Friday, September 02, 2016

Neoconnery from Hillary

Hillary is a neocon.

And Paul Larudee does a great job at DISSIDENT VOICE explaining what all this means:


If Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes US President, she will be the first neoconservative to actually occupy that office. The neoconservatives have been an ascendant force in policymaking since the Reagan administration, and remained (through Vice President Dick Cheney) an unsteady heartbeat from the presidency in the G.W. Bush administration. Now possession of the highest office in the land is within their grasp.
This is important because the neoconservatives are wedded to war, death and destruction. It is the foundation of their policy and it dominates the culture that they have created. They see war and conquest as the means to maintain unchallenged US military, political, and economic supremacy in the world – and even (according to H.R. Clinton) as a “business opportunity”.
The origins of neoconservatism
The neoconservative movement dates from the 1970s.  The term originally referred to “newcomers” to conservative politics from leftist and liberal origins.  They gravitated to the politics of Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson and UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Among their adherents were Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and later Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
What they held in common was advocacy for aggressively challenging the Soviet Union, coercion of smaller countries through authoritarian puppet regimes and pre-emptive war. At home, they preached “free market” economic liberalism, while their domestic social agenda was moderately liberal and even progressive on some issues (e.g. civil rights). They became staunchly Republican during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, but gained a foothold in Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration and crossed party lines to an even greater extent during the Obama presidency. Their supporters include the military-industrial complex, the major financial institutions (“Wall Street”) and, importantly, the Israel lobby.


She is a danger to peace, people and the world.

She's a neocon bent on recreating the Cold War.

She'll restart the arms race before it's all over with.



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


Friday, September 2, 2016.  Chaos and violence continue, the refugee crisis continues, the persecution of the Sunnis continues, Mika's stupidity continues, and much more.


"At this point," Mika declared this morning trying to make her flat voice rise as she mugged for the cameras, "why doesn't she just stay home and watch TV."

Many people would probably rejoice at Mika's suggestion that Hillary Clinton walk away from the campaign trail -- as Rebecca noted at her sight, Hillary has hit record lows in public approval in the latest polls.

Some might find something deeply troubling and sexist in Mika Brzezinski's suggestion that Hillary, a woman, stay at home and watch TV.

More than likely, Mika was just pondering her own future.

Her desire to announce that she can't be objective in the race should have been followed by her announcement that she would therefore not participate in discussions on the presidential race.

Her refusal to do that has resulted in Mika's negatives entering Jane Pauley land.


Pauley ruled NBC's TODAY SHOW back when looks weren't so important and being unattractive was actually a way for a male or female morning TV host to have 'cred.'

Long before Joan London joined GOOD MORNING AMERICA, that show was dismissed regularly due to David Hartman's good looks.

But viewers decided they didn't need ugly with their morning coffee and realized that someone as pretty as Joan London could do hosting duties as well as -- and in the case of the Prince Charles interview -- better than Jane Plain Pauley.

Pauley's negatives -- like Mika's -- were on the rise.

NBC stumbled by how they handled Pauley's dismissal.

They again stumbled with the dismissal of the popular Ann Curry.  (Curry was dismissed from TODAY due to Matt Lauer.  Pauley was dismissed from TODAY because viewers no longer cared for her.)

As Mika knows, she's been advised about her negatives with viewers, she's supposed to be addressing this problem.

She apparently believes she's going to be given years to address the problem when, in fact, she's supposed to be showing an immediate turn around in the impressions viewers have of her.

She's too much of an idiot to turn it around.

(She's also made a powerful enemy who keeps laughing about her and how she keeps coming to him for advice.)

She's now seen by viewers as a scold and a nag -- and age took away the freshness which was the only thing keeping Mika from being seen as ugly.  These days, even gooking on the raccoon eye make up doesn't help make her look good for TV.

But then it never would.

Had she been working in another form of entertainment -- say the part where talk shows don't act as if they are newscasts -- anyone doing make up on the set would have noted her "butt hole eyes."

There have been other terms among the crews over the years but Julia Ormond's publicist driven rise to fame -- brief rise to fame -- led to the popularization of that term.  You didn't need to wait for the box office totals on SABRINA to know that Ormond had no leading lady future, you only had to look at those dead eyes (Madonna has the same problem on film).

As Mika scowls, squints and glares through one segment after another, it's no surprise viewers are rejecting her, it's called MORNING JOE -- not MOURNING JOE.

And it's called MORNING JOE -- not MORNING JOSE.

Meaning?

I'm sure Ava wasn't the only Latino watching this morning as the Anglo Whites and African-American laughed and laughed and laughed at a Hispanic male.

Ava termed it, "Oh, let's all laugh at the 'dumb' Mexican."

And maybe it's past time for African-Americans to grasp that they are not the representative of Latino culture? (Just as various talk shows should grasp that as well and go beyond a token nod to ethnic and racial differences when booking guests.)

After laughing at the Latino male shown in a clip, the African-American realized he'd gone too far and tried to back peddle by then speaking for the Latino community.

It was not a pretty show.

But even among all that ugliness, Mika managed to stand out as the ugliest of all.

Which brings us to The Clinton Foundation.


Iraq War cheerleader Matty Y has a stupid article where he whines that Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton were treated differently.  Bob Moobs Somerby rushes in to nurse Matty Y and insist it is because Hillary's a Democrat.

I'm so sick of what may be whoring and/or binary thinking.

It's either/or with this undereducated crowd who think they know something and never have known a damn thing.

Again, Bob, you're welcome.  I'm glad I taught you about narrative so that you can finally stop embarrassing yourself in that regard.  You are welcome.

But you're still too much of an idiot.

What's the difference between Hillary and Colin?

It's not political.

It's not even race.

Colin is a retired general.

Sandy Berger is a disgraced pundit for what he did (smuggling out documents in his underwear).  David Petraeus is someone the press still rushes to prop up -- despite his handing over classified documents to his mistress.

What's the difference?

It's not gender.

It's not race.

It has nothing to do with politics.

It has everything to do with the media's worship of the military.

I don't worship, sorry.

Colin's never gotten a pass here.

But I am aware of his efforts to whitewash War Crimes in Vietnam and am aware that his ugly record goes back very far.

And that the media has refused to challenge him and instead applauded him.

Does that surprise you?

Only if you're uneducated.

In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell as president in a speech citing the military industrial complex and the damage it could do.


This did not lead to a continued series of journalistic exposes from major news outlets.

Instead, they turned their heads, averted their eyes and largely acted as though Eisenhower had beeen speaking of the Military-Industrial Commission of the USSR.

Equally true, Colin never ran for president -- which demands a higher level of scrutiny.

The media's failing yet again as they play talking heads about whether or not Hillary Clinton broke the law with regards to her actions as Secretary of State and The Clinton Foundation.

She broke her promise -- that's what she broke.

And, yes, it does matter.

She agreed to certain things to be Secretary of State.

Barack Obama did not say, "Now, Hillary, you can't break the law."

It was assumed that, like every American, she was already expected to obey the law.

What she promised was to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Because of the importance of the position, her actions had to rise to that level.

She agreed to that.

She failed to honor it and -- looking at her actions -- it's clear she never intended to.

She's unethical.

She may have broken the law as well -- nothing so far demonstrates she did.

But she is unethical and that's demonstrated by the shady deals and dealings she engaged in.

That is also on no one but herself.

She was expected to meet a certain standard and she did not.

Begla and Carville and all the other whores can lie about the great work The Clinton Foundation does (it doesn't -- and Chelsea's salary alone as a board member would outrage most Americans -- and, yes, Bob, you're welcome on my explaining/correcting you on the fact that board members draw a salary -- what an idiot Bob Somerby is.)

That's not the issue.

Even illegality is not the issue.

She signed a document promising to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

She knew what was expected of her and she agreed to it and then she refused to honor it.

That's unethical.


So is claiming to have been a defender of women and children when she's waged war on women and children around the world.


“Camps in are already overcrowded & we’re expecting a new wave of people – up to 1 million.”
 
 
 


Donald Trump, Hillary insists, is not ready to be president.

The implication being that she is.

Okay, then why is it that Ms. Ever Ready doesn't address the Iraqi refugee crisis.

