Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas

I'm back from Mass and feeling good because everything's ready.

What's not cooked (everything but pies) is ready to be cooked.

Tomorrow should go smoothly and be wonderful.

And I'm so lucky to have a big family and so lucky that we can all be together.

I just went through today with joy over that.

Couldn't stop smiling.

I hope everyone feels joy tomorrow -- whether they celebrate anything or not.

It's at moments like these that war seems especially stupid and that it's difficult to understand why governments fail to provide for their own people but instead spend small fortunes on war and destruction.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday: 


Wednesday, Decemeber 24, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri al-Maliki spreads rumors about the other two Iraqi vice presidents, Nouri spreads rumors about the Kurds, Alsumaria publishes a photo of the Jordanian plane going down in Syria (looks like it may have been hit despite US claims otherwise), the Pope the Palestinian President and the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and the KRG President offer warm wishes to Iraqi Christians as Christmas approaches, and much more.

Let's start with the crazy.

Alsumaria reports State of Law is accusing Osama al-Nujaifi and Ayad Allawi -- two of Iraq's three vice presidents -- of wasting money on decorating their offices.  However, State of Law MP insists that his precious Nouri al-Maliki asked for nothing.

No one believes State of Law.  (Nouri created and heads State of Law.)

They're professional liars, first off.

Secondly, when Nouri wants to 'return' the jet plane that he doesn't own (the government owns) or when he wants to finally move his dirty ass out of the Prime Minister's residence (Haider al-Abadi became the new prime minister in August -- when does Nouri plan to vacate?) maybe someone will take 'office decoration abuse' seriously.

Maybe not -- because, third, State of Law's policies and actions took an Iraq moving closer to stability and unleashed non-stop violence.

Nouri alienated everyone, spread lies about everyone -- including leaders of foreign countries.

Has thug Nouri changed?

No.







  • 2 hours ago
    Maliki: Kurdish officers in Iraq Army fled and were ordered to abandon positions by 'Kurdish leadership' during fall of Mosul
    5 retweets 4 favorites


    • That's an interesting assertion.  Every other report has noted that the Iraqi military -- that Nouri ran -- not the Peshmerga (Kurdish fighting force) deserted.

    The White House has even noted that reality.

    But Nouri has to lie because that's all he has and that's how hideous he is.

    He has damaged Iraq so badly.  If he had any decency at all, he'd hang his head in shame and slink off, mortified by the violence he bread in Iraq.

    But Nouri has no ethics, Nouri has no decency.


    Before we get to Iraq's violence, let's get to the disputed event in Syria.



    Today, though the US government denies it, there are reports that the Islamic State shot down a war plane flying over Syria.

    The denial came despite an admission from another government. Press Latina reports, "The Jordan Ministry of Defense today confirmed that one of its warplanes was brought down in Syria and its pilot was captured by the Islamic State (IS) fighters."   Mohammad Tayseer and Nafeesa Syeed (Bloomberg News) report, "Islamic State militants are holding a Jordanian fighter pilot captive in Syria after his warplane went down during a mission against the al-Qaeda breakaway group. "

    Hugh Naylor and Erin Cunningham (Washington Post) offer this from the US government:

    “We are aware of the capture of a Jordanian pilot by ISIL,” Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said in Washington. “We are working closely with the government of Jordan to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident.”


    AP -- always one to do as they're told and cower before a government -- offers, "Images of the pilot being pulled out of a lake and hustled away by masked jihadists underscored the risks for the U.S. and its Arab and European allies in the air campaign."

    Is that the image that matters?

    Strange, AP ignores another image.

    Alsumaria runs it.





    It's their final photo in the essay on the event.


    Now it may not have been shot down.


    But that picture goes to more than 'mechanical error.'



    Equally true, the US government has repeatedly lied throughout the Iraq War about helicopters having 'hard landings' and 'mechanical errors' only, after the press interest died, to turn around and admit they were shot down.

    Press TV notes that US CENTCOM,  "which oversees the US-led coalition airstrikes against the ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria, did not give a cause for the crash."


    While the US government continues to deny the events, CBC offers:

    Islamic State in Iraq and Syria fighters have been assumed to have "limited air defence capability," the BBC has reported — but they're well short of having the kind of Russian equipment thought to have shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17.
    In that case, U.S. officials have said a Russian-made Buk missile launcher operated by rebels in Ukraine may have fired a radar-guided SA-11 missile that took down the airliner, killing 298 people. Firing such missiles requires training. Lack of it may have contributed to the Malaysian airlines disaster.
    So far, ISIS is believed to be using only portable, shoulder-mounted launchers that fire heat-seeking missiles — potentially effective, but far less sophisticated than SA-11s.


    Regardless of what has taken place, the US government has put in an extraordinary amount of energy into denying all reports.  What a shame that same zeal couldn't be used in devising a plan to address the Islamic State.


    In Iraq today, AP reports that the military base in Madain (close to Baghdad) was bombed and "at least 24 people" are dead.


    The State Dept issued a statement:

    Press Statement
    Jen Psaki
    Washington, DC
    December 24, 2014
    The United States strongly condemns the suicide attack today in Madaen, Iraq, which took the lives of a number of anti-ISIL fighters as they gathered to receive government salaries. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and hope for a rapid recovery for those who were injured.
    As Iraqis unite against ISIL and turn the tide on the battlefield, ISIL will continue to resort to such vicious and desperate acts as cowardly suicide attacks and other atrocities to try to maintain its reign of fear.

    The United States will continue to stand with the Government of Iraq and the Iraqi people against violent extremists, and to support their continued progress towards building a unified Iraq.


    The State Dept issued no statement noting the two civilians wounded in the latest round of military bombings of Falluja's residential neighborhoods. These are War Crimes, they've been taking place daily since January but the State Dept says nothing about the civilians killed and wounded.

    Alsumaria notes the death toll rose to 43 with sixty-one more people left injured.


    In other violence, Alsumaria reports a Latifiya roadside bombing left three police members injured, Salahuddin Governor Raed al-Jubouri proclaimed 15 members of the Islamic State were killed in Baiji, a Muqdadiyah mortar attack left one woman and four children injured, a mortar attack in Salhuddin Province left three people injured, a Zafaraniyah roadside bombing left 1 person dead and four more injured,  3 Mansour bombings targeted the home of an intelligence analyst with the Ministry of the Interior and left two people injured, a Tarmiyah roadside bombing which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi solider and left another injured,  and a grave containing the remains of 10 slaughtered Peshmergas was discovered in Jalula (Diyala Province). All Iraq News notes the Ministry of Defense states that 11 militants were killed in southern Falluja.


    Among the targeted in Iraq are the religious minorities which includes Iraqi Christians.  Tomorrow is one of the two major holidays in the Christian religion -- Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day.

    Many children around the world, of various religions -- not just Christianity,  also celebrate the day for the yearly visit Santa Claus makes delivering toys to boys and girls.  






    "I don't have a tree this year, all I can do is draw one" Modian, 10, from

















    • Xinhau reports:


    The streets of Bethlehem, the holy city of Jesus Christ, was fully ornamented on Wednesday night with lightened trees and little colorful models for Christmas celebrations and Midnight Mass at the Church of Nativity.
    Fu'ad Tawal, the Great Patriarch of the Latin Church in Jerusalem and the Holy Lands arrived at the Church of Nativity earlier at night for the Midnight Christmas Mass and to announce the beginning of Christmas celebrations.


    Xinhua also notes that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Bethlehem "expressed deep sorrow for what happened to the Christians in Iraq, and said that the political situation was very difficult during 2014 and expressed his hope that next year will be better."

    In Baghdad, Tim Arango, Omar al-Jawoshy and Falih Hassan  (New York Times) report:

    For months now, since militants of the Islamic State stormed her hometown, Qaraqosh, in northern Iraq, near Mosul, and began killing and driving out Christians, home for Miriam and dozens of her old neighbors has been the run-down Al Makasid Primary School in Baghdad. To get by, they have relied on the kindnesses of the nearby church, and of local Muslims, too.
    In the school’s dingy courtyard there is a tree, trimmed in balls and bells, and a nativity scene. A few gifts have been donated — toys, clothes, dolls and candies. It is not much, and nothing like being at home, but Christmas has not been the same in Iraq for a long time now.


    Ali Jassim (Alsumaria) has a photo essay on some of the Iraqi Christians who have left Mosul to relocate to Baghdad as they are visited by Santa Claus ("Baba Noel" -- Tim Arango, Omar al-Jawoshy and Falih Hassan noted in their New York Times report).  AFP reports Pope Francis telephoned refugees in Erbil:

    The refugees were among those driven from their homes around Mosul last northern summer in an offensive by the jihadist Islamic State group, and on Wednesday, the pontiff used a satellite phone connection provided by Catholic channel TV 2000 to offer them his support.
    'Dear brothers, I am close to you, very close to you in my heart,' the pope was quoted as telling the refugees by Italian press agency AGI.


    Erbil is in northern Iraq, it's the capitol of the Kurdistan Regional Government.  Alsumaria reports KRG President Massoud Barzani issued a message of congratulations to Iraqi Christians, noted the displaced and declared that Iraqi Christians are and remain a historic part of Iraq and that, while terrorism has no place in Iraq, Iraqi Christians will always have a place in the country.


    Elsewhere in Iraq?  Nina Shea (National Review Online -- right wing periodical) writes, "For the first time in 1,400 years, there will be no Christmas celebrations in Nineveh province, home to Iraq's largest remaining Christian community and largest non-Muslim minority, and a site of great biblical significance. This northern province, whose area is over three times larger than that of Lebanon, is now part of the Islamic State's caliphate, and its Christians and churches are no longer tolerated."


