunnis moves from mass arrests of academics and the elderly in the fall of that year to targeting Iraqiya (with his demand that Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq be stripped of his post and his arrest warrant for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi -- al-Mutlaq and al-Hashemi are members of Iraqiya and also Sunni).
Immediately after the political crisis begins, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and Iraq President Jalal Talabani begin calling for a National Conference -- a meet-up of the political blocs -- to address the crisis. Nouri is immediately against it and says it's not necessary. He'll go for a reform commission, he insists, but not a national conference. He tries to throw one road block after another before the National Conference as prep meetins are held. In late February, he announces it can't take place in March because the Arab League Summit will be held in Baghdad that month. Talabani uses the international press spotlight to schedule the National Conference -- he did that by announcing the weekend before the Summit, with press arriving in Iraq in large numbers that were only expected to increase (and did increase -- for the Summit) that they would hold the National Conference Thursday, April 5th. The announcement having been made to the press, Nouri tries to save face by announcing it himself while instructing his State of Law MPs to work on killing the conference. The day of the conference al-Nujaifi is forced to hold a press conference to announce that the National Conference is off.
It was supposed to be re-scheduled. Nouri then focused his efforts on killing a no-confidence vote. Once he had done that (with the tremendous help of Jalal Talabani), he announced that the reform commission he'd earlier spoken of would do the work the national conference was supposed to.
No.
That was never going to happen. And it ended up being nothing but a set of non-binding statements written by his National Alliance allies. Turns out it was even worse than that. Al Mada reports today that the National alliance is stating that they will review the reform paper before it's put forward. Review it? Al Mada reports State of Law wrote it.
State of Law is Nouri's slate. Nouri wrote his own little 'reform' list. Iraqiya is the political slate that came in first in the March 2010 elections. Nouri's slate came in second. Nouri is part of the National Alliance (as is Moqtada al-Sadr and his bloc of MPs and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and other Shi'ite groups). The Reform Commission was supposed to be similar to the National Conference -- a face to face meet-up of blocs where the various issues were addressed. Instead, it became a paper written by elements of the National Alliance sympathetic to Nouri. Now it's become a paper written by State of Law.
It is a joke. I-Was-Right rights today go to Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi who was the first Iraqi to publicly call out the Reform Commission and note that the whole thing was nothing but a distraction.
The Reform Commission will accomplish nothing. Nouri implemented a power-grab at the end of 2010 and has continued it. That's part of the objection -- and why some Iraqi politicians have compared Nouri to Saddam Husssein. The idea that the man accused of a power grab can have his political slate write the reforms is laughable.
Part of Nouri's power grab was ignoring the Constitution which requires a prime minister-designate to name a Cabinet in 30 days or else someone else will be named prime minister-designate and get the 30 days to accomplish the task. The Constitution requires that you name the Cabinet in 30 days or you don't get moved from prime minister-designate to prime minister. That's not 'partial Cabinet.' That's name your Cabinet.
Nouri couldn't do that because he wouldn't do that. He never named ministers to head the Interior, Defense or National Security. And, again, Ayad Allawi was the first to publicly call this out. He said it was a power-grab. The press insisted it wasn't. They insisted that in a matter of weeks, Nouri would name nominees for these posts. It's now September 2012 and he's never named nomineess. Al Mada notes Iraqiya is calling for nominees and saying they need to come quickly in light of Sunday's violence. Iraqiya MP Hamid al-Mutlaq states that the country is vulnerable to terrorists as a result of Nouri leaving those positions empty. All Iraq News adds that Iraqiya has submitted a list containing the names of four members they say are qualified to be Minister of Defense.
The PUK is Talabani's political party (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan). They tell Al Rafidayn that Jalal will return at the start of next week. In May, as the no-confidence vote on Nouri was about to happen, Jalal suddenly began declaring signatures void. He then ignored the request of the Kurdish officials that no one leave Iraq. Iraq's vagabond president fled to Germany with his office insisting that he needed life-threatening surgery.
That ended up being knee surgery. (What a close call!) He has remained in Germany ever since. He's been said to be on the verge of returning before. He may or may not return next week but his political party is stating he will be returning.
He did note yesterday that the Sunday sentencing of his Vice Presdient Tareq al-Hashemi to be hanged was not helping the crisis. Al Manar runs BBC's report about Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaring today that al-Hashemi is welcome in and safe in Turkey and that "We will not hand him over." Hurriyet Daily News states that Turkey's position is "crystal clear" and quotes Erdogan stating, "We will host al-Hashemi in our country as long as he wants to remain in Turkey. We will not hand him over." Amnesty International weighed in today on Sunday's violence and on the sentence against Tareq al-Hashemi:
The political crisis continues in Iraq. Al Rafidayn notes that Nouri has been very skillful in playing various political blocs against one another, tossing them off balance and allowing him to continue doing whatever it is that they had been objecting to before he pitted them against one another. (They also note Sunday's violence -- over 100 dead, over 400 wounded -- and speak with analyst John Drake who feels that the violence was more likely carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and not supporters of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.)
