Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel)

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Movies and Grace Randolph

I wanted something easy and non-political for this entry.

Grace Randolph makes me laugh and I enjoy her enthusiasm for movies. C.I. posted one of her video reviews of WONDER WOMAN 1984 and I've been following her ever since.

She does a great job.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Donald to leave today, Joe to be sworn in.

Today, Donald Trump's presidency ends. It was four years of turmoil and nonsense -- from the press and from Donald. He came into office a petty man and he leaves it that way as well. Despite repeatedly insisting he was a menace to the world, Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats were more than happy to back any war funding or corporate give aways while pretending there was a significant difference between themselves and Donald.

He did cut the official number of US troops in half in Iraq. The official number is now 2,500. Other than that, not much can be said for President Donald. Not much can be said that's nice.

The key word for Donald remains "petty."

He never rose above petty. In fairness to him and his egomania, he never rose to the level of Great Satan that so many 'faux' resistance persons -- among the people, in Congress, in press -- tried to insist he was.

And he created jobs.

Take Carl Bernstein, a vile and disgusting man (I say that as a friend of the late Nora Ephron's) who got to pose and preen as some sort of journalist. Watergate was decades ago. Bernstein did one article on the CIA infiltration of US media after that and then moved on to writing bad prose (and having fits that his ex-wife's novel was turned into a film). Garbage Bernstein wasn't interested in truth then, no. He didn't want the children to know how disgusting and unfit their father really was. But the Trump presidency allowed Bernstein to show up regularly on MSNBC and be treated seriously -- as long as he toed the party line and claimed that each scandal -- real or imagined -- was, wait for it, worse than Watergate.

No, they weren't. And that only demonstrates what many have long known -- and what the film DICK parodied -- Carl didn't know a damn thing about Watergate. Bob Woodward took him along for the ride. He was the Oates to Bob's Hall, the Andrew to Bob's George Michael. Carl clearly has no grasp of what Watergate was. It wasn't just a break-in. It was a conspiracy, an enemy's list and a hell of lot more. It was government persecution of the American people.

But, again, Carl's not very smart and he has no life so he needed to be on TV.

And if you ever needed to be on TV, Trump hatred was the way to go. Failed comic Tom Arnold was a 'resistance' hero. Remember that? Michael Avenatti was a 'resistance' hero. James I-Lied-To-Congress Clapper was a 'resistance' hero . . .

So many scoundrels, so much cable TV time.

The four years ended like a really bad DC superhero movie -- in the end, the villain never lived up to the build up.

But he certainly was a wonderful distraction, wasn't he?

Allowing for members of Congress to grandstand and preen -- while they told the American people that, in a pandemic, corporations were entitled to billions but the American people only deserved about $150 a month -- that's what the only stimulus check that arrived prior to December 25th averaged out to. It allowed them to desecrate the Constitution and continue wars around the world while pretending that they had some moral standing and/or ethics.

Now Donald's leaving and it's 'time to heal.'

How stupid do they think his supporters -- which includes nearly 75 million Americans who voted for him -- are? There was no 'time to heal' after the 2016's election. There were obstacles and hatred tossed out immediately. The "honeymoon" period every new president traditionally gets? Denied to Donald.

And now you have various whores ready to dance for their master. Dickless Bruce Springsteen will trot around on a leash for Joe. So will Jennifer Lopez. I'm sorry, who in the world thinks Jennifer is a singer? She was a dancer with a weak voice who had chart hits -- years and years ago. As one desperate celebrity after another rushes to bow to empire, it becomes clear that the United States really needs some celebrities to announce that they won't perform at any presidential inauguariton -- no matter who is the president, no matter which party has the White House. They whore themselves out.

Donald has millions of admirers to this day. But he never managed to win over anyone not already for him. That's because he's so damn petty.

He issued so may pardons -- including yesterday -- but not one for Ed Snowden. Not one for Julian Assange.

Ed? I'd argue history will judge him a hero.

