Thursday, May 01, 2014

The idiots who can't stop about the idiot Sterling

"Solid Sterling: Long Lost Big Media Feeding Frenzy Returns" (Hillary Is 44):
Update: NBA imposes lifetime ban on Sterling, $2.5 million fine. “Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices, be present at any Clippers office or facility, or participate in any business”.
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A physically hideous married rich guy on the phone with a young physically ugly girlfriend reminds us all of the long lost art of the Big Media feeding frenzy. The world is falling apart but Big Media is frenziedly feeding on the private phone call obnoxiousness of an 80 year old troll and his goading younger girlfriend.
Donald Sterling who owns a basketball team comprised of mostly black males made racist comments in private, which became public, and now the frenzy of feeding Big Media types and just about everyone else is in full swing. Sponsor companies of his team are dumping the team, there are attacks on him from just about everyone including Barack Obama and his pig friend Oprah. Even Don Imus of the “nappy headed hos” scandal is going after Sterling in an effort to prove how non-racist he now is.
How this physical grotesquerie has a girlfriend appears not to be an issue. How this monstrously ugly man managed to wrangle a wife is not an issue. We imagine his wealth has something to do with his allure.

Margaret Kimberley's gone nuts again -- no link.

She's using Sterling to 'explain' racism and guns go together.

Can she just shut up?

I can't stand her, she's crazy.

I wrote her off when she started her Prop 8 lies -- oh, it's not Black people, it was . . . -- and I thought, what a damn liar.

As a Black woman living in California, I damn well knew that a significant number of Black were supporting homophobia.

But Maggie Kimmy who doesn't live here thought she knew my state better.

I used to like her but she got so nutty.  I've written before so I'll just stop on it now.

"TV: The slow suicide of NBC News" (Ava and C.I., The Third Estate Sunday Review):
Last week saw The New York Times dealing with the exposure that they'd again made false claims that were part of a march to war (Iraq in years past, Ukraine last week).  This week sees elections in Iraq.  Last week saw many important developments including the US Supreme Court issued a much debated ruling on affirmative action,  Israel walked away from peace talks, US President Barack Obama went to Asia, part of that trip was about promoting a new and controversial trade pact (one that the press has largely ignored), the governor of Mississippi (Phil Bryant) signed into law a ban on abortions that would take place 20 weeks after a woman last had her period,  a new study by political scientists Martin Gilens (Princeton) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern) theorized that the United States was not a democracy and was becoming an oligarchy, the FCC Chair is moving to kill net neutrality, three US doctors were shot dead in an Afghanistan hospital by Afghanistan troops, an audit revealed the IRS was providing bonuses to IRS employees who were written up and who were not paying their own taxes, the FBI lodged an objection with the Supreme Court to even hearing New York Times reporter James Risen's appeal of a lower court ruling ordering him to break confidentiality and expose his source, the Justice Department is looking for a minimal ($20 million) fine from Bank of America instead of pursuing its investigations into Bank of America's mortgage practices and filing charges, Massachusetts' Judge Rotenberg Center for children who are challenged or disabled has been using electric shocks to 'correct' behaviors, and  the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight's Chair Claire McCaskill and Ranking Member Ron Johnson announced of their "bipartisan investigation into allegations of misconduct by former Department of Homeland Security Acting and Deputy Inspector General Charles Edwards":  "The Subcommittee found that Mr. Edwards jeopardized the independence of the Office of Inspector General and that he abused agency resources."


That's only some of the important issues effecting people's lives.

Today, Meet The Press chose to lead with which of the above?

None.

Surely, it was because they had some major breaking story, right?

Wrong.

They fancied posing as TMZ or Bossip today.

They opened with allegations:
David Gregory:  And good Sunday morning. Developing story this weekend to talk about. It's what we begin with. I'm joined by Civil Rights activist and the host of Politics Nation on MSNBC, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and interim president of the NAACP, Lorraine Miller, and Bryant Gumbel, host of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, who we're so pleased to have with us, as well. Thank you all for being here. The context is important here. Here are the comments by Donald Sterling, allegedly made by Donald Sterling, first revealed on tape by the site TMZ. Listen.


Though Gregory couldn't do an adequate introduction, we'll note that Sterling owns the LA Clippers. Sterling is White.  His girlfriend (who is not a public figure so we're not identifying her) is bi-racial.

Note that these were allegations, that they didn't even know if it was Sterling on the tape.  Note also, this is a private conversation between two apparent lovers (non-exclusive ones if the tape is of Sterling and his lover). It is not about business practices or hiring.  It has no real implications beyond the two people involved in the conversation.  It has resulted in the LA chapter of the NAACP announcing today that they would cancel their planned lifetime achievement award for Sterling.

If this private conversation had been about business practices or something similar, we might give a damn.  A conversation allegedly about who he wants his girlfriend to bring to games and who he doesn't?  Not of national import, not of anything of news value.  It's gossip.

It's interesting gossip.

But the show's not called Meet The Gossip, it's called Meet The Press.


I think Ava and C.I. nailed it.  And I'm really bothered that some idiot old man is being the obsession of so-called 'news' programming.  He's 81-years-old and he was talking to his mistress. 

We have real issues to address.

I was going to write about that last time but we had our theme posts on Laura Nyro's classic album from 1968 "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession:"

"Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe)." "Lonely Women," "the confession," "Poverty Train," "Lu," "Timer," "Eli's Coming," "Emmie," "Sweet Blindness" and "Yes, I'm ready." 


I really do love the album and I loved everyone's take (and did you catch how Ruth and Mike had similar likes?).


"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):

Wednesday, April 30, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, Iraqis attempt to vote, brawls break out between voters, polling stations are attacked, one polling station is closed by a militant non-voter, Nouri al-Maliki lies and tries to proclaim himself the winner, votes are being counted now, the IHEC says it will be 20 to 30 days before they have a complete vote, and did we mention Nouri's lying and proclaiming himself the winner, how about many in the press are going along with him on this, all that and Laura Nyro.


Iraq held parliamentary elections today.  Despite rumors that Nouri al-Maliki had asked for a tramp stamp instead of dipping his own finger in purple ink, Ali Al-Saadi's photo for AFP and Getty Images demonstrates that the thug and current prime minister did dip his finger in ink.


Nouri wasn't the only one voting today. Iraq Pictures notes, "A woman with her newly born baby votes in the Iraqi Elections."



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A woman with her newly born baby votes in the Iraqi Elections أمرأة تنتخب مع مولودها الجديد في الإنتخابات العراقية

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    Kurdistan holds peaceful federal and provincial elections amid high turnout: Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (...
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    • The US State Dept issued the following statement today:


    Press Statement

    John Kerry
    Washington, DC
    April 30, 2014


    Millions of Iraqis courageously voted today and reaffirmed not just their commitment to democracy, but their determination to achieve a more secure and peaceful future. Iraqis from every ethnic and religious group, and from all 18 provinces, voted in an election critical to advancing the vision of a democratic, united, federal, and pluralistic Iraq as defined in the Iraqi constitution.
    With ink-stained thumbs, Iraqi voters sent a powerful rebuke to the violent extremists who have tried to thwart democratic progress and sow discord in Iraq and throughout the region. Iraqi citizens stood up to extremist threats, and many acted particularly heroically, including a police officer who gave his own life to shield voters from a suicide bomber near a polling station.
    This election is one step in a democratic process to stand up a new parliament and form a new government.
    The United States has stepped up our support to Iraq, and over the coming weeks, we will continue to support Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to fairly, accurately, and transparently carry out its responsibilities as votes are counted and results are certified. We urge Iraq's leaders to respect the constitutional framework for certifying the vote and forming a new government, and we hope this process moves expeditiously given the serious challenges the country faces.
    The United States has been proud over the past year to support the efforts of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the IHEC in preparing for these elections, and we have advocated with all Iraqi leaders the importance of the election being held on time. We will now continue to encourage all Iraqi leaders to focus on pulling their country together and forming a new government that can effectively deliver for all of Iraq’s 18 provinces.


