Confronted with the foreclosure of their family home, three Azusa, California siblings committed suicide December 6. Three members of the Alva family—47-year-old Christine, 49-year-old Barbara, and their 59-year-old brother, George—were found dead in the burned remnants of their home on the day they were to be evicted. Upon responding to a neighbor’s emergency call, firefighters found numerous guns and ammunition; the family pets were also found dead.
Does that not say it all?
That is shocking and we should all be outraged that we live in a country where this took place.
Until we get outraged, the government's not going to do a damn thing.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday:
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Wednesday,
December 19, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, Jalal Talabani is said
to be in better condition and prepping to transfer to Germany, a report
from UNAMI notes the lack of progress on human rights, rumors float that
Iraq's failing power grid is actually about to be obsolete, we look at
the government report about the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi,
and more.
Today
a report was released on the September 11, 2012 attack on the US
Consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of Tyrone Woods, Sean
Smith, Glen Doherty and Chris Stevens. The Senate Foreign Relations
Committee had a classified briefing today on the report. The
unlcassified version has been [PDF format warning] posted online at the State Dept's website.
It's
a damning and disturbing report that will probably most disturb those
State Dept employees stationed overseas and their families -- including
the largest State Dept mission overseas, the one in Iraq. As noted on
page two of the report, "With State Department civilians at the
forefront of U.S. efforts to stabilize and build capacity in Iraq, as
the U.S. military draws down in Afghanistan, and with security threats
growing in volatile environments where the U.S. military is not present
-- from Peshawar to Bamako -- the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) is
being stretched to the limit as never before."
It's
hard to tell which details are the most disturbing? Take the death of
the Ambassador Chris Stevens. His body can't be found -- is he alive or
dead, at this point no one knows -- and, page 25 notes, after "many and
repeated attempts to retrieve the Ambassador having proven fruitless and
militia members warning them the SMC could not be held much longer, the
Annex team departed the SMC, carrying with them the body of IMO [Sean]
Smith." They left before Stevens was found -- dead or alive. Six people
(presumably Libyans, labeled "good Samaritans" in the report) would find
him later in the same area that "many and repeated attempts" failed to
find him. He would be taken to the Benghazi Medical Center (the report
states he was dead when he arrived but doctors attempted to revive him
for 45 minutes) and when the US Embassy in Tripoli was notified that
Stevens had been taken to the hospital? "There was some concern that the
call might be a ruse to lure American personnel into a trap. With the
Benghazi Medical Center (BMC) believed to be dangerous for American
personnel due to the possibility attackers were being treated there, a
Libyan contact of the Special Mission was dispatched to the BMC and
later confirmed the
Ambassador's identity and that he was deceased."
It
was not safe for American diplomats and those working with the
diplomatic coprs to be stationed in Libya. It was not safe and they
should not have been there. Magnify that 100 times and you have Iraq
where the State Dept has its largest presence.
It
was so dangerous in Libya that when the call came in that Ambassador
Stevens was at the hospital -- remember, his whereabouts were unknown
for hours -- the US was unable to send an American to a hospital to see
if it was Stevens and if was alive or dead. That is appalling. That is a
sign of how tremendously unsafe it was.
The
report notes that Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed in "an
Annex building," which "came under mortar and RPG attack." Sean Smith
and Chris Stevens apparently died from smoke inhalation. The description
of the two of them them in a so-called safe house which was under fire
and with only one ARSO-I (Assistant Regional Security
Officer-Investigator) to attempt to protect them is shocking and
chilling.
Among
the findings in the investigation led by former Ambassador Thomas
Pickering and Retired General Mike Mullen (former Chair of the Joint
Chiefs)?
The
attacks were security related, involving arson, small arms and machine
gun fire, and the use of RPGs, grenades, and mortars against U.S.
personnel at two separate facilities -- the SMC [Special Mission
Compound] and the Annex -- and en route between them. Responsibility for
the tragic loss of life, injuries, and damage to U.S. facilities and
property rests solely and completely with the terrorists who perpetrated
the attacks. The board concluded that there was no protest prior to the
attacks, which were unanticipated in their scale and intensity.
