Mikey Likes It!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Cranky Clinton's really stepped in it this time

Cranky Clinton says she's running for the Democratic Party's presidential nominee but she acts like she's running for Queen of Assholeville.

Case in point:

Close to an hour later, the Democratic front-runner faced another group who had waited patiently to ask her questions: the press. This time, in an empty and quiet gymnasium, Clinton grew testy as the back-and-forth with reporters became more heated and focused pointedly on her emails and her use of a private server while she served as secretary of state.
“What was supposed to be convenient has turned out to be anything but convenient,” she said, reiterating that she “wants Americans to understand” that when it comes to whether or not she sent or received any classified emails, the process would be the same whether or not she had used a government account. “It has nothing to do with me and it has nothing to do with the fact that my account was personal,” she said of inspectors general investigations into whether or not classified material was discovered.

Has it not been convenient for you, Cranky?

Oh, how you've suffered.

Climb down from the cross, Cranky, you're not Jesus.

She really is full of herself, isn't she?

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

Tuesday, August 18, 2015. Chaos and violence continue, Haider al-Abadi rushes to rescue those in need (an oil company), Hillary Clinton uses Mad Maddie Albright for a 'charm offensive,' and much more.

Starting in the US where Hillary Clinton continues to seek the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination. This despite rumors that former US Vice President Al Gore may step into the mix. In the meantime, Hillary's apparently on a self-destruct mission as evidence by her campaign's deployment of Mad Maddy Albright.

Albright is being used to lecture/hector Jeb Bush who is seeking the GOP's presidential nomination.

Or that's what the campaign hopes.

But all Albright really does is underscore the half a million killed during the presidency of Bill Clinton.

"We think the price is worth it," Mad Maddie replied when asked by Lesley Stahl (60 Minutes) about the half-a-million Iraqi children killed due to the sanctions imposed on Iraq during Bill Clinton's presidential terms. As FAIR pointed out:

It’s worth noting that on 60 Minutes, Albright made no attempt to deny the figure given by Stahl–a rough rendering of the preliminary estimate in a 1995 U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report that 567,000 Iraqi children under the age of five had died as a result of the sanctions. In general, the response from government officials about the sanctions’ toll has been rather different: a barrage of equivocations, denigration of U.N. sources and implications that questioners have some ideological axe to grind (Extra!, 3-4/00).

During Hillary's attempt to secure the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination, Mad Maddie was always the first Hillary advisor cited when critics wanted to smear Hillary's campaign:

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, I think one thing you could say about the advisers for all the candidates who have a chance is that the presence of these advisers makes it clear that these candidates aren’t serious about enforcing the murder laws and that they’re willing to kill civilians, foreign civilians, en masse in order to advance US policy. And they’re not serious about law and order. They’re soft on crime.

And start with Clinton. Madeleine Albright, she was the main force behind the Iraq sanctions that killed more than 400,000 Iraqi civilians. General Wesley Clark, he was the one who ran the bombing of Serbia in the former Yugoslavia, came out and publicly said that he was going after civilian targets, like electrical plants, like the TV station there. Richard Holbrooke, in the Carter administration he was the one who oversaw the shipment of weapons to the Indonesian military as they were invading — illegally invading East Timor and killing a third of the population there, and he was the one who kept the UN Security Council from enforcing its resolution against that invasion. Strobe Talbott, he was the one who, during the Clinton administration, oversaw Russia policy, a backing of Yeltsin, which resulted in turning over the national wealth to the oligarchs and a drop in life expectancy in much of Russia of about fifteen years — massive, massive death. And you have various backers of the Iraq invasion and occupation and the recent escalation, people like General Jack Keane, Michael O’Hanlon and others. That’s just Clinton.

Mad Maddie was used in 2008 to (a) demonstrate that Hillary was out of touch and (b) to underscore that long before Bully Boy Bush started the illegal war in 2003, Bill Clinton oversaw the slaughter of a half-million Iraqi children in what some foolishly saw as 'more peaceful times.'

Mad Maddie shooting off her tired yap this week only reminds people that when it comes to killing Iraqis, Bill and Hillary have been doing it for decades.

Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 18h18 hours ago

.@madeleine is right: We can't afford another President Bush who would take us backward on Iraq and foreign policy. http://hrc.io/1hISO8P

442 retweets 889 favorites

And the world can afford another President Clinton who would kill another 500,000 Iraqi children?

In other poor visuals, Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi made a special visit today.

Aref Mohammed, Ahmed Rasheed, Isabel Coles and William Hardy (Reuters) note, "Hundreds of locals recently blocked some entrance to Iraq's giant southern West Qurna-2 oilfield, operated by Russia's Lukoil, demanding jobs in a sign of the growing challenges facing foreign firms operating in the south." So Haider rushed there today in an attempt "to reassure Lukoil."

Time and again, Haider puts oil first, ahead of the Iraqi people.

Dropping back to the April 15th snapshot:

This morning, Arwa Damon (CNN -- link is video and text) reported on the situation in Anbar Province's Ramadi noting that deputy provincial council head Falih Essawi is issuing "a dire, dire warning" as the Islamic State advances.

Arwa Damon: ISIS forces, it seems, early this morning managing to enter the outskirts of the city of Ramadi from the east. This now means that ISIS is fighting on the east. ISIS advanced from the north -- taking over three towns from the outskirts there over the weekend. The routes to the south already blocked off. The city basically under siege except for the western portion that is still controlled by forces, by government forces, but that is wavering as well.

Sky News notes the three areas taken, "The militant group took the villages of Sjariyah, Albu-Ghanim and Soufiya, in Anbar province, which had been under government control, residents said." Nancy A. Youssef (Daily Beast) observed:

Pentagon officials stopped short of saying the city was on the brink of falling. But they didn’t sound confident it would hold, either.
“The situation in Ramadi remains fluid and, as with earlier assessments, the security situation in the city is contested. The ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] continue to conduct clearing operations against ISIL-held areas in the city and in the surrounding areas of Al Anbar province,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Army Maj. Curt Kellogg, a said in a statement, using the government’s preferred acronym for ISIS. The Coalition continues to coordinate with ISF forces and provide operational support as requested.”

AFP's Jean Marc Mojon and Karim Abou Merhil sound out various Middle East experts about the prospects for victory in Anbar. We'll note this section:

“Anbar, and especially Fallujah, is like Asterix’s village,” said Victoria Fontan, a professor at American University Duhok Kurdistan, referring to an unconquerable town in the French comic book series.
The province is packed with experienced fighters and while some Sunni tribes have allied with the government, others are fighting alongside ISIS or sitting on the fence.
Local knowledge is seen as key to retaking territory along the fertile strip lining the Euphrates, where ISIS has inflicted severe military setbacks to the police and army since June.

Iraqi Spring MC notes this takes place as calls for reinforcements of government troops to be sent to . . . Baiji.

That's in northern Iraq, Salahuddin Province. These reinforcements are being sent in to protect . . . Well, not people. There are people in Ramadi who need protection. But the government forces going to Baiji are going to protect an oil refinery.

How did that work out?

Does anyone remember?

Oh, yeah, the Islamic State seized Ramadi -- which they still control today.

But, hey, that refinery in Baiji, that oil refinery is safe.

Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 101 violent deaths across Iraq today.

But, hey, Haider al-Abadi made a special trip today to reassure . . . Lukoil.

Meanwhile, AFP reports former prime minister of Iraq and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki has dubbed the Iraqi Parliament's findings on the fall of Mosul "worthless."

For those late to the story, yesterday Emma Gatten (Independent) reported:

It's not just the report that Nouri's denouncing, it's the finding of his guilt.

AFP quotes Nouri's rant from his Facebook page:

There is no value in the result that emerged from the parliamentary investigation committee on the fall of Mosul, which was dominated by political differences and was not objective. [. . .] What happened in Mosul was a conspiracy planned in Ankara, then the conspiracy moved to Arbil,

World Bulletin notes, "Iraq’s parliament approved the report on Monday by a large majority, after which it was referred to the CPI and the court [Supreme Court] for further investigation and a final decision."

National Iraqi News Agency notes Nouri's criticism . . . from Tehran.

In other news, at the State Dept today, spokesperson John Kirby stamped out rumors that the US was investigating an alleged chemical attack on the Kurds:

QUESTION: Just one question. There were media reports that the United States was investigating the alleged use of chemical gas by ISIS against the Kurds in Iraq. Has that committee or that investigating team come to a conclusive result about the use of gas against --

MR KIRBY: I’m not aware of a U.S. investigation into this. I’d refer you to --

QUESTION: CNN and other media outlets, they all reported it.

MR KIRBY: Oh, well, if CNN reported it, then – (laughter). I mean, look, I don’t – I don’t have anything to report on that.

QUESTION: So you didn’t investigate it?

MR KIRBY: No, I’m telling you I don’t have anything to report on this news report you’re giving me about an investigation. The press reporting itself is deeply concerning to us. I’ve seen no indication and we have no confirmation that ISIL used a chemical agent, whether it’s mustard or anything else. Obviously, if it’s true, it’s certainly very deeply concerning given the brutality that this group is capable of.

