Wednesday, August 09, 2017

Crooked Loretta Lynch

Oh, Loretta Lynch.

She really disgraced herself a summer ago but it now it appears it was worse than disgrace.


THE DAILY CALLER reports:

Like her predecessor, Eric Holder, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch used an email alias to conduct government business, The Daily Caller has confirmed.
Several of Lynch’s emails were included in 413 pages of DOJ documents provided to the conservative groups Judicial Watch and the American Center for Law and Justice. Both groups had filed lawsuits for records regarding Lynch’s controversial meeting with President Bill Clinton at the Phoenix airport last June 27.
Using the pseudonym “Elizabeth Carlisle,” Lynch corresponded with DOJ press officials to hammer out talking points in response to media requests about the meeting. The tarmac encounter drew criticism from conservatives because Lynch was overseeing the federal investigation into whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information on her private email system.

The meeting was revealed not by Lynch, Clinton or the Justice Department, but by a reporter in Phoenix working based on a tip.


And, worse, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER reports:

An attorney in the Justice Department who helped edit press statements about the tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch is now a top attorney for Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is currently investigating Lynch over concerns she may have tried to influence the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton.
The connection, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, comes after hundreds of pages of emails about the infamous "tarmac" meeting were released by two conservative watchdog groups who had filed Freedom of Information Act requests for documents about the meeting from the Justice Department.


Paige Herwig was a counselor to the then-Attorney General Lynch in 2016 when the airplane meeting between Clinton and Lynch took place. According to her LinkedIn profile and other sources, she now serves as the deputy general counsel for the minority in the Senate Judiciary.

Paige Herwig needs to step down.

And someone needs to explain how the hell she got to be part of the investigation.

Talk about crooked.


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Wednesday, August 9, 2017.  The quest for Kurdish independence continues, the brain drain continues, the displacement is expected to grow.



Let's start with the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government.



President Barzani: It is an honor to have this meeting w/Kurdistan Muslim clerics 2explain the way forward . Referandum is for independence
 
 
 



Now Preisdent Barzani in Erbil meeting w/1000 Kurdistan Muslim clerics.Referendum is not only for Kurds,for all other nations in Kurdistan.
 
 
 



President Barzani: Iraq failed 2accept Kurdistan partnership. Destruction 4500villages,Anfal, chemical bombardment,genocide, arabization.
 
 
 




President Barzani: The Post 2003 Iraq failed Partnership,no power sharing, 55 articles of constitution violated,marginalizing Sunnis, Kurds.
 
 

President Barzani: We contributed a lot to make Iraq a functioning federal state. In 2004 Kurds were 40% of Iraqi Army, now it is zero.
 
 
 


President Barzani: We hav stated many times if Iraq continues in violating constitution,not accepting consensus, we will not b part of Iraq.
 
 




President Barzani: those countries who say the referendum is ill timed, what is their suggestion for a good time? What is alternative?
 
 



If not now, then when?

KRG President Massoud Barzani makes a good point there.


Repeatedly over the years, various think tanks -- including RAND -- have warned that this issue has the potential to be an explosive one.

Which is why you don't leave it on the backburner.

If this had been addressed in 2007, for example, any fallout could have been addressed by now.


Grasp that the US military remains in Iraq.

Grasp that some will always insist that the US military remains.

The longer this issue of independence is postponed, the longer some will insist the US must remain in Iraq.

KURDISTAN 24 reports:

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has scheduled and insists on holding a referendum on independence for the Kurdistan Region on Sep. 25, 2017, to decide whether or not to secede from the rest of Iraq.
Barzani stated that the move toward independence is part of a peaceful process aimed at deterring violence. “The main purpose [of the referendum] is to prevent further tragedies and wars from taking place[in the future].”
Regarding the timing of the vote, the President noted that if the Kurdistan Region waited for others to accept its decision, the right time would never come.

“Independence is a legitimate claim for our people, and the referendum can rightfully be held, at the earliest opportunity, so the world can be made aware of the will of the people of Kurdistan… We do not want to spend another 100-years repeating the same tragedies tied to the Iraqi state.”



What a change that is from the Jalal Talabani -- the ridiculous Jalal.


Dropping back to the March 16, 2009 snapshot:


Meanwhile Hurriyet reports:

Talabani told a Turkish newspaper in an interview published on Monday that it would not be realistic to believe that an independent Kurdish state could survive as it is likely that neighboring countries Turkey , Iran and Syria would close their borders.          
"I tell my Turkish brothers not to fear that Kurds will declare independence. It is an advantage for Kurds to stay within the borders of Iraq in terms of their economic, cultural, social and political interests," he told in the interview.

 

Sabah got the interview and they quote Talabani stating, "Iraq will not be separated and the civil war is over" and "The ideal of a united Kurdistan is just a dream written in poetry. I do not deny that there are poems devoted to the notion of a united Kurdistan. But we can not continue to dream." If accurate, Talabani's remarks will spark anger among some Kurds. And it may be a great deal of anger and it may be among many Iraqi Kurds.


Jalal Talabani, the sell out.  The only time he ever fought was to be first in line at the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Regardless of how the vote turns out, no one can claim Barzani didn't try.

Dropping back to last Friday:

In familiar news, Mustafa Habib (NIQASH) reports:
Last week, unknown assailants broke into the medical clinic of Iraqi doctor, Salim Abdul-Hamzah, in the Maamel neighbourhood of Baghdad. In other parts of Baghdad, two doctors were kidnapped: Mohammed Ali Zayer who works in a hospital in the Sadr City area and Saad Abdul Hur who had a private clinic in the New Baghdad neighbourhood. In the same week, a dentist, Shatha Faleh, was killed in a medical centre in the Washwash area.
All of the above happened within the space of just one week in Baghdad. No wonder Iraqi doctors are worried.

“The recent crime wave targeting Iraqi doctors is catastrophic for the country,” Jasib al-Hajami, a senior official in the Baghdad health department, told NIQASH. “The doctors and medical staff are the real wealth of our country and these crimes targeting them will push medical professionals out of Iraq. In fact, many of them have migrated or are thinking about migrating. More efforts must be made to protect them.”
On June 25, doctors in Baghdad and in other parts of the country organised sit-ins inside their local hospitals to protest the crime wave that appeared aimed at them and their colleagues. Their banners called upon the Ministry of Health to offer them better protection and the individuals protesting also warned of a decrease in the number of trained professionals in Iraq.

Familiar?

Longtime observers will read the above and nod while thinking of the "brain drain" as it was called in earlier waves.  Shi'ite militias targeted doctors throughout the Iraq War.  In part, it was a war on science.  The doctors and others with technical expertise that fled Iraq during the waves were part of a "brain drain."



This moring, Peter Schwartzstein (NEWSWEEK) reports:


Since the 2003 U.S. invasion, Baghdad’s intellectual and cultural elite has left its turbulent homeland, fleeing violence, persecution and an economy with fewer and fewer good jobs. Tens of thousands have moved to the U.S., where many have enjoyed considerable success. Over half a million others—including many of the country’s most educated people—have moved elsewhere in the Middle East. And their numbers have increased since the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) conquered up to 40 percent of the country in 2014.
ISIS has since been pushed out of most of Iraq, but many Iraqis aren’t returning. In countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and the Gulf states, talented Iraqi émigrés continue to staff hospitals, design roads, extract oil and lecture students. And as the country continues to bound from one crisis to the next, in part due to rampant corruption and mismanagement, its most educated citizens are succeeding in their new homes—and finding life in exile more and more appealing.
“We needed a safe environment to work and live, and they needed skilled labor,” says Ali Nawaz, a Saudi-based petroleum engineer, who skipped out of Baghdad after a death threat in 2006. “It’s been a good match.”



Whether more will leave Iraq in the coming weeks or not, displacement with Iraq is expected to increase.  NRT reports:

 The U.N.’s humanitarian aid coordinator for Iraq warned of possible evacuations of hundreds of thousands of civilians as the Iraqi forces prepare for three other operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) militants in the country.  
“We think that by the end of those military operations several hundred thousand more civilians are likely to be displaced,” Lise Grande told reporters on Tuesday (August 8) in Geneva.
Grande further said teams are moving to areas near the expected operations in Tal Afar near Mosul and Hawija in Kirkuk province to the southeast and the western Anbar province. 





The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, DISSIDENT VOICE and PACIFICA EVENING NEWS -- updated:


















  • iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq

    Tuesday, August 08, 2017

    There should be consequences

    Should I feel bad that bad tings happen to THE NEW REPUBLIC?


    Because I don't.

    Gee, remember when Foer siad was "Buchanan's Surefire Flop"? Who's the flopper now, Frankie? Hahahahahaha!



    Foer is a War Hawk who supported the Iraq War -- as did the rag itself.

    I could care less and, in fact, would love to watch it go under.

    Sorry, just not feeling it.

    If anything, I wish it would shut down for selling the Iraq War.

    There should be consequences.

    I'm not seeing any.

    In fact, so-called left MOTHER JONES seems to have a we only hire Iraq War supporters policy.



    "Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
    Tuesday, August 8, 2017.  Attention focuses on a bombing the killed several militia members.



    14 years and counting -- how's that war on Iraq 'improving' lives?

    This is how Iraqis live now.Listen to Al Sharqiya News in Iraq.



    That's 'progress.'  14 years later and counting.

    Does anyone remember the Iraq war and how well that worked out?



    Do you remember, Val, that the Iraq War continues?

    Valerie Plame was at war with her own agency.  The CIA is often at war with itself.  It's probably the only thing that's prevented its complete takeover of America.  Val stomped her feet and made a spectacle of herself.

    For those who don't remember, she was outed by the administration of Bully Boy Bush.

    For Val, the whole issue is Val.

    She's never really been able to speak to Iraq, of the ongoing war, of the dead.

    But damned if she couldn't hop in a convertible to pose for VANITY FAIR.

    Vanity's not fair and Valerie Plame's self-obsession goes a long ways towards explaining why the United States is still in Iraq.

    A book deal, Naomi Watts playing her in a movie, and Val's hungry ego has still not been satisfied.  Some day, it may be and she may get around to actually talking about Iraqis.

    The Iraq War hasn't helped the people of Iraq.

    Now it's even hurting the thugs in the militias.

    Most infamous for their attacks on Sunnis and their publicly professed loyalty to Iran, Iraq's Shi'ite militias number a few less as a result of a US action.

    XINHUA reports:

    A paramilitary Hashd Shaabi unit said Tuesday the U.S. forces pounded its posts near the border with Syria and killed dozens of its militants, warning that the attack will not go without punishment.
    The U.S. forces carried out "heavy bombardment on Monday morning on the posts of Sayyd al-Shuhadaa Brigades in Akashat area near the border with Syria, leaving large number of martyrs and wounded fighters," the unit said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.

    It said that group "holds the U.S. forces the responsibility for the consequences of the action. We declare that it will not go without punishment."


    AHLULBAYT NEWS AGENCY also notes the statement from the militia:


    The “criminal forces” of the US heavily pounded the positions of Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades along the common border between Iraq and Syria which led to the martyrdom and injuring of a large number of fighters, the statement said.

    “We declare that this move will not go unpunished,” the statement read. 



    ANADOLU AGENCY counts 30 militia members dead and eighty more injured in the bombing.  BBC NEWS also goes with 30 dead but counts eighty-five injured.

    BBC also notes the denial from coalition forces that they were involved in the bombing:



    Allegations of strikes vs. Popular Mobilization Forces near - border are INACCURATE. No Coalition strikes there ATT



    PRESS TV adds, "In the statement, the brigades called on the Iraqi government to launch an extensive investigation into the incident, while noting that the US’ actions will not remain unanswered."


    Some feel there are additional motives behind whatever happened:





    And here's another view on social media:

    created ISIS.US sponsors, arms, defends ISIS. US acts as ISIS's airforce, bombing anti-ISIS Iraqi Shi'a fighters




    The status of the militias is being debated in Iraq.  Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi has made them part of the military.  Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has stated they need to be under government control or disbanded.

    Among the reasons some people distrust the militias?

    (A) Many have publicly stated they answer to Iran.

    (B) They are known for War Crimes.


    I URGE U 2 LOOK AT THE ACTIONS OF THE IRAQI ARMY. HELP THESE PEOPLE








    Turning to politics, last month Ammar al-Hakim left the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq to form a new party National Wisdom.  Now Ammar is stating that creating the new party does not mean leaving ISCI.  IRAN FRONT PAGE reports:


    However, in an interview with the Mehr News Agency, he said the formation of the new party does not mean breaking relationship with the members of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.
    “Since 2009 and after the relative failure of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq in the political arena of the country, we came to the conclusion that the structure and approaches of the council need some sort of reform in order to restore its position according to the facts in the Iraqi society,” the Iraqi politician added.
    “This approach has been discussed for a long time at the higher levels of the council, but for some reasons it was not accepted by some colleagues, and finally we decided to form a new party.”
    Hakim also pointed out that the management of the new conditions in which the young generation of Iraq came into existence need to be reviewed.
    “We are trying to take a fresh look at how to attract more of this generation,” he added.

    “There is not going to be any negative competition between us and our friends from other groups, especially in the Supreme Council. I am the same Seyyed Ammar, but we should take into consideration that getting updated in the field of political action needs change in some approaches, especially in relation to the new generation of Iraqi society,” Hakim noted.


    The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and BLACK AGENDA REPORT -- updated:

  •  19 hours ago







  • iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq