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Tuesday,
October 2, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri blusters about
Turkish war planes, the US Defense Dept 'finds' money to pay for US
troops in Iraq, Jalal does a listening tour, and more.
Yesterday, Josh Rogin (Foreign Policy) broke the following news,
"In its final act before leaving town earlier this month, Congress
passed a continuing resolution (CR) that failed to reauthorize the main
mission of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq (OSC-I), despite
Pentagon warnings that the move could force the military to withdraw
hundreds of U.S. troops who are still in Baghdad helping to develop the
Iraqi security forces and working with them on counterterrorism. The
authority for U.S. forces to train and assist the Iraqi security forces
expired Sunday." Never fear. When it comes to destruction, it will
always be paid for. Lolita C. Baldor (AP) reports
that the Defense Dept has announced it has the money to cover the costs
"in its temporary budget." Of course, it does. Of course. Kristina Wong (Washington Times) adds
that George Little, Pentagon spokesperson, declared the move was "a
temporary bridge while we seek a longer-term way ahead for [the Office
of Security Cooperation-Iraq] in the fiscal year 2013 National Defense
Authorization Act, which we expect to be taken up by Congress later this
year."
Some day the broadcast media will
cover what's going on. It may be a 100 years from now, but some day
they will. In the meantime, we're supposed to pretend it's not taking
place.
Mike
Prysner: The whole strategy behind the US' so-called withdrawal of US
forces from Iraq was the ability to leave in its place forces that would
maintain and protect the interests of the US government, namely US
control over Iraq's resources and the dividing up of Iraq's oil among
various major British and US oil companies, and French and German as
well.
The Iraqi government exists today, and the Iraqi forces exist
today to maintain the status quo, to maintain the new government that
the United States felt worthy of sending to leadership.
The security
in Washington means that the interests are secured, that US bases are
secured, that US contracts are secured. And if anything threatens that,
they want the Iraqi government to crush it with violence, to torture
people, to attack demonstrations and so forth.
We should remember
that if the Iraqi security forces are not to the task that the US has
assigned for them -- we have to keep in mind that President Obama
himself said when he was giving the speech celebrating the end of the
Iraq war, he said very plainly that our commitment to Iraq has not
ended.
At Foreign Policy, Peter Feaver argues it's time to examine Iraq in terms of Barack. Apparently, Feaver wasn't bowled over by the foreign policy 'analysis' The NewsHour provided last week (as Ava and I pointed out,
PBS stacked the deck by inviting a reporter and an 'independent'
analyst who Tweeted insults about Mitt Romney before his appearance on The NewsHour).
I can agree with him on the issue of examining Barack's actions with
regards to Iraq. I don't agree with Feaver that Fred and Kimberly Kagan
should be listened to on Iraq because they've "earned the right to a
respectful hearing on" the topic. But I will agree that they should
be listened to since they are the immediate in-laws of State Dept's
spokesperson Victoria Nuland.
It's always
comical to watch the Cult of St. Barack huff and puff about the neocons
and grasp how ignorant the Cult is and how unaware they are of just how
many neocons populate Barack's administration. Victoria Nuland, married
to Robert Kagan) is one such neocon and she was Dick Cheney's right
hand during the planning of the Iraq War. Didn't stop the
administration from giving her a job -- a high profile one in fact. So
if she speaks for the State Dept, and she does, Peter Feaver, there's
the reason to listen to his sister-in-law Kimberly and brother-in-law
Fred Kagan. And for those who think she was working with the State Dept
when she helped Cheney, no. Just because the State Dept has vanished
her Bully Boy Bush days doesn't mean we have done the same. From November 24, 2004:
Kagan's
wife works as Cheney's deputy national security adviser. That's Ms.
Nuland' s title. So in effect, Ms. Nuland's employed by "team B" --
she's apparently not working on team B's campaign, but she works for
team B. Potentially, Kagan has a vested interest in the outcome of the
2004 election.
As you may remember,
back then it was NPR covering for Nuland, erasing her from the scene
while letting Robert Kagan go on the air to explain what was wrong with
then presidential contender John Kerry -- explain what was wrong from an
'independent' stand point because NPR didn't think the listeners had a
right to know the man ripping apart Kerry and praising Bush wasn't so
independent, that his wife was Dick Cheney's Deputy National Security
Adviser.
Dick Cheney. The name that still
sends shudders down the spines of many Democrats. But Barack let her
and a lot of other neocons into the administration.
Iraq needs to be evaluated. Don't express the press to rush to do that because evaluating requires facts and it's Iraq's Dar Addustour, and not NPR, that reported today on the New York Times article
mentioning that the US just sent a unit of Speical-Ops back into Iraq
and how there are negotiations between the White House and Iraq to
returns US troops to Iraq in larger number. Dar Addustour is referring to Tim Arango's report
from last week, "Iraq and the United States are negotiating an
agreement that could result in the return of small units of American
soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi
government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special
Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on
counterterrorism and help with intelligence."
Meanwhile AFP reports
that Nouri's Baghdad-based government is calling for an end to the
treaty between Iraq and Turkey that currently allows Turkish war planes
to bomb northern Iraq (Turkey bombs what they say are suspected PKK
camps). Ali al-Dabbagh, Nouri's spokesperson, is quoted stating, "The
cabinet decided to reject the presence of any foreign bases or forces on
Iraqi land and to reject the entry of any foreign military forces into
Iraqi land." Ahlul Bayt News Agency continues
that al-Dabbagh declared that the government recommends Parliament
cancel any existing contract and refuse to extend any agreements. The Tehran Times adds,
"According to the Turkish parliament, the military is authorized to
conduct operations inside Iraq's airspace under the pretext of targeting
hideouts of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. These operations
have intensified after the withdrawal of the United States from Iraq,
which is not yet capable of securing its airspace." AFP notes,
"A high-ranking Iraqi official said the decision was aimed at Turkish
military bases in the north Iraq province of Dohuk, one of the three
provinces that make up the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)" and
that, "Ties between Iraq and Turkey have been marred by a flurry of
disputes, including Ankara's refusal to extradite Iraqi Vice President
Tareq al-Hashemi, who has been sentenced to death in absentia by an
Iraqi court." Reuters reminds that, " The Baghdad government's power over Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region is limited." The announcement came as Al Jazeera reported,
"Turkish security forces have killed 12 Kurdish rebels in fighting,
including two women who attempted to infiltrate from neighbouring Iraq,
local security sources said."
Just yesterday, September was hailed as the most violent month in Iraq in two years, while today violence continues as does fear and silence. On fear, Alsumaria reports that in Basara accusations are being tossed around following the assassination last Thursday
of former Governor (2005 to 2009) Mohammed Misbah Waili with some
accusing a clan within the province and the clan accusing unnamed
foreign powers. On the silence, Mohamad Ali Harissi (AFP) reports
that Sunday's violence (at least 33 dead, at least 106 injured,
according to AFP's count) was met with silence and that no sympathy was
expressed or violence noted on the websites of Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani or Speaker of Parliament Osama
al-Nujaifi, that -- like the three politicians -- state TV channel
Iraqiya focused on football and ignored the violence, that the bulk of
the papers ignored the violence and the official government paper
al-Sabah waited until page four to mention the violence and then under
the headline "Bagdad Operations [Command] announces foiling an attempted
terrorist plot with eight car bombs." Al Rafidyan carries the AFP report here. Today, Alsumaria reports
the corpses of 3 men wearing fire fighter uniforms were found in
Baghdad and that a Baquba roadside bombing left 2 people injured, an
armed attack in Kirkuk that left 1 street cleaner and two other people
injured, a Falluja roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer
and left another person injured, 2 corpses were discovered in Tirkt.
In addition, Alsumaria reports a Kirkuk armed attack which left 2 people dead.
On the subject of Kirkuk, All Iraq News reports
that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and UN Secretary-General's
Special Envoy to Iraq's Martin Kobler's deputy Gyorgy Busztin met to
discuss the issue of elections in disputed Kirkuk. Fearing that no law
will be passed in time for provincial elections, al-Nujaifi stated that
they will leave it to the three presidencies (President of Iraq Jalal
Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and al-Nujaifi) to resolve the
issue.Considering the record for political resolutions in Iraq, that
seems more than a bit optimistic. Optimism is what Jalal Talabani seems full of currently as he works Baghdad. Al Mada reports
Talabani continues meeting with the leaders of various poltical
partices, blocs and forces -- yesterday with the head of the National
Alliance Ibrahim al-Jaafari and the head of the Islamic Supreme Council
of Iraq Ammar al-Hakim. Jalal is on a listening tour. Which is
fitting since his ceremonial post comes with few actual powers. All Iraq News notes
that Ammar al-Hakim talked about the need for a national dialogue when
he met with Talabani. Reallly? Then maybe al-Hakim should have
supported the call for a National Conference. Remember that? December
21st, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi and President Jalal
Talabani were both calling for a National Conference. Nouri stalled
it and circumvented it. He couldn't have done that on his own. Little
Buddy Ammar helped him a great deal. All Iraq News reports
MP Mohammad Iqbal is calling on Talabani to pressure the blocs to
modifty their course. Nice suggestiong but when has Talabani ever had
the spine to pressure anyone?
Debora
Amos: It was quite possible as you looked at the new configuration
that there would be a move away from the dominance of the Shi'ite
parties. That there would be some reconciliation. They [Iranian regime]
were not happy about that and they have been very public about the fact
that they want no Ba'athists -- [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad
said this in a public speech, no Ba'athists will ever run Iraq again.
They clearly backed the Shi'ite religious parties and the politics of
the country was shifting a bit. In the middle of all of this arise one
of the most remarkable politicians in Iraq and he's played all kinds of
roles in that country including a spoiler. And he dropped a political
bombshell into the political process of that country and this was in
January when Ahmed Chalabi's protege Ali Faisal al-Lami who is the
executive director of the de-Ba'athification Commission, they
blacklisted 500 candidates and they disqualified them by accusing them
of either being Ba'athists or having links to the Ba'athist Party. Not
every name of the 500 was Sunnis but the attack was clearly against
these new, secular, mixed parties. That's where most of the names came
from. But there were enough Sunnis that this aggrieved minority felt
what they were looking at was a witch hunt. And that's the reaction
that you're seeing now -- that they feel like they're being targeted.
What's interesting is both Chalabi and al-Lami are candidates themselves
and they were running on the Shi'ite Islamist Party. In talking to
analysts about Iraq, what they say is it was a move worthy of Karl Rove
because it was both brilliant and cynical at the same time. And what is
showed was a complete understanding of the weaknesses of Iraq's
political culture. In addition, it took Washington completely by
surprise. They never saw it coming. And so there reactions have been
slow and ineffective. And as the political theater has played out in
Iraq, this election which should have been about corruption, about lack
of services, about security, about the role of Iran, about the drawdown
of American troops which -- all combat troops are to be withdrawn by
August of 2010 -- what this election has become about what I said:
Warning wind. This could be the strategey -- this anti Ba'athist,
'Ba'athists are under the bed, Ba'athists are coming to get you' -- this
could be the comeback strategy for the Shi'ite Islamist parties who
have nothing to show in terms of services and governance but can
certainly win on the votes of fear. It is a complete reversal from
where the country was just a year ago. And it shows how weak the
political culture is that it could take an event like banning 500
political candidates to turn this whole election into a referendum on
Ba'athists -- which was essentially rendered defunked in 2003. It may
propel these parties back into office but it is as likely to put off
political reconciliation because we are as far away from that today as
we were in 2007.
It
could have been so different. Political reconciliation still hasn't
taken place. It could have been so difficult. Amos says the White
House was taken by surprise. Again, it's past time that this
administration's actions with regards to Iraq were analyzed.
Why
was Iraq ignored? Why wasn't the White House able to provide Iraq with
a stable ambassador? Barack's been in the White House less than four
years and he's had four nominees for Ambassador to Iraq -- three were
confirmed (Chris Hill, James Jeffery and most recently Robert S.
Beecroft) and one withdrew (Brett McGurk).
Iraq
needed stability. Why was the White House unable to provide that? The
White House couldn't even provide an ambassador who could serve out a
four year term. Why did the White House refuse to back the Iraqi people
who voted Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya first in the 2010 parliamentary
elections, not Nouri's State of Law? Why didn't the White House show
respect for rule of law, for democracy and for free and fair elections?
Washington has little political and no military influence over these developments. As Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor charge in their ambitious new history of the Iraq war, The Endgame,
Obama's administration sacrificed political influence by failing in
2010 to insist that the results of Iraq's first proper election be
honored: "When the Obama administration acquiesced in the questionable
judicial opinion that prevented Ayad Allawi's bloc, after it had won the
most seats in 2010, from the first attempt at forming a new government,
it undermined the prospects, however slim, for a compromise that
might have led to a genuinely inclusive and cross-sectarian government."
It
would be really great if the press could do their job and ask the
questions that need to be asked but we really don't have a free and fair
press in the United States. We have a press that's encouraged to play
favorites instead of encouraged to do their jobs which is how for two
years they avoided asking the question of how, if the US government
wanted to bring democracy to Iraq, the White House could ignore the
Iraqis who went to the polls, risked violence to register their vote
because they believed the lies of the US government. They went to the
polls, they voted and they found their votes overturned by the US
government.
A real press, a functioning press, would've asked questions. No one did. Don't you find that strange?
Gail
Collins can act like a trashy whore writing about the Romney family dog
repeatedly in one wasted column after another, but she can't ask the
needed questions? She's a whore who works the street her pimp tossed
her out on, don't mistake her for a journalist.
It's
amazing that a unibrowed professional nutcase like Gail Collins is
repeatedly allowed to waste the country's time telling and retelling the
story of the dog while ignoring the Iraqi people and their will was
overturned, how democracy was subverted and how that happened not in
spite of but because of the White House.
Yeah,
Barack's got a lot of questions to answer but, no, they won't ask the
questions in the pretense that passes for a free and fair media in the
United States.
Bruce
Dixon: The so-called Presidential Debate Commission is a private
corporation founded by leaders of the two corporate parties, who choose
the format, the location, the moderators and the questions, and who
explicitly draw up the rules to exclude candidates and parties other
than Republicans and Democrats. Although the broadcast airwaves have
existed longer than the sun and cable networks everywhere run beneath
the public roads and streets, US law lets private corporations determine
on their own what political messages reach the population by
controlling news and demanding large sums of money for a few seconds of
commercials. These large amounts of money can only be gotten from the
same plutocratic shot calling individuals and corporations who make the
careers of Republicans like Mitt Romney and Democrats like Barack Obama
possible. How irresponsible, how locked down, how deceitfully scripted
and divorced from the real world in which most of us live are these
presidential debates? Besides everything the candidates agree upon, and
who runs the so-called debate "commission," all you need to know is
that one of the marquee sponsors of the 2012 presidential debates, and
the 2008 ones as well, is an industry front group called the American
Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Both Republican and Democratic
presidential candidates are deep in the pockets of "clean coal," as they
are in the pockets of Big Ag, Big Insurance, military contractors, Wall
Street and other centers of real power. One answer to the lack of real
discussions presented us by the rigged "commission" on presidential
debates will be Occupy The Debates, a project undertaken by Occupy
activists in multiple cities, in which a live meeting will entertain
live questions from a live audience. Occupy the Debate's first
scheduled public meeting will be in Denver CO, the same night as the
first so-called "debate" between the two corporate candidates. Occupy
the Debates will be streamed live on the internet that evening, and will
include the participation of Black Agenda Report
co-founder Glen Ford. Several occupy movements around the country are
expected to follow suit and organize their own local events over the
next few weeks. For more information on real debates on real issues,
visit Occupy the Debates either on Facebook or at www.occupythedebates.org -- that's www.occupythedebates.org.
Lastly,
Senator Patty Murray chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
(which holds a joint-hearing this week with the House Veterans Affairs
Comittee). Her office notes:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Matt McAlvanah
Monday, October 01, 2012 (202) 224-2834
Chairman Murray's Statement on IG Report Detailing Waste at VA Conferences
(Washington,
D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate
Veterans' Affairs Committee, released the following statement after the
Office of Inspector General at the Department of Veterans Affairs
released a report on their investigation into two conferences in Orlando
run by VA's Office of Human Resources and Administration.
"I
am deeply dismayed by what the Office of Inspector General has found
regarding these conferences. The blatant waste of taxpayer dollars and
government employees improperly accepting gifts cannot, and will not, be
tolerated.
"The
IG report highlights failures in areas that have continually been
problems for VA, including contracting and human resources. I expect the
Department to act quickly to address these longstanding shortcomings."
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Matt McAlvanah
Communications Director
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834 - press office
202--224-0228 - direct
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