There is so much incompetence on display. Let's note one section.
About
2150 local [time], the DCM was able to reach Ambassador Stevens, who
briefly reported that the SMC was under attack before the call cut off.
The Embassy notified Benina Airbase in Benghazi of a potential need for
logistic support and aircraft for extraction and received full
cooperation. The DCM contacted the Libyan Presidnt and Prime Minister's
office to urge them to mobilize a rescue effort, and kept Washington
apprised of post's efforts. The Embassy also reached out to Libyan Air
Froce and Armed Forces contacts, February 17 leadership, and UN and
third country embassies, among others. Within hours, Embassy Tripoli
charted a private airplane and deployed a seven-person secruity team,
which included two U.S. military personnel to Benghazi.
At
the direction of the U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM), DoD
moved a remotely piloted, unarmed surveillance aircraft relieved the
first, and monitored the eventual evacuation of personnel from the Annex
to Benghazi airport later on the morning of September 12.
Let's
again note this is the unclassified report. Additional details are in
the classified report. If there are additional details to the above,
they need to be revealed immediately because, as it stands, everything
in the two paragraphs above except for Chris Stevens' phone call, is
wrong -- not a little wrong, life-threatening wrong.
The
scramble being described above is for an extraction. As the public
report reads, extraction was the priority. A US Ambassador is on the
phone with you telling you that his consulate is under attack and the
line goes dead and your first throught is "extraction"?
No,
not if you're following protocol. Protocol wasn't followed as the
unclassified report presents events. Let's be clear, even with the
extraction, protocol wasn't followed. The scramble being described for
several hours inside Libya but outside Benghazi? Did no one receive
training or did they just ignore training? There are SOPs in writing
[Standard Operation Procedure outlines] of what to do in these cases.
There should have been no scramble on extraction, the existing SOP
should have been followed and if someone was too stupid to know what
that was, again, it is written down. But extraction shouldn't have been
the Tripoli staff's chief concern. A consulate was under attack and the
safety of the people at the consulate (and annex) should have been the
primary concern. Doesn't matter if a number of them were CIA (and there
were a number of CIA present). Attempting to secure their safety should
have been the primary focus for Tripoli with extraction being the
secondary focus -- a distant second.
There
was no knowledge of what was going on, who was alive, who was dead, and
you're focused on extraction? Let's remember too that Tripoli wasn't
under attack.
Valerie
Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, wouldn't have made the
mistakes that appear to have been made (the classified report will have
more details and may explain the above). When he was going up against
Sadam Hussein, he wouldn't have been channeling all efforts into an
extraction while other Americans in the country were under attack. This
is appalling.
This is disgusting for the message it
currently sends State Dept employees who are overseas. Let's take Iraq.
There's an attack on the US in Basra. Baghdad gets the call and instead
of addressing the attack and trying to ensure the security and safety of
those under attack, Baghdad runs around like a chicken with its head
cut off trying to figure out how to order an extraction for Baghdad.
That
is insane. Public hearings start tomorrow. This needs to be addressed
and US diplomatic staff and those working to protect them in foreign
countries need to know that, if an attack takes place, the response will
be to rescue them, not for the unattacked to figure how to quickly
leave the country.
As we move over to Iraq, let's stay with government reports. The Kuwait Times offers
"US reducing military presence in Kuwait" and that's misleading. Their
report is based on a Congressional Research Services report [PDF format
warning] entitled "Kuwait: Security, Reform, and US Policy."
In fairness to them, they are documenting a report -- not about the US
leaving Kuwait -- that is either sloppily written or intentionally
misleading. Has the number of US troops in Kuwait (which borders Iraq)
gone down? They've dropped down to 13,500 which is what was expected.