    Molly Hennessy-Fiske (Los Angeles Times) offers this context, "In the north, Islamic State fighters have forced thousands to flee. In Baghdad, where the security situation is still so tenuous that priests worried that celebrations could provoke an attack. Last Christmas, three bombings targeted Christians, including a Roman Catholic church, and killed 38 people."

    Alsumaria notes Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jubouri offered greetings and congratulations to Iraqi Christians and called on Iraqi Christians to stay in Iraq and preserve their history.  But an Iraqi Christian woman tells Reuters, "I wish to leave this country as soon as possible because we, Christians, have been hunted down by extremists and reduced into a very small minority.  Life is not very kind to us these days."

    Patriarch Louis Sacco, head of Iraq's Chaldean Church, was interviewed by Alsumaria and he noted that the Iraqi government has done little for Iraqi Christians and that, while other internal refugees have received funds from a government grant, the displaced Christians have received none of that money.








     





     











    Posted by at

    In These Times offers some honesty about ObamaCare

    Some people I talk to about my job have heard about navigators on the news, and if they’re Democrats who buy into the message that this is a first step towards an improved system, they say, “Oh, that’s so great.” A lot of people assume I’m doing really good work, and I say, “No, I’m basically selling insurance, but not getting a commission.”

    And then they try to argue with me that I’m “helping the uninsured,” as if I’m going out and curing lepers. This is not a disease; it’s a social problem. I try to walk them through why it’s not fixing the problems, and why it’s actually even making things worse. 

    And then I’ve ruined Thanksgiving.


    That's an unnamed worker speaking to Rebecca Burns (In These Times) about ObamaCare.


    I'm glad In These Times printed the piece (last week, I just heard about it from my mother Tuesday).

    But why couldn't they have done real reporting when ObamaCare was being shoved through Congress?

    Maybe that's not even the right question now.

    Maybe the question is why The Progressive and The Nation and others still whore for ObamaCare?

    At least In These Times has broken free of that cycle. 

    So I should applaud it.







    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Tuesday: 


    Tuesday, December 23, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, WikiLeaks' recent release notes the targeting of Moqtada al-Sadr's movement, the Iraqi military refuses to follow even the most basic orders of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the Pope expresses concern for religious minorities, and much more.



    Starting with WikiLeak's latest exposure.  Last week, they released a report the CIA prepared for US President Barack Obama.  The report, dated July 7, 2009, is entitled [PDF format warning]  "Making High-Value Targeting Operations an Effective Counterinsurgency Tool" and is the CIA's flash-card style explanation to Barack of counterinsurgency and the value of killing.


    The term they use is "High-Value Targeting" which they explain:
    We define high-value targeting as focused operations against specific individuals or networks whose removal or marginalization should disproportionately degrade an insurgent group's effectiveness.  The criteria for designating high-value targets will vary according to factors such as the insurgent group's capabilities, structure, and leadership dynamics and the government's desired outcome. 



    The biggest shock of the brief paper is how much they dumb it down -- apparently not expecting much of their intended audiences.


    A few things emerge.


    On Iraq, we learn that cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr was smart to spend those long periods of time outside of Iraq -- the Sadr movement was targeted and, the report makes clear, not just by the United States, "The Iraqi Government has been using HVT efforts to eliminate irreconcilable Sadrist militant leaders and moderate the Sadrist movement. "


    An outstanding arrest warrant was out on Moqtada al-Sadr and it was often noted, while he was in Iran, that one of the reasons he remained out of the country was that he suspected/feared Nouri al-Maliki would issue it to have him arrested.


    Clearly concerns of being targeted by the government were valid ones.


    Also clear, the CIA is a huge embarrassment when it comes to referencing,  "In Iraq, Jaysh Muhammad (JM) suffered a significant setback in late 2004 after British replacements in short succession, according to the Jordian General Intelligence Directorate."  You're the CIA and you're shoring up a point with "according to the Jordian General Intelligence Directorate"?


    Then again, maybe that was another part of dumbing it down for the intended reader?


    Also writing?  Joshua J. McElwee (National Catholic Reporter) notes:


     Pope Francis has written a Christmas letter to the dwindling Christian community in the Middle East, offering his solidarity in what he calls their "enormous suffering" amid the horrific and sustained violence of the Islamic State militant group.
    Issuing the almost 2,000-word letter in eight languages Tuesday, the pope also says that he wishes to visit the region and condemns continued arms trafficking there "in the strongest possible terms."



    Arms trafficking sales are big business -- legal sales and illegal sales.  The leading legal arms trafficker to Iraq would appear to be the United States.  Doug Cameron (Nasdaq) reports:



    U.S. government approvals for U.S. weapon sales to Iraq have nearly tripled this year to almost $15 billion, promising much-needed work for U.S. weapons factories if the proposed deals can overcome congressional concerns.
    The slew of deals includes $3 billion in possible sales announced last week that still need to be approved by Congress and would boost sluggish U.S. demand for General Dynamics Corp.'s M1A1 Abrams tanks as well as Humvee armored cars produced by closely held AM General LLC.


     
    And the US just keeps pouring weapons into Iraq.  Joe Pappalardo (Popular Mechanic) informs,  "The State Department just approved the sale of $3 billion in Humvees and M1A1 Abrams tanks to the Iraqi government, which is trying desperately to hang on to power in the fight against the well-equipped army of the Islamic State. (Congress still must approve the sale.) "


    But apparently not every weapon will fit under the Christmas tree.  Middle East Monitor explains, "The United States officially informed the Iraqi government on Sunday night that it will not deliver the first batch of F-16 fighter jets to Baghdad, a senior official in the Iraqi defence ministry revealed yesterday."



    This isn't the first postponement for the delivery.  In the past, when it wasn't delivered, the concern was the Iraqi government run by Nouri al-Maliki.  Currently, the reason being given is that the airports in Iraq are not secure enough and that the planes could therefore fall into the hands of the Islamic State or other groups in Iraq.  But it's very likekly that part of the concern remains -- even with a new prime minister -- the government itself.



    Remember that possibility as Jeremy Bender (Business Insider) notes:


     In August, Iraq's current Prime Minister, Haidar al-Abadi, took over leadership of the country. Seen as a potential reformer and an inclusive figure by the standards of the country's politics, the US believed that Abadi could have helped restore Iraq's national unity in fact of the ISIS assault. 
    That has not happened so far and Abadi's attempts to unite Iraq have largely been ignored. According to Tim Arango of The New York Times, Abadi ordered Iraq's military and its allied Shiite militias to fly the Iraqi national flag instead of Shiite religious banners. Military commanders and soldiers have not heeded the order. 
     
    This is a good place to remember Haidar's September 13th announcement that the bombings of civilians and residential neighborhoods in Falluja would cease.  He made the announcement and less than 24 hours, it was obvious the military would continue to bomb the neighborhoods.  So was Haidar telling the truth and, if so, is he just unable to control the military he's supposed to be commander in chief of?
    It's a question we've been asking since September.  Sadly, no US news outlet has shown the slightest interest in the continued bombings.
    While the US government has some (small) reservations about arming the Iraqi government with weapons, they have no concerns about sending US troops into Iraq.
    Well, there's one concern.
    That pesky American public.
    They won't support it.
    So Barack lies and promises that Americans won't be in combat.
    But dropping bombs on Iraq?  Those are combat missions.
    So then Barack and the White House insist no on the ground troops in combat.
    And, of course, that's a lie as well.

    Sunday, at Third, we wrote "Editorial: US troops fighting in Iraq" which noted that Bloomberg News became the first outlet to report on US forces on the ground in Iraq engaging in combat:



    Bloomberg News' Zainab Fattah and Aziz Alwan report:



    U.S. soldiers clashed with Islamic State militants, helping the Iraqi army repel attacks against the town of al-Baghdadi in the western Anbar province, Al Jazeera TV reported, as Kurdish forces advanced in the north.
    The U.S. troops were from al-Assad military base, the biggest in Anbar, First Lieutenant Muneer al-Qoud from the Iraqi police said by phone.

    When's Barack planning to get honest with the American people?




    We could have well asked (and probably should have) when the rest of the US press planned to get honest with the American people?



    The only one that's explored the topic since that editorial?



    WSWS.



    Bill Van Auken provided a substantial report on the issue which included:
    All the claims that US forces are merely “trainers” and “advisers”—not combat troops—and only act in self defense amount to carefully crafted semantics designed to conceal the political fact that, three years after proclaiming an end to all US military operations in Iraq, the Obama administration has launched a new war in which US troops are once again carrying out combat operations.
    The reports of US soldiers engaging in combat came as it was announced that the main element of the 1,500 more US troops that President Barack Obama ordered to Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the midterm elections will be drawn from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One thousand paratroopers from the brigade are supposed to be deployed in January. They are in addition to a 250-member unit from the same brigade, whose deployment was announced in early December and is expected to begin by the end of the month. Each of these deployments is supposed to last for nine months.
    In a statement released after the first deployment was announced, the brigade’s commander, Col. Curtis Buzzard, said those being sent were from a “well-led and highly trained unit with extremely talented and adaptable paratroopers. I know they are ready for any contingency and am confident they will accomplish the mission.”
    The 82nd Airborne, which specializes in parachute assault operations, was among the main combat units used in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Its actions in Anbar province in the early days of the occupation included the April 2003 killing of 20 unarmed residents of Fallujah who had attempted to protest against the American troops occupying a local school. The massacre provoked popular resistance, which led to subsequent US sieges that demolished most of the city, killed thousands and reduced Fallujah’s population by at least 60 percent.




    A lot of worthless bloggers still lie that McClatchy Newspapers told the truth during the lead up to the Iraq War and during its early years.


    No, it did not.


    That is a lie.


    I'm sorry that so many are so damn stupid.


    McClatchy Newspapers


    The company dates its history to 1857.


    And, yes, it was around in 2002 and 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and . . .


    It did no ground breaking reporting.


    It did nothing.



    Just like today, it does nothing.


    It's not reporting on US forces fighting in Iraq.



    It's not reporting on anything to do with Iraq that the US government want you to know.


    That's what the media -- including McClatchy -- did in 2002 and 2003 and . . .


    Knight-Ridder was the newpaper chain that told the truth.


    It is no more.


    McClatchy bought it out in 2006.


    Why give McClatchy credit when they did nothing.


    And lying and pretending that they did allows McClatchy not just to have some undeserved credit but it leads people to believe if there was anything to know, McClatchy would cover it 'because they did before!'


    No.


    McClatchy works overtime to offend no one in the government which is why it's prospered forever and a day as a dull paper for dull readers who never want to be challenged or jarred.


    Anna Mulrine (Christian Science Monitor) reports:



     A former aide to General David Petraeus warns that as the Pentagon prepares to send another 1,500 US troops to Iraq to help “destroy” the Islamic State fighters, there may be an even greater danger that forces face: Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
    The power of these militias has been growing throughout the country this year after Iraqi security forces were unable to prevail – and in some cases shed their uniforms and ran – while battling Islamic State fighters.
    The Shiite militias are well-trained, in many cases by Iranian military commanders, and battle-tested. During the height of the Iraq war, these militias were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US troops.



    And they were supported by Nouri al-Maliki and if the new prime minister (al-Abadi) wants to reel them, he clearly lacks the ability to do so.


    There's the pretense of 'change' in Iraq but nothing's really changing.  Some officials still have hope or at least pretend to for the public. The Deputy Prime Minister speaks to Manaf al-Obaidi (Asharq Al-Awsat):

    Iraq’s National Guard project will go ahead, despite opposition from some domestic political parties, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al-Mutlaq said.
    In a broad-ranging interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Mutlaq criticized the time it is taking for Baghdad to establish a National Guard, part of a wider project to take the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) across Iraq’s various governorates.
    “This [National Guard forces] must be established based on laws. The law establishing a National Guard must be issued by parliament, but until this time parliament has yet to put forward the draft bill for this to vote on. There are some parties that do not want this project to see the light of day,” Mutlaq said.

    “These parties are well-known and want to ensure that these areas [of Iraq] remain under their control. They fear any new power emerging in the western areas of the country,” he added. 



    Those words might carry more weight if Saleh didn't have his own problems (most pressing currently, charges of corruption being made against him by Members of Parliament).


    Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 228 violent deaths in Iraq today.


    Lastly, David Bacon's latest book is The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration.  This is from Bacon's "Hard Winter For California Farm Workers" (New America Media):



    In October in California's farm worker towns, the unemployment rate starts to rise as the harvests end.  In Coachella, not far from the wealth of Palm Springs, one of every eight workers has no job.  In Delano, where the United Farm Workers was born in the grape strike 50 years ago, it's one of every four, as it is in other small towns of the southern San Joaquin Valley.  On the coast in Santa Maria and Lompoc the rate is 13.8 and 15.5% respectively.  In the Imperial Valley, next to the Mexican border, the unemployment rate is over 26% in Brawley and Calexico.

    This is a reality invisible to the state's urban dwellers.  Los Angeles has a high unemployment rate for a city, but it is still less than rural towns at 8.7%, or one of every twelve workers.  And in San Francisco and Berkeley the percent unemployed is 4.3 and 5.9 -- less than a quarter of the rate in Delano.

    Then the winter really hits.  By February one of every three workers in Delano and Arvin is unemployed.  In Salinas it goes from October's one in ten to February's one in five.  Coachella is one in every six.  And in Brawley, Calexico, Lompoc and Santa Maria unemployment just never goes down.

    Winter is the hard time, when the money made in the summer and fall has to keep the rent paid and kids fed while nothing is coming in.  With immigration papers workers can get a little unemployment insurance benefit, but with no papers workers can't collect it -- in fact, any benefit that requires a Social Security number is out of reach.  Everyone in this season can use a little work, but for undocumented people especially, even a few days of work make a lot of difference. 






    iraq
    bill van auken




    bloomberg news






    Posted by at

    Tuesday, December 23, 2014

    Avoid Annie







     Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Bros Before Tubbos" went up Sunday. 

    So did "state of affairs (rebecca)" and thank you to Rebecca for doing that guest post.

    I wanted time off but I also do like the show State of Affairs and I was hoping her post here might lead some people to the show who hadn't caught it yet.


    On TV (and music and books), be sure to check out the latest from Ava and C.I.:


  • TV: The TV Latina the press renders invisible

  • All the little bitches (Ava and C.I.)


    • I do like how Ava and C.I. hold people accountable -- including women who lavish praise on men and ignore women.

    Now for some really bad news -- the film Annie sucks.

    Stan notes that in his review "Annie, the film that makes you wish it was yesterday."

    But as strong and hard hitting as Stan's wonderfully written review is, it just doesn't capture it because words cannot capture the horror.

    I stared at the screen in shock as one bad moment was followed by yet another.

    It makes Can't Stop The Music look like a classic -- not a camp classic, but an actual classic.


    And as bad as that Village People musical was, it had life and it had charm.

    Annie's dead on arrival.

    I never would have believed, for example, that Jaime Foxx could be so dull and lifeless.

    It's a horror show in the same way Lucille Ball's Mame was.

    Avoid it at costs.

    My granddaughter said, as we left, "Well they can't all be good movies."

    I wanted to laugh and cry.

    Laugh because of how she said it.

    Cry because she really wanted to see the movie.





    • This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Monday: 


    Monday, December 22, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, Christians in Iraq remain targeted, Senator Pat Roberts overlooks that fact as he rushes to spin "success," the State Dept's Marie Harf announces -- a bit after the fact -- that the Iraqi air defense is present and operating, the EU cares about diplomacy even if the White House doesn't, and much more.


    Iraq came up briefly in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by the madcap spokesperson Marie Harf:
    QUESTION: Thank you. I would like to ask a question about ISIS. Deputy Prime Minister of Kurdistan Qubad Talabani said that the United States has directly provided arms to the Kurdish Peshmerga, a claim that the United States used to deny. They – you had said before that – I mean not you personally, but the United States has said that what it did was help transfer weapons from Baghdad to Kurdistan; no direct weapons from American stockpiles had been provided to the Peshmerga. Why does he say something different from --
    MS. HARF: Well, I think you’re skipping over the conversation we’ve had over the last three or four months. The President and others have said a few things: first, that we are providing assistance to both the Iraqi Security Forces and to the Kurdish forces. We’ve been very open about saying that. All of this is coordinated, certainly, with the Iraqi central government, but we’ve been clear we will provide assistance across the board.

     QUESTION: So weapons --
    MS. HARF: And DOD can outline more specifically what that assistance looks like.
    QUESTION: So weapons from American stockpiles have directly been --
    MS. HARF: I’m happy for the Department of Defense to speak more to those specifics, but we’ve been clear we will provide assistance to the Iraqi Security Forces, to the Kurdish forces, all in coordination with each other, but certainly to both. The President has spoken to that.
    QUESTION: One more question on Sinjar: If you aware that the Kurds carried out a major operation --
    MS. HARF: Yes.
    QUESTION: -- taking most parts of the town. I’d like to ask a broader question here about President Obama’s strategy. How effective it is in other parts of Iraq and Syria? I mean, we’ve seen some progress from the Kurdistan side. Can we say that’s the only part of the President Obama’s strategy that’s really working?
    MS. HARF: Well, a couple points. On Sinjar specifically, Kurdish Peshmerga ground forces, supported by coalition and Iraqi army air support, have opened a corridor to Mount Sinjar. As you said, this is a significant development. Once this land route is confirmed safe for civilian travel, communities on and around Sinjar will have the opportunity to leave the area to move about if they want to do so. So this wasn’t just a Peshmerga operation. It was in coordination with coalition air support and Iraqi army air support.
    But it’s not one size fits all here. There are different challenges we have across Iraq. Obviously, there are different challenges in Syria. The strategy is tailored to each of those operational challenges on the ground. Sinjar prevents – or presents, excuse me, one specific set of challenges that one specific operational plan can deal with. But it’s different across the board.
    QUESTION: Sorry, did you --
    MS. HARF: And we’ve had success other places as well. It’s not just in the Kurdish areas. There has been success pushing ISIL back throughout Iraq. But this is a long fight; we know that too.
    QUESTION: Sorry, did you say Iraqi air force also helped?
    MS. HARF: Correct. The Peshmerga forces on the ground around Sinjar were supported by coalition and Iraqi army air support.
    QUESTION: But does Iraq have any air defense system?
    MS. HARF: Well, clearly there was some helping here, so the answer would be yes.
    QUESTION: Can I follow up on that, please, Marie?
    MS. HARF: Yes.
    QUESTION: Is it now an idea that the Peshmerga will help join any fight to advance on Mosul, which of course has been taken by the ISIL for several months now?
    MS. HARF: I don’t have any operational plans like that to preview. The Peshmerga have played a key role in pushing back ISIL in parts of Iraq. I just don’t have any preview on that kind of issue.

    Yes.


    Let's go back for Marie's comic gold:


     QUESTION: But does Iraq have any air defense system?
    MS. HARF: Well, clearly there was some helping here, so the answer would be yes.

    Of Marie's high-larious proclamations, IBT notes, "The offensive on the mountain marks the first time the Iraqi air force contributed to a high-profile offensive against the Sunni militant group. Previously, only the U.S.-led coalition air forces, as well as some Iranian jets, had carried out strikes against ISIS."

    If it happened.

    So far the only source is Marie Harf.

    Maybe she can next spin the popularity of the President?   CNN explains:

    President Barack Obama has struggled with sagging approval ratings over the last year, but the commander-in-chief's numbers may have dropped further among active-duty troops.
    Just 15% of active-duty servicemembers gave Obama a thumbs up in the annual Military Times survey and more than half -- 55% -- say they disapprove of Obama's job as commander-in-chief. The President has struggled to gain the approval of troops throughout his time in office, but these numbers reflect a new low for Obama, who finished his first year in office with a 35% approval figure and only 4 in 10 disapproving, according to the Military Times survey. The Military Times survey is not scientific and relies on a voluntary response from the publication's readers. President Obama's approval rating in the general population is much higher, though still well below 50 percent. In the most recent CNN / ORC poll, he got the approval of 44% of Americans.

    Again, maybe Marie can find a way to spin that?

    Or maybe she could spin Jamal Hashim's analysis for Xinhua which concludes, "At the end of 2014, the Iraq is prepared to be the world's number one battleground against the extremist IS group which probably would last for years"?


    The never-ending, illegal war has been very tough on religious minorities.  Al Monitor reports that there is only one Jewish family left in Baghdad.  Baghdad's also seen the number of Christians living there and in surrounding areas reduced drastically.  Loveday Morris (Washington Post) reports:

    Just a year ago, an Advent service at St. George’s Chaldean Catholic Church would have drawn 300 to 400 worshipers, says the Rev. Miyassir al-Mokhlasee. But now only around 75 people are scattered across its pews.

    Ringed by concrete blast walls and police checkpoints, the church has seen its congregation shrink for the past decade. The instability and violence following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have driven many Christians out of the country. The nation’s Christian population has plummeted from more than a million to what community leaders estimate is less than 400,000 today.


    Patsy McGarry (Irish Times) offers these numbers:
    According to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, although Christians make up less than 5 per cent of the Iraqi population, they account for 40 per cent of refugees there.
    In 2003, prior to the US-led invasion, Iraq had 1.5 million Christians. That number is now down to 400,000.

    Attacks and threats have led huge numbers to leave the country or to move to the northern area of the country.  And now northern cities like Mosul are no longer safe havens.   Frederik Pleitgen (CNN) speaks with Juergen Todenhoefer about what is taking place in Mosul today as the Islamic State has taken over, "130,000 Christians have been evicted from the city, the Shia have fled, many people have been murdered and yet the city is functioning and people actually like the stability that the Islamic State has brought them."


    Despite the above, Senator Pat Roberts has joined the White House's chorus of spin insisting things are improving in Iraq.  As All Iraq News noted Saturday, he visited Iraq last weekend.

    Along with granting interviews, Roberts has been Tweeting.




    Was he in the same Iraq as Xinhua?  Because of the same weekend period, Xinhua notes:

     A militant group of the Islamic State (IS) recaptured the oil refinery town of Baiji which has been freed recently by the Iraqi security forces, a source from the northern central province of Salahudin said on Sunday.
    On late Saturday afternoon, dozens of IS militants carried out a massive attacks on several points of the main road that bisected the town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and seized government and security compounds, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The extremist militants also surrounded the oil refinery in north of the town, where some of the withdrawing troops and their allied Shiite and Sunni tribal militiamen resorted after the attacks, while other forces and militiamen withdrew to the villages of al-Mazraa and al-Malha in south, the source said.


     Baiji has been recaptured but Roberts insists that he's "glad to see progress against" the Islamic State?

    Mitch Prothero (McClatchy Newspapers) offers, "If the Islamic State eventually recaptures the refinery, which can produce around 40 percent of Iraq’s refined oil products, it would be a devastating blow both militarily and economically for the cash-strapped central government, which had hoped to begin gasoline production this month. In November, the Iraqi government pushed Islamic forces out of Bayji and the refinery."

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/12/22/250901_islamic-state-counterattacks-refinery.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

    "I went in expecting the worst," Senator Pat Roberts tells AP. "I'm just guardedly impressed."

    I wonder how "guardedly impressed" the citizens of Kansas -- the state Roberts is elected from -- are?

    49.9% of them self-identify as Jewish and Christian.  Do you they think they hear about the continued persecution in Iraq and are "guardedly impressed" as well?

    Or do you think, in the month of Hanukkah and Christmas, they hear Roberts prattling on and think, "How disconnected from reality is he?"

    Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) reports:

     There will be no last stand for the besieged Iraqi Christians of Dora.
    Father Timothaeus Issa talks of holding out for the sake of his dwindling flock, but even he is packing his bags, just in case.
    "The people with families have left," he said. "The old people, some of them have stayed. All the young people have left. There are very few children here.
    "As for me, in terms of my religious responsibilities, my job is to be father of my people here. I have to stay with these families.
    "But personally, I'm thinking about it. I'm making my preparations." 

    Again, I have to wonder how Kansas responds to Pat Roberts' 'joy' and 'praise' -- Kansas is slightly above the rest of the United States average when it comes to citizens self-identifying as Christians and Jews.


    In other 'success' to Roberts, Arabian Business reports, "A US Navy helicopter has crashed during a training mission in Kuwait, injuring three crew members, the Bahrain-based Naval Forces Central Command said on Monday."

    'Success' has been all around lately in Iraq, hasn't it?  With liars in the press corps grading new prime minister Haider al-Abadi on a very generous curve.


    One who's not falling into that trap is Ramzy Mardini who evaluates Haider for The National:


    Some in the Sunni Arab political elite are beginning to see Mr Al Abadi as someone too weak to deliver on his promises.
    “Just talk,” one senior Sunni Arab politician described the new prime minister. “He makes promises to us like Maliki did, but nothing happens.”
    The lack of movement in a law to establish a Regional National Guard – a force made up of local Sunni Arab tribal fighters to combat ISIL in Sunni-dominated territories – is one of many political issues that the prime minister must balance on sectarian fault lines.


    Why might Sunnis look at Haider that way?

    How about Falluja?


    Iraqi Spring MC posts this video of some of the latest bombings of Falluja -- Iraqi military bombing Falluja's civilian population, destroying homes.








    This is why Sunnis cannot trust Haider.

    This is where we point out that on September 13th, Haider promised these bombings were over.  We're going to go a little more on that since no one wants to join us in calling it out.

    Here's the opening of the Associated Press' September 13th report:

    Iraq's prime minister said Saturday he has ordered the army to stop shelling populated areas held by militants in order to spare the lives of "innocent victims" as the armed forces struggle to retake cities and towns seized by the Islamic State extremist group this summer.
    "I issued this order two days ago because we do not want to see more innocent victims falling in the places and provinces controlled by Daesh," Haider al-Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad, referring to the Islamic State group by its Arabic acronym.

    Here's the opening of Reuters' report on the same day:


    Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday that he had ordered his air force to halt strikes on civilian areas, addressing a condition set by Sunni Muslim tribal figures to support his campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters.
    Rights groups say Iraqi government attacks this year, many of them in areas held by ISIS which controls one third of the country, have indiscriminately targeted civilians.
    “I have ordered the Iraqi Air Force to halt shelling of civilian areas even in those towns controlled by ISIS,” Abadi said on his official Twitter account, using the former name for militant group Islamic State.
    The United Nations representative in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, welcomed the comments, which were repeated by Abadi at a conference about refugees on Saturday in Baghdad.

    Why are we acting like this never happened?

    Nouri started the daily bombings targeting civilians -- a legally recognized War Crime -- in January and they have continued every day since.

    Haider announced September 13th that they were over.

    September 14th the bombings continued and they continue to this day (one civilian was injured in today's bombings).

    These are War Crimes.

    Did Haider lie to everyone or is he just unable to command the Iraqi military?

    That question has been raised repeatedly here.  Sadly, no one in the press ever wants to touch it.

    And there seems to be some sort of agreement that everyone will just pretend what was reported on September 13th never happened.

    Another thing that's not supposed to happen?

    Using prisoners for entertainment.

    That happened under Nouri with forced confessions being aired as entertainment.  It continues under Haider al-Abadi and we called it out this morning.  Let's go back to Ramzy Mardini's evaluation of Haider for The National:

    Recently his weakness was on display when Iraq’s judiciary delivered death sentences to Sunni Arabs arrested on counterterrorism charges. The court condemned a former member of parliament to death, a move which outraged many Sunnis, who claim the counterterrorism law has been used to marginalise them.
    “Iraq’s judiciary is still handing down convictions in politicised trials, fraught with legal irregularities,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. 

    There is no justice in Iraq.  And with its failing legal system, the last thing it needs to be doing is forcing prisoners to appear on television.  This is in fact abuse and it needs to stop.

    But a press that can't even note Haider's inability to stop the War Crimes (the bombing of Falluja's civilian neighborhoods) is the last to give a damn about the rights of the accused -- in a functioning legal system or in a dysfunctional one.



    Lastly, Barack's 'answer' and 'plan' for Iraq is to drop bombs and then drop more bombs.  By contrast, the European Union seems to feel diplomacy might be needed.  The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini is visiting Iraq.


  • 16 hours ago
    In , meeting the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Speaker of Parliament to bring solidarity and EU support to
    46 retweets 30 favorites




    • With Foreign Minister Al-Jaafari today in . Need to work on a new regional diplomacy


    12:49 PM - 22 Dec 2014






















    Posted by at
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)