Julian? There's no arguing. He needed to be pardoned -- both for himself and also for what a possible US trial could mean to the press -- destroying a free press.l

Had Donald the guts to pardon Julian, he would have had one historical note to applaud.

Instead, he's just a petty man who has no real accomplishments. Cutting the troops in Iraq in half (officially, anyway)? That's not getting all the US troops out of Iraq.

He's got nothing.

One historical moment -- and pardoning Julian would have been one -- would have allowed for some reconsideration of his presidency in the future. How could he be so right about one thing (Assange) and so wrong about other things?

That would have led historians to look at the way the media treated him -- unfairly and it wasn't journalism. But for a deep dive like that to take place and matter, there would be a need for historians to explore. And Donald's pettiness ensured that they had no reason to explore what he did have to face.

Will Joe Biden face that?

It doesn't appear so. The 'independent' press spent 2020 either ignoring Joe's scandals (the credible allegations made by Tara Reade; Hunter Biden under federal investigation) or dismissing them -- and usually dismissing them with what the campaign told them to say.

Today, Joe Biden gets sworn in. And we're supposed to be grateful that a War Hawk who is responsible for the slaughter of the Iraqi people is going to be president -- someone who in severe cognitive decline is going to be president.

He's not going to seriously address the environment. Possibly due to having one foot, an ankle, a calf, a knee and a huge portion of his upper leg already in the grave, Joe doesn't feel that climate change is an urgent issue.

His history of racism is appalling and maybe that'll take him down. Barack Obama has repeatedly called out 'woke' culture and there's a reason for that: He himself couldn't have survived it had it been around when he was president. His attacks on African-American fathers, for example, would have been loudly rebuked. Can Joe survive "woke" America?

He already has his defensive line up, doesn't he? People like Ryan Grim (glad you paid attention to the hair tip, Ryan, you almost look like a real boy), Betsy Reed, Naomi Klein and assorted others. And right behind them, in the second ranks, you've got the nutless Kyle Kulniksi who will scrape and bow before power because that's what you do -- if you're a coward and a whore. Demands? No, no, no says nutless Kyle. (Nuts does not invoke power in this paragraph -- I don't use that metaphor and never have. I'm referring to Kyle's endless podcasts about his balls. And after awhile, you have to start wondering if he can't stop talking about them because he really doesn't have them?)

The corporate press will likely go back to sleep and just spout the usual lines from government officials as fact -- the way they did long before Donald.

ADDED at 1:25 PM EST on 1/20/21 David Sirota Tweeted:

NEWS: Biden's new health care plan lifted its proposals from insurance lobbyists' letter - it would provide lucrative subsidies to insurers that pumped cash into the 2020 election. It avoids a promised public option & Dem legislation to expand Medicare.

Biden Lifts Health Care Plan From Insurance Lobbyists

The incoming president’s plan mimics an insurance industry letter, instead of pushing a promised public option or Democratic legislation to expand Med

Nothing really changed in the last four years -- Barack's points and plans were upped by Donald Trump. Nothing really change in the last four years except a lot of innocents were murdered and harmed and a lot of time that could have been spent addressing climate change got wasted.

That's all that happened.

But garbage like Paul Mulshine serve up nonsense like "Donald Trump’s legacy: He turned Washington, D.C., into Baghdad, Iraq." No, he didn't. The riot that took place does not compare to the slaughter in Iraq. The slaughter that continues today or the slaughter that left corpses in the street or the slaughter when the US backed the Shi'ite death squads that set out to 'cleanse' Baghdad. Paul Mulshine is garbage because he wants to pretend that DC is Baghdad. He has no idea what Baghdad became due to the US-led invasion. It's insulting to the Iraqi people to pretend that DC has been turned into Baghdad.

But drama queens need their drama, don't they? Sad because what journalism is supposed to offer is perspective and context. We all survived without it for the last four years so maybe we'll make it through four more?

ADDED at 1:25 pm 1/20/21, Glenn Greenwald Tweeted:

If you're in the national press and will be on TV at any point today and being to feel the need to weep joyously, just hold it in until you find a private place. Nobody is expecting any adversarial coverage over the next 4 years, but it's just a matter of personal dignity.

8:47 AM · Jan 20, 2021

New content at THIRD:

Ava and I did our TV piece on Sunday. We didn't have time to update it. We'll look over it at some point today and if it needs a note "This was written Sunday" we'll add that. The following sites updated:

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

That disappointing Biden

He's not even sworn in yet and already he's breaking his word and disappointing.

I hope Americans get that France, England, Germany, etc are taking care of their citizens during the pandemic. It's only in the US that we're supposed to feel grateful for a yearly $1200. In real countries, the people are getting regular checks because this is a pandemic.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, January 19, 2021. We take a look at the stupidity.

Picking up from yesterday, press whores and fan bois never learn. Chris Willman of VARIETY. I was nice yesterday, I didn't single out any of the whores by name. But Chris learned enough to grasp that he couldn't blindly praise Phil Spector, the convicted murderer. So, instead, he offers an embarrassing column that questions his sanity. That would include the praise he heaps on the late Jack Nitzsche -- a roll dog of Phil's who did a lot of the arrangements for Phil. You know what else he did? He beat Carrie Snodgrass with a pistol, threatened to kill her and her son and then he raped her. Little man, if you're looking for a hero, it's not going to be Jack Nitzsche.

It's a sad time for little men with tiny penises and a desire to terrorize women. Back in 1973, the landscape was so different, wasn't it? Back then, the hideous Chris Hodenfield, writing about the stars of a TV variety show, could work in this little 'gem' in an article for ROLLING STONE, "Many of my friends favor the belief that after work, Sonny beats the s[**]t out of her with a tire iron." "Her" is Cher. Oh for the days when the fan boyz could be as misogynistic as they wanted. These days, these same boyz have to pretend it's something other than hatred of women that keeps so many women from being inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Shirley said an e-mail -- a lengthy one -- came in stating that David Geffen getting hit by Phil Spector was fine because David "didn't know anything about music until the eighties so in the seventies he was just an idiot and Phil Spector knew what sold."

Phil Spector knew what sold in the sixties. In 1974, Phil didn't know what sold. In 1974, David headed ELEKTRA/ASYLUM. David started ASYLUM and then it was merged with ELEKTRA and David was over both. In 1974, David's label saw the release of many hit albums including Carly Simon's "Hotcakes" (featuring the hits "Haven't Got Time For The Pain" and "Mockingbird"), Joni Mitchell's COURT AND SPARK, the Eagles' ON THE BORDER, Jackson Browne's LATE FOR THE SKY and Bob Dylan's PLANET WAVES.

David knew music.

Does anybody know Iraq? I think often that it's a bad thing that Iraq gets so little attention from US media. Then I catch the nonsense JACOBIN served up 'on' Iraq.

Felix Biederman 'protested' online. Does he "shampoo" online as well? That would explain the hair. "Protesting" online is nothing to brag about. He never went to a protest. So why is he on the show?

I saw the video -- didn't stream it -- last night. I think JACOBIN has serious issues with Ana and that they need to drop her. So I've been avoiding noting JACOBIN. But I slept on it and thought, "It's Iraq. We should note it." And then I streamed it.

What a stupid and wasteful discussion. Everyone knew, the unwashed Felix says, that the war was going to last forever. Oh hell, no, you little piece of crap. I stated at THIRD years before 2008 that the site (THIRD) would end in 2008 and that the Iraq War would still be going on. Jim will tell you he thought I was wrong about the war still going on. We were going to elect Democrats to both houses of Congress and they were going to end the war!!! Readers of THIRD also rejected my assertion. It's not fun being a Cassandra and Felix is an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about. (I've never encountered the bathing-challenged Felix before this video.)

So it's nearly 18 years after the start of the Iraq War and apparently we still can't acknowledge the Iraqi people -- we can't acknowledge how they've suffered or how they continue to suffer.

Let me be clear to the two dumb women hosting -- your giggles in the face of the Iraqi dead and the birth defects, in the face of a land of widows and orphans? It's embarrassing and it's shameful. The lives of the Iraqi people are not a joke. How disgusting that they thought they could treat the subject like that. It's a lot like Bully Boy Bush with his jokes "Those weapons of mass destruction have to be around here somewhere."

It wasn't funny when War Criminal Bully Boy Bush tried to turn the Iraq War into a joke and it's not funny when Felix tries it.

Heaven forbid that we have a mature and real discussion about Iraq, heaven forbid that we talk about the realities that the Iraqi people continue to deal with as a result of the US-led Iraq War that destroyed their lives and their country.

Felix is an idiot wanting to tell jokes. But you're the hosts. Try to maintain some dignity. This isn't a joke topic.

And it's very telling how quickly the thread of Iraq is lost so that they can focus on how Donald Trump said mean words about John McCain.

I'm really damn tired of this nonsense. It's shameful.

And I don't know why, in 2021, JACOBIN is letting a guest call people "pu**ies" and do so as an insult? That's what we're doing now in 2021 -- from 'woke' JACOBIN?

I'm sick of the sexism and I'm sick of the stupidity.

And two female hosts going "Yeah, yeah" over and over to everything a sexist and uninformed man says is really sad as well.

Today? Joseph Haboush (AL ARABIYA) reports:

Multiple explosions were heard south of Iraq's capital overnight Monday in what reports suggest may have been US or Israeli airstrikes on Iran-backed militias.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it was not aware “of any strikes in Iraq,” according to a Reuters reporter in Washington.

AAJ TV states 9 people were killed in the explosions with "dozens more elected." The US Embassy in Baghdad Tweeted the following:

We are seeing reports of potential explosions near Jurf as-Sakhr, south of Baghdad. We can confirm that no U.S. personnel or assets were in the vicinity of Jurf as-Sakhr and that there was no U.S. involvement in this alleged incident. --Embassy Spokesperson

2:59 AM · Jan 19, 2021

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Monday, January 18, 2021

Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Tired, so I'll just wish everyone a happy and Ruby Tuesday.

I love Melanie's version of that Rolling Stones' classic.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, January 18, 2021. Convicted killer Phil Spector has died and you can see it as a test for the press. If it was a test, the press yet again failed.

The press lies. From stupidity, from the need to whore -- they lie for a variety of reasons. Never forget it. Phil Spector has thankfully died. The artist Phil Spector died years ago. A record producer and sometime songwriter (he took credit for a lot of songs he wrote no part of), Phil was influential in the sixties. While the artist died long ago, the person just died January 16th. THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER has a laughable obit. This may be the most hilarious passage ever:

Spector’s domestic life, along with his career, eventually came apart. After his first marriage, to Annette Merar, broke up, Ronettes leader singer Ronnie Bennett became his girlfriend and muse. He married her in 1968 and they adopted three children. But she divorced him after six years, claiming in a memoir that he held her prisoner in their mansion, where she said he kept a gold coffin in the basement and told her he would kill her and put her in it if she ever tried to leave him.

I love Ronnie Spector but I love the truth even more. Not ''after his first marriage broke up." He began sleeping with Ronnie in 1963. In August of 1963, Annette was informed that Phil was having an affair with one of the Ronnettes. She thought it was Nedra Talley because Nedra was considered the pretty one. She checked the recording studio to see if Phil was with her. Phil wasn't at the recording studio. Then she remembered he had a little studio several floors below their apartment. She called down there. And what were her exact words upon Phil answering? "Get that whore out of my building."

Phil got her to come downstairs and show her it was Ronnie, not Nedra, like that was going to make a difference. He then promised Annette that it was over between him and Ronnie. It wasn't over. The affair would continue.

The notion that Ronnie was his muse? I think the Ronnettes would laugh really hard at that because Phil and Ronnie's affair -- and eventual marriage -- did not mean the group became a priority. It actually meant that Phil lost interest in the group.

The obit tells us that he gave an early break to Cher.

That's hilarious. Cher was living with Sonny Bono at the time and Sonny was his gopher. Phil used Cher for background vocals because he could pay her cheap and non-union (I think he paid her $15 a session). He didn't give her a break. He also set out to destroy her when Sonny kept begging him to record her as a lead artist. The Ringo song was mean to mock Cher and meant to make people think a man was singing it. Phil never helped anyone but himself.

His songwriting credits are mentioned without pointing out that many times he stole credit from the songwriters. He was more apt to steal from Carole King and Gerry Goffin than from Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil because Barry and especially Cynthia wouldn't put up with it.

He died in prison, yes, but he died a very wealthy man (estimated worth most recently was $30 million) and a lot of that money came from stealing writing credits on songs.

I looked over CRAPAPEDIA and what did I see? One lie after another coming after me.

I wondered as I read the obits -- with one lie after another -- from the various outlets how they got it so wrong and how they didn't grasp what a loser Phil was. CRAPAPEDIA.

It pretends it has all the singles Phil did from 1958 to 2003. I'm not seeing "A Woman's Story." That's the bomb he produced for his label (distributed by WARNER BROS in the US, I believe by POLYDOR in the UK). 1974 was the year. Ignore YOUTUBE's claims, it was 1974. If you see it listed as 1975, be sure before you e-mail to argue that you have a solid source. I'm not in the mood this week. And CRAPAPEDIA is not a solid source. Oh, wait, let's stop the e-mails before they start.

Check the copyright at the bottom of the record above -- 1974. Here's the track.

Phil had no real success after the sixties ended. The Beatles? He didn't produce LET IT BE, he assembled it. And Paul's right -- and was demonstrated to be right when LET IT BE NAKED was released -- the songs sounded better before Phil added effects to them.

Back to Cher. Why leave that single out?

He died in prison. He deserved to be in prison. He'd threatened people and resorted to violence for years. He did it with John Lennon, shooting off the gun and having John tell him that he needed his hearing to record. It's cute how they want to do a greatest hits for killer Phil that's musical but not one that includes all the times he threatened people and physically harmed people.

Cher? She would record the STARS album and that would be released. None of her work with Phil in 1974 was released on an album. Those recording sessions were a nightmare and you'd think the obit of a killer would take a moment to note that.

Or is it normal that billionaire David Geffen left a studio with a busted lip? That is what happened during Cher's recording sessions. David was disagreeing with the gop and goo Phil was adding to the song and Phil punched him. David fell to the floor and Phil and Phil's bodyguards had all pulled guns on him.

Phil killed Lana Clarkson and, at any moment throughout the decades, he could have killed someone else. Ronnie was terrorized by him. Dee Dee Ramone says Phil pulled a gun on him when The Ramones worked with Phil. He put a gun to Leonard Cohen. He pulled a gun on Debbie Harry. These stories -- and there are so many more -- go to the type of person he was. Phil Spector was a toxic person.

From THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER obit, "Darlene Love also feuded with him, accusing Spector of failing to credit her for her vocals on "He’s a Rebel" and other songs [. . .]"

Excuse the f**k out of me? Darlene accuses him? It's established fact, not just a charge. First off, she was Darlene Wright. Second, he took her songs -- including "He's A Rebel" -- and issued them as songs by the Crystals -- a group that had scored hits already with "Uptown" and "There's No Other Like My Baby." Darlene Wright and the Blossoms recorded "He's A Rebel" and had the hit but Phil credited it to the Crystals. Darlene Wright, now renamed Darlene Love, then recorded "He's Sure The Boy I Love." It was a top twenty hit on the pop and R&B charts and it was supposed to be credited to Darlene Love. Instead, it was listed as a song by the Crystals. Darlene was not a member of the Crystals. "He's a Rebel" is Darlene Love and it's a number one song but it's credited to the Crystals. Darlene's not making accusations, she's stating facts and shame on anyone trying to besmirch her to praise a convicted killer.

Phil didn't just steal Darlene's credits from her, he did a number on her. Annette has long spoken of how Phil was manipulative and would destroy your self-worth as a game. That's all it was to him.

Now I love "Be My Baby," for example. And I'll always love that song. I can even say Phil did a great job producing it. But that doesn't make Phil a good person. He was a violent man who wrecked a lot of lives, threatened a lot of people and died in prison for killing Lana Clarkson. As a record producer, he really had nothing to offer after the Checkmates' 1969 releases. His violence continued for years and years after.

Turning to Iraq, Hussain Abdul-Hussain (TIMES NEWS NOW) offers:

Militias need war to legitimise them. That is how the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and elsewhere in the region justify their existence. Iraq has seen plenty of war for 40 years, but the latest threat, from ISIS, has been seen off with American help, and the US will soon withdraw its troops. If there ever was a need for the militias – which is doubtful – it is no longer there. But despite all entreaties, the Iraqi militias refuse to go.

In the words of Abdul-Aziz Al-Muhammadawi, also known as Abu-Fadak or Al-Khal (meaning “uncle”), the armed militia he leads, the Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU), is “more legitimate than all other armies” and will remain in existence “until God wills otherwise.”

Until then, “Uncle” will refuse the options offered by Baghdad of either disarming all militias and transforming them into political parties, or of being absorbed into Iraq’s regular military and security forces. Abu-Fadak, of course, ultimately takes his orders from another capital, and Tehran says the militias must retain their arms in order to “liberate” Iraq from “American military occupation.”

In releated news, Sura Ali (RUDAW) reports:

Iraqi parliament’s human rights committee on Friday called for an urgent investigation into a newly discovered mass grave in Salahaddin province, in which tens of bodies were reportedly found, some belonging to children.

Locals on Wednesday uncovered a mass grave in the town of Ishaqi, which according to the commission contains “hundreds” of bodies.

The Salahaddin Clan Council issued a statement the same day confirming the site’s discovery.

The council’s spokesman Tami al-Majmei told Rudaw English on Saturday that the mass grave “contained the remains of more than 50 people from Salahaddin, including women, and children between 8 and 12 years old.”

He says the presence of women and children is evidence “that militias committed a mass execution of families," referring to units of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) that he says control security in the area.

In response, Brookings' Ranj Alaaldin Tweets:

More evidence of the crimes against humanity committed by Iran-aligned militias in Iraq: “the presence of women & children is evidence militias committed a mass execution of families, referring to units of the Popular Mobilization Forces that he says control security in the area”

The University of Kent's Conflict Analysis Research Centre has published a paper (January 15th) entitled "Militias as a Tool For Encouraging Ethnic Defection: Evidence from Iraq and Sudan." Last Wednesday, Human Rights Watch published "World Report 2021" and this is from their section on Iraq:

Arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of demonstrators by Iraqi security forces in late 2019 and into 2020 led to government resignations and the nomination of a new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, in May 2020. Despite an initial seeming willingness to address some of Iraq’s most serious human rights challenges, al-Kadhimi’s government failed to end abuses against protesters.

Iraq’s criminal justice system was riddled with the widespread use of torture and forced confessions and, despite serious due process violations, authorities carried out numerous judicial executions.

Iraqi law contained a range of defamation and incitement provisions that authorities used against critics, including journalists, activists, and protesters to silence dissent.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a particularly harmful impact on students kept out of school for months during nationwide school closures, many of whom were unable to access any remote learning.

Excessive Force against Protesters

In a wave of protests that began in October 2019 and continued into late 2020, clashes with security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashad, nominally under the control of the prime minister), left at least 560 protesters and security forces dead in Baghdad and Iraq’s southern cities.

In July 2020, the government announced it would compensate the families of those killed during the protests and that it had arrested three low-level security forces officers. As far as Human Rights Watch is aware, no senior commanders have been prosecuted. After a spate of killings and attempted killings of protesters in Basra in August 2020, the government fired Basra’s police chief and the governorate’s director of national security but seemingly did not refer anyone for prosecution. In May 2020, when Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi took office, he formed a committee to investigate the killings of protesters. It had yet to announce any findings publicly as of late 2020.