QUESTION: But --

MR KIRBY: I don’t have any investigation to read out to you today --

QUESTION: But did the U.S. --

MR KIRBY: -- and I’d point you to DOD.

QUESTION: So you don’t know if the U.S. had investigated at all?

MR KIRBY: I don’t.

iraq
antiwar.com
margaret griffis

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The lies never end with Hillary

So we have this:

The website Gawker also reported Monday that the State Department backed down from its claim two years ago that it could not find a single email between Clinton communications aide Philippe Reines and 34 news organizations. That’s what the agency initially said in response to a 2012 Freedom of Information Act request from John Cook, now a Gawker editor.
But in a court filing last week, State said it had found 5.5 gigabytes of emails from Reines’ State.gov account, amounting to 81,159 emails. The agency said about 22 percent of the emails may involve contacts with the news outlets Gawker asked about.
State did not explain the earlier claim that no responsive records could be found. A State spokesman declined to comment Monday, citing a policy of not commenting on matters in litigation.

When does the lying end?

And why didn't some of the 34 news organizations come forward and say, "Hey, I e-mailed Philippe Reines!"?

Oh, that's right, they were part of the kiss ass, part of the circle jerk and, now, part of the cover up.

Hillary Clinton is a disaster.

She needs to take her lying ass back to upstate NYC and hide out there because no one needs to suffer through another day of her lies.

What a loser.

New content at Third:

And along with Dallas, here's who wrote it:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's K itchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

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

Monday, August 17, 2015. Chaos and violence continue, Haider al-Abadi's so-called reforms appear to be less and less about government corruption, Nouri al-Maliki hides in Iran as calls mount for him to be put on trial, and much more.

Starting in Iraq where forever thug and former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki remains absent despite the focus on him. Emma Gatten (Independent) reports:

Al Mada reminds that a little over a year ago, while still prime minister, Nouri was insisting the fall of Mosul was due to foreign countries and their leaders but Parliament's investigation discovered that the chief issue was a lack of troops present in Mosul followed by the conflicts between political officials. Euronews adds, "According to the report, Maliki had an inaccurate picture of the
threat to the northern city because he chose commanders who engaged in corruption and failed to hold them accountable."

It was June 2014, when the Islamic State took over the city. Don Melvin (CNN) offers, "Mosul, a city of more than 1 million people about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of Baghdad, is one of the most important cities in northern Iraq. Its fall to the terrorist group ISIS was followed by disastrous consequences for residents in the area."

Mosul remains under the control of the Islamic State to this day.

Kitabat reports that some members of Nouri's State of Law coalition are threatening to walk out on the Parliament if Nouri is charged with anything and that Speaker of Parliament Saleem al-Jubouri held a press conference today to note that no names could be stricken from the report and no one was above the law.

Nouri left over the weekend for what was supposed to be a brief visit to Iran -- a visit that's already expanded to days and has many wondering what exactly he is up to?

Now that he's in Iran, Nouri's become quite the chatty Cathy on the topic of reforms or 'reforms' proposed by Haider al-Abadi. While he praised these reforms while he was in Iraq, he's since changed his opinion. Nour Malas, Ali A. Nabhan and Ghassan Adnan (Wall St. Journal) report:

Mr. Maliki, who initially gave a statement of support for the government overhaul, has since appeared to question some of the measures. In local television interviews, he called the moves to eliminate the vice presidency posts and a call to allow the prime minister to replace local governors "unconstitutional."

What will happen to Nouri?

Maybe nothing at all.

Aziz Alwan (Bloomberg) reports:

The case isn’t likely to be raised to “the level of high treason,” and it’s too early to say what will happen next, according to Hameed al-Fayath, a Baghdad-based political analyst.
Though Maliki’s popularity is suffering, “he still has many supporters all over Iraq, especially among the Shiite militias that are fighting Islamic State right now, the security forces, and in politics,” he said.

Nouri has much to answer for. Last night, we noted that the press was overlooking the obvious with regards to the findings by the Iraqi Parliament on the 2014 fall of Mosul: That then-prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki had refused to nominate anyone to be in charge of the security ministries throughout his second term (2010 - 2014).

Back in July, 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."

He never filled them.

In January 2011, when they were still vacant, Ayad Allawi (the winner of the 2010 elections) stated they wouldn't be filled. The world press, always full of something other than wisdom, was insisting that, in a few weeks, Nouri would nominate someone to hold the posts.

Allawi said Nouri wouldn't and that this was a power grab.

Allawi was correct.

For four years, Iraq was without heads for the security ministries.

Which is part of the reason the military rise of the Islamic State isn't a surprise.