The political crisis has lasted over a year. You can chart its beginning to the end of December 2010 when it should have been clear that Nouri was trashing the US-brokered Erbil Agreement (which gave him a second term as prime minister) or the summer of 2011 when Iraqiya, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Kurds were all calling for a return to the Erbil Agreement publicly. The political crisis can be seen as beginning in December of 2011 when Nouri's war on the Sunnis moves from mass arrests of academics and the elderly in the fall of that year to targeting Iraqiya (with his demand that Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq be stripped of his post and his arrest warrant for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi -- al-Mutlaq and al-Hashemi are members of Iraqiya and also Sunni).
Immediately after the political crisis begins, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and Iraq President Jalal Talabani begin calling for a National Conference -- a meet-up of the political blocs -- to address the crisis. Nouri is immediately against it and says it's not necessary. He'll go for a reform commission, he insists, but not a national conference. He tries to throw one road block after another before the National Conference as prep meetins are held. In late February, he announces it can't take place in March because the Arab League Summit will be held in Baghdad that month. Talabani uses the international press spotlight to schedule the National Conference -- he did that by announcing the weekend before the Summit, with press arriving in Iraq in large numbers that were only expected to increase (and did increase -- for the Summit) that they would hold the National Conference Thursday, April 5th. The announcement having been made to the press, Nouri tries to save face by announcing it himself while instructing his State of Law MPs to work on killing the conference. The day of the conference al-Nujaifi is forced to hold a press conference to announce that the National Conference is off.
It was supposed to be re-scheduled. Nouri then focused his efforts on killing a no-confidence vote. Once he had done that (with the tremendous help of Jalal Talabani), he announced that the reform commission he'd earlier spoken of would do the work the national conference was supposed to.
No.
That was never going to happen. And it ended up being nothing but a set of non-binding statements written by his National Alliance allies. Turns out it was even worse than that. Al Mada reports today that the National alliance is stating that they will review the reform paper before it's put forward. Review it? Al Mada reports State of Law wrote it.
State of Law is Nouri's slate. Nouri wrote his own little 'reform' list. Iraqiya is the political slate that came in first in the March 2010 elections. Nouri's slate came in second. Nouri is part of the National Alliance (as is Moqtada al-Sadr and his bloc of MPs and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and other Shi'ite groups). The Reform Commission was supposed to be similar to the National Conference -- a face to face meet-up of blocs where the various issues were addressed. Instead, it became a paper written by elements of the National Alliance sympathetic to Nouri. Now it's become a paper written by State of Law.
It is a joke. I-Was-Right rights today go to Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi who was the first Iraqi to publicly call out the Reform Commission and note that the whole thing was nothing but a distraction.
The Reform Commission will accomplish nothing. Nouri implemented a power-grab at the end of 2010 and has continued it. That's part of the objection -- and why some Iraqi politicians have compared Nouri to Saddam Husssein. The idea that the man accused of a power grab can have his political slate write the reforms is laughable.
Part of Nouri's power grab was ignoring the Constitution which requires a prime minister-designate to name a Cabinet in 30 days or else someone else will be named prime minister-designate and get the 30 days to accomplish the task. The Constitution requires that you name the Cabinet in 30 days or you don't get moved from prime minister-designate to prime minister. That's not 'partial Cabinet.' That's name your Cabinet.
Nouri couldn't do that because he wouldn't do that. He never named ministers to head the Interior, Defense or National Security. And, again, Ayad Allawi was the first to publicly call this out. He said it was a power-grab. The press insisted it wasn't. They insisted that in a matter of weeks, Nouri would name nominees for these posts. It's now September 2012 and he's never named nomineess. Al Mada notes Iraqiya is calling for nominees and saying they need to come quickly in light of Sunday's violence. Iraqiya MP Hamid al-Mutlaq states that the country is vulnerable to terrorists as a result of Nouri leaving those positions empty. All Iraq News adds that Iraqiya has submitted a list containing the names of four members they say are qualified to be Minister of Defense.
The PUK is Talabani's political party (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan). They tell Al Rafidayn that Jalal will return at the start of next week. In May, as the no-confidence vote on Nouri was about to happen, Jalal suddenly began declaring signatures void. He then ignored the request of the Kurdish officials that no one leave Iraq. Iraq's vagabond president fled to Germany with his office insisting that he needed life-threatening surgery.
That ended up being knee surgery. (What a close call!) He has remained in Germany ever since. He's been said to be on the verge of returning before. He may or may not return next week but his political party is stating he will be returning.
He did note yesterday that the Sunday sentencing of his Vice Presdient Tareq al-Hashemi to be hanged was not helping the crisis. Al Manar runs BBC's report about Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaring today that al-Hashemi is welcome in and safe in Turkey and that "We will not hand him over." Hurriyet Daily News states that Turkey's position is "crystal clear" and quotes Erdogan stating, "We will host al-Hashemi in our country as long as he wants to remain in Turkey. We will not hand him over." Amnesty International weighed in today on Sunday's violence and on the sentence against Tareq al-Hashemi:
The
Iraqi authorities must urgently launch a thorough, impartial
investigation into a wave of bomb attacks and shootings across Iraq on
Sunday which reportedly killed at least 81 people, many of them
civilians, and left scores more injured, Amnesty International said.
The apparently coordinated attacks in multiple cities appear to have targeted Iraqi civilians. Members of the security and armed forces also seemed to have been targeted. Car bomb explosions in several, predominantly Shi'a areas were among the deadliest attacks.
"This horrific wave of attacks shows an utter disregard for humanity – the Iraqi authorities must ensure an immediate, thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation is carried out and those responsible are brought to justice in proceedings that comply with the most rigorous internationally recognized standards for fair trial," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
"There is no justification for the deliberate targeting of civilians – it is abhorrent and shows a total disregard for international human rights standards as well as the basic principles of humanity."
Several bombings across southern Iraq – including in the cities of Basra and Nasiriyah and a market near the Imam Ali al-Sharqi shrine – also resulted in deaths and injuries.
Meanwhile, a car bomb near the northern city of Kirkuk appeared to have targeted people lining up to seek employment at an oil facility, and two explosions in Kirkuk itself killed three people and wounded scores more.
The apparently coordinated attacks in multiple cities appear to have targeted Iraqi civilians. Members of the security and armed forces also seemed to have been targeted. Car bomb explosions in several, predominantly Shi'a areas were among the deadliest attacks.
"This horrific wave of attacks shows an utter disregard for humanity – the Iraqi authorities must ensure an immediate, thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation is carried out and those responsible are brought to justice in proceedings that comply with the most rigorous internationally recognized standards for fair trial," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
"There is no justification for the deliberate targeting of civilians – it is abhorrent and shows a total disregard for international human rights standards as well as the basic principles of humanity."
Several bombings across southern Iraq – including in the cities of Basra and Nasiriyah and a market near the Imam Ali al-Sharqi shrine – also resulted in deaths and injuries.
Meanwhile, a car bomb near the northern city of Kirkuk appeared to have targeted people lining up to seek employment at an oil facility, and two explosions in Kirkuk itself killed three people and wounded scores more.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks
Trial in absentia
The attacks came as an Iraqi court sentenced the Iraqi Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi to death after he was convicted, together with his son-in-law, Ahmed Qahtan for allegedly ordering killing a lawyer and a Shi'a security official.
Al-Hashemi, is now in Turkey and has been in office since 2005.
He has denied the charges, which he claims are politically motivated.
"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment and a violation of the right to life. This latest sentence is part of an alarming and sweeping use of the death penalty in Iraq. We call on the authorities to commute al-Hashemi's sentence immediately" said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Background
Trial in absentia
The attacks came as an Iraqi court sentenced the Iraqi Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi to death after he was convicted, together with his son-in-law, Ahmed Qahtan for allegedly ordering killing a lawyer and a Shi'a security official.
Al-Hashemi, is now in Turkey and has been in office since 2005.
He has denied the charges, which he claims are politically motivated.
"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment and a violation of the right to life. This latest sentence is part of an alarming and sweeping use of the death penalty in Iraq. We call on the authorities to commute al-Hashemi's sentence immediately" said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Background
In
December, state run TV channel Al-Iraqiya broadcast "confessions" by men
said to be al-Hashemi's bodyguards saying that they had killed police
officers and officials from ministries in exchange for payoffs from
al-Hashemi. This is in violation of fair trial standards, especially the
presumption of innocence.
One of the bodyguards, Amer al-Battawi, died in custody in March 2012 after being held for three months. His family reportedly claimed his body bore signs of having been tortured.
The Iraqi authorities denied the torture allegations and said al-Battawi died of kidney failure.
One of al-Hashemi's female employees is currently in detention.
Rasha Nameer Jaafer al-Hussain, who was working at the Iraqi Vice-President's Office, was arrested without a warrant at her parents' house in Baghdad district on 1 January 2012. The security forces claimed they were taking her away for questioning and that she would return two hours later. Her family did not hear of her whereabouts for weeks.
A second woman, Bassima Saleem Kiryakos, was released, apparently without charge, on around 10 April. She was arrested after her house in Baghdad was raided by over 15 armed security men in military uniform. The men did not have an arrest warrant.
ENDS
One of the bodyguards, Amer al-Battawi, died in custody in March 2012 after being held for three months. His family reportedly claimed his body bore signs of having been tortured.
The Iraqi authorities denied the torture allegations and said al-Battawi died of kidney failure.
One of al-Hashemi's female employees is currently in detention.
Rasha Nameer Jaafer al-Hussain, who was working at the Iraqi Vice-President's Office, was arrested without a warrant at her parents' house in Baghdad district on 1 January 2012. The security forces claimed they were taking her away for questioning and that she would return two hours later. Her family did not hear of her whereabouts for weeks.
A second woman, Bassima Saleem Kiryakos, was released, apparently without charge, on around 10 April. She was arrested after her house in Baghdad was raided by over 15 armed security men in military uniform. The men did not have an arrest warrant.
ENDS
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
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