The CRS report notes, "A staff report of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee published June 19, 2012, said that the United States will keep
about 13,500 troops in Kuwait as of mid-late 2012 -- somewhat less
than 25,000 there during the U.S. presence in Iraq." We covered that
report in the June 19th snapshot, it's [PDF format warning] "The Gulf Security Architecture: Partnership With The Gulf Co-Operation Council." So what has changed since that report was published?
Nothing.
Nothing has changed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee report was
published. If there was news to be found, it was some time ago. 15,000
as the high point has been true throughout 2012. The report in the
Kuwait paper makes you believe there's been a development -- and that
attitude can be found in the CRS report but that's not accurate.
Another issue -- and like the one before, it came up in the e-mails to the public account. DM raises this job listing on Kolkata.
The listing is under the heading "Labor jobs for US Army in Kurdistan."
It's full time, requires knowledge of English (but not Kurdish) and
promises "Labor jobs in Kurdistan for US Army good salary Free food
Accomadtion reasonable service charge . . ." This isn't a job for a
member of the US Army. That of course wouldn't be posted by a third
party. DoD would do the assingments. What it appears to be is a job (or
jobs) in the KRG that would be assisting the US Army. And, if the ad is
correct (and I have no reason to believe it's not), what it appears is
that the US government is looking for cheap labor to work with the US
Army in the KRG.
The
Kurdistan Regional Government is three semi-autonoumous provinces in
nothern Iraq. Many people live there and it is where Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani and First Lady Hero Ibrahim Ahmed make their home.
Today's Iraqi news cycle continues to be dominated by news and
speculation about Jalal. The 79-year-old was rushed to a hospital in
Baghdad late Monday evening. Nouri al-Maliki's spokespeople have stated
Talabani was suffering a stroke. Talabani's people have not identified
the health issue.
This morning, All Iraq News reported
that First Lady Hero Ibrahim Ahmed issued a statement on her husband's
condition noting that it is improving and crediting Divine Providence
and the medical team for the improvements. She denied that he was in a
coma and stated that a team of doctors from Germany were due to arrive
shortly and that they would be working with local doctors (led by the
Chief of ICU Dr. Ayad Abass) and a team of British doctors who had
already arrived. She stated that there was no plan to transfer her
husband to another country for medical treatment. Hurriyet Daily News notes
that "Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan offered to send ambulance plane
to Iraq to bring Talabani for treatment in Turkey." Despite the
assertion of the First Lady, All Iraq News quoted one of Talabani's doctors saying they are planning to move him to Germany on Thursday. Kitabat also reports that there is a plan to transfer Talabani. Hours later, everyone was reporting that transfer would take place. Al Jazeera quoted
Najmaldin Karim ("governor Iraq's Kirkuk city who is also part of the
president's medical team) stating that the move would take place "within
24 hours." BBC News quotes Talabani's spokesperson Barazan Sheikh Othman stating that he will leave Baghdad for Germany either tomorrow or Friday.
Al Mada notes
that most recently he was in Germany (back in June) and stayed there
until September. At the time, it was stated that he was having knee
surgery. (Which may be true.) The Iraq Times and Kitabat
are both reporting that insiders are saying the collapse Monday night
followed a verbal altercation with Nouri al-Maliki. According to an
unnamed source or unnamed sources with Talabani's office, Nouri arrived
last Monday evening at Talabani's office and as the political crisis was
discussed, Jalal called for Nouri to lower the rhetoric (as he has done
publicly) but he was referring to what Nouri was stating to him at that
moment. This call to lower the rhetoric was met by a "violent
explosion" from Nouri who called into question whether Jalal was able to
be impartial or neutral. Nouri is said to have brought up the effort
last spring to seek a no-confidence vote on Nouri in Parliament. Jalal
is said to have remained civil, asked that Nouri consider the options
for resolving the crisis, Nouri was shown out and as soon as he was out
of the office, Jalal complained of ill health.
