Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Meet the new Milli Vanilli: Michael Franti

Milli Vanilli had hits and even won a Grammy.

Then it was revealed that they were fakes and they were stripped of their Grammy.

This century's Milli Vanilli is Michael Franti.

You may remember the minor singer-songwriter.

He was never very successful but his song about how "you can bomb the world to pieces but you can't bomb the world to peace" -- or however it went -- even KPFA doesn't play it anymore -- was rather well known on the left.

Back then, Michael was against war.

But then Barack became president and Michael had to go down on him and give head over and over in one interview after another.

Today, Michael's a joke.

And here's a video of him being confronted for being a sell out.





As for his love of Jay-Z?

Sorry White Mike, you can't be a social-justice activist and applaud crap like "99 Problems."

Sexism deserves no pass and we know that in the Bay Area, don't we, Mikey?

Franti's been exposed and now his albums don't sell and he's struggling with his concerts because, having turned on his beliefs, his fans have found other artists to listen to, ones that aren't fake asses.



"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):

Tuesday, December 2, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, Margaret Griffis' Antiwar.com Iraq death toll for November is released, Erbil and Baghdad strike a deal, the government of Lebanon kidnaps a woman and her child, and much more.



Well I'm learning
It's peaceful
With a good dog and some trees
Out of touch with the breakdown 
Of this century
They're not going to fix it up
Too easy
-- "Electricity," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her For The Roses


Big News Networks salivates, "In a significant development, the Lebanese army has arrested one of the wives of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al Bakr Al Baghdadi near the border with Syria when they tried to enter the country using fake identity."  The woman is named in some reports as Saja Al Dulaimi.  Some identify her as a Syrian, some as an Iraqi.  All say she was arrested with a child -- some say a boy, some say a girl.  Though only reported today, Gulf Daily News says the arrests took place "10 days ago."

In Iraq today, there are many problems.

One of the biggest is the sense of lawlessness.  For Sunnis, that means their relatives disappear in the so-called justice system.  Security forces show up to arrest Laith al-Mutlaq -- with or without an arrest warrant -- and Laith isn't home but his grandmother is or his wife or his brother or his child or some other relative.  So the security forces haul that person off.

Where did they get that was okay?

Because US military commanders spent the first years of the Iraq War acting like thugs by basically kidnapping women married to Iraqi militants they were seeking.

That was illegal and unethical.

And it set the new Iraqi government down this road.

Very few people objected in real time or since.

The woman who is one of the wives of al-Baghdidi?

If she's done something herself, she should be arrested.

There's no way in the world the child has done anything.

It's doubtful the woman's done anything illegal.


(And in the midst of Barack's amnesty plan, don't try to pull the nonsense of 'she was trying to enter Lebanon illegally!')

The child?  Boy or girl, a DNA test was performed.

I'm doubting seriously that the mother gave permission for that test.

That's another violation.

You can try to pretty it up all you want but these thug actions that should be called out.

If you're not getting it, listen to the boasting that the Oman Tribune reports on:

 A Lebanese security source said the arrest was “a powerful card to apply pressure” in negotiations to secure the release of 27 members of the Lebanese security forces captured by militants in August near the Syrian border – a view shared by other Lebanese officials who confirmed the arrest. 


What's taking place is a kidnapping.

These are thug actions.

The US government needs to condemn these actions but it won't.

It will, however, go out of its way to attack the Islamic State for kidnapping women.

I don't care who the woman married, I don't care who she sleeps with.

Unless and until she's broken the law herself, she shouldn't be detained.

Anyone detaining her without just cause based on her actions is a thug who is practicing kidnapping.

This is not acceptable and it is not normal.

The AP attempts to normalize it with paragraphs like this one:

 If their identities are confirmed, Lebanon may use the pair as bargaining chips to win the release of soldiers and police taken hostage by the terrorists in cross-border attacks earlier this year.
If tomorrow,  Sarah al-Assam kidnaps Michelle Obama because her husband was killed in one of Barack's Drone War attacks in Lebanon, you better believe the press will express outrage.
And they should.
By the same token whatever Saja Al Dulaimi's husband has done is his responsibility.

If she's done nothing and the government of Lebanon is kidnapping her and attempting to use her hostage status as a bargaining chip, that is illegal and it is unethical and it must be called out.

Refusal to do so?

We've already seen how this ends.

It became normal in Iraq because so very few of us had the guts to call it out.

You either call out what's being done to Saja Al Dulaimi.or you accept that it's now the normal.

Don't look to the US State Dept to stand up for human rights.  From today's State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Marie Harf.

QUESTION: Were you able to confirm if the Lebanese army really called the wife – one of the wives of the head of ISIL?

 MS. HARF: I don’t think – let me see what I have on this. I know there have been a number of reports on this. Given this was an operation by the Government of Lebanon, I’d refer you to them for more information. I know there are a lot of conflicting reports about who they may have taken into custody, but they’ll have the most updated facts. I can’t confirm independently facts for you.

 QUESTION: But if it’s true, what’s the importance of this development?

 MS. HARF: Well, we’ll see if it’s true. Okay.



In Brussels today, the US Secretary of State John Kerry performed only slightly better than Maria Harf:


 MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Carol Morello of The Washington Post.

 QUESTION: After all your discussions today with various representatives about the need for countries to pull their own weight, can you finally tell us whether you have secured any concrete commitments that the United States has long sought for all these countries to send enough troops to Afghanistan and soon, so the burden does not fall disproportionately on the United States again? And on a related matter, when you sit down tomorrow with the Iraqi foreign minister, is the United States prepared to offer any additional aid beyond what has already been announced?
And lastly, would the United States approve --

 SECRETARY KERRY: When we sit down with whom?

 QUESTION: With the foreign minister of Iraq. Mr. --

 PARTICIPANT: Prime minister.

 QUESTION: Excuse me, the prime minister of Iraq, Mr. Abadi. Would the United States approve if Lebanon decides to take the wife and son of al-Baghdadi and offer them as a prisoner swap for hostages held by ISIL?
SECRETARY KERRY: With respect to your last question, I’m just – I’m not – I don’t think we engage in that kind of negotiation, period. But I’m not up to speed. I don’t have the details of what the circumstances are, who’s holding who. I saw a news flash earlier on this. I don’t have all the input on it, so I’m not going to comment further with respect to that, except that we don’t negotiate, and I think people know that.


Meanwhile, who knew the State Dept's Brett McGurk was an Alanis Morissette fan?

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
-- "Ironic," written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, first appears on Alanis'  Jagged Little Pill.

Brett must be a huge fan of the song.  While else, on the day the government of Lebanon is in the news for kidnapping a woman and her child, would Brett Tweet the following:





About the oil deal, the following was posted to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's website today:

In today’s session, the Council of Ministers decided to approve the agreement between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government by the Prime Minister of the Federal Government Dr. Haider Al Abadi and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Mr. Nechirvan Barzani, which states that Iraqi oil belongs to all Iraqis, and the Kurdistan Region will provide at least 250 thousand barrels of oil per day to the federal government for the purpose of export.

The agreement also includes exporting 300 thousand barrels per day by the federal Government from the Kirkuk oil fields through the oil pipeline in the province of Kurdistan.

It has also been agreed to allocate a proportion of the financial allocations of the federal land forces of the Iraqi army to the Peshmerga forces according to the population ratio as part of the Iraqi security system.


And the State Dept's Marie Harf released the following statement:

We congratulate the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Governments on reaching a broad agreement on revenue management and oil exports originating from the Iraq Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk. This resolution, in line with its constitution, allows all Iraqis to benefit equitably from Iraq’s hydrocarbon sector. This agreement will further strengthen both Iraq’s Federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government as they work together to defeat ISIL.


Dan Murphy (Christian Science Monitor) hails the agreement as "a rare and long-awaited sign of compromise."  Susannah George (McClatchy Newspapers) offers this possibility, "The deal potentially could resolve a long-standing dispute that earlier this year had the Kurds threatening to schedule a vote on independence, a move that would have possibly led to the breakup of the country at the same time that the Islamic State had seized much of northern and central Iraq."

The news allows US outlets (and others) to 'cover' Iraq while ignoring the United Nations nonsense yesterday.  Yes, their embarrassing monthly death toll.  Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 5,640 dead from violence and 2,574 left injured for the month of November. For today, she counts 205 dead and twenty-nine more injured.

In big news every outlet appears to be ignoring (it's okay, Marie Harf also failed to sell it in today's State Dept press briefing), there's a big meet-up tomorrow.  AFP reports, "US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday hosts the first high-level meeting of the 60-member coalition trying to crush the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group." At least AFP's covering it.






This is the effort Barack supposedly wanted, work on the political solution he stated was the only answer to the violence in Iraq.  But while he started bombing Iraq in August, this meet-up waits until December?

And on top of that, they downplay it.

Well, why not?

The White House has had so many 'successes' in Iraq, right?

Asked in October to identify one, Susan Rice insisted the rescue of the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar.

The rescue of the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar.

















    • No, they weren't rescued.  The White House lost interest.

    Barack really struggles with the whole stay focused issue.





    New content at Third:


    That went up late Sunday and I never noted it.  So let me note it now before I forget.

    Lastly, David Bacon's latest book is The Right to Stay Home: How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration.  We'll close with this from Bacon's photo essay "FIESTA IN SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE - DANCERS"



    SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE (9/29/14) -- For three days during the town fiesta of San Miguel de Allende indigenous dance groups converge here, and dance through the streets from morning until late at night.  Costumes celebrate everything from religious symbols to mythologized history to a common bond with the culture of native peoples north of the U.S. border.  Almost 40% of San Miguel residents are Otomi and 20% Nahua, but the dances are performed by groups from all over Mexico.

    Indigenous people in Izcuinapan, the original native community located here, had a long history of resistance to the Spanish colonizers.  Guamare and Chichimeca people attacked the first Spanish settlement, and the Spanish viceroy was eventually forced to recognize a limited independence for the indigenous people here. 


    We'll note Bacon's photo essay again but I can't find it online currently.  When we note it again, we'll include a link.  (You can also try Googling and might have more luck than I have.)  For more on David Bacon see:

    THE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog
    http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com

    EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE:  Farm worker photographs on the U.S./Mexico border wall
    http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fc67a76dbb9c31aaee896aff7&id=0644c65ae5&e=dde0321ee7
    Youtube interview about the show with Alfonso Caraveo (Spanish)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJeE1NO4c_M&feature=youtu.be

    The Real News:  Putting off Immigration Reform Angers Grassroots Activists
    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12352

    David Bacon Interviews Dyanna Taylor, Granddaughter of Documentary Photographer Dorothea Lange
    https://soundcloud.com/kpfa-fm-94-1-berkeley/dyanna-taylor-on-her-grandmother-dorothea-lange

    David Bacon radio review of the movie, Cesar Chavez
    https://soundcloud.com/kpfa-fm-94-1-berkeley/upfronts-david-bacon-reviews-film-on-cesar-chavez-and-the-grape-strike

    Interviews with David Bacon about his new book, The Right to Stay Home:

    Book TV: A presentation of the ideas in The Right to Stay Home at the CUNY Graduate Center
    http://booktv.org/Watch/14961/The+Right+to+Stay+Home+How+US+Policy+Drives+Mexican+Migration.aspx

    KPFK - Uprisings with Sonali Kohatkar
    http://uprisingradio.org/home/2013/09/27/the-right-to-stay-home-how-us-policy-drives-mexican-migration/

    KPFA - Upfront with Brian Edwards Tiekert
    https://soundcloud.com/kpfa-fm-94-1-berkeley/david-bacon-on-upfront-9-20

    Photoessay:  My Studio is the Street
    http://artofthecommune.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/my-studio-is-the-street-photoessay-by-david-bacon/

    Photoessay:  Mexico City marches against NAFTA and to protect its oil and electricity
    http://desinformemonos.org/2014/02/veinte-anos-de-tlc-veinte-anos-de-resistencia/

    Nativo Lopez dialogues with David Bacon on Radio Hermandad
    http://radiohermandad.blogspot.com

    The Real News:  Immigration Reform Requires Dismantling NAFTA and Respecting Migrants' Rights/ Immigrant Communities Resist Deportations
    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10938
    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10933



    the christian science monitor
    Posted by at

    Monday, December 01, 2014

    Are there any Blacks on CBS?

    As Ava and C.I.. note in "TV: Blackish proves ABC still doesn't know from fu...," Tracee Ross Ellis (Diana's daughter) is very funny on "Blackish."

    It's too bad she's the only thing that works on the show.  I agree with them, the show needs to be filmed in front of a studio audience.

    Anyway. 

    I was talking with them and Ann about the Black actresses this year.

    And there are some great performances.

    Kerry Washington is doing great work on "Scandal."

    Viola Davis is amazing on "How To Get Away With Murder" and so much better than the scripts.

    Jada Pinkett Smith is frightening as a mob boss wanting to move up the chain in "Gotham."

    Alfre Woodard is brilliant on "State of Affairs."

    There are a lot of great Black actors this season as well -- my personal favorite is Laz Alonso who is on "The Mysteries of Laura."

    But where are the Black actresses and actors on CBS?

    I am not joking?

    Like "Madam Secretary" -- what an embarrassment.

    Morgan Freeman, a Black man, is one of the producers and the only Black performer is an assistant -- a minor one -- to Tea Lenoi's character.

    We've not come a long way baby on that show.

    We're still basically the slave to the White mistress.

    It's really disgusting and I'm really disgusted by all the critics who have praised that bad show and failed to point out that there is no Black character in a position of power.

    They have a White man as president.

    They have White cabinet members.

    It's a racist show and I really have lost respect for Tea Leoni.




    "Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):

    Monday, December 1, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, the UN lowballs the death toll yet again, Iraq's new prime minister makes efforts to address corruption, a US service member has died while deployed in Barack's war against the Islamic State, and much more.

    Let's start in the US where two people don't have a grip on the facts: Jason Ditz and Medea Benjamin.

    Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) argues the US focus keeps shifting with regards to the Islamic State.

    That's a solid observation.

    This isn't:


    At the start of the war, Mount Sinjar was the clear focus, and the conflict was even couched as a humanitarian intervention specifically for the refugees there. When the refugee situation turned out to be dramatically overstated, the focus shifted toward ISIS in Iraqi Kurdistan and then Syria.

    Mount Sinjar?

    Never solved.  Yazidis are still held hostage -- at last count, it was 400 families.

    The US didn't rescue anyone.  Those who were rescued by the Peshmerga (elite Kurdish force).

    In October, Susan Rice went on Meet The Press.  Pressed to cite a 'success' for the White House in Iraq, she declared it was the rescue of the hostages on Mount Sinjar.

    Less than 36 hours later, it was revealed that thousands of Yazidis remained hostages on Mount Sinjar.

    Antiwar.com could have run with that.

    Except it's the home of the pig-headed male.

    I am not 100% right.

    I'm wrong often.

    When I am, I say so.

    The head of Antiwar.com, Justin Raimondo, decided to mock the Yazidis and their plight.

    And that became the default position of Antiwar.com.

    We pointed out here that nothing was going to be accomplished by Raimondo's nonsense except turning people off to what was being dubbed an "isolationist" position.  The American press wanted more war and was already ridiculing and admonishing those of us against more war on Iraq.

    And then comes Justin playing into every stereotype of Ugly American.

    Children are being terrorized -- as were adults -- and Justin's mocking it.

    Nothing did more damage to the position of 'antiwar' than Justin's bulls**t.

    He wanted to stop further war?

    Well his ridicule of those suffering wasn't the way to do it.

    For those making up their minds and those with a stance that was weak, the response to Justin's mocking of the suffering of the Yazidis was to recoil in disgust.

    He did real damage to the 'antiwar' group.  (I belong to the peace movement.)

    Justin staked out a position and he's too pigheaded, even now, to admit he was wrong.

    This attitude?  It's not antiwar.

    It's exactly why the world has so many wars.

    People stake out a position and refuse to modify it or to admit they were wrong.

    Justin can pretend to be antiwar all he wants but the reality is his mocking of the Yazidis did real damage.

    Jason Ditz could probably write the truth, but this is Jason who praised Nouri al-Maliki, remember?

    The thug and War Criminal was hero worshiped by Scott Horton (dee jay, not Harper's writer and college professor) and when Jason was a guest on the show, he'd join in on the grooviness of Nouri.

    Even though Ned Parker had already exposed the torture chambers Nouri was running, even though Nouri had already launched a witch hunt on Iraqi's LGBT community and much more.

    Let's move over to Medea Benjamin.  At the Guardian, she has a column noting the press' inability to question the war claims of the White House.  That's a good topic.  It's one we cover repeatedly.  Medea points out how fear was used to frighten people -- yeah, we covered that months ago.  Thanks for catching up, Medea.

    We've also been covering the killing of civilians in the US-led air bombing campaign.

    We've noted the inability of the western media to cover those deaths and how, if they were being covered, some of the public support for the bombings -- support in the US -- would erode.  So by all means, Medea, please work your way over to that part of the topic real soon.

    Medea writes:

    Day after day, night after night, the press relied on propaganda from both Isis and the US government to whip up fear and a thirst for revenge in the American public. Gruesome beheading videos distributed by Isis were played over and over. The media not only regurgitated official US messages but packaged them better than the government itself ever could. 

    What is she saying, what does she mean?

    We've covered this.

    The US press did not cover all the beheadings.  They only cared about Americans and the first death horrified them because of their own huge egos and vanity run amok.


    Once upon a time, when the press was supposed to strive for objectivity and to be impartial, there were questions about women reporters and abortion.  Could women cover the topic and be impartial?

    Regardless of what camp you fall into on that question (I don't think most people impartial on the topic -- I'm firmly pro-choice), the reality is the press is not impartial.

    Steven Sotloff and James Foley got attention -- got round the clock attention -- from the US media because they were reporters.

    You did not, as a news consumer, get coverage of those beheadings.

    You got obsessive cries from a self-interested group that doesn't give a damn when it's an aid worker beheaded by the Islamic State.

    We made that comment in real time, we were correct as demonstrated by the deaths that followed and the lack of media coverage of them.

    The press loves war, no question.

    But the beheadings resulted in overheated 'coverage' that was nonstop and the reason for that was that the press was having a panic attack, a guttural cry of, "It could have been me!"


    When that happens, when the media makes themselves the story, it's not just embarrassing, it's bad journalism.

    If Stoloff and Foley's lives (and deaths) mattered (and I believe they did), then so did the others who were beheaded but were reduced to a single sentence in a generic report because they weren't reporters.

    There was no grand conspiracy (unless Medea's arguing that the White House gave orders to the Islamic State to kill the two reporters).

    The deaths just played into the US press' own vanity and they went crazy with it.


    Today the arrest of federal police chief Abdul Hadi Saleh was ordered.  Iraq Times reports Minister of the Interior Mohammed Salem Ghaban ordered the arrest due to corruption with regards to salaries.  Corruption has been the focus of the last days in Iraq.  Loveday Morris (Washington Post via Stars and Stripes) reports:

    The Iraqi army has been paying salaries to at least 50,000 soldiers who don't exist, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday, an indication of the level of corruption that permeates an institution that the United States has spent billions on equipping and arming.
    A preliminary investigation into so-called "ghost soldiers" — whose salaries are being drawn but who are not in military service — revealed the tens of thousands of false names on Ministry of Defense rolls, Abadi told parliament Sunday. Follow-up investigations are expected to uncover "more and more," he added.


    And today brought news of the Ministry of Interior, not just the arrest warrant already noted but also the firing of other members.  Al Arabiya reports:
     
    Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday said he has retired 24 senior interior ministry officers, a day after he vowed to widen a crackdown on corruption in the crisis-stricken country.

    According to Abadi's official Twitter feed, the move is part of “efforts to reform and rebuild Iraq’s security institutions.”

    Who can you blame the corruption on?

    There is one person you can blame the corruption.

    He was the last Minister of Defense.

    He was also the last Minister of the Interior.

    Nouri al-Maliki, forever thug and former prime minister of Iraq.

    In 2010, the White House got him a second term by ignoring the votes and the voters and using a legal contract (The Erbil Agreement) to give Nouri a second term.  To get political leaders to sign that contract, it also included promises for them.  But Nouri never honored those promises.  He used the contract to get a second term and then refused to implement the legal promises he made in the contract.

    By the start of 2011, he still hadn't nominated people to head the security ministries.  While the western press -- especially US 'reporters' -- rush to insist it was only a matter of weeks until he nominated people for the posts, Ayad Allawi declared it wouldn't happen.  He called it a power grab.

    Who was right?

    The press or Allawi?

    Allawi.

    Nouri's second term ended this past summer.

    And Iraq had no Minister of Defense, no Minister of Interior.

    Had he nominated people for those posts and Parliament confirmed them, the individuals would be in charge of the ministries and Nouri couldn't get rid of them.  Only Parliament could remove them.

    So instead Nouri put his flunkies into the unconstitutional post of 'acting ministers.'  This allowed him to control the two ministries.

    During this period, violence increased.

    That's on Nouri.

    The Constitution of Iraq did not make one person prime minister and Minister of Interior and Minister of Defense -- and Minister of National Security -- another post Nouri refused to fill.  For those who missed it, back in July of 2012,  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."

    Nouri instituted a power grab and he should have been held accountable.

    That sadly didn't happen.

    But he can be held accountable now.

    Corruption in the two ministries?

    Nouri was the one in charge of them.  The blame falls on him.

    Al Quds' Said Arikat raised the corruption issue in today's State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Jen Psaki.
    QUESTION: Can we go to Iraq? I wonder if you have any comments on the ghost soldiers that apparently have been on the payroll in Iraq and whether the United States of America has raised this issue.

     MS. PSAKI: Well, I think, Said, as you know, this is an issue that, in fact, the prime minister raised in terms of his concerns about the number of ghost soldiers in the Iraqi army. We’ve seen his comments. We’re certainly encouraged that he continues to take steps to establish a more professional military force in Iraq. This follows his announcement – and there’s been a series of steps he’s taken, one on November 12th of the relief or retirement of 36 army officers, and the appointment of 18 new commanders as part of an effort towards rooting out corruption in Iraq’s defense establishment. We’re encouraged by these steps that follow other military realignments in September and the disbanding of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief. So we’ve seen him take a series of steps to create a more professional and unified military force, and that certainly is encouraging.

     QUESTION: Okay. Now the United States being the primary trainer of the Iraqi military, how do they go about conducting or knowing that these units are good to train and these units are not good to train and so on? Is there – what is the criteria? How do they determine whether these are actual soldiers?

     MS. PSAKI: Well, I think you’ve seen the Department of Defense – and this is really a question more appropriately directed to them – speak to the assessment that they did over the last several months in terms of the needs of the Iraqi Security Forces and who needed more training, what different units may have been up to par and ready to move forward. But I’d point you to my colleagues over at the Defense Department.

     QUESTION: Yeah. But I ask because it’s also a policy question since the United States is planning to organize or create a national or – national guard from the Sunni tribes.

     MS. PSAKI: Well, it’s not the – let me be clear, Said. It’s not the United States. It certainly is an initiative we support, but the Government of Iraq is leading the initiative --

     QUESTION: The Government of Iraq. Okay.

     MS. PSAKI: -- to form a tribal force that would be part of the Iraqi Security Forces structure to counter ISIL.

     QUESTION: Okay. Because back in 2007 when – during the surge and one of the awakenings that were established, they were conducting themselves quite well. But then they inflated – I mean, the tribes inflated their numbers and so on to get basically a lot of money and a lot of funds which ushered in the collapse of the Iraqi army. I’m saying: How would you guard against this happening again?

     MS. PSAKI: Well, obviously, a number of steps have already been taken by the prime minister and by the central government to address this, and we certainly encourage those and will continue to have a discussion with them about what more can be done.

     QUESTION: And finally, President Masum, the Iraqi president, met with the Iranian ambassador yesterday and he, of course, acknowledged the role of Iran, that Iran plays a good role in terms of aiding Iraq in its fights against ISIS and al-Qaida. Do you have any comment on that?


     MS. PSAKI: I don’t. I would point you to them.


    Actually, Jen Psaki, the State Dept was put over the training of Iraqi forces by US President Barack Obama as far back as October 2011.  So even if DoD has been put in charge as of July or August of 2014, you should be able to offer some form of comment.



    Violence?  UNAMI released the following earlier today:

    Baghdad, 1 December 2014 – According to casualty figures released today by UNAMI, a total of 1,232 Iraqis were killed and another 2,434 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in November 2014.
    The number of civilians killed was 936 (including 61 civilian police), while the number of civilians injured was 1,826 (including 71 civilian police).  A further 296 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed (including Peshmerga, SWAT and militias fighting alongside Iraqi Army / not including casualties from Anbar Operations) and 608 were injured. 
    “With nearly 12,000 people killed and nearly 22,000 injured since the beginning of 2014, Iraqis continue to be daily subjected to the unspeakable horrors of killing, maiming, reign of terror, displacement, extreme forms of intolerance and poverty”, Mr. Mladenov said.  “I take this opportunity to continue encouraging the Iraqi political, religious and social leaders to act decisively to rise above their differences in order to resolve the pending political, social and economic problems, and restore confidence among Iraq’s communities, more particularly those disaffected groups, as part of consolidating the democratic process”.
    Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 1,253 civilian casualties (332 killed, 921 injured).  According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, the Governorate suffered a total of 1,026 civilian casualties (402 killed and 624 injured).  This included 71 killed and 437 injured in Ramadi and 331 killed and 187 injured in Fallujah.  Salah al-Din recorded 74 killed and 114 injured while Diyala recorded 37 killed and 71 injured.
    CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas.  Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted below.  In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents.  UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care.  For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum.
    Disclaimer: The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq undertakes monitoring of the impact of armed violence and terrorism on Iraqi civilians in accordance with its mandate.  UNAMI relies on direct investigation, along with credible secondary sources, in determining civilian casualties.  UNAMI figures are conservative and may under-report the actual number of civilians killed and injured for a variety of reasons.  Where different casualty figures are obtained for the same incident, the figure as verified by UNAMI is used.


    UNAMI and the UN have become a joke when it comes to Iraq.
    And if you want to know stupidity?  It's saying, "Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted below" when, in fact, they are not noted below.
    Who proofs these press releases?  
    The Anbar figure is always kept out of the headline total and reduced to the equivalent of a footnote.  That was clearly the plan again today.  But today, they couldn't even provide the figures even though they insisted they were "noted below."
    We used to note the daily violence and we'd do our monthly total and demonstrate how off the UN total was.  Events have allowed us to focus on other things.  We generally try to cite Margaret Griffis on the violence and include the Antiwar.com monthly total these days.
    But if you're not getting what an undercount that is, let's note some deaths today.

    AFP reports, "At least 16 Iraqi border guards were killed on Monday (Dec 1) in a dawn assault by the Islamic State militant group on their post near the Syrian frontier, provincial and security officials said."  AP adds, "Another five officers were wounded as the group continues its control of most of the border crossings between the two countries."  Alsumaria notes a mortar attack to the south of Tikrit left 2 people dead and five more injured.  Mu Xuequan (Xinhau) reports 7 militants were killed in Sarha, 12 were killed north of Maqdadiyah, the Islamic State killed "12 Shiite militiamen" in a battle, and 1 Islamic State member was shot dead outside Duluiyah.

    Now those are just some of the reported deaths.

    And Xinhua counts 67 dead from violence today.  This wasn't a typical day, it's actually a slow day.

    Multiply the slow day times 30 and realize what a joke the UN's November death toll is.

    Let's stay with deaths.

    Another US service member has died in Barack's never-ending wars.  AP reports DoD spokesperson Steve Warren announced a Air Force pilot's F-16 crashed yesterday killing the pilot who was "returning to its base in the Middle East."  The Defense Dept insists this doesn't qualify as a death in Iraq or Syria.

    That is shameful.

    The pilot died on a mission, the pilot was deployed.

    Stop being so disgusting, so craven, that you'll dishonor the dead by lying.

    He or she is a fatality in the ongoing wars.

    And there may be more.   Jon Harper (Stars and Stripes) reports:

     Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will soon head to Iraq to participate in Operation Inherent Resolve, the Pentagon announced Monday.
    About 250 soldiers from the division’s 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment — based at Fort Bragg, N.C. — will begin to deploy later this month.

    Their assignment will be “to conduct security operations in support of the mission to protect U.S. personnel and facilities,” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters.

    And if you want to be more discouraged, let's return to today's State Dept press briefing.  We've noted the upcoming diplomacy meet-up which the State Dept has failed to promote.

    Why?

    Apparently because they don't know a damn thing about it.

    When Jen Psaki should be selling this as a major push towards the political solution Barack has insisted was needed, she's instead stumbling and unsure of what's about to take place this week.  When will she brush up on the meet-up?

    QUESTION: Can we stay on Iraq, please?

     MS. PSAKI: Sure.

     QUESTION: I’d like to ask about the meeting in Brussels this week. The first --

     MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm. The coalition meeting?

     QUESTION: The coalition meeting, yeah. This is the first ministerial level meeting of the coalition?

     MS. PSAKI: Yes, mm-hmm.

     QUESTION: Could you just give us a bit more on what you’re hoping --

     MS. PSAKI: Well, there was – I think yes, it is.

     QUESTION: There was --

     MS. PSAKI: There was the meeting --

     QUESTION: -- in Kuwait.

     MS. PSAKI: -- in Kuwait.

     QUESTION: Yeah.

     MS. PSAKI: And there was also the meeting that took place – I believe it was earlier, even before Kuwait, that was sort of an early meeting --

     QUESTION: Right, yes.

     MS. PSAKI: -- of some of these European members. Just to be totally clear.

     QUESTION: New York.

     MS. PSAKI: Correct. There have been a couple of meetings, but go ahead.

     QUESTION: All right, okay. So it’s not the first ministerial meeting, then. It’s the --

     MS. PSAKI: Well, this is the first – this is significant in that you have representatives from the 60 coalition partner countries, or many of them, who will be attending. Obviously, we’re now a couple of months in, still early into this effort to degrade and defeat ISIL. It’s an opportunity to take stock of where things stand, obviously, discuss what needs to happen from here, provide updates on where countries stand. Certainly, General Allen will be playing a prominent role in this meeting. The Secretary will also be delivering remarks and I believe kicking the meeting off. So it’s an opportunity to do that where many of the countries will be already in the region for – whether it’s NATO or other meetings happening this week.

     QUESTION: Do you expect something concrete to come out of it in terms of sort of where we go, a timetable, or deliverables, as you like to say?

     MS. PSAKI: Well, I certainly don’t want to get ahead of the meeting, but I think the purpose is more to take stock and to determine – continue to coordinate from here. As we all know, we – the Secretary participates in a great deal of phone diplomacy, but always doing that in person he finds to be more effective. That’s true I think of many of these countries as well, and so this is an opportunity to have them all there in person.

     QUESTION: And you mentioned again about the 60 coalition countries. Have any more come on board since the last list that you --
    MS. PSAKI: We regularly update on our website. I don’t have any new countries to update, but I would point you to there and we can certainly check. I expect as we get closer to the meeting we’ll have a more specific list of the participants.


    Again, the State Dept should be hard selling this meet-up.  They've done damn little with regards to efforts at diplomacy.  This meet-up should be big news.  So why is it that it's not treated as such?





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    Saturday, November 29, 2014

    If you're looking for a great read . . .

    I am a social person.

    But not Friday at work.

    Usually, I eat with friends.

    Friday, I went off by myself at lunch with Brooke Shield's book "There Was A Little Girl."


    I just finished it today.

    What a great book.

    It's an honest look at a mother-daughter relationship that isn't mean spirited the way it could have been.

    Teri Shields was the ultimate stage mother but Brooke makes clear her mother was also a great deal more.

    And Brooke's written a book that really pulls you in.

    We're about to start voting for our books of the year in Martha and Shirley's annual poll and I will be using my first choice for this book.

    I think it's the book I've most enjoyed this decade so far, not just this year.

    There's a riveting narrative and many important moments told in style that is fresh and alive.

    If you're looking for a great read, this is it.

    You'll also realize The View should have made Brooke one of their permanent hosts because she doesn't just have a hundred and one interesting stories, she knows how to share them in such a way that you feel part of them.






    "Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):

    Saturday, November 29, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, more civilians are killed in the US-led air campaign, despite announcements no budget bill is read in Parliament, corruption remains rampant, and much more.



    In a letter to the editors of the Houston Chronicle, Carl Schiro asks a question no one seems able to answer:

    Regarding "Corruption hobbles Iraq's military efforts" (Page A1, Monday), why is our government still sending our troops and money to such a corrupt country?


    Can anyone answer that question?  The article Schiro's referring to is David D. Kirkpatrick (New York Times via Hamilton Spectator) report on Iraqi forces:

                                 
    The Iraqi military and police forces had been so thoroughly pillaged by their own corrupt leadership that they all but collapsed this spring in the face of the advancing militants of the Islamic State — despite roughly $25 billion worth of U.S. training and equipment over the past 10 years and far more from the Iraqi treasury.                         


    Now maybe if there had been work on the political solution -- the one US President Barack Obama has spent months giving lip service to -- corruption could have been dealt with.

    Instead, Barack's planning a work-around.  Francesca Chambers (Daily Mail) notes:


    The U.S. military has decided against rebuilding the entire Iraqi army and will instead focus on training a handful of brigades to take on Islamic radicals, initiating a shift in the Pentagon's decade-long approach to the handling the country.
    'The idea is, at least in the first instance, to try and build a kind of leaner, meaner Iraqi army,' a senior U.S. official told the Washington Post.
    Officials who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity said the military plans to create nine new Iraqi army brigades of up to 45,000 light-infantry soldiers over the course of the next two months and team them with other Kurdish and Shiite fighters. 

    So the problem is being labeled as "corruption" and the US government thinks the way to handle/address that is to just make smaller units?

    That 'solution' -- laughable as it is -- certainly makes more sense than the Iraqi government's response.


    Michael Gregory (Reuters) reports that Minister of Finance Hoshyar Zebari has stated that the military will take up about 23% of the proposed budget for 2015 and he's also calling "for deep-rooted reforms to stamp out corruption in a military that collapsed in the face of an Islamic State advance."

    Yes, by all means, put nearly a quarter of your annual budget into a military machine known for its corruption.

    Don't root out the corruption, just toss more money at it.

    A quarter of your budget, for example.

    Since the US isn't planning on any major actions until at least February, there's nore than enough time to address graft in the Iraqi military.

    In fact, doing so would expose a mountain of corruption because as members of this political party or slate go down, you can rest assured they will take others down with them.  Meaning?  A State of Law military official goes down for corruption, they'll rat out someone in the Ministry of Transportation and so on and so on.

    Corruption is rampant in Iraq.


    That's why Transparency International ranks Iraq the 171st least transparent country or territory on a list of 177 for 2013.  This is not a new development.  In 2009, Barack was sworn in as president.  Transparency International's finds for 2009?  Iraq was ranked the 176th least transparent. (For those who want to trumpet the 'success' in Iraq moving from 176 to 171, please note that the 2009 list included 180 listings.They dropped three.  So Iraq really just moved one spot.)

    In 2009, Patrick Cockburn (at CounterPunch) pointed out, "Iraq is the world’s premier kleptomaniac state. According to Transparency International the only countries deemed more crooked than Iraq are Somalia and Myanmar, while Haiti and Afghanistan rank just behind. In contrast to Iraq, which enjoys significant oil revenues, none of these countries have much money to steal."  Bill Van Auken (World Socialist Web Site) also noted the Transparency International 2009 report:

    In relation to Iraq, the report found rampant corruption as well, with corrupt government officials operating with impunity. It cited a recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation stating that in Iraq “non-security institutions remain weak and debilitated. The Iraqi leadership faces many structural constraints on governance, such as a massive brain drain, a high level of political division, and extreme poverty.”

    Across the political spectrum, the corruption has been noted repeatedly and consistently.  For example, early this year the right-wing Heritage Foundation noted of Iraq:

    Corruption is pervasive at all levels of government. There are widespread reports of demands by officials for bribes, mismanagement of public funds, payments to “ghost” employees, salary skimming, and nepotism. Although judicial independence is guaranteed in the constitution, judges are subject to immense political and sectarian pressure and are viewed by the public as corrupt or ineffective. Property rights are not well protected.


    And if you need a government source, here's the US Embassy in Baghdad:

    Corruption remains a salient feature of the political and economic landscape of Iraq and poses and threatens its full economic and social development.  Mitigating corruption’s corrosive effects on Iraq’s reconstruction requires continued USG engagement – both in terms of programs and in terms of bringing political and diplomatic pressure to bear on Iraqi leaders. 


    With all the above in mind, let's return to the question that opens Carl Schiro's letter to the editors of the Houston Chronicle:

    Regarding "Corruption hobbles Iraq's military efforts" (Page A1, Monday), why is our government still sending our troops and money to such a corrupt country?


    It's not a hidden factor.  In June, Richard Engel (NBC News -- link is text and video) interviewed Iraqi forces and they repeatedly cited corruption as the country's "biggest enemy."

    And as Patrick Cockburn (at the Independent) pointed out last year, the corruption was predicted at the start of the Iraq War:

     A few months before the invasion, an Iraqi civil servant secretly interviewed in Baghdad made a gloomy forecast. “The exiled Iraqis are the exact replica of those who currently govern us… with the sole difference that the latter are already satiated since they have been robbing us for the past 30 years,” he said. “Those who accompany the US troops will be ravenous.”
    Many of the Iraqis who came back to Iraq after the US-led invasion were people of high principle who had sacrificed much as opponents of Saddam Hussein. But fast forward 10 years and the prediction of the unnamed civil servant about the rapacity of Iraq’s new governors turns out to have been all too true. As one former minister puts it, “the Iraqi government is an institutionalised kleptocracy”.

    Cockburn spent the last years worshipping the Shi'ites and spitting on the Sunnis so it's really hard for him to name names when covering the continued disintegration of Iraq.

    But there are names to be named.

    Chief among them Nouri al-Maliki.

    In 2006, the White House demanded Nouri al-Maliki be named prime minister (the Iraqi Parliament wanted Ibraham al-Jafaari).  In 2010, the White House demanded Nouri get a second term and, having lost the election, the White House offered a legal contract (The Erbil Agreement) to give Nouri a second term.

    Which means from spring 2006 to summer 2014, Nouri al-Maliki ruled Iraq.

    And corruption thrived.

    This despite Nouri insisting he would take on corruption -- repeatedly insisting.  But it's kind of hard to do that when you're part of the corruption.  Pennies found in sofa cushions don't buy all the sports cars Nouri's son zips around London in nor did they buy the swank home.

    Back in June, Zaid al-Ali (Foreign Policy) explained:


    Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki established a new political alliance, the State of Law alliance, which campaigned on a platform of re-establishing strong state institutions, reducing corruption, and providing adequate services to the people. The Iraqiya alliance, another large and newly formed coalition, backed a similar platform. The tantalizing prospects of establishing a new political environment and creating a stable state seemed within reach.
    It never happened. Rather than consolidating these gains, several factors began working against Iraq's national cohesion as early as 2010. Maliki's government used "de-Baathification" laws, introduced to keep members of Saddam Hussein's regime out of government, to target his opponents -- but not his many allies, who also had been senior members of the Baath Party. The 2010 government formation process turned out to be yet another opportunity for politicians of all stripes to grant themselves senior positions which they could use to plunder the state. When tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in February 2011 to protest corruption, they were branded terrorists and were attacked and beaten by security forces and hired thugs. Dozens were killed and thousands arrested and tortured until the protests fizzled. Meanwhile, though terrorist groups were not operating as openly as before, hundreds of civilians continued to be killed every month, particularly in Baghdad, denying Iraqis in many parts of the country even a brief period of normalcy.

    At that time, Maliki began referring to himself publicly as Iraq's preeminent military leader. When the 2010 electoral results did not conform to his expectations, he demanded a recount in his "capacity as commander in chief." When he forced senior anti-corruption officials from their positions, he once again inappropriately invoked his military credentials. He called officers on their mobile phones to demand specific actions or that individuals be arrested, circumventing the chain of command. After the new government was formed in November 2010, he refused to appoint ministers of the interior and of defense, preferring to occupy both positions himself. He appointed senior military commanders directly, instead of seeking parliamentary approval as required by the constitution. 


    Nouri should be in prison.

    Instead, he's now a vice president of Iraq -- one of three.

    And he's visiting Shi'ite enclaves and denouncing the current prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, denouncing him as an appeaser to the Kurds and Shi'ites, trying to sew unrest.

    Some in the intelligence community are saying the answer is "bullet to the head."

    Regardless, having destroyed Iraq, Nouri's not content.  He's attempting to start a revolt against the current government.

    And his attempts grow only more desperate as he sees some of his cronies kicked to the curb.  From the November 12th snapshot:

    The Iraq Embassy in DC issued the following today:


     Prime Minister Dr. Haider Al-Abadi in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces visited Baghdad Operations Command on November 10, 2014 and held an extended meeting with commanders and officers from various units of the Armed Forces.
    He hailed the efforts of Baghdad Operations Command, calling on its officers to firmly deal with organized crime and enforce severe measures against criminals who seek to undermine Baghdad’s security environment.
    The Prime Minister also stressed the need to work hard to address serious challenges that threaten our society. He confirmed that the Ministry of Interior would resume responsibility for the management of security in Baghdad and noted the government’s determination to remove all concrete barriers in the city of Baghdad. The Prime Minister announced plans to remove road blocks that do not contribute to enhanced security and noted that the issue must be dealt with professionally and thoughtfully in order to ease traffic for the residents of Baghdad. In addition, the Prime Minister noted intentions to open access to parts of the Green Zone and stressed the need for vigilance against terrorists who seek to exploit these new measures.
    Prime Minister Al-Abadi also discussed a number of issues related to living conditions and traffic accidents in the city of Baghdad, and issued several executive orders in this regard.
    On November 12, 2014, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Dr. Haidar Al-Abadi issued executive orders to relieve 26 military commanders from their posts and retire an additional 10 commanders. He also appointed 18 military officers to senior posts within the Ministry of Defense as part of ongoing efforts to professionalize Iraq’s military institutions and root out corruption in its various forms.
    Prime Minister Al-Abadi also met in his office today a number of military commanders from the Armed Forces. During the meeting, he stressed the need for Iraq’s military leadership to exhibit efficiency, integrity and courage so that soldiers can rally behind their commanders and fight effectively, adding that any assessment of the armed forces should be based on these merits.
    Prime Minster Al-Abadi said that the Iraqi Army’s losses were the result of many complicated internal, external and political factors, stressing the need to restore confidence in the security forces through real action and by combating corruption at the individual and institutional levels. He emphasized his strong support for this approach, stressing the need to act swiftly, particularly given that the military enjoys considerable political and popular support, in addition to backing from the religious establishments.
    The Prime Minister noted that the army is the defender of the homeland, and in the near future will seek to limit its task to defending Iraq's borders, while transferring security responsibilities to the Ministry of Interior and other security agencies.

    The Prime Minster highlighted the great victories achieved by our armed forces on various fronts and their determination to liberate every inch of Iraqi territory in cooperation with the people of the provinces. 

    Many outlets reported on the above -- AFP, the Associated Press, etc.  But no one pointed out the obvious re: firing the commander over Anbar.
    Since January, the Iraqi military has been bombing residential neighborhoods in Falluja (and in other Anbar cities, but Falluja's been bombed daily since the start of the year).  September 13th, Haider al-Abadi announced that the bombings would cease.  (The bombings fit the legal definition of War Crimes.  They are collective punishment.)  Despite that announcement, the bombings have continued.
    Anbar's military command has refused to follow the orders of al-Abadi who is supposed to be commander in chief of the Iraqi military.
    That's kind of a key detail and one that everyone left out in their so-called reports.
    David D. Kirkpatrick (New York Times) reports on the firings and forgets the issue of the bombing of Falluja's residential areas.  But he gets credit for noting that al-Abadi appears to have ignored the role Parliament is supposed to play in this sort of action and that he mirrors Nouri al-Maliki in that.  He also gets credit for this:


    Mr. Abadi was elected three months ago, with strong American backing, on a pledge to build a more inclusive and responsive government after the divisive eight-year rule of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
    Mr. Maliki is a senior leader of a political faction based in the Shiite Muslim majority, and he is widely blamed by many Iraqis and the White House for cronyism, nepotism and police abuses that alienated the Sunni Muslim population, opening doors to the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State. As prime minister, he was a strongman who kept tight control of the security services, and he stacked the military’s top ranks with loyalists rather than the most competent officers, contributing to the erosion of the military’s fighting ability.

    It's a detail that, for example, AP leaves out. 


    Barack's small, mobile units choice (it's not a plan) is based in part on sidestepping Nouri's flunkies and sidelining Nouri.


    What happens if you call out corruption?

    Thursday may have provided an answer.

     All Iraq News reported:

    The Representative of the Supreme Religious Authority, Ali al-Sistani,and the headmaster of the Jaafariya Religious School in the Pakistani Capital, Islam Abad, was killed by the criminals of the terrorist Jaish Sahaba organization.


    The murder can be seen as retaliation.  Dropping back to the November 8th snapshot:

    Friday, Raheem Salman (Reuters) reported major news:

     Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric said on Friday that corruption in the armed forces had enabled Islamic State to seize much of northern Iraq, criticism that will pressure the government to enact reforms in the face of an insurgency.
    Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has become increasingly critical of Iraqi leaders since Islamic State's lightning advance created Iraq's worst crisis since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
    al-Sistani could determine elections, so great is his influence.  And he's a key figure the United States government seeks out whenever they attempt (half-assed or fully) an effort in Iraq.
    While he remains politically neutral for the most part, he can remain pointedly politically neutral.
    By 2011, it was clear al-Sistani was done with Nouri al-Maliki.  The protesters' demands were being ignored and that appeared to bother al-Sistani a great deal.  By the time the spring of 2012 rolled around and with Nouri facing real trouble, al-Sistani pointedly sat out on the issue of a no-vote in Parliament. 
    Though he was asked to weigh in and call for the proposal to be set aside, he pointedly refused to comment one way or another allowing the measure to move forward.  (Then-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani would kill the effort at the end of May 2012.)
    His remarks today are significant in the timing.  While many others say similar things privately (Ammar al-Hakim, to name but one), al-Sistani is going public and doing so very early in Haider al-Abadi's tenure as prime minister which can be seen as al-Sistani putting the new government on notice that it needs to get its act together and do so quickly.
    The Grand Ayatollah wasn't the only one making statements today.  All Iraq News reports, "The Religious Authority represented by Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalayi, called Authority called politicians to understand their huge responsibility at current critical stage."


    The US-led air strike campaign continued in Iraq today.

    It's just supposed to kill 'militants' or 'terrorists' but that's how it works in a video game, not in the real world.  Michael Gregory (Reuters) reports on the latest civilians killed by this 'plan' to bring 'freedom' to Iraq, the dead included 17 civilians from the Albu Hishma tribe -- a tribe which is fighting the Islamic State.

    In news of other 'liberation' and 'freedom,' Iraqi Spring MC reports security forces shot dead an elderly woman in Bahgdad. On Friday, Iraqi Spring MC notes, 14 civilians were killed or injured by the Iraqi military continuing to bomb residential neighborhoods in Falluja.  Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 126 people killed throughout Iraq on Friday with another 38 left injured.




    Turning to the political . . .





    • What a great picture -- all those men and one token woman.  That's the way Nouri's State of Law has always been.


    Dropping back to yesterday:



    All Iraq News reports Speaker of Parliament Saleem al-Jobouri states the budget should be received by Parliament on Saturday.  This is the fourth time he's announced that, for those keeping track.
    In addition, Parliament has still not received the 2014 budget.
    National Iraqi News Agency adds, "MP, of the Citizen bloc , Hashim al-Moussawi said the House will extend its legislative term in the session of the House of Representatives session will be held on Saturday." al-Moussawi believes that they will receive both the 2015 budget and the 2014 one.


    So what happened?

    All Iraq News notes 225 MPs showed up for today's session.

    And?

    No budget.


    All Iraq News notes al-Jobouri declared today that the budget will be read tomorrow.

    It could happen.

    It could also turn out that the bill for the proposed budget doesn't get read.

    But, if you're keeping track, this is the fifth time the Speaker of Parliament has announced the budget law would be read.












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