Friday, January 22, 2016

The horse race

First up, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts  "Accountability" is one of four comics Isaiah did on the Democratic Party's Sunday debate.


accountability


And I made the point or mistake of watching election coverage on CNN.

It's not coverage.

It's prediction.

And it feels good to think that Bernie might seriously challenge Hillary for the Dem nomination.

That made me feel really good.

So good it made me think that's why they were serving it up.

Not that it might happen but that they knew it would pull in viewers.

It's just so hard to trust the news these days.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

 
Thursday, January 21, 2016.  Chaos and violence continue, US bombing of Iraq continues, Haider al-Abadi finds his voice when his beloved Iran is accused, and much more.



Today, the US Defense Dept announced more bombings:


Strikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 15 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Qaim, a strike produced inconclusive results.

-- Near Fallujah, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Kisik, two strikes destroyed an ISIL weapons cache, two ISIL assembly areas, and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes destroyed nine ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL weapons cache, two ISIL command-and-control nodes, and five ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL vehicle bomb factory.

-- Near Ramadi, five strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units, cratered an ISIL-used road, and destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, an ISIL home-made bomb cache, an ISIL staging area, an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL building, and an ISIL petroleum truck.

-- Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed 14 ISIL fighting positions.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.


More of the same from Barack Obama.  It's not solved anything.  It won't.

But it's all he can do: Bomb and bomb some more.

And he's been doing that since August of 2014.


It's a failure.


THE NATION magazine is a mindless whore for Barack but even they can see that.

Nick Turse notes:


 In the wake of all this, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter touted “the kind of progress that the Iraqi forces are exhibiting in Ramadi, building on that success to… continue the campaign with the important goal of retaking Mosul as soon as possible.” Even more recently, he said those forces were “proving themselves not only motivated but capable.” I encountered the same upbeat tone when I asked Colonel Steve Warren, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, about the Iraqi security forces. “The last year has been a process of constructing, rebuilding, and refitting the Iraqi army,” he explained. “While it takes time for training and equipping efforts to take effect, the increasing tactical confidence and competence of the ISF [Iraqi security forces] and their recent battlefield successes indicate that we are on track.”
“Progress.” “Successes.” “On track.” “Increasing tactical confidence and competence.” It all sounded very familiar to me.
By September 2012, after almost a decade at the task, the United States had allocated and spent nearly $25 billion on “training, equipping, and sustaining” the Iraqi security forces, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Along the way, a parade of generals, government officials, and Pentagon spokesmen had offered up an almost unending stream of good news about the new Iraqi Army. Near constant reports came in of “remarkable,” “big,” even “enormous” progress for a force that was said to be exuding increasing “confidence,” and whose performance was always improving. In the end, the United States claimed to have trained roughly 950,000 members of the “steady,” “solid,” Iraqi security forces.
And yet just two and a half years after the US withdrawal from Iraq, that same force collapsed in spectacular fashion in the face of assaults by Islamic State militants who, by CIA estimates, numbered no more than 31,000 in all. In June 2014, for example, 30,000 US-trained Iraqi troops abandoned their equipment and in some cases even their uniforms, fleeing as few as 800 Islamic State fighters, allowing IS to capture Mosul, the second largest city in the country.   



Carter and Barack are selling 'success' the same way Bully Boy Bush and Donald Rumsfeld once did.


You have to create the myth of 'success' to sell a disaster.


The Iraq War is ongoing and it is a disaster.

To get support for it, even a War Hawk as beloved as Barack needs something more than a cheesy grin to sell it.

You need the lie that 'success' has arrived -- at last.

That the fabled turned corner has emerged.

And this lie is supposed to trick people into believing that an obviously unwinnable war has suddenly transformed into winnable.

There's no such thing as a recovering War Hawk.

At least recovering alcoholics grasp that insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.

War Hawks repeatedly lie that you can do the same losing thing again (and again and again and . . .) but somehow get different results.


So Barack and other War Hawks -- along with enablers and co-dependents (largely in the press and in elected office) -- act as though a near 16 month bombing campaign has accomplished amazing things when it's really accomplished nothing to brag of.


Yes, some members of the Islamic State have been killed.

So have a lot of civilians.

And that and the persecution of Sunnis will continue to aid the Islamic State in recruiting new members -- and recruiting them at a faster pace than they can be killed.


If the US government had, under Barack's orders, spent the same 16 or so months trying to facilitate reconciliation in Iraq, seriously trying, things might be better.

As it stands now, the decisions made by the US government have only fostered the growth of the Islamic State.



There's a new development today in the kidnapping of three Americans in Iraq. In fact, there are two new developments.  Background: Sunday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) broke the news that 3 Americans were missing in Iraq. Monday,  CBS NEWS and AP reported, "A group of Americans who went missing over the weekend in Iraq were kidnapped from their interpreter's home in Baghdad, according to an Iraqi government intelligence official."

Today, Susannah George (AP) reports that "two powerful Shiite militias are top suspects" in the kidnapping:  Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Saraya al-Salam.


In October of 2014, Samuel Oakford (VICE NEWS) reported on the militias:


The group most familiar to Americans is likely the Baghdad-based Mahdi army of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Officially disbanded in 2008, Sadr's forces are once again active under the name Saraya al-Salam, or the "Peace Brigade."
Other groups, like the Badr Brigades, trace their roots to the 1980s, when they were first backed by the government of Shia-dominated Iran. The Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous), an offshoot of the Mahdi Army, is considered among the most powerful of the Shia militias, and reportedly maintains ties to members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
A spokesperson for Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq told reporters in June the militia's troops "are fighting side by side with the government's forces on all fronts," and openly admitted that they wore military uniforms, calling it "logical."
"There is a lot of close collaboration, these Shia militias are [sometimes] operating as formal Iraqi forces, wearing uniforms and driving military vehicles," Sunjeev Bery, Advocacy Director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, told VICE News. "It's difficult to know how much of the Iraqi central government's limited victories against ISIS are the result of the Shia militias, but they are a core part of the central government's strategy. That's what's most disturbing."



The issue was raised at today's State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Mark Toner.




QUESTION: Yes. Mark, I was wondering if you have any update on the three Americans missing in Baghdad.


MR TONER: I don’t.


QUESTION: And there are some conflicting reports that some says – like giving reference to U.S. officials, some Shia-backed militias are responsible for the kidnapping Americans.


MR TONER: Sure. And I’ve seen that, and I spoke a little bit about this yesterday. I mean, look, there’s a lot of information circulating out there about who or – might be behind their disappearance. We don’t have – I don’t have any further information that I can provide right now.


QUESTION: Considering Iran’s influence on the region, I was wondering if Secretary Kerry spoke to Mr. Zarif by any chance about this case.


MR TONER: He did, and I would refer you to – I think the transcript – he mentioned that he did speak to him and he did raise his concerns about these individuals with Foreign Minister Zarif, if I’m not mistaken. I think he did a roundtable earlier today. I don't know if the transcript’s come out yet.


QUESTION: The transcript is not out yet.


QUESTION: Just clarification on that. Prime Minister Abadi is still saying it’s not completely clear that they were actually kidnapped. Is that the U.S. position is well?


MR TONER: Which is what I – no, but I – look, I mean --


QUESTION: I mean, you said “disappearance.” You didn’t say “kidnapping.”


MR TONER: Yeah. I mean, this is an ongoing investigation, so I can’t give you a play-by-play and I’m not going to give you a play-by-play. We continue to cooperate and work with the Iraqi authorities. There are a number of possibilities as to what happened to these individuals. We’re obviously pursuing all of them diligently, but I don’t have anything and I can’t, frankly, share any information about what may have happened to them.


QUESTION: But you can --


QUESTION: Why did he speak – why did he speak to Foreign Minister Zarif?


MR TONER: Well, he acknowledged one of these – that one of the possibilities is that they were kidnapped by an Iraqi – or Iranian-affiliated, and he said he had raised it with them.


QUESTION: An Iranian-affiliated militia?


MR TONER: A militia.


QUESTION: And one other thing: You just used the word – he acknowledged the possibility that they were kidnapped. You’re not saying that they were kidnapped?


MR TONER: No.


QUESTION: Just that that is a possibility that he acknowledged.


MR TONER: No, exactly, exactly.


QUESTION: Can you get that transcript out as soon as --


MR TONER: Sure thing.


QUESTION: Mark, there’s been no demands made?


MR TONER: Sorry, I’ll get to you --


QUESTION: No demands were made?


MR TONER: There’s been no --


QUESTION: Okay.



MR TONER: I don’t think there’s been any acknowledgement – public acknowledgement of who’s behind this.



The second development, noted above, is Haider al-Abadi speaking on the topic.

Iran gets accused of being behind the events and all the sudden Haider wants to speak.

To say maybe they weren't even kidnapped.

Since Sunday, this story has been big news around the world.

But only after Iran is accused does Haider elect to wade into the topic.


The ridiculous Haider al-Abadi met with the US Secretary of State today.






     
     
     




    He also met with US Vice President Joe Biden.


    PM Al-Abadi met with U.S. Vice President at
    Embedded image permalink

     
     
     




    On the second meeting, the White House issued the following statement:


    For Immediate Release

    Readout of Vice President Biden’s Meeting with Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi of Iraq


    The Vice President met today in Davos with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. The Vice President congratulated Iraqi Security Forces on their liberation of Ramadi and pledged continued U.S. support in the counter-ISIL campaign. Both leaders discussed the urgency of stabilization efforts in Ramadi and the importance of mobilizing international support for those efforts. The Vice President encouraged continued dialogue between Iraq and Turkey to resolve concerns about Turkish troop deployments in northern Iraq and reiterated U.S. respect for Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Vice President offered continued U.S. support to help Iraq strengthen its economy as the Iraqi government implements key reforms. Both leaders pointed to ongoing successes as a sign of the close strategic partnership between Iraq and the United States.
    ###









    Thursday, January 21, 2016

    Thoughts on O'Malley



     Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts   "Boy Scout" went up Sunday.

     boyscout


    And here's the thing.

    I'd love to support Martin.

    I believe in what he talks about.

    But every time he gets on the debate stage, he goes all wussy.

    It was my problem with John Edwards, you may remember.

    In 2007 and 2008, I kept hoping he would show some real strength in a debate and he never did.

    And that's how I feel about O'Malley.

    He just refuses to step up his game.

    He's got to play boy scout over and over.

    And if he won't stand up in a debate how do we know that he can stand up if he were president?
    Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

     
    Wednesday, January 20, 2016.  Chaos and violence, the US government plans more US troop deployments to Iraq, the Peshmerga are highlighted in a report by Amnesty -- about their targeting civilians, and much more.



    Barack Obama's plan for Iraq is bomb, bomb some more and send US troops in.

    That's clear by today's Defense Dept announcement:



    Strikes in Iraq
    Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 14 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
    -- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building.
    -- Near Haditha, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL vehicles.
    -- Near Kisik, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed ten ISIL fighting positions.
    -- Near Mosul, three strikes destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL command and control node, and two ISIL assembly areas.
    -- Near Ramadi, six strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, suppressed an ISIL mortar system, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed an ISIL mortar system, three ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL rocket-propelled grenade system, two ISIL vehicle bombs, an ISIL building, two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL tunnel entrance, two ISIL petroleum oil and lubricant trucks and an ISIL front end loader.
    -- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed four ISIL command and control nodes.

    Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.


    And the lack of a real plan for anything more than more of the same is clear in the talk as well.

    In an apparent chatty mood yesterday while flying into Paris, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter talked with reporters. Dan Lamothe (WASHINGTON POST) reveals the chatty Carter declared that more US troops will likely be headed to Iraq ("The president has indicated that wherever there is additional opportunity to make a difference according to the strategy, we'd be willing to do that") and that this is due to the 'success' in Ramadi. Andrew Tilghman (MILITARY TIMES) notes, "U.S. military officials are in high-level talks with the Iraqis about potentially sending hundreds of additional troops to Iraq for training and supporting the upcoming invasion of the Islamic State group’s stronghold in Mosul."
    It's no longer just Ash Carter going public, Kristina Wong (THE HILL) reports:
    The United States might send more trainers to Iraq to help local forces retake Mosul from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a U.S. defense official said Wednesday. 
    "The reason we need new trainers or additional trainers is because that's really the next step in generating the amount of combat power needed to liberate Mosul," said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the ISIS effort.
    Carter's remarks came up in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Mark Toner.


    QUESTION: And in fact, today – I think it was today – Secretary Ashton said – Carter said that they are also looking for Arab countries to participate in the training and equipping and so on. But you talked about the urgency of the situation – we remember as far back as last spring when they were talking about --


    MR TONER: Right, Said, but I mean --


    QUESTION: -- liberating Mosul and so on.


    MR TONER: Right.


    QUESTION: But the longer you wait, it seems that the longer that ISIS can also establish roots in the ground.

    MR TONER: Well, I mean, I would argue the opposite. I mean, with the systematic and steady approach that the Iraqi forces – again, with our assistance and with other members of the coalition’s assistance – have been making against ISIL, they’ve been losing ground. They’ve been losing territory. And we’re going to keep applying pressure. That’s something we’ve talked about. But you can’t let – I mean, there’s just an urgency overall. Certainly, cultural preservation is part of it, the preservation of historical sites is part of it. But it’s also, as I said, the constant threat that these innocent civilians under their rule or under their brutal dictatorship are suffering that also lends urgency to our mission.


    The 'success' isn't a 'success.'

    Iraqi forces are still trying to clear the area of the Islamic State.

    Victory was declared before it was earned.

    Secondly, as photos of the area demonstrate, the real 'winning' fighter in that battle was . . . War Planes.  US war planes bombing Ramadi.

    The city is in ruins.

    It is so bad that Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni leaders are saying no battle can result in the 'Ramadi option' again.

     But a whorish press in the US has allowed the lies of Ramadi to stand so Barack can claim that he's building on 'success.'




  • Amnesty's report was an issue raised in today's State Dept press briefing.


    QUESTION: A mirror image of that story around Mosul, overnight Amnesty International announced a report saying that the KRG Peshmerga – your allies in this fight against ISIS – have begun cleansing Sunni Arab villages that they’ve recaptured from ISIS, but now they’re driving out civilians and destroy – and there’s satellite imagery in the report showing destroyed buildings and large areas – maybe thousands of houses destroyed by your allies.



    MR TONER: Yeah, no, we’re aware of the report, David, and obviously take it very seriously. We’re looking at its allegations and contents. And I can’t comment at this point on any of the particular claims except to say that as government forces liberate territory from ISIL throughout Iraq, there must be security for all civilians to prevent the actions of those who would take advantage of the conflict to commit crimes or engage in any way in vendettas.
    Please.


    QUESTION: A Pentagon spokesman said on the same incident this morning that any questions about whether this would affect the U.S.’s relationship with the government in Kurdistan, that’s a question for you guys. Could you anticipate that there will be questions – that there will be conversations with President Talabani about what KRG forces have been doing?



    MR TONER: I mean, I can anticipate that – we have a relationship with the government of Kurdistan that we can talk about these issues, and these are ongoing concerns and issues that we’ve talked about not just with respect to Kurdish forces but throughout Iraq. And frankly, the new government in Iraq has, we believe, made an effort in – as these new territories are liberated from ISIL to bring back stability, reconstruction; to rebuild hospitals, schools, et cetera so that people can return and feel safe in returning to these liberated areas. That’s absolutely a key component of our strategy.



    Of the new report, TELESUR reports:


    Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, trained and equipped by the United States, are allegedly razing Arab towns liberated from the Islamic State group. A human rights group is accusing the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of carrying out a deliberate campaign to prevent the return of Arabs to towns in Iraq once occupied by the Islamic State group, a practice it says may amount to war crimes.



    War Crimes.

    And yesterday's snapshot noted the War Crimes of the Shi'ite based government out of Baghdad as it went after Sunnis.


     Iraqi civilians are under attack and the Islamic State is only one threat to them.

    Jared Malsin (TIME) reports:

    The kidnapping last week of three Americans in Baghdad underscores the central but volatile role of predominantly Shiite, pro-government militias in the ongoing crisis in Iraq.
    U.S. and Iraqi officials confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday that the three American contractors who disappeared are being held by a militia, so far unnamed. The incident is the latest illustration of how militias often allied with Iran remain an unpredictable element in Iraq’s shifting landscape of power, posing a dilemma both for the government in Baghdad and for the U.S.-led coalition battling ISIS.



    Sunday, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) broke the news that 3 Americans were missing in Iraq. Monday,  CBS NEWS and AP report, "A group of Americans who went missing over the weekend in Iraq were kidnapped from their interpreter's home in Baghdad, according to an Iraqi government intelligence official."


    Senator Marco Rubio is running for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.  NBC NEWS reports that Rubio has floated that Iran was behind the kidnapping and insists that Barack's responsible for motivating "people to grab Americans because, you know, if you grab a group of Americans you can get something from Barack Obama."


    Meanwhile the Shi'ite attacks on the Sunnis continue.


    �� Graphic: terrorist Iraqi army/militiamen setting dead bodies on fire purportedly in Diyala province - .



    These are Iraqi forces.  Even the militias are Iraqi forces because Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi brought them into the fold.


    Haider's been a failure as prime minister.


    That becomes more and more evident.


























  • Wednesday, January 20, 2016

    ISIS

    On Sunday,  Isaiah live cartooned the Democratic Party's debate.  And this is his  "We Survived."


    wesurvived


    Peter Van Buren has an interesting column on ISIS which notes:

    Start by suggesting that, as a society, we take a deep look at ourselves, our leaders, and our media, and stop fanning everyone's flames. It’s time, among other things, to stop harassing and discriminating against our own Muslim population, only to stand by slack-jawed as a few of them become radicalized, and Washington then blames Twitter. As president, you need to opt out of all this, and dissuade others from buying into it.
    As for the Islamic State itself, it can’t survive, never mind fight, without funds. So candidate, it’s time to man/woman up, and go after the real sources of funding.
    As long as the U.S. insists on flying air attack sorties (and your candidate may unfortunately need to do so to cover his/her right flank), direct them far more intensely than at present against one of ISIS's main sources of cash: oil exports. Blow up trucks moving oil. Blow up wellheads in ISIS-dominated areas. Finding targets is not hard. The Russians released reconnaissance photos showing what they claimed were 12,000 trucks loaded with smuggled oil, backed up near the Turkish border.
    But remind your candidate that this would not be an expansion of the air war or a shifting from one bombing campaign to a new one. It would be a short-term move, with a defined end point of shutting down the flow of oil. It would only be one part of a far larger effort to shut down ISIS’s sources of funds.


    Barack is eager to point at everyone but himself.

    And his 'plan' for ISIS is a failure.


    Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


     
    Tuesday, January 19, 2016.  Chaos and violence continue, the United Nations notes abuses by the Iraqi government and by the Islamic State which the press rushes to reduce to abuses by the Islamic State, and much more.



    Today, the US Defense Dept announced:


    Strikes in Iraq
    Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 21 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
    -- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL headquarters. 
    -- Near Kisik, two strikes produced inconclusive results.
    -- Near Mosul, five strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun, four ISIL fighting positions, and an ISIL cash collection point.
    -- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions.
    -- Near Ramadi, nine strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, damaged an ISIL petroleum oil and lubricant tank, and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL sniper position, an ISIL tactical vehicle, an ISIL bunker, and an ISIL tunnel entrance. 
    -- Near Sinjar, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun, and an ISIL assembly area.

    Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

    On the topic of air strikes, a new United Nations [PDF format warning] notes:



    On 22-23 May, UNAMI/OHCHR received a report that airstrikes hit al-Najjar, al-Rifai and Sahaa areas in western Mosul in Ninewa, allegedly killing 30 civilians and wounding 62 others, including women and children.  UNAMI/OHCHR was not able to verify this report.
    On 3 June, an explosion due to an airstrike in Kirkuk's Hawija district allegedly killed several ISIL fighters and civilians.  Some reports indicated that the structure was a storage facility for chemical fertilizers, while others reported that the warehouse was being used to build vehicle-borne IEDs.  A member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council was quoted by multiple local sources as stating that around 150 individuals, including women and children, were allegedly killed and wounded in the blast.  Pictures and videos have emerged in media and online showing an area purporting to be the blast site that has been almost completely flattened.  UNAMI/OHCHr was not able to verify the authenticity of the photos or the videos, nor the number of civilian casualties.
    On 8 June, local sources reported that an airstrike in Mosul, Ninewa, caused 33 civilians casualties.  The report alleged that several residential neighbourhoods in al-Zuhour district were hit, killing 20 civilians, including seven children and nine women, and wounding 13 others, mostly women.  The source claimed that there were no ISIL members in the affected neighbourhoods. UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify the status of all the casualties nor who was responsible for the airstrikes.
    On 11 June, an airstrike reportedly hit an ISIL target near a market in Hawija, Kirkuk.  According to a source, 10 civilians were killed and wounded in the incident.  Other reports mentioned more than 60 civilians killed and over 80 wounded.  UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify the exact number of casualties nor who was responsible for the airstrike. [In an article published by the Associated Press, a US Air Force official acknowledged the Hawija airstrike was by US forces, with no confirmation of civilian casualties. (accessed 11 June 2015).]

    On 23 June, a house was allegedly targeted by an airstrike in Baiji district, Salah al-Din, which killed six civilians (including four children) and wounded eight others.  The house was reported to have been located close to a mosque which, at the time of the attack, was occupied by ISIL.  A local source from Baiji stated that the house was hit by mistake and that the target was the ISIL-occupied mosque.  The source however could not confirm who carried out the airstrike.

    According to a source, on 1 July, 17 civilians, including our children and six women, were reportedly killed in an airstrike conducted in the al-Rifaie area of western Mosul, Ninewa.  11 other civilians were reportedly wounded.  UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify the status of all the casualties nor who was responsible for the airstrike.
    On 31 July, up to 40 civilians may have been killed and over 30 wounded when three houses allegedly sheltering IDPs was hit by airstrike in Rutba, west of Ramadi, Anbar.  Official sources confirmed the incident and the number of casualties, which included 18 women and 11 children (under 14 years old).  The houses were targeted by military jets after receiving information that ISIL elements were allegedly inside the houses.  The governor of Anbar called for an immediate investigation of the incident.  On 3 August, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) in Iraq and Head of UNAMI issued a press release expressing serious concern at the reported airstrike, and called on the Government of Iraq to investigate the incident.
    On the afternoon of 18 August, a man and his 12 year-old daughter were reportedly killed when an airstrike hit al-Minassa street, northern Mosul. The airstrike allegedly targeted a vehcile carrying three assistants to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and a judge of an ISIL self-appointed court, who were all killed.  Around midnight on 24 August, an airstrike targeted a vehicle carrying ISIL elements in the Majmoua Thaqafiya area of northern Mosul.  The atack reportedly killed nine civilians, including one woman and a child, and wounded three other civilians.
    In the early morning of 1 August, military jets allegedly carried out airstrikes in Zargali village, Warti sub-district of Rawanduz district, Erbil Governorate.  The airstrikes killed at least eight invdividuals and wounded 16.  Zargali village is home to around 27 families.  According to witnesses interviewed by UNAMI/OHCHR after the attacks, their village was attacked by Turkish military jets on suspicion that combatants from PKK or the Kurdish Workers' Party were present in the area.  However, they denied this and indicated that PKK combatants reside in a camp in the Qandil mountains.  The interviewees added that four different attacks occured on 1 August (from 3h50 a.m. to 6h35 a.m.).  The first attack reportedly consisted of two strikes; the second attack consisted of a single strike; the third and fourth consisted of four rockets each which hit simultaneously.  After the initial attacks, some residents left their homes and sought shelter in a nearby farm.  However, witnesses alleged that the ensuing attacks were directed at them and other fleeing residents.  Some individuals who tried to assist those wounded were killed or wounded by the later attacks.  The attacks destroyed six houses and killed farm animals.
    On 3 September an airstrike hit a bridge in Jazeera al-Khaldiya, around 20 kilometres east of Ramadi, Anbar, killing 46 civilians and wounding 20.  Another source confirmed the incident but stated that the casualties were ISIL members. UNAMI/OHCHR was not able to confirm the number of casualties or their status.  On the same day, another airstrike reportedly hit a residential area in easter Ramadi, killing 28 civilians.  A single source reported this second incident and UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify it.
    In the early morning of 20 September, an airstrike hit the al-Ghabat area of Mosul city, as a result of which five civilians (including two women and one girl) from one family were killed.  The family members were inside their homes at the time, which was close to an ISIL headquarters.  When that
    headquarters was hit, weapons and other equipment inside exploded, causing damage to nearby homes and killing the family. Other sources reported that four civilian died in the attack (a 48-year-old man, a 20-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman, and a 13-year-old girl) while two civilians were seriously wounded . 
    On 29 September, an airstrike was reported to have hit the former Sunni endowment building next to the Ninewa Governorate building, in central Mosul. According to some sources, the attack allegedly killed eight civilians (including two women) in addition to 19 ISIL fighters. Around 10 minutes later, as civilians were gathering in the area, another airstrike allegedly hit the same location, killing 12 civilians (including two children and a woman) and wounding seven, some critically. Other sources reported higher casualty figures. 
    On 5 October, an airstrike mistakenly targeted a civilian house in Atshana village, east of Hawija and southwest of Kirkuk , that belonged to the Mukhtar of the village, killing eight persons from the same family, including several women and children and the Mukhtar himself. At 10h30 a.m. on 20 October, seven civilians were killed -- including three women and two children -- and one was seriously wounded when the minibus in which they were travelling was hit by an airstrike. The victims were all members of one family and were travelling from al-Qawsiyat village in Wana sub-district, Tal Kaif district, to Mosul.




    The report's getting some attention.  THE ATLANTIC notes:

    Thousands of civilians in Iraq have been killed, maimed, or displaced over the last two years, according to a new United Nations report. Between the start of 2014 and October 31 of last year, 18,802 Iraqis were killed, 36,245 were wounded, and 3.2 million were displaced. Islamic State fighters have enslaved about 3,500 others, mainly women and children, and forced hundreds of children to fight alongside the group’s militants.  


    CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY puts it this way, "A new United Nations report has tried to count the civilian toll of continuing conflict in Iraq, largely at the hands of Islamic State militants, and the numbers are 'staggering'."  Ishaan Tharoor (WASHINGTON POST) words it like this, "The United Nations released a report this week detailing the "staggering civilian death toll in Iraq" over the past two years. It found that nearly 19,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the Islamic State's insurgency flared at the beginning of 2014, while some 3.2 million Iraqis have been displaced." At USA TODAY, John Bacon offers similar crap.


    Nabih Bulos (LOS ANGELES TIMES) does a little better covering the report:

    The violence has also displaced more than 3 million people, a full third of them school-age children, the report says.
    It also documents a litany of abuses and human rights violations, whether at the hands of Islamic State or the sectarian militiamen fighting alongside the government to reclaim areas under the Sunni extremist group’s control.


    Teresa Welsh (US NEWS & WORLD REPORTS) probably does the best job:


    Iraqi forces and militia members battling the Islamic State group are allegedly responsible for abuses against civilians that have contributed to the chaos in the war-torn nation over a nearly two-year period, according to a new U.N. report.
    Violence in the country has surged since the Islamic State group's rise in 2014: A U.S.-led coalition has been battling the extremists primarily through airstrikes, while security forces and militia members have waged a war further inflamed by sectarian tensions on the ground. According to Tuesday's report from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly 19,000 civilians have been killed and another 36,000 have been wounded in Iraq between January of 2014 and the end of October last year, with the Islamic State group bearing much of the blame.



    Let's go to the report itself because truth is always the best protection from propaganda:


    Violations and abuses committed by pro-Government forces
    UNAMI/OHCHR has received reports of abuses and violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by pro-Government forces.
    ISF and associated forces are bound to respect applicable international humanitarian law in the conduct of military operations.  UNAMI/OHCHR continues to receive information that some military operations appear to have directly targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure  or were carried out without taking all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects.  Reports received by UNAMI/OHCHR also indicate that some associated forces have been operating largely outside of Government control and have perpetrated abuses against civilians, including killings, abductions and destruction of property.


    Iraqi forces and their actions include:



    Police raids and arbitrary arrests
    UNAMI/OHCHR received reports of IDPs, mostly from Kirkuk city, who were able to access safe areas but were subjected to arbitrary arrests in raids by security forces.  For example, on 3 June, security forces in Kirkuk conducted a raid in the Wahad Huzairan neighbourhood in Kirkuk city and arrested 71 IDPs on suspicion of terrorism or trespassing public grounds.  The arrested individuals were from Salah al-Din, Anbar, Basra, Diyala and Baghdad.  Such raids and arrests were frequent in the southern neighborhoods of Kirkuk city where there was a large number of IDPs.  The arrested individuals were oftentimes released after a day or two in detention.
    On 16 July, security forces in Kirkuk conducted a raid in the Khadhra'a area, in the southwest part of the city.  Reportedly conducted as a precautionary measure, the raid took place the eve of the Eid holidays.  Seventy-nine individuals were arrested, most of whom were IDPs residing in Kirkuk city.  The security authorities allegedly had received information about suspected terrorist activities before and during Eid holidays.  Seventy-nine individuals allegedly had received information about suspected terrorist activities before and during Eid holidays.  The arrested individuals were released within two days and without any charge.
    On 27 August, police forces conducted a raid in al-Askari neighbourhood, in the southeast of Kirkuk, and arrested 53 individuals, most of whom were IDPs.  They were detained in Domiz polic station and were released after a security screening and background check.
    On 1 September, 42 individuals, most of whom were IDPs, were arrested during a raid in the Wahed Huzairan neighbourhood, a predominatly Sunni Arab area in Kirkuk city. A total of 31 individuals were arrested for not being registered, not having identification documents, or having fake documents.  Eleven others were reportedly wanted for suspected affiliation with ISIL.
    On 22 September, security forces conducted a raid in Quriya area of Kirkuk city.  According to sources, the raid was conducted in neighbourhoods close to the Kirkuk government building, including Quriya, Shatorlu, Ommal Square, Almas and Sahat Tayran.  A total of 68 IDPs from different governorates were arrested, with a significant proportion coming from Tuz district in Salah al-Din.  They were arrested for various reasons, including illegal entry into Kirkuk, failure to register with the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM), and failure to present proper identification.  Another source stated that security concerns prompted the raid based on the proximity of a large number of IDPs to the Kirkuk government building.  According to security sources, all 68 were released on 22-23 September.


    The report also notes:


    Unlawful killings
    UNAMI/OHCHR received a number of serious allegations of unlawful killings committed by ISF and associated forces.  These incidents included alleged attacks and reprisals against persons believed or perceived to support or to be associated with ISIL.
    For example, on 9 June, a video was posted in social media showing a group of men, wearing what appeared to be Iraqi Federal Police uniforms, burning a cadaver and shouting sectarian chants. Sources informed UNAMI/OHCHR that the corpse was found near al-Alam sub-district in Salah al-Din, during the operations to liberate Tikrit, in February.  In the video, those seeting fire to the body were heard saying the deceased's name and that he was a Saudi citizen.  They were also heard saying that this was a gift for the people of al-Hasa and Qatif (areas in Saudi Arabia where there are a significant number of Shi'a Muslims).
    In a similar incident, a video was posted online purporting to show members of the Shi'a Imam Ali Brigades burning the body of a man hanging by his feet in the town of Garma, northeast of Fallujah, in Anbar.  In the video the perpetrators accused the man of being a member of ISIL.  According to a local source, the video was shot in the town of Garma.  According to another local source, the man killed was a member of ISIL from Fallujah.  UNAMI/OHCHR could not independently verify the incident nor the authenticity of the video.


    And it notes:


    Abductions
    UNAMI/OHCHR received reports of abductions allegedly perpetrated by pro-Governmnet forces against Sunni tribes or individuals.
    For instance, on 16 July,  a group of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) members entered Jalludiyat village in Dujail district in Tikrit in Salah al-Din, and abducted 12 civilians from the Kharzraj tribe (which is a Sunni tribe) reportedly due to a tribal conflict between two families.  The brother of a tribal leader was among those abducted.
    On 17 July, unidentified armed men abducted a civilian in the al-Askari area of Tuz Khurmatu district in Salah al-Din.  The victim was a Sunni Arab IDP from Sulaiman Beg sub-district, south of Tux Khurmatu.  On 18 July, unidentified armed men abducted another civilian in the al-Askari area.  The second victim was also an IDP from the Sunni Arab community from Hilewat village in Tuz Khurmatu district.  Sources strongly asserted to UNAMI/OHCHR that militia members were behind both these abductions.
    On 28 July, armed militia members abducted three civilians on the main road between Abu Saida sub-district and Baquba.  The victims were Sunni Arabs from the Zuherat tribe and included the son of a tribal leader.
    On 1 September, armed militia members wearing black uniforms stopped police and army vehicles that were transporting at least 40 detainees, all Sunni Arabs from Salah al-Din.  The militia stopped the convoy near Balad district, Salah al-Din, after firing warning shots into the air and at the tires of the vehicles.  They then physically assaulted an disarmed the security forces.  The abductees have been arrested in June for terrorism-related offenses and had been detained in the Brigade 17 Iraqi Army detention centre in Dujail, Salah al-Din.  Reports further stated that, at the time of their abduction, the detainees were being transferred to Baghdad.
    In the early morning of 27 September, a convoy of 20 pick-up trucks carrying masked gunmen in military uniform arrived in the Alb-Tua'ma area of Hujjaj village, in Baiji district, Salah al-Din, and forcibly took at least 28 civilians from the area -- which is inhabited by members of the al-Jubour tribe.  The victims were all males from the al-Jubour tribe.  A source indicated that they were taken in a systematic manner, based on a list of names produced according to intelligence and security information.  All abductees allegedly had current or past affiliation with ISIL or family connections associated with ISIL.  Other sources reported that the masked gunmen who took the civilians were militia.
    On 22 October, PMUs abducted at least 175 civilians from the Askari and Tin areas of Tuz Khurmatu district, Salah al-Din.  The victims were Sunni Arabs, who had been displaced to Tuz Khurmatu since June 2014.  The operation started at sunset, with people grabbed during house-to-house searches and in the streets, taken to PUMs facilities in Sulaiman Beg and Yengija village, and kept there for two days for questioning.  On 23 October, the bodies of three abductees (a Police officer and two civilians) were reportedly found in the Askari area.  Around 130 of the abductees were released; the others remained captive at the time of reporting.  The operation was conducted without arrest warrants or coordination with local authorities.



    There's more and we'll be noting a little bit more tomorrow.

    But it's past time to grow the hell up.


    The mock outrage over ISIL's actions?

    Tonight ABC aired a Marvel promo for an hour -- Captain America at 75.  And it included a million and one lies.  Chief among them, how brave it was for Captain America -- the comic book hero -- to take on Adolf Hitler.

    It's a comic book hero.

    It's not a person.

    More importantly, a magazine decrying a foreign leader is always easy to do -- especially when the domestic government is against the foreign leader.

    They also wanted praise, please note, for taking on Richard Nixon.

    But Nixon wasn't shown in the comic book.  And our 'witness' told us that everyone knew it was Nixon even though Nixon wasn't shown.

    Again, it's easy to slime a foreign leader.  (When they're despised -- justifiably so in the case of Hitler -- it's even easier.)  Guts might have been showing Richard Nixon when Captain America was decrying him -- guts for the artists doing the comic but not for the comic book hero who, again, is not a real person.

    The Islamic State is a terrorist organization.

    Documenting their abuses should be easy and something anyone can do without any great ethical challenge.

    The United Nations report notes consistent patterns of abuse by the Iraqi government.

    That needs to be spotlighted, it needs to be front and center.

    You do not excuse away a government committing crimes against its own civilians.

    You do not act as though that's nothing or that it's a sidebar.

    It is the prime story.

    Again, the Islamic State is a terrorist organization.

    As such it commits crimes against people -- that's what makes it a terrorist organization.

    The Iraqi government is supposed to serve (and protect) all the Iraqi people.

    When it instead targets its own people, that is news.


    The failure to properly report this goes a long way towards the growing divide between Arabs and others.  Arabs watched from 2010 on forward as the Iraqi government openly targeted Sunnis.  They saw little to no objection to this persecution.

    The United Nations puts out a report that documents crimes by a terrorist organization (ISIS) and crimes against Sunnis by the Iraqi government and the western media again ignores the crimes of the Iraqi government or offers a brief sotto voice aside.

    This is not acceptable.

    It is silencing those suffering at the hands of the Iraqi government.

    It is saying that Arabs are disposable and crimes against them can be ignored.

    The most important piece of journalism on Iraq today is by Ahmed Rasheed and Saif Hameed (REUTERS) and it opens:

    Iraq's parliament suspended its meeting on Tuesday amid protests by Sunni Muslim MPs over violence that targeted their community in eastern Iraq and left dozens killed in apparent retaliation for anti-Shi'ite bombings claimed by Islamic State.
    Sunni lawmakers urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to disband and disarm the Shi'ite militias which they accuse of being behind the latest attacks in and around the town of Muqdadiya, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

    Raad al-Dahlaki and Nahida al-Daini, two Sunni MPs from Diyala province where Muqdadiya is located, said 43 people had been killed over the past week and nine mosques fire bombed. Salah Muzahim, another MP, said the toll was over 40 dead.



    The walk out is major news by itself.  The reasons for it, the background there is even more important.

    Nouri al-Maliki's second term as prime minister of Iraq (2010 to 2014) is all about targeting Sunnis.  As Hillary Clinton noted in Sunday's Democratic Party debate, "If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni."

    This is not minor and the persecution continues under Haider al-Abadi.

    It also needs to be noted that the militias are now the government.  As prime minister, Haider has brought them into the fold.

    The Iraqi government also includes the KRG and Amnesty International has a new report noting the abuses there.  We'll explore that report in the next snapshot.

    But when a government targets the civilians, that's news.  It's also outrageous and abuse that must be called out.


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