Sunday, Haider's actions began to more closely resemble a power grab and to be less and less about reforms as he announced he would be hacking away at the Cabinet -- with no one pointing out that the Constitution does not give him that power. Reuters states he's taken the Cabinet from 33 ministers to 22. Among the posts eliminated? The Minister of Human Rights and the Minister of State for Women's Affairs. (CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq also notes thee two posts are being eliminated.)

In his announcement, Haider claims that he has the power under Article 78 of the Constitution.

That's interesting. Article 78 of the Iraqi Constitution:

Article 78:
First: The President of the Republic shall take up the office of the Prime Minister in the event the post becomes vacant for any reason whatsoever.
Second: The President must designate another nominee to form the cabinet within a period not to exceed fifteen days in accordance with the provisions of article 73 of this Constitution.

Where does that give Haider the power to eliminate ministries?

In his announcement, he notes that he is cancelling the following: the Minister of Human Rights, the Minister of State for Women's Affairs, the Minister for State for Provincial Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs and the Minister of State while merging a number of ministries.

This morning, we noted of the move to eliminated the Women's Affairs ministry, "If Haider's moving to end corruption, if that's why he's doing this, how much corruption is ended by abolishing a ministry that's never had a real budget?"

Kurdish MP Muthanna Amin today also noted the nonsense and the fakery. Rudaw reports:

“The prime minister has decided to close the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, whose monthly budget is only 150,000 Iraqi dinars (about $120,” Amin claimed, saying it had little impact on reducing government expenses.
Amin said the ministry comprised of only three rooms in the same building as the council of ministers, without mentioning other costs, such as salaries and security for ministry officials.

Yet the western press is presenting these moves as a fight against corruption.

Press TV interviews Iraqi Democrats against Occupation's Sabah Jawad. Excerpt.

Press TV: How far do you think these measures that are being taken by Prime Minister al-Abadi will go in combating corruption in Iraq?

Jawad: Basically, he has not started on the corruption, yet. This is a very important demand of the demonstrators on the streets in Baghdad and the southern provinces and everywhere in Iraq and these demonstrations are increasing by numbers every week.
In fact, there is a continuation of the certain demands by these demonstrators, which started actually on the ground of improved services, the lack of infrastructure, electricity, water supplies and so on.

One of the few serious analysis offered in the western press is by Zaid al-Ali (Washington Post) who explains that the plan is a rerun of past plans, it goes against the Constitution (the President of Iraq picks the vice presidents and the prime minister has no say in the issue) and Haider's own unimpressive track record. Excerpt:

The political context is also hard to ignore. Abadi’s plan was conceived in the midst of an ongoing power struggle among Shiite political circles. It is no secret that Vice President al-Maliki has been vying to undermine his former colleague since he was ousted from the prime minister’s position last year. What is less well known is that he and several other political forces (all of which are closely aligned to Iran) have been mounting a serious challenge to Abadi’s authority over the past few weeks. In that context, the key proposal to dissolve the vice-presidents’ positions is not so much an attempt to cut down on government bureaucracy, as it is to weaken a political rival.

And while few will dispute that al-Maliki should be sidelined, it is worth noting that al-Abadi’s own record is not particularly inspiring either. During al-Maliki’s entire tenure as prime minister, al-Abadi never appeared to differ from his party colleague on any important policy matter. He also does not have any major accomplishments to his name from his own eight-year tenure in parliament.

Thomas Gaist (WSWS) also expresses skepticism over the reforms or 'reforms' so much of the press has gone giddy over, "Presented in US media as 'anti-corruption' measures, the reform proposals actually represent a major step toward the dissolution of the unified Iraqi state and the breakup of Iraqi society into several autonomous statelets."

Meanwhile, Yamel Wang (Xinhua) reports, "A total of 52 people were killed on Monday in bomb attacks, including three suicide bombings, and air strikes targeting Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's western province of Anbar, provincial security sources said." Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 215 violent deaths across Iraq today.

Iraq was briefly noted in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson John Kirby.

QUESTION: Still on the Kurds. I’d like to ask a question about Iraqi Kurdistan, where the tensions are really mounting over the future of President Barzani, whose term is coming to an end this Thursday.

MR KIRBY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Brett McGurk tweeted this: “In Kurdistan region to urge unity in face of serious ISIL threat and in honor of 1,200 Peshmerga martyrs. The terrorists feed on division.” This statement by Brett McGurk, this tweet, has been read by many people in Kurdistan as an indirect support for President Barzani to extend his term, to stay in power.

MR KIRBY: To extend his term?

QUESTION: Yeah, to stay on – to stay on in power.

MR KIRBY: I think that would be a mistake to read it that way.

QUESTION: So --

MR KIRBY: In fact, I don’t think it’s a mistake; it’s a mistake to read it that way. The Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s presidential – that presidential issue is an internal political matter, and this is a decision for the people and parties of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region to make together.

QUESTION: But are you calling for a peaceful transition – peaceful and democratic transition of power as his term is coming to an end – his last term – by Thursday?

MR KIRBY: We aren’t taking a position – this is a – this presidential issue is for the people of the region to work together and to decide and to determine. We’re not taking a position on that.

QUESTION: You’re not calling – you’re not willing to call for a peaceful transition of power, which you often do in regard to other countries when somebody’s term is coming to an end.

MR KIRBY: It’s not a country. It’s not a country.

QUESTION: A region.

MR KIRBY: It’s a region of Iraq. We’re not going to get involved in internal Iraqi politics. Obviously, separate and distinct from that, wherever there are elections and transitions of power, whether it’s from one individual to another or one party to another, we obviously want to see that be done peacefully and securely, fairly, openly, transparently, and credibly, obviously, but we’re not taking a position on this. And Brett McGurk was certainly not inserting himself into that process in any way whatsoever.

QUESTION: Thanks.

MR KIRBY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

MR KIRBY: You guys always go together.

QUESTION: Yeah. (Laughter.) So what is your level of involvement in this issue? Because there are two things that you always – well, one, which is the democracy – you just said it – you always support the free and fair election, but this is not about election. This is about somebody --

MR KIRBY: I understand that.

QUESTION: -- his term came to an end.

MR KIRBY: That’s why I made the distinction.

QUESTION: Yeah, this is – his term came to an end and according to the laws that he has to step down, but it seems he will not. But this is one part. The other part is that this region is one of the effective partners. They are – they’re part of the international coalitions to fight ISIS, so this situation will have an impact on that. So what is your level of involvement in this? I know Ambassador McGurk and his delegation will be there for a few days and talking to Kurdish officials, and he tweeted several times on this specific issues, the crisis. So there should be a level of involvement. Like, you did it in Baghdad – that there was not government when ISIS came, was close to Baghdad, then you kind of helped the Iraqi parties to form the new government. This is kind of the same situation.

MR KIRBY: Well, look, I mean, while there, Brett McGurk met with President Barzani and the leaders of all the major Kurdish political parties. Not atypical when he goes to that part of Iraq. What he went for and what he did was reaffirm the U.S. commitment to continue cooperation with Iraqi Kurdish forces to fight – in the fight against ISIL, and he commended the regional government and their officials there for their coordination with the Government of Iraq – their coordination – and coalition members in that same fight. And of course, he praised the contribution of Peshmerga forces, which have been very capable in the field. That’s it. He did not go to insert himself into an internal political matter, and he’s not doing that.

QUESTION: So last one on that: Does that mean that you are not concerned about any way of political transition will happen, maybe will cause instability in the region? That means --

MR KIRBY: We’re not – I mean, I love your attempts to continue to get at the same issue. I think I’ve answered the question. We’re not inserting ourselves into this internal political matter. Separate and apart from that, we always want to see – whenever there’s a transition in government, we want to see that responsive to the people; free, fair, credible, transparent. We’re not inserting ourselves in this, okay?

With regard to the issues above, Anadolu Agency reports:

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)’s judicial council has extended the term of KRG President Masoud Barzani -- which had been set to expire on Thursday -- for another two years, according to the KRG’s Justice Ministry.

Ministry spokesman Nariman Talib told Anadolu Agency that the move would be decided at an extraordinary meeting of the KRG’s parliament slated for Wednesday.

iraq
xinhua
rudaw
al mada

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Beauty and the Best (beast against beast)

So the good news is JT and Tess are back together again on Beauty and the Beast.

On the latest episode, they were fighting Liam who was trying to kill JT and they realized how much they loved each other.

So that's the good news.

The bad?

Liam's not just some super villain injected with a serum.

Vincent was able to track him and unsure how or why.

Until their big battle.

They're both beasts.

Clearly, Kat's mother must have experimented on Liam as well or someone else who was working with her did.

Now that Liam is known to be a beast, who knows what happens next?

But JT has nose bleeds.

This has happened to every one of the serum injected people who've been assassinated.

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

Saturday, August 15, 2015. Chaos and violence continue, protests continue, protesters get attacked, Moqtada al-Sadr is among those calling out the attacks, the US government is offended by a bombing but not by the bombing of a maternity hospital, Hillary Clinton finally responds to Jeb Bush's charges, and much more.

Protests continued Friday in Iraq.

Among those protesting?

NINA reports:

Hundreds of Iraqi journalists took part in the grand mass march that took place on Friday afternoon in al-Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, departing from the headquarters of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate.
[. . .]
The correspondent pointed out that among the slogans filed by demonstrators are slogans calling for the dissolution of parliament and the prosecute of the corrupt.

Alsumaria notes thousands turned out to protest in Najaf on Friday. Alsumaria also notes hundreds turned out to protest in Wasit. As protests swept Iraq for the third consecutive week, those too young to protest mirrored the action of the adults around them.

Rusul Al-Hasani ‏@rusul_ Aug 14

Too young to protest with the crowds so they built up their own freedom monument :D #Iraq #مظاهرات_14_اب

27 retweets 22 favorites

And Iraqi protests were not limited to Iraq on Friday.

‏@moonnor27

#Iraqi protesters in #Sweden yesterday Against the corruption of the Iraqi Goverment

38 retweets 14 favorites

Protests also continued today. Alsumaria reports in Basra, protests protested outside a Korean company Daewoo calling for jobs and 1 demonstrator was shot dead and another left injured apparently by employees of the Korean company.

As it turns out, that attack was not the first attack on protesters.

Dar Addustour notes that Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr decried the attacks on protesters. Iraq Times reports that protesters in Karbala on Friday were attacked by riot police. And today the Governor of Baghdad, Ali al-Tamimi, called out the Friday attack on protesters. Dar Addustour reports that the attacks occurred by a Turkish restaurant near Tahrir Square and that the attackers wore anti-riot gear

In his latest column, As Sheik (Dar Addustur) calls out the "thug actions" of those attacking the protesers and decries the efforts of the state to use its resources to attack peaceful protesters who are only demanding their rights and an end to the continued theft of public money.

Today, former US Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, finally responded herself to Jeb Bush's Tuesday charges that she and US President Barack Obama lost Iraq. BBC News reports:

On Saturday Ms Clinton responded by saying Mr Bush "should present the entire picture. [That]... includes the agreement George W Bush made with the Maliki government in Iraq that set the end of 2011 as the date to withdraw American troops."

Reuters has video of Hillary speaking:

I think that, uh, what, uh, is being done with ISIS, uh, is very, uh, significant in terms of the support that the United States is now providing to the Iraqi army to retrain because of what Maliki did to, uh, really start to erode its abilities, to support the Kurds, to try to get the Sunnis back into, uh, the fight against ISIS. But this has to be an Iraqi-led mission and like anybody who has followed the horrific, barbaric behavior of ISIS, I, uh-uh, I am very committed to supporting the efforts within the region to take on the threat --

And we'll stop her there.

She never speaks of the need for political reconciliation. She never notes any grievances.

She just wants bombs and more bombs.

She's also either grossly uninformed or determined to be a liar.

We will again notes this week's attack on the Falluja maternity hospital.

#IRAQ شمرية العراق ‏@moonnor27 Aug 13

#Iraqi army crimes yesterday bombed Hospital by barrels in Fallujah killed 25 child & woman #Iraq @hrw @KenRoth

179 retweets 37 favorites

We covered the hospital bombing in Thursday's "Iraq snapshot" and "US outraged by possible chemical attack, not so bothered by the actual bombing of a maternity hospital" and if you think we were overstating the silence of the US government, the day the maternity hospital was bombed, this is what the US State Dept released:

Press Statement

John Kirby

Washington, DC

August 13, 2015

The United States condemns in the strongest terms both the ISIL attack this morning at a crowded market place in Baghdad, and the car bomb attacks in Diyala Province on Monday, as well as other recent terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people. We express our deep condolences to family and friends of the victims. These atrocities show once again the utter disregard ISIL has for innocent civilians, including women and children.
As Iraqis unite against ISIL and turn the tide on the battlefield, ISIL will try to maintain its campaign of terror to sow discord among the Iraqi people. The United States continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Iraqi people as they confront ISIL and the violence it represents. We remain committed to working with Prime Minister Al-Abadi, the Iraqi Security Forces, and our partners in the international community to support the Government of Iraq in defeating ISIL and holding this terrorist organization accountable for the atrocities it has committed.

Not one word about the maternity hospital bombing -- bombed by the Iraqi military.

Apparently, they were concerned infants would grow up to be terrorists?

#IRAQ شمرية العراق ‏@moonnor27 5h5 hours ago

#Iraqi army crimes yesterday bombed Hospital by barrels in Fallujah killed 25 child & woman #Iraq @hrw @KenRoth

110 retweets 19 favorites

LEWIS ‏@khq2221UAS 2h2 hours ago

#Iraqi army crimes killed yesterday 25 Sunni child in fallujah @1957_Tintin_ @NasserIbnHamad @nashid44482 @hrw

28 retweets 6 favorites

When the US government cannot call out the bombing of a maternity hospital, they don't look like an honest or fair broker. They look like cheap liars that will embrace murder.

And more.

Stephanie Nebehay (Reuters) reported yesterday:

A U.N. human rights watchdog called on Iraq on Friday to close what it described as secret detention centres where militant suspects, including minors, are "severely tortured".
The panel of 18 independent experts, who reviewed Iraq's record in preventing torture and ill-treatment last month, had challenged Iraqi officials to name a single person the country had jailed for torture in a justice system that had "gone astray".

In its findings issued on Friday, the watchdog voiced concern at information pointing to a pattern whereby militant and other high-security suspects, including minors, were arrested without warrants and detained in facilities - especially those run by the defence and interior ministries.

There's a lot of pretending for Barack Obama to continue his support of the murderous regime governing Iraq today.

There's a lot of nonsense on Hillary's part when she can't call it out either.

But Hillary's all about the nonsense these days.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush launched his 'attack' on Hillary earlier this week and she 'responded' by having Jake Sullivan speak for her because she's too much of an idiot to speak for herself apparently. She needed four days to respond to a Bush?

How stupid do you have to be to need more than five minutes to respond to a Bush?

In the long gap between Jeb's charge and Hillary's response, many weighed in.

The centrist FactCheck.org offered:

So, President Bush reluctantly agreed to a withdrawal deadline without leaving behind a residual force because of Maliki’s strong objections. Jeb Bush ignores those facts.
Still, Obama had three years to negotiate a new agreement prior to the Dec. 31, 2011, withdrawal date to keep some U.S. troops in Iraq. In fact, a day before Bush signed the agreement, Gen. Ray Odierno — the former commander of the U.S. troops in Iraq and current Army chief of staff — said the agreement might be renegotiated depending on conditions on the ground. “Three years is a very long time,” Odierno told the New York Times.
Leon Panetta, who was Obama’s defense secretary from July 2011 to February 2013, wrote in his 2014 book, “Worthy Fights,” that as the deadline neared “it was clear to me — and many others — that withdrawing all our forces would endanger the fragile stability” in Iraq. As a result, the Obama administration sought to keep 5,000 to 10,000 U.S. combat troops in Iraq, as Sullivan said in his statement.
But negotiations with Iraq broke down in October 2011 over the issue of whether U.S. troops would be shielded from criminal prosecution by Iraqi authorities. Panetta wrote that Maliki insisted that a new agreement providing immunity to U.S. forces “would have to be submitted to the Iraqi parliament for its approval,” which Panetta said “made reaching agreement very difficult.”
Very difficult, but Panetta wrote it was not impossible.

At the right wing Weekly Standard, Derek Harvey offered:

The Obama/Clinton defense rests on a thin reed of claiming President George W. Bush agreed to an end date for America’s presence in Iraq. This is misleading. The plan was to renegotiate an extension based on the conditions on the ground. U.S. military advisors believed a continued presence was necessary, and our Iraqi partners desired such a presence even if their own politics complicated negotiations to secure it. Our senior military leaders said that Iraqi security forces were not prepared to succeed without continued U.S. forces as the ISF needed continued enabling support and U.S. higher-end intelligence for counter-terrorism targeting. Importantly, in October 2011 all but 40 members of Iraqi parliament voted in favor of a continued U.S. military presence, but only the Kurds would openly support the immunity requirements as framed by the administration. Clearly this was a failure to engage early enough and with a commitment to achieving a longer-term presence secure the hard fought gains made by our military. Unfortunately, the Obama strategic team saw this only through a domestic political lens, thinking that if Iraq spun out of control they were immune politically and would just blame George Bush.

Securing this agreement was a task for diplomacy, but the fact that Secretary Clinton visited Iraq exactly once during her tenure suggests securing this agreement was not terribly high on her agenda.