While she was still in the US Senate, that crisis had already become the biggest refugee crisis in the Middle East since 1949.

And she didn't feel the need to address it.

The late Senator Ted Kennedy worked on it.  Asked her to help but she didn't want to (maybe that's why he supported Barack instead of her in the 2008 race?).

The crisis has only grown.

What speech has Hillary given from the campaign trail on this crisis?

What proposal has she made?


None.

And none.

If she's so ready, why doesn't she have any proposals?




She's our brave defender of women and children?

Human Rights Watch issued an alert at the start of the week:

Iraqi government-backed militias have recruited children from at least one displaced persons camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to fight against Islamic State forces. All security forces and armed groups should abide by international law and demobilize any fighters under age 18.
  Witnesses and relatives told Human Rights Watch that two tribal militias (Hashad al-Asha`ri) recruited as fighters at least seven children from the Debaga camp on August 14, 2016, and drove them to a town closer to Mosul, where Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are preparing for an offensive to drive the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, from the city. The Hashad al-Asha`ri, made up of local Sunni fighters, are expected to play a key role in Mosul military operations, while the government may order the mainly Shia militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces to stay out of the Mosul fighting.
“The recruitment of children as fighters for the Mosul operation should be a warning sign for the Iraqi government,” said Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher. “The government and its foreign allies need to take action now, or children are going to be fighting on both sides in Mosul.”
  Human Rights Watch has documented that ISIS has extensively recruited and deployed children in its forces.
Debaga camp, 40 kilometers south of Erbil, currently houses over 35,000 people displaced in the fighting between government forces and ISIS. Two people living in the camp since March told Human Rights Watch that at least two militia groups engaged in the fighting against ISIS are entirely made up of camp residents. They said that these two militias, commanded by Sheikh Nishwan al-Jabouri and by Maghdad al-Sabawy, the son of the recently deceased commander Fares al-Sabawy, have been recruiting from the camp for months. Their trucks have been arriving empty, and driving away filled with men, and in some cases, boys.

The two camp residents said that two very large trucks arrived in the evening of August 14 and took away about 250 new recruits, at least 7 of them under age 18, to join Sheikh al-Jabouri’s forces. Witnesses and other camp residents said that all the men and boys volunteered to join the militias. An aid worker who was on the road saw the two trucks heading to Hajj Ali, a town about 46 kilometers from Debaga and 7 kilometers from the front lines with ISIS. They contacted local aid workers in Hajj Ali, who confirmed that the group had arrived there, stayed for one night, and then went on to 



Where is her brave statement -- or any at all -- on the above?



She met with and praised Hoshyar Zebari repeatedly when she was Secretary of State.

Where's her comment on him this week?


Iraqi Financial Minister Hoshyar Zibari: Iraqi man transferred $6,4b to his account out of .

 
 
 


These charges/claims have been surfacing since Sunday.

There is no Iraqi Hillary has praised more than Hoshyar.

But today there is only silence.


The ongoing persecution of the Sunni population is what gave the Islamic State a toehold in Iraq.  What's her plan there?



Iraqi Sunni Scholar Tortured and arrested by Shia militias backed by Iraqi Gov.

 
 
 




She's ready and she's tested!

Then why doesn't she have any real proposals?


Yesterday, the US Defense Dept announced:


Strikes in Iraq
Fighter, ground attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Baghdadi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a building.

-- Near Beiji, a strike damaged an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Haditha, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a building.

-- Near Hit, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker.

-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three fighting positions and a weapons cache.

-- Near Mosul, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed a tunnel and two assembly areas.

-- Near Ramadi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a building and a mortar system.


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. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.


The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, the ACLU and Z ON TV  -- updated:


  •   








  • Thursday, September 01, 2016

    The normalizing of war

    Jill Stein is running for president.  She's the Green Party nominee.


    1. Why do we normalize war? The U.S. does not have a right to intervene, nation-build or police other countries.



    We have normalized war.

    We've done that.

    We've let Bully Boy Bush do it and we've let Barack Obama do it.

    It's time to change that.

    Hillary's not going to change it.

    Maybe Gary Johnson or Jill Stein can.

    We need to do something to straighten this world out.

    I hope you read Glen Ford's "Don’t Let the Russians Ruin the U.S. Elections System! (Don’t Make Me Laugh)" (BAR):


    Hillary Clinton is cold – not like ice, but like the Cold War. She will do anything to return to the White House, including risking thermonuclear war with Russia. Her “Big Tent” campaign apparatus is overflowing with an influx of the most warlike elements of both major parties, now united in a crusade to give Clinton a huge electoral mandate for global aggression. Clinton knows she can’t get such a mandate simply by beating the pants off the amateur white nationalist, Donald Trump. All that would prove is that voters dislike her less than they dislike him -- which isn’t saying much. To give her victory in November a truly triumphal character, she must be seen as saving the nation from an existential threat. Russia is easily made to fit the bill, as the nation that has been Uncle Sam’s boogeyman for nearly a century.
    It’s not so much that Clinton has linked Trump to Russia – but that she has smeared Russia with Trump. It is obvious that Clinton has been planning for years to ride into the White House on a warhorse. No sooner than she left the State Department, she was comparing President Vladimir Putin to Hitler. Now she’s infected her entire Big Tent with rabies. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is frothing at the mouth about a Russian threat to tamper with the 2016 elections. The Nevada senator cites remarks by former CIA chief Michael Morell, who combined his endorsement of Hillary with a charge that Donald Trump was an “unwitting agent” of Putin, and that Russian tampering with U.S. elections represents “one of the gravest threats to our democracy since the Cold War.” Senator Reid fears the Russians might mess with elections in five or six states. He wants the FBI to open an investigation. FBI agents have told reporters that foreign hackers broke into voter files in two states: Arizona and Illinois.


    Any lie today can be told by Harry Reid or Hillary or whomever and the media just repeats it over and over.


    It's disgusting.

    I hope you remember the truth tellers -- Glen Ford and others -- who didn't whore and didn't try to fool you.

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


    Thursday, September 1, 2016.  Chaos and violence continue, the State Dept's John Kirby needs to call Philippe Kropf and the number is +964 (0)751 1352875, the UN's death toll for Iraq increased wit August having the largest death toll of the year thus far, and much more.




    What you go and do
    You go and give the boy a gun
    Now there ain't place to run to
    Ain't no place to run to

    When he hold it in his hand
    He feel mighty he feel strong
    Now there ain't no place to run to
    Ain't no place to run

    One day he may come back
    Repay us for what we've done
    Then where you gonna run to
    Where you gonna run

    But one fine day
    All our problems will be solved
    Bang bang bang
    We'll shoot him down

    -- "Bang Bang Bang" written by Tracy Chapman, first appears on her MATTERS OF THE HEART album, a strong remaster appears on last year's GREATEST HITS



    Handing children guns -- the topic of a question raised in Wednesday's US State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson John Kirby.


    QUESTION: Human Rights Watch says Iraqi Government-backed militias have recruited children in preparation for an offensive to drive ISIL from Mosul. They call on the Iraqi Government to take action to demobilize child soldiers. Has the U.S. raised the issue with the Iraqi Government or are you going – aware of the issue?


    MR KIRBY: I’m not aware of that report. Obviously, we would strongly condemn the use of children as soldiers in any armed conflict, but I’m not aware that – of this particular report.


    First, let's inform you of what Kirby couldn't -- takes a lot of time to curl those lashes, doesn't it, John?


    Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch issued an alert which opened:

    Iraqi government-backed militias have recruited children from at least one displaced persons camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to fight against Islamic State forces. All security forces and armed groups should abide by international law and demobilize any fighters under age 18.
      Witnesses and relatives told Human Rights Watch that two tribal militias (Hashad al-Asha`ri) recruited as fighters at least seven children from the Debaga camp on August 14, 2016, and drove them to a town closer to Mosul, where Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are preparing for an offensive to drive the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, from the city. The Hashad al-Asha`ri, made up of local Sunni fighters, are expected to play a key role in Mosul military operations, while the government may order the mainly Shia militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces to stay out of the Mosul fighting.
    “The recruitment of children as fighters for the Mosul operation should be a warning sign for the Iraqi government,” said Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher. “The government and its foreign allies need to take action now, or children are going to be fighting on both sides in Mosul.”
      Human Rights Watch has documented that ISIS has extensively recruited and deployed children in its forces.
    Debaga camp, 40 kilometers south of Erbil, currently houses over 35,000 people displaced in the fighting between government forces and ISIS. Two people living in the camp since March told Human Rights Watch that at least two militia groups engaged in the fighting against ISIS are entirely made up of camp residents. They said that these two militias, commanded by Sheikh Nishwan al-Jabouri and by Maghdad al-Sabawy, the son of the recently deceased commander Fares al-Sabawy, have been recruiting from the camp for months. Their trucks have been arriving empty, and driving away filled with men, and in some cases, boys.

    The two camp residents said that two very large trucks arrived in the evening of August 14 and took away about 250 new recruits, at least 7 of them under age 18, to join Sheikh al-Jabouri’s forces. Witnesses and other camp residents said that all the men and boys volunteered to join the militias. An aid worker who was on the road saw the two trucks heading to Hajj Ali, a town about 46 kilometers from Debaga and 7 kilometers from the front lines with ISIS. They contacted local aid workers in Hajj Ali, who confirmed that the group had arrived there, stayed for one night, and then went on to join a militia nearby.


    John Kirby pinky swears he's never even heard of the report, is completely unfamiliar with it.

    There are two options here.

    First, he's lying because the militias are part of the Iraqi government (Hayder al-Abadi incorporated them into the armed forces some time ago) and the US government is not allowed to 'partner' in military operations with governments that use child soldiers.

    So he's lying to avoid legal ramifications.

    Or there's the second choice: He's really that stupid.

    Let's go with the second choice.

    I think it's the first but I think he's playing dumb on the national stage to avoid legal ramifications.


    So the US government has wasted X trillion of US taxpayer dollars on this never-ending illegal war and US troops are on the ground there and President Barack Obama has appointed a special envoy (Brett McGurk) and the State Dept and John Kirby can't be bothered monitoring Iraq?


    That's what he's saying to the United States and to the world -- but to the US taxpayers that pay his salary -- and all that eye liner can't be cheap, John -- he's saying that he can't be bothered.


    They can play with tax dollars like it's paper play money and with human lives like their plastic figures, they just can't pay attention to reality.

    Not a good message for the State Dept to convey.


    While John Kirby was preening from the podium yesterday, the United Nations in Iraq issued the following:



    (Baghdad, 31 August 2016): The UN is deeply worried by reports that child recruitment is taking place in at least one displacement camp in Iraq and that boys are reportedly being transported to areas near the frontlines, possibly to join armed groups that will fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).


    “Involving children in fighting is totally unacceptable,” said Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. “We are deeply concerned by the reports that this is happening.”

    The UN is also deeply concerned by reports of mass graves of thousands of civilian victims in areas of Iraq formerly under the control of ISIL.
    “Nothing is more important than ensuring the safety of civilians during the conflict. The battle to retake Mosul is likely to start soon. Hundreds of thousands of civilians will almost certainly be at risk. Everybody has to do everything possible to ensure they live and receive the assistance they need,” said Ms. Grande.
    International humanitarian law (IHL) obliges all parties to the conflict to refrain from recruiting minors or using them to take part in hostilities. IHL also requires parties to ensure that civilians are protected and allowed to leave conflict zones safely.
    “Under no circumstances can civilians be used as human shields,” said Ms. Grande. “This violates all principles of humanity.”
    The humanitarian community in Iraq issued a Flash Appeal in July urgently requesting US$284 million to prepare for the Mosul operation. To date, less than 20 percent of this amount has been raised.
    Humanitarian partners are also seeking funding for their 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan which provides assistance for 7.3 million Iraqis. To date, partners have received only 53 percent of the US$861 million they require for on-going operations.
    ************
    For further information, please contact:
    Philippe Kropf, Communications Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Iraq,
    ( kropf@un.org / +964 (0)751 1352875)



    Repeating, the contact information is Philippe Kropf and the number is +964 (0)751 1352875.


    Could someone pass that on to John Kirby?


    Turning to violence, Wednesday, the US Defense Dept announced:

    in Iraq
    Bomber, fighter, ground-attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 14 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Baghdadi, a strike produced inconclusive results.

    -- Near Albu Hayat, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

    -- Near Bashir, a strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

    -- Near Haditha, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed another fighting position.

    -- Near Hit, four strikes engaged an ISIL vehicle bomb factory, a barracks, a headquarters building and destroyed three fighting positions.

    -- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar system and suppressed another mortar position.

    -- Near Mosul, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit, destroying a fighting position, a command-and-control node, two mortar systems, eight rocket rails, a rocket system and a tunnel. The strike also and damaged an excavator and suppressed a mortar position.

    -- Near Ramadi, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units, destroying two fighting positions, two mortar systems, a mortar cache, two vehicles and an artillery system. The strikes also damaged another mortar system.

    -- Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIL weapons cache.

    -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.


    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. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.



    Today is the first day of September.  Which means?  UNAMI's released the death and wounded tolls for August:


    Baghdad, Iraq, 01 September 2016 – A total of 691 Iraqis were killed and another 1,016 were injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq, excluding Anbar, in August 2016*, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).



    The number of civilians killed in August was 473 (including 16 federal police, Sahwa civil defence, Personal Security Details, facilities protection police, fire department), and the number of civilians injured was 813 (including 21 federal police, Sahwa civil defence, Personal Security Details, facilities protection police, fire department).

    A total of 218 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (including Peshmerga, SWAT and militias fighting alongside the Iraqi Army but excluding Anbar Operations) were killed and 203 were injured.
    According to the casualties recorded for August, Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 907 civilian casualties (231 killed, 676 injured). Ninewa 116 killed and 83 injured, Kirkuk had 81 killed and 13 injured, while Karbala 17 killed and 25 injured, Salahadin 14 killed and 04 injured and Diyala 06 killed and 05 injured.
    UNAMI has not been able to obtain the civilian casualty figures from the Anbar Health Department for the month of August.
    “The bloodletting in Iraq continues without letup. Casualty figures remain too high and civilians again are bearing the brunt,” Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Ján Kubiš said.
    “In the past few days, Daesh suicide bombers struck a wedding celebration in Ain Al-Tamr in Karbala Governorate, killing or wounding many, and bombs went off in the capital Baghdad. We strongly condemn these terrorist attacks and other acts of violence, reiterate our call on the parties to undertake every effort to safeguard the lives of civilians and urge Iraqis in general to show strength in unity in the face of this unrelenting violence,” Mr. Kubiš said.
    * CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas in some cases; UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents. UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum. [UNAMI has not been able to obtain the civilian casualty figures from Anbar for the month of August.]



    The UN figures are an undercount.  They always are.

    But even just using UN figures alone, that makes August the most violent month of the year thus far.

    Not only did the number dead increase by around 200 and the wounded toll also increase by around 200 but you have to drop back to July 2015 to find a month where the death toll was higher (844).

    That's not good news.

    With the liberation of Mosul -- or 'liberation' -- still on the horizon this year, there's a chance the United Nations may record more deaths in 2016 than in 2015.

    In addition to the above violence, RUDAW reports yesterday saw the hanging of at least 7 Arab men by the Iraqi government.  The men -- non-Iraqis -- were all allegedly convicted.

    That doesn't mean much with Iraq's well known use of forced convictions and kangaroo courts.

    Question, since Iraq's legal system never got better, why did THE NEW YORK TIMES drop their coverage of it?

    They used to do a yearly article -- back when Bully Boy Bush was in the White House.

    These days, it's paper over all the unpleasant truths.





    Like the talk about Hoshyar Zebari.






    Hoshiyar Zebari: "an Iraqi official transferred $6.4 billion to his account in a bank." Welcome to






    All week long, Zebari's been the focus of talk throughout the Iraqi media about how (a) he's corrupt and (b) has stolen at least six billion from the Iraqi people.


    Silence in the western media.





    The following community sites updated yesterday and the day before: