The Guardian op-ed is only the carefully worded first
of many to come in a propaganda campaign aimed at justifying the
invasion and occupation of Syrian territory in a piecemeal military
campaign meant to “sleepwalk” the Western public into yet another
lengthy and costly war. Anyone who is even semi-conscious will, the
West hopes, be convinced that ISIS is a perfectly justifiable
pretext with which to carryout this premeditated military adventure.
And I don't doubt it.
Earlier today, C.I. offered "Tall tales from the press?" which really does examine the way the press is selling fear and war.
And on Sunday, Kat's "Kat's Korner: Rickie's working the groove" and "Kat's Korner: Wilco's Star Wars shreds the sonic l..."
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
The whores never stop working it.
So Amy Goodman must be very, very tired.
June 22nd, she brought Jill Stein on. Stein was the 2012 Green Party presidential candidate. She ran a hideous campaign yet insists she deserves to be gifted with the party's 2016 nomination.
This attitude has led to cries of White entitlement and charges that she's no different than the perception of Hillary Clinton -- that both women expect a coronation that will crown them the nominee.
Goody let Jill prattle on about Bernie:
DR. JILL STEIN: It’s wonderful, and I wish him well. I wish him the best. The difference is that my campaign will be there in the general. And Bernie has already announced that if he does not make it—and in the Democratic Party, we’ve seen wonderful efforts—Jesse Jackson, Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton—who had extremely vigorous, spirited, visionary campaigns. It’s very hard to beat the system inside of the Democratic Party. And, you know, when those efforts ended, that was the end. Ours will keep going, and it will continue into the general election. And when it’s over, we’re building a party that’s not going away.
It's cute how White Jill Stein could name check one man after another but not the 2008 presidential nominee for the Green Party: Cynthia McKinney.
Search in vain, in the last four years, for any praise or even acknowledgment of Cynthia McKinney from Stein.
Jill's a Queen Bee -- as defined by Gloria Steinem, Queen Bees are women who present themselves as the exception and stand apart from other women, women who want to be the only woman in the room.
Jill's also a liar.
Her 'campaign'?
She doesn't even have the nomination.
Not only that, but two men declared before Jill, declared they were running for the Green Party's presidential nomination.
Jill doesn't note them, Amy Goodman doesn't bring them on her show.
It's funny, when the media shuts out candidates in the Democratic Party's primary, the Goody Whores hop on their Self Righteous Ponies and insist that things are unfair and that people are being wronged and that democracy is suffering.
But when Goody Whore 'covers' the Green Party, she presents only one candidate and doesn't even mention the other two -- both of whom declared long before Jill did.
As we love to point out, Amy Goodman loves to play Last Journalist Standing -- but it's just a hollow pose.
At Third, on Sunday, we discussed the Green Party and noted the two candidates Amy refuses to in our "Roundtable:"
C.I.: Okay, I need to jump in for a second here. The media lies. That includes whores like Amy Goodman who's devoted how much attention to Jill Stein? Jill is not the Green Party presidential candidate for 2016 and who is won't be decided until 2016. Most importantly, Kent Mesplay and Bill Kreml are running for the nomination and Darryl Cherney is considering it. Point: The Goody Whore has failed to provide Kent or Bill -- two declared candidates -- time on her hideous program. She has promoted Jill Stein as the Hillary of the Green Party, the anointed one who will be the candidate. That is not reality and that is not journalism. We don't accept from the mainstream we shouldn't accept from Amy Goodman's whorish beggar media.
Ava: And for the record, Jill announced in June. Kent and Bill who are not getting coverage from whores like Amy Goodman or so-called Green bloggers? Kent announced in January that he was seeking the nomination and Bill announced in May. But Goody Whore left them out while fawning over the ridiculous Jill Stein. Democracy Now? No, Amy Whore, democracy when? She's such a whore.
C.I.: And though Kent declared in January, Goody Whore has not noted him once this year -- and only noted him twice in 2008 when he was seeking the nomination -- and she's never noted Bill.
Again, Amy Goodman's caught pretending to support democracy and reporting but lying to her audience and attempting to shape the outcome via her lies.
There's nothing ethical about Amy Goodman.
But then someone with ethics would never publish in Hustler magazine.
And someone (again) seeking the presidential nomination of the Green Party should be able to talk Iraq. She couldn't in 2012, could she?
Even when Tim Arango (New York Times) reported at the end of September 2012 that Barack Obama had just sent a brigade of Special Ops into Iraq, Jill Stein couldn't talk Iraq.
She can't talk it today either.
The Green Party, the one she claims to represent, came out against the Iraq War before it started. The party's position did not change after the Iraq War started.
The Green Party has consistently opposed the Iraq War.
This is from a May 2008 press release from the political party:
Green Party leaders today compared the Green demand for an immediate end to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan to the pro-occupation positions of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.
Greens said that party members supported protests planned by International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) locals on the west coast on May 1, 2008.
"Along with the election of Greens to Congress, actions like those planned by ILWU members are what we need to force the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan," said Rodger Jennings, Green candidate for the US House in Illinois (District 12) <http://www.rodgerjennings.org>. "The longshore workers intend to press Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to change their warhawk positions. Like the Green Party, the ILWU has opposed both of President Bush's wars from the beginning."
The text of the ILWU's February 26, 2008 resolution can be read here <http://www.labournet.net/docks2/0802/ilwu1may1.htm>. The ILWU letter to the AFL-CIO can be read here <http://www.labournet.net/world/0802/ilwu1may2.html>.
The Green Party of the United States has called for immediate troop withdrawal and impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for numerous crimes and abuses of power, including deception and manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. Greens also favor a sharp reduction in the military budget, shifting funds over to health care, conservation programs, efforts to curb global warming, and other urgent needs.
"While Democrats have retreated, our own Green presidential candidates -- Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Kat Swift -- have aggressively promoted the Green Party's position on the wars and on impeachment," said Dr. Julia Willebrand, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee <http://www.gp.org/committees/intl>.
Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have promised to pull 'combat' troops, but would leave thousands of US military personnel and contractors, including mercenary security firms, in Iraq to prolong the illegal occupation. Republican John McCain would maintain the Bush policy that would extend the occupation for several generations, bankrupting America both morally and fiscally.
On other war-related issues, Ms. Clinton, Mr. Obama, and Mr. McCain agree (while Greens hold contrary positions):
Hey look, Kent Mesplay -- he could (and did) speak out against the Iraq War.
Still Amy Goodman can't even note that he is a candidate for the Green Party's 2016 presidential nomination or that he declared his candidacy in January and did so without a fawning interview on Goody Whore's Democracy Now.
Jill Stein can't talk Iraq.
Nor can she call for the US government to stop meddling in Iraq.
She can't note that over a year ago (June 19, 2014), Barack publicly insisted the only answer to the crises in Iraq was a political solution but in the 15 months since his administration has only focused on bombing Iraq.
She deserves the nomination, she believes, but she's done nothing to show that she can earn it.
The stupid, they are always with us.
I'm reminded of that with the nonsense of Rania Khalek -- someone who can offer nothing but nonsense. At FAIR at the start of the year, the 'feminist' (when it suits her) wanted to judge Hillary and whine that the "media don't ask which women women she crusades for." In her garbage, she writes:
An established foreign policy hawk, Clinton has vociferously defended the US drone strikes that terrorize, maim and kill women and girls in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan (Reuters, 6/7/12). As 9-year-old Nabila Rehman (Truthout, 11/1/13)—whose grandmother was obliterated before her eyes by a US drone strike in Pakistan’s North Waziristan—told a US congressional briefing, “Now, I am always scared.”
Hillary's not over The Drone War. Barack is.
Of course, these types of idiots never call out Barack.
Rania's a cheap whore who uses feminism when it suits her.
Hillary has many faults. Being a War Hawk is only one of her many faults.
But I can call Hillary out because I've already called Barack -- the actual person in charge of US government actions -- out.
Rania can't.
And she's a pig -- not a feminist -- because she wants women to explain how they support other women.
I'm sorry, Rania, feminism isn't a coffee klatch.
If you want to know how women are being supported, you ask that of all the candidates, not just the women.
She's a sexist pig who thinks she can use feminism as a club to beat Hillary.
Hillary is a feminist in many ways.
Most of them are different than my own feminism.
But what idiots and liars like Raina don't understand is feminism is about choices.
Hillary needs to be held accountable for her choices.
If you disagree with her (I largely do -- and I will not vote for her if she is the 2016 nominee).
She needs to be applauded for her choices.
If you agree with them.
And some people agree with them.
Hillary is not someone I will vote for.
But I'm also not going to pretend that a pig like Raina understands feminism or has any right to slam Hillary's choices as non-feminism. There are various strands of feminism and I can argue with Hillary's choices and her actions but I will not pretend that she's not a feminist.
Nor will I allow pig Raina to show up at this late date and implement a purity test on behalf a movement she's benefited from but never given back to.
(Kat took on the trash that is Raina back in January.)
Raina can't stop lying. She went on Matthew Filipowicz show last month and again insisted Hillary wasn't a feminist and lie that Hillary was running a different campaign than she did in 2008 (though she was unsure of the year because, hey, facts is hard, Raina, facts is hard!) because now she was presenting herself as a feminist.
Hillary has always presented herself as a feminist.
Equally true, 'feminist' Raina never held Bernie Sanders accountable for (a) his endorsement of rape or (b) his refusal to apologize for it when it came to light this year.
And let's not leave it at Raina.
FAIR chose to print this garbage.
What's their excuse?
And what's the excuse of all the ones who once stood arm-in-arm with me in calling out the Iraq War and demanding the US withdraw all troops immediately?
Because I'm still here -- every day -- making that demand.
And I look to my left and I look to my right and I don't see the ones who once stood here.
I see people who use the Iraq War for their own idiotic purposes.
The way Raina used it to attack Chris Kyle, remember that?
She said vile and disgusting things about Kyle and then, when people began responding with the same sort of hate she had already put out there, she whined, "I'm a girl! I'm a girl! Not fair!"
She is a violent person who courts and promotes violence and then wants to whine somebody said something mean to or about her.
Playground rules, Raina, don't dish it out if you can't take it.
Her 'excuse' for trashing Chris Kyle was that she allegedly cared about the Iraqis.
Now that caring didn't translate to any concern for events after Bully Boy Bush left the White House.
She's yet to, for example, call out either Nouri al-Maliki or Haider al-Abadi for the 18-plus months of bombing the civilians in Falluja.
Those bombings are legally defined War Crimes but she's not concerned enough about Iraqis to call those out.
Victoria Fontan and Ross Caputi (Middle East Eye) report on Falluja noting:
Since the beginning of hostilities against Fallujah on 28 December 2013, the Iraqi government and its allies have not stopped bombarding the city. Its civilian residents who could either not afford to leave, or had to return from exile because they were too poor to stay in safety in Iraqi Kurdistan, have been left to pay a heavy price: 3,190 have been killed and 5,197 wounded.
This is not the first time that Fallujah has been steadily destroyed, yet since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the shelling of the city has become more intense. Fallujah is a symbol: it is the city that never surrenders, or only does when it is left to look like the Chechen town of Grosny in its prime. It might surrender again, but at what price? Dr. Ahmed Shami Jasim, chief resident at the Fallujah Teaching Hospital, confirmed that over the last month, 224 civilians have been killed, including 46 women and 55 children, and the numbers are growing daily.
Who is doing the killing? Fallujah is now surrounded from Saqlawiya to the west and Amiriyat al-Fallujah to the south by the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashed al-Shabi. Decried by some as a Shia militia exerting systematised revenge killings on Iraqi Sunnis, and glorified by others as the new Iraqi awakening, the PMF is headed by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who is still on the US list of designated terrorists.
Muhandis has been maintaining close ties with the Iranian Quds Brigades and their chief General Qasem Suleiman, who was openly present during the Tikrit offensive. Despite the rumours that he has actively prepared the Anbar offensive, General Suleiman has been making himself very discreet, as the few Sunni tribes who joined the PMF as well as President Obama declared that they would not participate in the Anbar offensive should he be present.
Several Fallujah residents have communicated with the authors that Scud missiles were launched onto the city in the last two weeks. In the region, only two armed forces possess such offensive ballistic missiles: Syria and Iran. While it is impossible for now to corroborate this information with pictures, this would prove that the Iranian army is indeed involved in the Anbar offensive. Over a year ago, the launching of barrel bombs over Fallujah was disputed by the Iraqi government until media outlets and human rights organisations reported it and made it a fact. Could this be the case for Scud missiles too? This would prove the direct Iranian involvement in the Anbar offensive with weapons that are still prohibited in the new and trendy Iranian nuclear deal.
These are issues in Iraq today.
And few bother to focus on them.
Or to focus on Iraq at all.
Or take the always idiotic Russ Wellen who not only ignores those bombings but also whine at Foreign Policy not that long ago that the US war planes weren't dropping more bombs on Iraq. Today, el stupido offers "If Ralph Nader Had Been Elected President, the Iraq War Would Have Been a War Unfought."
It's a good thing the Iraq War appears in the headline because it never makes it into Russ' actual column.
The lack of attention to Iraq comes as the country continues to suffer. For example, the United Nations noted today:
With more than 74,000 new people displaced by fighting on the move in Iraq, the United Nations humanitarian wing has warned that overall, some 40 per cent of critically needed life-saving water and sanitation programmes will be forced to shut down by the end of the month due to lack of funding.
“New displacements, dynamic numbers, ongoing population movements and insecurity make it difficult to deliver critically needed life-saving WASH [water, sanitation and hygiene] support to IDPs [internally displaced people] in hot spots,” reported the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) late last week.
The weekly Iraq crisis situation report said more than 74,000 people fled Falluja in Iraq’s Anbar Governorate since 8 July.
“Provision of an effective WASH response across the country remains severely constrained by lack of funding. 28 per cent of WASH programmes have already closed due to lack of funding,” the report said. “An additional 12 per cent will close by the end of July.”
“There is critical need for funding and supplies to cover WASH service provision in new camps that are being established,” OCHA warned. “Of the $43.9 million requested under the Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan for WASH support, only $3.9 million has been received thus far.”
Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 204 violent deaths across Iraq today.
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