The right wing website Powerline offers excerpts from an interview Senator Lindsey Graham (vying for the Republican nomination for president in 2016) gave where he makes a point to put the blame on Barack and not Hillary:

Lindsey Graham: I think it was our fault. The president got the answer he wanted when it comes to troop levels. He wanted zero. He got zero. He promised to end the War in Iraq. He actually lost the War in Iraq.
But this is something that most people don’t know. I want to make sure you understand. Secretary Clinton called me to go over to Iraq to talk to all the parties to see if we can find a way to achieve a residual force to be left behind. I went with Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman. We met with Mr. Allawi who’s is the Aratia party leader, the former prime minister. He is a Shia, but it was a Sunni coalition. We flew up to meet with President Barzani – not president – but Barzani, the head of the Kurds. … Then we met with Maliki.
So we had Ambassador Jeffrey – U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Gen. Austin, the commander of Iraq forces at the time in the meeting with me, Maliki, and McCain. I asked Prime Minister Maliki, “Would you accept troops?” He says, “If other will, I will.” Then he turned to me and said, “How many troops are you talking about?” I turned to Gen. Austin and then Ambassador Jeffrey – “What’s the answer to the prime minister’s question?” Gen. Dreyfuss says, “We’re still working on the number.” The number went from 18,000 recommended by Austin down to 3,000 coming out of the White House.
General Dempsey answered Senator McCain’s question and my question as to how the numbers went down – “What is because the Iraqis suggest too many?” He said, “No, the cascading numbers came from the White House.” I was there. They were all ready to accept a residual force. But when you get below 3,000, it was a joke. And we got the answer we wanted. I was on the ground. I asked the question. I heard the answer from Gen. Austin – the White House hasn’t made up their mind, yet.

Hugh Hewitt: Jeb Bush is right. This is truly at the feet of Obama-Clinton.

Lindsey Graham: You know, Maliki has got a lot of blame for Iraq falling apart, but I lay this at the foot of the President of the United States solely. The Iraqis to a person would’ve accepted a residual force, but he wanted to get to zero. He would never come forth with a number. They never had a number.

Hillary was not over Iraq. That's the point Graham's making. She also wasn't on board with what Barack wanted to do regarding Barack (that's why she asked Graham and others to visit Iraq and speak to the politicians).

But in terms of the failures in Iraq, the most truth regarding the charges made by Jeb Bush comes from Dexter Filkins at The New Yorker:

Moreover, I think the Republican argument that a handful of American troops could have saved Iraq misses a larger point. The fundamental problem was American policy—in particular, the American policy of supporting and strengthening Maliki at all costs. Maliki was a militant sectarian his whole life, and the United States should not have been surprised when he continued to act that way once he became Prime Minister. As Emma Sky, who served as a senior adviser to the American military during the war in Iraq, put it, “The problem was the policy, and the policy was to give unconditional support to Nuri al-Maliki.” (Sky’s book, “The Unraveling,” is the essential text on how everything fell apart.) When the Americans helped install him, in 2006, he was a colorless mediocrity with deeply sectarian views. By 2011, he was an unrivalled strongman with control over a vast military and security apparatus. Who enabled that?

First, it was the Bush White House. Then the Obama White House—Clinton was a part of that team, of course, but the official with primary responsibility for Iraq was Vice-President Joe Biden. Biden was a firm backer of Maliki, because it was through Maliki that the Americans seemed sure of an easy exit.

The real turning point in Iraq came not in 2011, when the last American troops departed, but in 2010, following national elections there. In the long deadlock that followed the voting, American diplomats backed away, acquiescing to an Iranian-brokered deal to allow Maliki to continue as Prime Minister. The constitutionality of the deal was deeply suspect, but the Americans averted their eyes. The Iranian price for backing Maliki was clear: he would throw out the American troops. “We were so focussed on getting out that we let the Iranians form the government,” Sky said.

Hillary took forever to respond to Jeb's charges which does not speak well of the campaign she's running. More importantly, she's gotten a pass for Sullivan's statement that Hillary believes the problem with the Iraq War includes that Bully Boy Bush did not send enough troops in.

War Hawk Hillary was not an action figure the American public wanted to buy in 2008 and it's doubtful they will in 2016. Willing to repeatedly remind the American voters that Hillary supported the war and voted for it in 2002 is Lincoln Chafee. William Petroski (Des Moines Register) reports:

Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee told Iowa State Fair goers Saturday the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a mistake based on false information and he’s proud he rejected the arguments of the nation’s pro-war leaders.
Chafee, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, was a Republican serving in the U.S. Senate at the time. He was the only Republican senator to vote against the use of military force against Iraq. Advocates of the war argued force was needed to protect the United States from further terrorist attacks after Sept. 11, 2001.
“I did my homework and I went down to CIA and I found there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. It was all a hoax,” Chafee said in remarks at The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox.

Meanwhile in the ongoing Iraq War, the violence never ends. Murtada Farag (AP) counts 22 dead from bombs in Baghdad and immediately around Baghdad today. Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 99 dead from violence on Friday.

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antiwar.com
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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Cranky Clinton's really stepped in it this time

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The lies never end with Hillary

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Beauty and the Best (beast against beast)

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