In May, security forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region arrested dozens of people planning to participate in protests against delayed government salaries, a persistent issue since 2015. At August 2020 protests by civil servants in the Kurdistan Region demanding unpaid wages, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) security forces beat and arbitrarily detained protesters and journalists.

Silencing Free Speech

Iraq’s penal code, which dates back to 1969, enshrines numerous defamation “crimes,” such as “insult[ing] the Arab community” or any government official, regardless of whether the statement is true. Although few individuals served prison time on defamation charges, the criminal process itself acted as a punishment. Reporting on corruption and abuses by the security forces was especially risky.

Authorities also invoked other laws and regulations to limit free speech. The Communications and Media Commission (CMC), a “financially and administratively independent institution” linked to parliament, in 2014 issued without legal basis “mandatory” guidelines to regulate media during “the war on terror”—a phrase it did not define. These guidelines were updated in May 2019 and renamed the “Media Broadcasting Rules.” They restrict freedom of the press to the point of requiring pro-government coverage.

The CMC suspended Reuters’s license under its broadcast media regulations powers for three months and fined it 25 million IQD (US$21,000) for an April 2, 2020 article alleging that the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country was much higher than official statistics indicated. Authorities lifted the suspension on April 19.

The KRG used similar laws in force in the Kurdistan Region to curb free speech, including the penal code, the Press Law, and the Law to Prevent the Misuse of Telecommunications Equipment.

Civil society efforts were successful in preventing passage of a deeply flawed cybercrimes bill in November.

Arbitrary Detention

Iraqi forces arbitrarily detained Islamic State (also known as ISIS) suspects for months, and some for years. According to witnesses and family members, security forces regularly detained suspects without any court order or arrest warrant and often did not provide a reason for the arrest.

Iraqi authorities also arbitrarily detained protesters and released them later, some within hours or days and others within weeks, without charge.

Despite requests, the central government failed to disclose which security and military structures have a legal mandate to detain people, and in which facilities.

Fair Trial Violations

In January 2020, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) published a report assessing the criminal justice system, based on independent monitoring of 794 criminal court trials, 619 of them for men, women and children charged under Iraq’s dangerously overbroad counterterrorism law. It supported Human Rights Watch findings that basic fair trial standards were not respected in terrorism-related trials.

Iraqi judges routinely prosecuted ISIS suspects solely on the overbroad charge of ISIS affiliation, rather than for the specific violent crimes they may have committed. Trials were generally rushed, based on a defendant’s confession, and did not involve victim participation. Authorities systematically violated the due process rights of suspects, such as guarantees in Iraqi law that detainees see a judge within 24 hours and have access to a lawyer throughout interrogations, and that their families are notified and should be able to communicate with them during detention.

Detainees have shared graphic accounts of torture during interrogations in Mosul’s prisons under the control of the Ministry of Interior, in some cases leading to their deaths. These allegations are consistent with reports of the widespread use of torture by Iraqi forces to extract confessions instead of carrying out robust criminal investigations.

Authorities can prosecute child suspects as young as 9 with alleged ISIS affiliation in Baghdad-controlled areas and 11 in the KRI, in violation of international standards, which recognize children recruited by armed groups primarily as victims who should be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society, and call for a minimum age of criminal responsibility of 14 years or older. One Mosul committee improved its handling of the prosecution of child suspects.

Conditions in Detention

Authorities detained criminal suspects in overcrowded and in some cases inhuman conditions. According to media reports, authorities released 20,000 prisoners in April as a preventive measure in response to the Covid-19 pandemic but did not share any information on the identities of those released and the criteria for selecting them. Authorities refused to respond when asked to share or make public the number of people in Iraqi prisons, making it impossible to assess whether the releases sufficiently reduced the acute overcrowding to enable social distancing. In July, there were 31 Covid-19 cases reported at a prison in Baghdad.

The following sites updated:

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