Naseer al-Ani is part of the president's staff and Kitabat reports on the press conference he held Turesday evening at Baghdad's Medical City Hospital noting Talabani remained in intensive care but stated he was doing better. In the press conference, he continued the policy of not identifying the president's condition and of not using the term "stroke." As Turkish Weekly notes, "a health emergency" is the popular term used by Talabani's staff. Adam Schreck (AP) observes, "Talabani's doctors have not formally said that the 79-year-old statesman suffered a stroke, though several government officials have publicly confirmed that is the case." Citing an unnamed medical source, All Iraq News states that Jalal moved his hand this morning and that this is seen as a good sign by his team of doctors. The Voice of Russia quotes one of Jalal's staff, media official Barzan Sheikh Othman, stating this morning, "Thanks be to God, the president is in good condition and he is improving hour after hour."
Dar Addustour points out the conflicting reports yesterday and it most likely will be that way again today. Deutsche Welle notes,
"He has suffered poor health in recent years, traveling to the US for
heart surgery in 2008 and being treated for dehydration and fatigue in
Jordan in 2007." Deutsche Welle also notes,
"As a Kurd, he is seen as a mediator to bridge divisions between the
country's majority Shiite and minotiry Sunni Muslim communities." And
that role being empty has some worried. As Ruth noted last night:
Jalal
Talabani is a Kurd. The top positions of power in Iraq are the prime
minister, the speaker of Parliament, and the president. Since 2006,
Iraq's Constitution is voted into effect at the end of 2005 and
Parliamentary elections are held then as well, the presidency has gone
to Mr. Talabani (a Kurd), the Speaker has been a Sunni (since 2011 it
has been Osama al-Nujaifi), and a Shi'ite has been prime minister (Nouri
al-Maliki). Because of that division, which is not required in the
Constitution, it is assumed that should Mr. Talabani step down before
his term expire or should he pass away, the replacement selected by
Parliament (not the temporary one before Parliament can vote) should be a
Kurd. As C.I. explains in the snapshot, leading contenders are said to
include Hoshyar Zebari who is the current Foreign Minister and the
deputy in Mr. Talabani's political party (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan)
Barham Salhi.
Last night, Nayla Razzouk (Bloomberg News) reported:
If
Talabani has to step down and isn't replaced by a Kurd, that could
cause tensions, said Marina Ottaway, a senior associate in the Middle
East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a
Washington policy group.
"Talabani was a mediating influence because he managed to keep a foot in both camps," Ottaway said in a telephone interview. "There's no doubt he's a Kurdish nationalist, but he also was Iraq's president and he managed to straddle the line."
Talabani's health, UPI noted,
is an issue now because there is a "risk of a deterioration in Iraq's
fractious and often violent politics centers of a simmering
confrontation between government forces controlled by Prim Minsiter
Nouri al-Maliki and Peshmerga fighters of the semiautonomous Kurdish
enclave over disputed territory in nothern Iraq." Tensions between
Baghdad and Erbil have never been greater. You have the unresolved issue
of oil because Nouri never passed that oil and gas law he promised he
would back in 2007 when he signed off on the White House benchmarks. Oil
companies prefer the KRG at this point. That angers Nouri. The
Constitution decreed, Article 140, that disputed areas in Iraq would be
resolved by census and referendum..Nouri became prime minister in 2006,
the constitution mandated he fix the issue by 2007. He refused to
implement Article 140. His promise had been written into the Erbil
Agreement (US-brokered contract that ended the 8 month political
stalemate during which Nouri threw a public tantrum because Iraqiya got
more votes than Nouri's State of Law). On top of those crises, Nouri
recently sent the Tigris Operation Command forces into the disputed
areas which the Kurds saw as Nouri attempting to use force to claim the
disputed provinces for Baghdad.
Nuri
al-Maliki's government in Baghdad, dominated by Shia Muslims, has
unwisely pushed Turkey into this oily Kurdish embrace. Mr Maliki's close
ties to Iran and support for President Bashar Assad in Syria have
angered Turkey's government and convinced it not to rely on Iraq. The
refuge offered by Turkey to Tariq al-Hashemi, Iraq's vice-president, who
was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Baghdad in September,
has also upset Mr Maliki, who has duly insulted Turkey's leaders. In
November his government expelled Turkey's state oil company from a block
in Iraq, plainly out of political spite. In December he ordered his
air-traffic controllers to deny landing rights to Turkey's energy
minister, Taner Yildiz, who was en route to Erbil for an investor
conference.
Iraq's central government seems
bent on wrecking the Kurds' thriving oil industry, saying that their
regional government has no legal authority to export oil independently
or sign contracts with developers. The government in Baghdad has delayed
payments to Iraqi Kurdistan's oil producers, who say they are owed
about $1.5 billion. Some explorers fret that they will never recoup
their cash. Pars Kutay, an executive at Genel Energy, a Turkish
oil-producer in Kurdistan, says that depending for payment on Iraq's
central authorities is like "pumping oil into a black hole". Kurdish oil
exports are now said to have collapsed to around 30,000 b/d.
For six long years, Nouri al-Maliki has been prime minister and Iraq's got very little to show for it. In terms of investment? Joao Peixe (Oil Price) observes,
"It has been nine years since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's
dictatorship in Iraq and yet due to various deep-routed problems few
have capitalised on plan's to revive the nation's economy or rebuild its
infrastructure. Even specialists in frontier markets are giving the
Middle Eastern state a wide berth." Back in the early days of the war,
after the US bombing had destroyed (further destroyed) Iraq's
infrastructure, there were promises about how it would be fixed and
fixed quickly. Iraqis still lack basic public services today. Alsumaria reports
that the electriticy crisis has become the puzzle with no solution and
that Iraq continues to depend upon Iran for importing electricity.
Meanwhile the Iraq Times reports
that despite claims that next year will see a marked improvement in
electricity, officials are saying the reality is that the power grid is
in danger of collapsing and that the Dawa political party (Nouri's
political party) is decieving the people about the coming problems. The Gulf News observes,
"Yet, despite being a country with large oil reserves wealthy enough to
guarantee a steady income for its people, Iraq has failed to utilise
this resource efficiently. As a matter of fact, the political changes in
the country have only brought about an increase in corruption and an
alarming misuse of public funds."
Nouri certainly hasn't brought safety to Iraq. Nor has he protected human rights. UNHCR released the "Report on Human Rights in Iraq: January to June 2012" today. We'll cover the report tomorrow. Today, we'll note this from the UN News Centre:
The
United Nations human rights chief today called on Iraq to move towards
abolishing the death penalty, saying – in response to the latest
periodic report on Iraq's human rights record – that the rate of
executions in the country this year "cannot be justified."
"I
would like to stress that, under international law, the death penalty
is permitted in very limited circumstances, including after trial and
appeal proceedings that scrupulously respect all the principles of due
process," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in her comments on the Report on Human Rights in Iraq: January to June 2012, released today.
"The
number of executions so far in 2012, and the manner in which they have
been carried out in large batches, is extremely dangerous, cannot be
justified, and risks seriously undermining the partial and tentative
progress on rule of law in Iraq outlined in this report," she added,
according to a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
Iraq,
which retains the death penalty for a large number of crimes, executed
70 people in the first six months of this year, compared to 67 for the
whole of 2011, and 18 in 2010, according to the 46-page report, produced
by UNAMI – a UN political mission established by the UN Security
Council in 2003 at the invitation of the Government of Iraq – in
cooperation with OHCHR.
"I encourage the
Iraqi Government to declare a moratorium on all executions, with a view
to abolishing the death penalty in the near future," Ms. Pillay said.
The
human rights chief also called on the Iraqi authorities to address
other "serious human rights violations" highlighted in the report,
which, as with earlier reports, reflects information gathered by UNAMI
from the mission's on-site monitoring.
Dropping back to yesterday's snapshot:
Kitabat reports
that, according to Nineveh Province Governor Ethel Nujaifi, a young
girl was raped by a lieutenant in the Iraqi military. A judge ordered
the officer's arrest but the Iraqi military has refused to turn him
over. The Ministry of Defense is the one refusing. (The Ministry of
Defense is headed by Nouri al-Maliki since he refused to nominate
someone for the post and allow Parliament to confirm the nomineee.)
Still on the topic of rape, Kitabat reports
that Iraqiya MP Hamid al-Mutlaq revealed today that federal prosecutors
have presented pre-liminary evidence to the Supreme Judicial Council
that, prosecutors argue, prove that women are being raped and tortured
in Iraqi prisons. As we noted when this scandal was breaking, Nouri has
been very lucky and able to walk away from many scandals unscathed but
Iraqis will not let this one pass by. Instead of attacking those who
brought it up publicly, Nouri should have been announcing that he was
addressing it and fixing it.
On the rape, Alsumaria reports
Major General Ali Furaiji, commander of the Iraqi army's second
division, declared today that the rape is being exploited for political
purposes. They need to learn how to damage control. The first words out
of your mouth are sympathies for the rape victim -- especially when
she's under the age of 18. At CounterCurrents, Dirk Adriaensens covers the prison issue noting:
On
12 December the Sadrist movement submitted a request to the Public
Prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant against the Minister of Justice
Hassan Shammari and other officials in the ministry, for preventing the
Iraqi MP's from visiting prisons after they received information about
the existence of torture and rape of some of the inmates.
Justice
Minister Hassan Shammari responded on 13 December by filing a lawsuit
against the Liberal bloc deputies for "overriding" the staff of the
ministry during performing their duties, demanding the political blocs
to "refrain from pushing the ministry into their conflicts," he said,
and added that "the ministry will not remain silent on abuses against
its staff."
Despite
the fact that the House of Representatives voted on 20 November to form
a committee to investigate the situation of female detainees, the
problem has not been solved. Although there are leaked judicial reports
that indicate the involvement of security personnel in systematic
torture and rape of women prisoners, the Committee didn't find a real
case of rape, only "threats of rape".
The
Iraqi Interior Ministry denied in a report of 28 November that women
are arrested without arrest warrants and tortured to extract confessions
against their husbands. The Ministry said that all detainees had been
lawfully arrested with legal arrest warrants issued by the judiciary
system, and invited the local and international committees to visit its
detaining centers to verify these "lies and false allegations."
The
Parliamentary Commission on Human Rights held on 28 November the
executive bodies of prisons fully responsible for the proven cases of
torture against detainees, and called on women who were released to
start legal proceedings to condemn the officers and persons who
assaulted them. The Interior Ministry denied the accusation of such
"heinous acts" and called upon the local and international committees to
verify the allegations related to the conditions in detention.
On
21 November The Ministry of Justice denied it is responsible for the
torture and rape of women to obtain confessions, indicating that the
interrogation operations conducted in prisons are the responsibility of
the Ministries of Defence and Interior.
And
that is Nouri's Iraq. And that is Nouri's fault. And if the Ministry of
Defense or Interior is responsible, who would be the person
responsible? Did you guess Nouri? You're right. Back in July, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed,
"Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting
power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions,
including the ministers of defense, interior and national security,
while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." Those
positions have remained empty. So he is in charge of the ministries. Are
you starting to get why, a few weekends back, Nouri threatened to have
MPs discussing the abuse arrested?
Through Monday, Iraq Body Count
counts 186 people killed by violence in Iraq so far this month. IBC's
count for this (ongoing) month is already greater than the official
count by the Iraqi government ministries for November's death toll.
Violence continued today. Alsumaria reports 1 Peshmerga and 1 civilian were killed in a Kirkuk attack, 1 employee of the Ministry of Industry was shot dead outside of Baghdad, and that, in
Anbar Province, assailants who kidnapped 1 contractor and six oil
workers got into a clash with Iraqi soldiers leaving two soldiers
injured.
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