    The United Nations Security Council issued the following:


           30 April 2014 – The United Nations Security Council today welcomed the timely holding of parliamentary elections in Iraq, and, looking forward to the certification of the results by national electoral officials, called on the country’s leaders “to engage, as quickly as possible, to form a Government that represents the will and sovereignty of the Iraqi people.”
    In a statement to the press read out by Ambassador U. Joy Ogwu of Nigeria, Council President for the month of April, the members of the 15-nation body welcomed today’s elections, and commended the people “for demonstrating their commitment to a peaceful, inclusive and democratic political process.”
    Looking forward to the announcement by Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) certifying the election results, the Council expressed appreciation to the Commission and the Government, including the Iraqi security forces, for their dedicated work in preparing and conducting these polls, supported by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
    “The…Council calls on all political entities to work together in an inclusive and timely political process aimed at strengthening Iraq’s national unity, sovereignty and independence; and for Iraq’s leaders to engage, as quickly as possible, to form a Government that represents the will and sovereignty of the Iraqi people,” said Ms. Ogwu.
    Further, she said members of the Council believe that through its democratic institutions, in cooperation with society, Iraq can work to address the challenges facing the country for the benefit of all Iraqis and their hope for a strong, independent, unified and democratic Iraq.
    The Council reaffirmed its support for the Iraqi Government’s efforts to help meet the security needs of the entire population of Iraq, particularly in the current challenging security environment and during the elections.
    Finally, the Council reiterated that no act of violence or terrorism can reverse a path towards peace, democracy and reconstruction in Iraq, underpinned by the rule of law and respect for human rights, which is supported by the people and the Government of Iraq and the international community. 


    A lot is at stake in these elections.  For one thing, Iraq will need to find a new president.

    That's not open to debate.


    December 2012,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany.  He remains in Germany currently.

    Obviously, health issues prevent him from continuing as prime minister.  So does the Iraqi Constitution -- Jalal has termed out of office.

    So one thing the new Parliament will have to do is pick a president -- a new president.

    They may or may not get to select a prime minister.  In 2006, the White House selected (imposed) Nouri al-Maliki for them.  In 2010, the White House demanded Nouri get a second term.

    Will this happen again?


    It very well could.  Whether it does or not, the White House would be smart not to support Nouri anymore. Tim Arango and Michael R. Gordon (New York Times) report:


    American intelligence assessments have found that Mr. Maliki’s re-election could increase sectarian tensions and even raise the odds of a civil war, citing his accumulation of power, his failure to compromise with other Iraqi factions -- Sunni or Kurd -- and his military failures against Islamic extremists. On his watch, Iraq’s American-trained military has been accused by rights groups of serious abuses as it cracks down on militants and opponents of Mr. Maliki’s government, including torture, indiscriminate roundups of Sunnis and demands of bribes to release detainees.

    And a new leader could lower tensions.  Not necessarily permanently.  But Nouri is the common bond that has created resistance in Iraq.  A new leader could mean a reset.  We covered this in April 12's "I Hate The War,"


    It's also true that a third term for Nouri could result in real recruitment for the armed resistance.  Not within Iraq.  Iraqis who would be part of the armed resistance are pretty much already there.  Four years of Nouri targeting Sunnis, persecuting them and terrorizing them have done the trick and the only new segment from Iraq will be young boys and girls who come to maturity and join the ranks.


    But a third term of Nouri in Iraq?  Sunni fighters from outside Iraq might decide Syria's less important and begin targeting Iraq -- in which case Nouri's paranoid rantings might come true.  There's already talk in Arabic social media about the huge number of Iraqi Shi'ites going into Syria to fight.  At some point, a third term of Nouri would mean Sunni fighters from outside Iraq take the battle into Iraq (a) to defend the persecuted Sunni Iraqis and (b) to force Iraqi Shi'ite fighters out of Syria and back into Iraq.  A third term for Nouri likely means the babble of expanding the fight in Syria -- that so many have warned about and quite a few have pretended has already happened -- becomes more than that.

    If you're not getting it, even the Tehran Times carries an article today which notes, "But the violence returned, stoked in part by al-Maliki's moves last year to crush protests by Sunnis complaining of discrimination under his government. Militants took over the city of Fallujah in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi."  The persecuted Sunnis in Iraq are becoming well known in the region.

    Ranj Alaaldin (Guardian) observes, "Fearing that Bashar al-Assad's downfall would allow Syria's Islamist-dominated opposition to intensify its support for Iraq's militants, Iraq's Shia-dominated government has in turn allowed Syria-bound Iranian cargo flights to use Iraqi airspace. It has also turned a blind eye to Iraqi Shia militias entering Syria to support the Syrian regime. These militias have ensured the survival of the Assad regime alongside other Shia actors such as Hezbollah."

    If you're a non-Iraqi an armed Sunni group that wants to help Syria, Nouri's actions mean you're going to have to take the battle into Iraq at some point and confront the government which is backing Bashar al-Assad.

    Voting had barely ended before Nouri's State of Law began whispering to the press that Nouri had won.  Nouri himself wasn't whispering.  AFP quotes him stating he was "certain" of his own victory. NINA has him insisting that 'he is assured we will win."   These remarks were made and reported despite Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc cautioning against people running with their own non-official totals.  The IHEC itself denounced claims of leaked results and stated those making the claims of how many votes they'd received were wrong.  As for the official results, All Iraq News notes the IHEC has declared, "The results of the elections will be announced within 20 to 30 days from today."  Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) offers this prediction, "The post-vote coalition negotiations are going to be difficult, with no one likely to willingly deal with Maliki after the last time, and no group likely to successfully take power without his permission."  Martin Chulov (Guardian) reminds, "The 2010 election, in which Maliki's state of law list came second to the cross-sectarian grouping of the former prime minister, Iyad Allawi, involved a nine-month period of horse trading, during which decision making was paralysed across Iraq."  Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) reports:

    Already, one of Maliki’s main rivals, Ayad Allawi, is indicating he will leave politics before dealing with Maliki – even if the prime minister wins a majority of seats.
    Mr. Allawi, Iraq’s first interim prime minister after the war and head of the biggest Sunni bloc, says the prime minister needs to comply with a two-term limit for prime ministers that was approved in parliament but struck down in court. 
    “What is happening now is lots of atrocities, lots of violations. The constitution is swept under the carpet. Now he controls part of the judiciary, he controls everything, and not only that, he is embarking on a policy of divide and rule… We can’t accept this after eight years of bloodshed in Iraq and total loss of security,” says Allawi.



    On Baghdad's corrupt government, Nadezhda Kevorkova (RT) speaks with the "Head of the Prime Minister office" Muhavad Husam al Dine Al Bayati.  Excerpt.

    MB: As you know the corruption in this country is very huge. And there is a lot of money in the hands of some politicians not necessary only from the block of prime minister. There are so many other blocks that stole so much money from the country. They can buy votes and support from IHEC [the Independent High Electoral Commission which approved the voting system and the counting method for 2014 parliamentary elections]. The results will not be very clear.
    We do not have foreign observers or people who are watching the elections. 

     RT: People say that 65 American observers came to Iraq especially for the elections, is it so?


    MB: What can these 65 do? Can they work on the street? Can they go to the governorates? Can they go to the election boxes and see how people vote and how their votes are counted? No, they cannot. 


    In addition to US observers, IHEC notes that there were 26 observers from the Arab leagues who were monitoring Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah provinces.  NINA notes Nikolai Mladenov, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Iraq, praised the international observers for their work today.  The IHEC noted by mid-day that 34% of the electronic voting cards they distributed had been used.  Later, Xinhua reports, "the country's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said that a preliminary estimate showed that Iraqi voters made about 60 percent turnout when more than 12 million eligible voters out of over 20 million fanned out to polling centers across the country on Wednesday."

    After the closing of polling stations, All Iraq News reports Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq's leader Ammar al-Hakim offered congratulatory phone calls (on the elections taking place) to cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr, thug and prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, KRG President Massoud Barzani, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and Wataniya head Ayad Allawi and National Alliance head Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

    Congratulations for success were based on rather questionable events.  For example, National Iraqi News Agency reports Shalal Abdoul, the Tuz Khurmatu Mayor, announced "11 stun bombings went off" in Tuz "in an attempt to prevent voters in the district of going to the polls" and "unidentified gunmen had cordoned off one of the polling centers in the Nahrawan area west of Mosul, and prevented the entry of the voters to vote and threatened residents of the area not to go to the polling stations to cast their ballots."  That was nothing, both of those events, however.  The big event?  All Iraq News reports a Ramadi polling station was shut down by force.  Who did it?  Mohammed Khamis Abu Risha who is Ahmed Abu Risha's nephew, Ahmed Abu Risha is the head of Anbar's Sahwa.

    Yes, election day finally arrived in Iraq.  Whether it will have any meaning or not remains to be seen.

    Passion spilled over into anger in at least two cities where opposing groups of voters got into brawls.  NINA notes six people required hospitalization at Al-Hussein Hospital in Samawah after they got into a physical altercation over whom they were supporting, and an argument near a Basra polling station between supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr and supporters of Nouri al-Maliki left three people injured,


    Some went beyond fighting with their fellow voters.  NINA notes the home of Khalid Abdullah al-Alwani was blown up in Falluja (candidate for re-election, with the Motahedoon Coalition) -- that's Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi's coalition.  But even more than attacking politicians, there was attacking of the voting centers.

    What did the voters want?  AFP states, "Iraqis complain of myriad grievances, from poor public services to rampant corruption and high unemployment[.]"  Here are some reported comments.  The Oman Observer quotes two voters insisting it's time for change.  19-year-old Noor Raad shares she was voting "to change the politicians because most of them have not worked to improve the situation."  67-year-old Abu Ashraf ____ (didn't give full name) states he voted, "I came to vote for change for my children and grandchildren to change the future and the situation of the country for the better. It is necessary to change most of the politicians because they have done nothing and they spend years on private conflicts." Kamal al-Din tells Al Manar, "I hope that Iraq has a safe future, and that unemployment is tackled, and industry, agriculture and trade return to their original stature, instead of just relying on oil."  Al-Manar explains, "The pensioner said he hoped to see an entirely new government elected to address the multiple problems that have scattered his grandsons cross Austria, Britain, Germany and Sweden."  Press TV adds, "Many Iraqis feel that the people in power live a luxurious life style and aren’t able to relate to the problems of ordinary people."  Judit Neurink (Rudaw) reports:

     The Iraqi Electoral Commission had set up special polling booths for the approximately 30,000 Arabs who have fled Ramadi and Fallujah and sought shelter in the safety of the Kurdistan Region.
    Their anger with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Shiite government had driven many refugees to Andazyiaran School to fight him back with their ballots.
    “We want change, we need safety,” said a lawyer from Baghdad who arrived in Kurdistan ten days ago after his uncle was killed.
    “The situation in Baghdad is terrible,” he lamented. “Sunnis cannot stay there. It has got too dangerous. I really hope to see the change.”  

    The Tehran Times quotes voter Azhar Mohammed explaining she voted early in Baghdad today, "I decided to go and vote early while it's safe.  Crowds attract attacks."
    And there certainly were plenty of attacks today.  NINA notes a Muqdadiyah polling station was targeted with mortars leaving 1 person dead and seven more injured. a roadside bombing targeted a Mosul polling station leaving three people injured, another roadside bomb targeted another Mosul polling station leaving two people injured, a Qara Dora Village bombing targeting a polling station left 2 electoral commission employees dead (and two Iraqi soldiers injured),  a bombing targeting a Hader polling station left three security forces injured, a mortar attack on an Albu Farraj polling station left 2 people dead and three more injured, 3 suicide bombers were killed attempting to attack 2 Mosul polling stations,  1 suicide bomber at a Baiji polling station took his own life and the life of 1 police member (five people were left injured), a Kubaysa bombing targeting a polling station left two Iraqi soldiers injured, and voting at an Arbat polling station had to come to a halt when it was under "fire from unknown assailants."  All Iraq News notes bombings at a Ramadi polling station left 2 Iraqi soldiers dead.


    Noah Rayman (Time magazine) notes, "Hundreds of thousands of troops and police -- many of whom were allowed to vote Monday so they could provide security on Wednesday -- were safeguarding polling stations as Iraqis voted, according to the AP. Iraqi authorities closed the nation’s airspace and banned vehicles to limit the threat of car bombings."

    While those were serious dangers for voters, All Iraq News points out a more minor issue of inconvenience journalists attempting to vote in Baghdad at the Sheraton Hotel complained.

    Fraud charges were leveled ahead of the voting.  Possibly for good reason.  NINA notes 1 person was arrested in Nineveh Province's al-Shura for being in possession of 511 of the new electronic voting cards.  In addition, Australia's ABC Radio reports:

     Non-Shiite parties complained of obstacles to voting in the outer suburbs of Baghdad and saw in it a deliberate effort by Mr al-Maliki to keep their numbers down in the next parliament.
    "It was all to be expected," said Muhannad Hussam, a candidate who supports Sunni deputy prime minister Saleh Mutlaq.
    "They didn't want the Sunnis to move for the election."
    Mr Hussam said some voting machines broke down and that security forces prevented people trying to reach polling stations in Abu Ghraib, Yusifya and Latifya, all around Baghdad.
    "From our view it is not a fair election," he said.



    In still other violence, National Iraqi News Agency reports a Debis roadside bombing killed 2 women, another Debis bombing left five security forces injured,  a Mosul roadside bombing targeting an al-Baladiat checkpoint left two Iraqi soldiers injured, and an Albu-Awad Village roadside bombing killed 1 person and left two more injured,

    On the voting in northern Iraq, KUNA reports:

    Howevr, turnout in Kurdistan, which has a total of 2.71 million eligible voters, was described by the Independent High Electoral Commission as "incomparable".
    As for preliminary results, they will be later distributed on banners on the walls of each polling station, added the commission.
    Earlier at mid-day, the commission announced a 34 percent voting turnout out of the 20 million Iraqis eligible to vote for a new parliament.
    The voting process had been held under the assessment of the United Nations, with the Secretary General's Special Representative for Iraq Nikolay Mladenov telling reporters, at a polling center in central Baghdad, that only through high participation can the Iraqi people ensure that they have a say in the future of the country. 


    With the vote over, coalition buidling becomes the new goal.  Alsumaria reports that Ammar al-Hakim declared today that the forming of the National Alliance has begun. This may mean the reshaping of the government -- at least in terms of who will be prime minister. al-Hakim has ambitions of being prime minister some day.  Would some day be this year?  Maybe.  Or maybe Moqtada al-Sadr or maybe Adil Abdul-Mahdi or Ayad Allawi or a name less prominent internationally.

    It could be Nouri for the third time.  Despite all of his many failures.  The London School of Economics and Political Science's Fawaz A. Gerges examines Iraq at CNN:

    The ruling political class is as much responsible for Iraq's predicament as structural conditions. The structure is not destiny. Having taken ownership of the country after U.S. occupation and ouster of Saddam Hussein, the Shiite leadership has treated Sunni Arabs like second-class citizens and has equated its numerical majority with a license to monopolize power at the expense of others.
    In a similar vein, the Sunni leadership has not come to terms with the new realities of post-Saddam Iraq and still entertains illusions about ruling Iraq. Kurdish leaders would not mind if Iraq burns as long as they preserve a separate Kurdistan -- a quasi-independent entity.

    Of all actors, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki bears greater responsibility for the steep deterioration of the security situation and the quality of life of Iraqis, including corruption that infects all aspects of Iraqi society. After eight years in office and monopolizing power, al-Maliki has failed his countrymen and has delivered neither security nor prosperity. He was blind and deaf to the gathering storm among Sunnis Arabs who feel excluded by what they view as his sectarian-based policies.


    In 2010, the Iraqi people voted in parliamentary elections.  Alice Fordham (NPR) observes, "Since then, rights groups and many Iraqis say this Maliki government has failed key democratic tests: The country is corrupt and unsafe, with serious flaws in the freedom of the judiciary and media. Many Iraqis are deeply disillusioned with the democratic process."


    Today, Iraqis voted in parliamentary elections again.  IANS  points out, "Over 21 million people were eligible to vote in this election in which more than 9,000 candidates from nearly 280 political entities were vying for 328 seats. Over 8,000 voting centres across the country opened their doors at 7 am (local time/4 am GMT) and were scheduled to close at 6 pm."  Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission notes there were approximately 6,425 male candidates and 2,607 female candidates. The IHEC also hailed the vote as a "great success."





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    Despite all the election fever going around, I hope we will be one voice after the elections in Iraq.
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    • It was theme post time for community sites last night:  "Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe)." "Lonely Women," "the confession," "Poverty Train," "Lu," "Timer," "Eli's Coming," "Emmie," "Sweet Blindness" and "Yes, I'm ready."  The theme was singer-songwriter Laura Nyro's classic album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.  Among the hit songs Laura composed were "And When I Die" (Blood, Sweat and Tears had the hit), "Stoney End," "Time and Love" and "Flim Flam Man"  (Barbra Streisand had the hits -- the last two were top ten hits on the AC chart), "Eli's Coming" (Three Dog Night had the hit), "Wedding Bell Blues," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Save The Country, "Sweet Blindness" and "Blowing Away" (The 5th Dimension).  Tony Sclafani (Goldmine) noted in 2012:

    When a 19-year-old Laura Nyro emerged on the rock scene in 1967 with her debut album More Than a New Discovery, she changed the preconceptions of what any singer-songwriter -- much less a female one -- could do. In her wake, Todd Rundgren abruptly changed his style and left his band Nazz to release solo albums inspired by Nyro (one song, "Baby, Let's Swing" is even about her).
    Carole King was so impressed with Nyro's artistic boldness that King finally got up the gumption to pursue a solo career seriously -- one that featured her sitting Nyro-style, behind a piano.
    "I think Laura Nyro does not exist without Carole King the songwriter, but Carole King the singer-songwriter does not exist without Laura Nyro the performer," says Michele Kort, author of the 2002 Nyro biography Soul Picnic. "It was Laura, along with Joni Mitchell, who started the whole singer-songwriter movement Carole King was able to become part of."
    Other performers who have cited Nyro as an inspiration range from Suzanne Vega to Elton John to Stevie Wonder, whose "If You Really Love Me" is said to be inspired by Nyro's style. That style attracted a hard-core following of fans who made her a cult figure.

    Singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones was also an admirer of Laura's musical gifts and Rickie took part in the Beacon Theater's tribute to Laura which Rickie movingly writes about here.  Suzanne Vega shares her thoughts at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

    Laura received many accolades in her lifetime but the bigger honors came posthumously.  A month after her death, Time and Love: The Music of Laura Nyro, a tribute album, was released with Vega performing "Buy And Sell," Phoebe Snow performed "Time and Love," Roseanne Cash performed "Save The Country," Sweet Honey In The Rock performed "And When I Die," Jill Sobule performed "Stone Soul Picnic," Beth Nielsen Chapman performed "Stoney End," Patti Larkin performed "Poverty Train," Jonatha Brooke performed "He's A Runner," Holly Cole peformed "Sweet Blindness," Dana Bryant performed "Woman's Blues," Leni Stern performed "Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp," The Roches performed "Wedding Bell Blues," Lisa Germano performed "Eli's Coming" and Jane Siberry contributed the original composition "When I Think Of Laura Nyro."  Mimi Cohen wrote and performed To Carry On . . . A Celebration of Laura Nyro.  (Title from Laura's "And When I Die" -- "And when I die/ And when I'm dead and gone/ There'll be one child born/ With a world to carry on/ To carry on.") In 2007, Judy Kuhn released Serious Playground: The Songs of Laura Nyro containing cover versions of fourteen of Laura's songs including "To A Child" (one of her later era masterpieces and a song about her relationship with her son hip-hop artist Gil-T.).


    In 2001, she was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, in 2010, she was inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame and, in 2012, she was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a presentation by Bette Midler.










    npr


    Posted by at

    Wednesday, April 30, 2014

    Poverty Train

     Singer-songwriter is a genre.  It's not "a singer who writes songs."  It's a singer who lives songs, who brings them to life.  It's a Carly Simon or a Joni Mitchell or a Paul Simon.  Someone who can crystalize a relatable experience, can make you identify, can make you feel.

    One of the classics of that genre is Laura Nyro's Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.



     This really established the benchmark for the genre.  For years, no one would come close to anything like this in terms of expression.  Then Joni released Blue and a new benchmark was set.

    But in terms of music, I'm not sure anyone surpassed Laura on this album.

    She ties the lyrics and the moods with the music in a way that really works.

    Tapestry?  I'm sorry, I like "I Feel The Earth Move" but it doesn't belong on that album.  Carole King gets things jumping with that song and then slows everything down for all the tracks that follow.

    By contrast, Laura has pounding songs and slower songs and songs that are both.  She weaves it in and out in a true masterpiece, with the confidence of a real artist.




     Last call for the poverty train 
    Last call for the poverty train, yeah 
    It looks good and dirty on shiny light strip 
    And if you don't get beat you got yourself a trip 
    You can see the walls roar see your brains on the floor 
    Become God, become cripple, become funky and split 
    Why was I born 
    No, no, no, no 
    No, no, no, no 
    No, no, no, no 
    Oh baby, I just saw the devil and he's smiling at me 
    I heard my bones cry devil whys it got to be 
    Devil played with my brother, devil drove my mother 
    Now all the tears in the gutter are floodin' the sea 
    Why was I born 
    No, no, no, no 
    No, no, no, no 
    No, no, no, no 
    Oh baby, it looks good and dirty them shiny lights glow 
    A million night tramps tricks and tracks will come and go 

     What an amazing song.

    And when she sings the "No, no, no, no" part?

    And the song picks up throughout, it walks a little faster and then a little faster.

    It's an amazing song on album filled with amazing songs.

    Laura will always be one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 20th century.



    "Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
    Tuesday, April 29, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, War Crimes past and War Crimes present are discussed, Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty release statements which are embarrassing for their lack of honesty or backbone, the elections get more press attention, fewer voters outside of Iraq filled out a ballot in the overseas elections -- especially when compared 2010's parliamentary elections, and much more.

    Today, The New Yorker notes the Abu Ghraib prison scandal which Seymour Hersh broke the news on in 2004 and they highlight this past reporting:
    “Torture at Abu Ghraib,” by Seymour M. Hersh (May 10, 2004).
    “The Abu Ghraib Pictures” (May 3, 2004).
    “Chain of Command,” by Seymour M. Hersh (May 17, 2004).
    “The Gray Zone,” by Seymour M. Hersh (May 24, 2004).
    “Exposure,” by Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris (March 24, 2008).

    “Primary Sources: Abu Ghraib” (March 24, 2008).


    Again, Hersh broke the story.  He continues to break stories, he is an investigative reporter.  Sadly, he is shut out by his peers in the US media and now his investigative work -- exposing the current administration -- runs in The London Review of Books.  That's not an insult to that publication.  Applause for them.  But how sad that no American outlet will touch his reports -- not even The New Yorker. They'll pimp his past work, they just don't want to run his current work because the current American fairy tale must be maintained.  Deutsche Welle interviews Hersh today.  Excerpt.
    You really haven't noticed any change, not even under President Barack Obama?

     He is more informed (than former President George W. Bush), his domestic programs are in general quite good…But in foreign policy there's not a significant change, no…America would be much better off, if, 30 years ago, we had let Russia continue its war in Afghanistan…The mistake was made by the Carter administration which was trying to stop the Russians from their invasion of Afghanistan. We'd be better off had we let the Russians beat the Taliban. Obama is continuing many of the policies, the war against terrorism...I don't understand why we use drones to kill people when we know that this makes more enemies of us, and we also know that the real problem with many of the jihadists is a lack of jobs, a lack of food, a lack of a real life. And instead of dealing with these problems, we fight. That always seems to me very silly. We're not dealing with the underlying problems that create jihadists.


    What happened in the Abu Ghraib prison, what the US military and intelligence agents did?  War Crimes.  Torture, rape, those are War Crimes.


    Earlier this month, BRussells Tribunal and others staged a conference on Iraq.  Dahr Jamail reports (here at BRussells Tribunal, here at Truthout):


      Narmeen Saleh and her husband Shawki were detained by US military forces during a violent 2004 raid of their home in Baghdad.
    Saleh spent 16 days in prison, where "the interrogations didn't stop for one minute." She was beaten, electrocuted and threatened with rape if she didn't "confess."
    "They [US soldiers] tortured and beat me a lot, and when they found out that I was pregnant they told me they would kill the baby in my womb," she was quoted, as her testimony was read at the Iraq Commission conference in Brussels recently. "They then concentrated their beating and electricity on my abdomen area."
    Her daughter, who is now 8 years old, has cerebral palsy, and her husband remains in custody of the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the bogus charge of "illegally entering Iraq."
    This shocking testimony was provided to international lawyers, journalists , and activists converged at a conference titled, "The Iraq Commission," held in Brussels, Belgium, April 16 and 17, with the primary aim of bringing to justice government officials who are guilty of war crimes in Iraq.

    The conference represented the most powerful and most current organized movement in the world to hold accountable those responsible for the catastrophic invasion and occupation in Iraq, including UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush, along with others in their administrations.


    Again, War Crimes.  Most importantly,  War Crimes continue in Iraq.

    Nouri attacked Anbar Province December 30th.  He attacked a camp of peaceful protesters.  From that day's snapshot:


     Here are three plain speaking outlets -- two western and Rudaw. Kamal Namaa, Ahmed Rasheed, Alexander Dziadosz and Andrew Heavens (Reuters) report, "Fighting broke out when Iraqi police moved to dismantle a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the western Anbar province on Monday, leaving at least 13 people dead, police and medical sources said."  Rudaw explains, "As Iraqi forces launched a reportedly deadly crackdown on a months-long protest in the city of Ramadi in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province, Sunni MPs reacted by announcing mass resignations as other leaders called on protesters to resist and soldiers to disobey."  Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) observes, "Today, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki underscored how little he’s learned, responding to a sit-in protest in Ramadi with heavy-handed police action that killed at least 17 people, 12 of them unarmed civilians."
    These murders brought to you by the largess of US President Barack Obama.  Mushreq Abbas (Al-Monitor) explains:

    Rashid Fleih, a leader of the Anbar operations, told Al-Monitor that the Iraqi army had received US equipment and supplies to be used in the battle against groups affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The New York Times revealed Dec. 25 that Washington will supply Iraq with a map showing the locations and origins of al-Qaeda in Iraq, besides 75 Hellfire air-to-land missiles and 10 ScanEagle reconnaissance drones. This information was confirmed by the prime minister's spokesperson, Ali al-Moussawi, in a statement released Dec. 27.


    Barack arming Nouri with weapons to use against the Iraqi people is in violation human rights agreements as well as the Leahy Amendment.  

    In February, Erin Evers (Human Rights Watch) noted:

     Clearly Iraq needs to protect its citizens from armed groups’ violent attacks, which can wreak general havoc and cause a humanitarian crisis, as in Anbar. But the government also takes advantage of fears of the terrorist threat to brutally suppress dissent. The violence in Anbar is just the most recent example of how the government’s use of violent measures in the name of counterterrorism has accelerated the country’s crisis: the Anbar fighting began thanks to the government’s attempt to suppress Sunnis’ legitimate protests against abuses. Security forces’ brutal methods are amply documented in today’s report on abuses of women, which frequently occurred during counterterrorism operations.


    December 30th, the slaughter began with Nouri lying that he was combating terrorists.

    The US government, led by US President Barack Obama, allowed humans to die for the crime of peaceful protest.  Check the snapshot, despite his claims of "terrorists" overrunning the Ramadi protest camp, Nouri didn't capture one in his deadly raid.  Instead, Nouri claimed that the terrorist all managed to flee.  All of them.  Doesn't explain the slaughter of innocents, does it?

    Nouri has used terrorism or 'terrorism' as an excuse to attack civilians -- to attack and kill them.

    He's claimed it's al Qaeda in Iraq he's fighting and the White House has gone along with that lie.  As Michael Stephens (Al Jazeera) notes today, "The US has blandly repeated the same platitude that it wishes to see a united Iraq operating under the terms of the strategic framework agreement, yet simultaneously the US has been accelerating its Foreign Military Sales programme in recent months by approving the sale of 36 F-16s, 24 Apaches and 500 Hellfire missiles to Iraq to fight al-Qaeda."  Betty offered, "I keep thinking the US is going to send in a team to kill Nouri but they never kill the tyrants -- no, they just kill the good people like Allende in Chile.  If you're a crook or a War Criminal, the US will prop you up forever and a day.  But if you try to help the people, the US government will try to kill you or overthrow you (Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela)."  Ann shared, "Nouri al-Maliki should be in a prison or a grave. Instead, he's ruining the country."

    The most important report today is by Ned Parker, Ahmed Rasheed and Raheem Salman (Reuters).  They explore the attacks on civilians, explain Nouri's use of Shi'ite militias (which Nouri is calling the "Sons Of Iraq" -- the name previously used for Sahwa).  The reporters note that Nouri's operation hasn't had success, not even in the military:

    Military personnel and Iraqi officials say several thousand soldiers have deserted; and well over 1,000, if not more, have been killed. The government has yet to release formal numbers.
    Soldiers in Anbar speak with desperation. “We are dumped by our military leadership in these deserted houses in the middle of the orchards, without enough ammunition, without night binoculars,” said one soldier from Ramadi.
    His battalion has 120 of its original 750 soldiers; most have deserted and he vows to do the same.

    One army officer said Iraq’s Special Forces, who have led the fight against the insurgency, are now taking defensive positions to avoid more casualties.

    In an executive summary of their report released yesterday, the International Crisis Group notes:

    It is too late for steps that might have been taken to reduce tensions before the elections. Any lasting solution requires addressing the deeper roots of Sunni alienation in a country increasingly gripped by sectarian tension. ISIL’s rise is a symptom, not the main cause, of the poor governance that is the principal reason for Iraq’s instability. The government, UN and U.S. should treat ISIL differently from the military council and Falluja as a whole, rather than bundling them together in an indiscriminate “war on terror”.
    When in December 2013 Iraq’s central authorities cleared a year-long sit-in in the city that was demanding better treatment from Baghdad, Falluja’s residents took to the streets. ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) took advantage of the ensuing chaos, moved forces into the city and asserted it had seized control. The claim was greatly exaggerated: while it raised its black flag above some administration buildings in the city centre, locals blocked most of their forays and forced them to retreat to the outskirts.
    But Baghdad had a casus belli: it besieged the city, ignored local attempts to mediate an ISIL withdrawal and threatened to attack. Falluja residents held no brief for ISIL, but their hatred of the Iraqi army – seen as the instrument of a Shiite, sectarian regime, directed from Tehran, that discriminates against Sunnis in general and Anbar in particular – ran even deeper. The city’s rebels struck a Faustian bargain, forming an alliance of convenience with ISIL. The jihadis’ military might kept the army at bay, but their presence justified the government’s claim that the entire city was under jihadi control. A self-reinforcing cycle has taken root: jihadi activity encourages government truculence that in turn requires greater jihadi protection.

    Falluja’s fighters and Baghdad’s central authorities both are posing as the country’s true patriots, deriding their adversary as a foreign enemy. ISIL has benefited by renewing its base of support in Iraq, which had been shrinking ever since the sahwa (awakening) turned against al-Qaeda in 2006. With a high profile from the fighting in Syria and superior weaponry, they once again have become a magnet for the country’s disaffected. 



    Look, some grown ups have joined the discussion.  It's a far cry from the garbage Marie Harf and Jen Psaki swill at the State Dept press briefings.

    Nouri has gotten away one War Crime against humanity after another and the same US President who demanded Nouri get a second term as prime minister (despite his State of Law losing the 2010 parliamentary elections) has demanded he be provided with more weapons and with intel to kill Iraqis.

    The current assault on Anbar began with War Crimes, the slaughter of peaceful protesters in Ramadi.  It has continued the War Crimes.  In the name of combating so-called terrorism, Nouri bombs the homes of Falluja, he bombs residential areas.  Every day in the last months, civilians have died and been wounded from these bombings.  Where is the international outcry?

    Doctors Without Borders issue an alert about the Anbar crisis today but can only muster the courage to mention the refugees created by the crisis, they can't say one word about the killing of civilians by the Iraqi military.  Also cowardly is Amnesty International with their little alert today which lacks the guts and spine to note the daily killing of civilians in Falluja by Nouri's military. Though they can't note the killing of civilians in Falluja, the editorial board of England's Independent can at least call the possible re-election of Nouri "a pity" and write, "Mr Maliki may win the election or stay in office, but more and more of Iraq will be outside his control as the country disintegrates." Even the editorial board of The National Newspaper can point out that "Iraqi security forces have begun employing Shiite militias as shock troops." Hassan Karim ("a university graduate from Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City district") tells AP,  "Al-Maliki has had enough chance to prove himself, but he failed. Iraqis lack security, services and housing. The only two things available in the country right now are corruption and checkpoints."



    A few citizens of the world can rightly call out Barack's Drone War and call out the killing of people whose 'crime' it was to attend a wedding.  What about calling the slaughter of people whose only 'crime' it was to be in their homes?


    Today, Nouri's continued War Crimes in Iraq left 2 civilians dead today and four more injured as a result of his use of collective punishment in the continued bombing of Falluja's residential neighborhoods.   "Collective punishment" is so basic that even Wikipedia can explain it:


     The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1949, and defines humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone. There are currently 196 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this and the other three treaties.[1]
    In 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a report from the Secretary-General and a Commission of Experts which concluded that the Geneva Conventions had passed into the body of customary international law, thus making them binding on non-signatories to the Conventions whenever they engage in armed conflicts.[2]
    [. . .]
    Article 33. No persons may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
    Pillage is prohibited.
    Reprisals against persons and their property are prohibited.
    Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishment is a war crime. By collective punishment, the drafters of the Geneva Conventions had in mind the reprisal killings of World War I and World War II. In the First World War, during the Rape of Belgium, the Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity. In World War II, the Germans carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance. Entire villages or towns or districts were held responsible for any resistance activity that occurred in them.[3] The conventions, to counter this, reiterated the principle of individual responsibility. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to "intimidatory measures to terrorize the population" in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices "strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice."

    Additional Protocol II of 1977 explicitly forbids collective punishment. But as fewer states have ratified this protocol than GCIV, GCIV Article 33 is the one more commonly quoted.

    Claiming terrorists have taken over sections of Falluja and that this justifies bombing residential neighborhoods is collective punishment, is a War Crime and is, in fact, terrorism against a people.

    The White House has elected to embrace, arm and fund terrorism in Iraq.

    And, no, it hasn't made things better.  It has only worsened the situation.  A typical incident for Sunnis? Camille Bouissou and Tom Little (AFP) report:

    Since soldiers arrested and beat Abu Noor, his son and nephew at their modest house in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighbourhood, he and his wife have been too scared to leave home.
    "I feel sick when I talk about this... I only go to work and I come back," said the 54-year-old, who was too scared to give his real name, remembering the night six months ago when the soldiers arrived.
    Like Abu Noor and his wife, many Sunni Arabs complain they are discriminated against by the government of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is running for a third term in a parliamentary election on Wednesday.
    Umm Noor, a smiling woman in her forties wearing a headscarf, grew angry as she recounted the incident six months ago, when she heard a noise late one night.
    Her husband went downstairs to check what was happening, and troops grabbed him, his son and nephew and beat them. 



    And when the issue isn't direct abuse, the issue is intimidation.  Jamie Tarabay (Al Jazeera) reports on Falluja:


    In that storied city, once again controlled by Al-Qaeda allies, there will be polling centers only in surrounding areas controlled by Iraqi security forces. That means residents like Mustafa Mohammed won’t get the chance to cast ballots.
    “I’m not going to vote,” he told Al Jazeera over the phone from Fallujah. “The Iraqi army has closed the roads. There are no negotiations happening [for a truce]. The government wants a military solution, not a political one. We want a political one.”
    The United Nations estimates that 400,000 people have fled the violence in Anbar and moved to other parts of the country. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission says they will still be able to vote for their province, using absentee votes.
    That won’t help Mohammed cast a ballot. The Fallujah resident, who said he preferred life under Saddam Hussein, found himself admitting that he longs for the Americans to return.

    “If [Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki wins again, it’ll be the end for Sunnis in Anbar, Kirkuk, Samarra and Tikrit,” Mohammed said, ticking off other parts of Iraq that are predominantly home to Sunnis and have also experienced much violence. “The Americans were more merciful than the government. They weren’t sectarian.”



    Al Jazeera discusses the elections with the author of The Struggle for Iraq's Future Zaid al-Ali.  Excerpt.


    AJ: In what way would elections contribute to a decrease or increase in social and political divides?
    ZA: It will depend on the outcome. If Maliki is returned as prime minister for a third term, many forces in Iraq - some political, some armed - will react negatively. Some may very well withdraw from the political process altogether, while others will certainly increase their armed opposition to the government. In that context, a Maliki third term can only worsen social and political divides.

    If, however, Maliki is removed from office, then that opens some space to repair community relations in the country. Obviously that will partially depend on who replaces him, but whoever it is will automatically, if only by virtue of not being Maliki, open up the possibility of reestablishing strong community relations and repairing the damage that has been caused over the past few years.

    He's correct.  We'll come back to it in a moment because we're going to note Zaid al-Ali's column for Foreign Policy first:

     There is something truly paradoxical about Iraq's April 30 parliamentary elections. Although there is near unanimity among observers that the past four years have been disastrous for the country, many are still willing to defend Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's tenure -- even going so far as to suggest that there is no one else who is capable of governing the country.
    However, the sad reality is that -- given all the developments of his eight years in office -- very few Iraqis are less suitable to be prime minister today than Maliki. Indeed, Maliki's third term would likely be even more disastrous than his second, leading to a deterioration in security and causing the country to relapse into a new authoritarian era.  
    [. . .]
    There is in fact a serious possibility that Maliki will not obtain sufficient popular support to retain his position. His electoral popularity peaked at around 24 percent of the vote in 2010, when many Iraqis still believed in his nonsectarian and strongman credentials. However, Iraq's complex and dysfunctional parliamentary system has allowed him to negotiate his survival. This election season, Maliki's fortunes will necessarily decline from the previous poll -- the only questions are by how much and how his electoral rivals will react. After the votes are counted, Iraq's future will depend on its leaders' ability to form a post-election alliance without the country's most corrosive elements at its helm.  


    Zalmay Khalilzad was the second US Ambassador to Iraq following the 2003 invasion.  At National Interest, he notes, "A new leader, untainted by a record of distrust and broken deals, could offer Iraq a promising way forward."  He's correct,  Zaid al-Ali is correct.

    In April 12's "I Hate The War," we explained:


    What is termed 'al-Qaeda' in Iraq is actually a group of bodies.  Their only common issue at present is opposting to Nouri's rule.
    Want to break them up right now?  Pay attention, Barack -- remove Nouri from power.
    That requires no troops.  It only requires an honest election (as took place in 2010) and that the results be honored (which did not happen).
    If Nouri is not prime minister for a third term, you're going to see the bond that binds the various groups break away.
    Violence, once another person is named prime minister-designate, could actually fall as a result.



    In The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Editorial: If the US wants to reduce the violence ...," we continued that point:

     No third term for Nouri could provide a brief respite in violence as everyone waits to see what a new leader means.
    No third term for Nouri could mean that a loose grouping of rebels, militants and others no longer share a common bond.

    If the US could refrain from installing Nouri for a third term -- having already installed him for his first and his second -- Iraq might actually get a moment to breathe and regroup.   Mike noted, "The victims of Anbar are in a violence spiral that Nouri al-Maliki started by attacking the protesters.  Peaceful protesters were attacked, injured and killed repeatedly and the US government did nothing.  The only way to end the current violence is to end Nouri's reign."

    By the way, Zalmay Khalilzad's column includes this:

     In exchange for remaining Prime Minister after the 2010 elections, Maliki committed to the Erbil Agreement, which called for reform on issues such as de-Baathification, oil revenues, corruption, and federalism. In the absence of sustained U.S. engagement, however, Maliki failed to deliver on his promises. 

    Look at that.  He wrote about The Erbil Agreement and didn't get struck dead by lightening.  It can be done.  The US-brokered Erbil Agreement was used by Nouri to get a second term but he refused to honor the promises he made in the legal contract and that's how Iraq ended up where it is right now.


     You've taken your half out of the middle
    Time and time again
    But now I'm damned if I'll give you and inch
    Till I get even
    -- "Vengeance," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her album Spy (and was one of MTV's early heavy rotation videos)

    Ned Parker and Raheem Salman (Reuters) note:

    Normally seen behind closed doors and a wall of security, Maliki’s usual message is vengeance for the bombings that have again become a regular feature of Iraqi life and criticism of political opponents, who he says are set on undermining him.
    His concentration of power over the past eight years – he holds the Defense, Interior and Security portfolios as well as the premiership – gives him a clear electoral advantage, as does the offensive against the Sunni militants he launched last year.


    RT discusses the elections with Eugene Puryear who states, "The fact right now in Iraq is that we see something like confessional system set up by the US occupation. They essentially did everything they could through the invasion to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines, so there is no real national government, even though Maliki is allegedly the head of government of the entire country, it’s clear that there is a number of sectarian and ethnic divides that exist inside of the country that are not bridged to political process."  Reidar Visser offers his thoughts at Epoch Times (remember, Visser is a serial apologist for Nouri al-Maliki -- an analyst who's never called out Nouri's attacks on protesters or his murders of protesters). Matthew Bell (PRI's The World -- link is audio and text) discusses the situation with the BBC's Kevin Connolly.  Terry Gross (NPR's Fresh Air -- link is audio and text) discusses the situation with The New Yorker's Dexter Filkins.  Robin Young (NPR's Here & Now -- link is text and audio) discusses the situation with BBC's Rafid Jaboori.



    What does the election mean?

    In many ways, Joni Mitchell's "Lesson in Survival" (first appears on For The Roses) captures it:


    I came in as bright
    As a neon light
    And I burned out
    Right there before him

    That's how it was following the December 2005 parliamentary elections.

    That's how it was following the March 2010 parliamentary elections.

    Maybe if the White House (first Bully Boy Bush, then Barack Obama) hadn't insisted on naming Iraq's prime minister both times, overriding the choice of Iraqis, maybe then the hope wouldn't have burned out so quickly?

    It does appear to have burned out based on one segment of voting in these elections.

    Ghassan Hamid and Mohammed Shafiq (Alsumaria) report the Independent High Electoral Commission announced today that 165,000 Iraqis living outside of Iraq have voted in the overseas elections.  Though this is being trumpeted as a large number, it's not.  The last two years have seen an increase yet again in the number of Iraqi leaving the country with some estimates of 250,000 Iraqis having left Iraq since the end of 2011. At the height of the crisis four years earlier, four million Iraqis had left the country.  Not only is 165,000 a small number compared to that, these are post-2003 invasion numbers we're dealing with.  The overseas voting?  One Iraqi profiled by the press left in 1983.  So the voters go back decades.  You probably have around six million potential voters.  (In 2010, it was thought to be as many as 3 million voters, as CNN's Arwa Damon, Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Zain Verjee noted.) Yet only 200,000 voted in 2010.

    And only 165,000 voted in this election.

    Granted, Syria's not being allowed to take part in the elections and the last reliable estimate was 300,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria.  Even had Syria been allowed to vote and 300,000 Iraqis there voted, that still wouldn't have brought the number voting to 200,000.  Millions outside of Iraq could have voted.

    Not only is the number low when you consider the many who could have voted, it's also low when you consider the 2010 elections.  Rania El Gamal and Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) reported March 8, 2010, "There were 272,016 expatriate voters, IHEC said, compared to expectations of more than one million."

    This is a significant decrease and violence can't be given as the reason in that it is safer to vote, for example, in New Zealand than in Mosul.

    Is this low turnout speaking only to refugee issues or does it indicate a disenchantment with the voting process (or the supposed results) that will also be true within Iraq?

    At this point, no one knows and everything is a guess.

    But in 2010, there were 272,016 Iraqis voting from outside Iraq and this go around it was only 165,000 -- that's over 100,000 less voters than four years ago.

    This may reflect only overseas voters.  Or it may reflect only a Sunni aspect.  The press considers the refugee population to be more Sunni than Shia.  Or it may reflect a feeling of Iraqis regardless of where they live.  It could even be something entirely else including the assimilation issues -- and sociology's long noted the third generation of immigrants is the one that tends to return to roots.

    But if this is a sentiment Iraqis are beginning to share, you can blame the US government which has insisted it supports democracy while repeatedly overruling Iraqis' right to select their own prime minister.

    Xu Ruiqing and Jamal Hashim (Xinhua) quote Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stating:

     The future of Iraq will depend on this election. If Iraqis go to vote, Iraq will change. If they are reluctant and make a wrong choice, Iraq will stay as it is now and will even be worse. [. . .] Our country needs politicians and political blocs who believe in the unity of Iraq and their society, those who raise the national identity and the Arab identity above all other identities, because the sectarian identities will tear up the country.




    Wednesday, the Iraqi people vote in parliamentary elections.  The results will determine the make up of their next Parliament.  Their next Parliament is supposed to determine their prime minister but that's never happened.  Not so far.  The December 2005 parliamentary elections?  Those elected wanted Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be prime minister (again) but the White Hose wanted Nouri al-Maliki.  The March 2010 parliamentary elections saw Nouri's State of Law lose to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya but the White House wanted Nouri to be prime minister (again).

     Osama al-Khafaji and Ghassan Hamid (Alsumaria) have noted that there are over 9000 candidates competing for 328 seats. Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) explains, "Some 277 political entities across Iraq will compete for 328 seats of the Iraqi Council of Representatives the country's parliament."  AFP adds that there are "more than 20 million Iraqis [who] are eligible to vote" on Wednesday. The Latin American Herald Tribune is more specific, "Almost 20.5 million Iraqis are registered to vote in the elections on Wednesday." All Iraq News adds, "The statistics prepared by AIN show that 2607 female candidates compete on 81 seats according to the Iraqi constitution."  Kat noted Diana Moukalled (Al-Arabiya News) report on the female candidates running in the election:

    A female Iraqi parliament candidate decided to publish her campaign photos across the country. However in Muslim areas, she published her photos wearing a hijab while in Christian areas, she published them without a hijab.
    Though it's funny, it's one of the many trickery dynamics on Iraqi reality. This is not a first time this has happened. A female Iraqi candidate did the same during the 2010 elections.

    Days leading up to the elections, Iraq is one big propaganda carnival. This carnival resembles a pattern we've witnessed at many Arab elections: talking about candidates is almost limited to photos and slogans scattered heavily across the country's streets and roads.


    Borzou Daragahi (Financial Times of London) observes, "This week’s election is largely seen as a referendum on the performance of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister who has come to dominate the energy-rich country since he first came to power eight years ago and is seen to have contributed to the country’s dramatic deterioration in security."  Or, as Marcia put it, "It's not a surprise that anyone would turn against Nouri.  It's only a surprise that more people in Iraq haven't already turned against him."

    Asharq Al-Awsat reports charges of fraud are emerging:

     Candidates have raised questions about the issuance of voter’s e-cards, in addition to calling for investigations into members of Iraq’s military and security forces being pressured to vote for specific candidates. Iraqi military and police personnel began voting on Monday.
    In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat independent MP Izzat Al-Shahbandar criticized Iraqi prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition for putting “pressure” on government bodies in order to secure as many votes as possible.
    “Violations have taken place in several election centers, and pressure is being put on members of the police and military to vote for a specific candidate.”

    Shahbandar, a former member of Maliki’s State of Law coalition, said that the Iraqi prime minister is desperate to win the election outright, without having to resort to forming alliances to secure a third term in office. 


    Furthermore, Ayad Allawi tells Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor), "Thousands of electoral e-cards [according to statements by the Independent High Electoral Commission] have been stolen, and 25,000 sent to [the addresses of] dead people in Baghdad. In addition, the cards’ barcode shows who votes for whom, which poses a threat, especially among the armed forces and the internal security forces."  Xinhua notes:

     Allawi was born in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad in 1945. A prominent Iraqi political activist who lived in exile for almost 30 years, the secular Shiite Muslim came back to Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. He was prime minister of Iraq's interim government from June 2004 to April 2005.
    The Iraqiya List, a cross-sectarian alliance led by Allawi, came first in the 2010 elections but failed to form a government. With the breakdown of the Iraqiya List, Allawi leads a much smaller National Coalition to participate in this year's elections.

    That's part of Xinhua's overview of the politicians they see as major players in the elections. They offer an overview on various political alliances here. AFP offers "key facts" about the elections here.

    Isra'al Rubei'i and Ned Parker (Reuters) report that secular candidates are struggling to get media coverage:

    The Civil Democratic Alliance which groups independents and smaller parties has struggled to be seen amid the giant city posters of officials in the current government, women candidates in full hijab, others pancaked in Technicolor makeup, and powerful militia members clad in camouflage who fight in Syria.
    The glossy billboards testify to the big money necessary for campaigns in Iraq, with politicians whispering of their rivals’ financiers and slush funds.
    One Islamist candidate estimated to Reuters the cost of his parliamentary bid at over a million dollars. The lavish sums testify to how entrenched Iraq’s ruling parties are 11 years after the U.S. invasion ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

    The Civil Democratic Alliance’s members say they can’t afford to buy time on satellite news channels or pay for thousands of billboards.


    And it wouldn't be campaigning without a politician or lying -- like the one Al Bawaba reports wants to be all things to all people, "We’ve heard of sly tactics used by politicians, but this definitely ranks at the top. In an unusual step to increase his chances of winning this year’s elections, an Iraqi candidate by the name of Sheikh Eyad al Ashoori put up three different posters around various areas in Iraq - each claiming that he is from a different religion or sect, to please the residents of that specific neighborhood."



    The United Nations issued the following today:



    Secretary-General Hails Timely Progress towards Polls in Iraq, Condemns


    Violence Targeting Leaders, Candidates, Electoral Staff



    The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:


    On 30 April, Iraq will hold nationwide Council of Representatives elections and Governorate Council elections in the Kurdistan region.  These elections mark an important milestone in Iraq’s democratic transition and can contribute to greater peace and stability in the country.


    The Secretary-General welcomes the progress made by the Independent High Electoral Commission in holding these elections on time and in line with national commitments and international standards.


    The Secretary-General strongly condemns the wave of violence and terrorist attacks that has targeted political leaders, candidates and electoral staff ahead of the elections and conveys his deepest condolences to the families of those affected.  He urges all political leaders and personalities to create the conditions necessary to enable all Iraqi men and women to participate in the electoral process and to have their say on the future of their country.


    * *** *



    The United Nations isn't the only body making announcements today.  Al-Shorfa reports that clerics are making statements today:


     "Election is a national duty for every Iraqi who desires to see change, security and prosperity and to overcome all problems in the country," Mufti of Iraq Sheikh Rafi al-Rifai said in a statement.
    "Therefore, it is a religious and moral duty to go to the ballot boxes and use the chance as a civilised way to change and express opinion," he said.
    Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani also called on Iraqis to take part in the elections.

    "All Iraqis must seize this chance to elect the right person in the right place to defeat terrorism, establish security and prosperity in an independent, pluralistic and free Iraq where only law and order have authority and influence," said al-Sistani's Karbala representative Ahmed al-Safi. 



    Let's note the violence.  Through yesterday, 942 is the number killed from violence this month according to Iraq Body Count.

    Today?

    National Iraqi News Agency reports an armed battle "west of Kirkuk" left 8 rebels dead, 2 bombs going off in a Khanaqin market left 15 people dead and forty-five more injured, and, dropping back to last night, a Dora suicide bomber took his own life and the lives of 2 Federal Police members (with nine more left injured) while an al-Mada'en attack left 5 Sahwa dead and eight more injured. On the Khanaqin market bombing, Cassandra Vinograd (NBC News) reports the death toll increased to 24 dead.  Rudaw quotes their reporter in Khanaqin stating, "People are very confused, men, women, young and children come to look for their loved ones.  One can see blood everywhere on the floor in the hospital, people are screaming, it's quite a chaotic situation."  Alsumaria reports a Mafraq roadside bombing (west of Baquba) left 3 people dead and seven more injured, a Radwaniya roadside bombing left 1 police member dead and two more injured, an Abu Ghraib roadside bombing left 1 person dead and four more injured, and 1 male corpse (30-years-old and gunshot wounds) was discovered dumped in the streets of Hawija.


    Yesterday's violence included many suicide bombers.  Trina focused on one, a teenager:

    They tried to vote thug Nouri al-Maliki out as prime minister in 2010 and actually did.  But Barack wouldn't let it happen and imposed Nouri on them for a second term.
    Their lives have been pure hell.  He's killed protesters, he's attacked everyone.
    And now he's trying for a third term.
    When voting hasn't worked, when protesting hasn't worked, what are you left with?
    Violence.
    How sad that a young, teenage boy became a (dead) suicide bomber today.
    And how sad that there's no grown up to realize Nouri is the problem and that the country can't move forward while he's at the lead. 

    Ruth and Elaine wrote about the KRG and we'll try to include that tomorrow but there wasn't space for the KRG today.






















     











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