Friday, January 16, 2015

Hulk versus Hulk

The Oscar nominations were announced.

In the Best Supporting Actor category, two of the nominees are Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo.

So it's Hulk versus Hulk.

Who are you rooting for?

I've seen both films and I really like Ed but I think I would go with Mark just because I believe he was robbed last time around when he got a nomination but did not win for The Kids Are Alright.

So Mark's who I'm going to root for.




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


 
Friday, January 16, 2015.  Chaos and violence continue, Barack's 'plan' continues to receive criticism, the Defense Dept notes it's not a plan intended to solve anything, various groups remain targeted in Iraq, and much more.



The outgoing US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas today.on Thursday.


Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel:  Every day is different, every year is different, every day defines something.  Yesterday is gone, we can't do anything about yesterday.  We can't do a hell of a lot about today, actually.  We can do something about tomorrow.
And how we define tomorrow, how we define our institutions, how do we define everything that we know is right and we believe in, and how do we prepare our institutions and the next class and the next class and the next group of sergeants majors, those who will have responsibilities that will come after you, how you prepare them, that also is part of responsibility.  And that also feeds into judgment, because that, ultimately, is one of the greatest responsibilities of leadership is preparing an institution for the future.
We have been trying to do that the last couple of years in Washington, since I have been secretary of defense, not only in the technological edge of assuring that our technical capabilities do not erode as we have had to deal with severe budget issues over the last couple of years, which you all have been part of and had to maneuver and engage and navigate, and you've done it incredibly well, but also other demands and factors and defining dynamics in a world that is now partly intimidated by the -- by the immediacy of everything.  The immediacy of judgments.  The immediacy of we want an answer now.
And there's where judgment especially comes into play.  I have believed, and as I worked my way along the last 48 years in different jobs, that especially today, but I think it's probably been true through history, that sometimes there are not immediate answers to problems.
We Americans contest that, we fight that:  Well, of course there's an answer to the problem.  We'll fix it.  Let's go to war.  Let's commit troops.  Or let's present a policy to address that problem.  There's an answer to it.
Many times, we find that the problem, the challenge, the issue, can only be solved through an evolving process of solutions, ultimately getting to the high ground of resolution.
That's -- that's the kind of world we're living in.
Look at the Middle East today.  The Middle East is captive to being now in the grips of historical differences, tribal, religious, ethnic.  That's not the only challenge and that's not the only force that's driving Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in these -- these ideologies that have nothing to do with religion --that are brutal, murderous, irresponsible.
That's not religion.  But yet, the divisions and the lines of those divisions as to how they started and how they perpetuate, much rooted in religious or ethnic differences.
There's not one answer to that.  I think there are evolving solutions, which we are helping play a role in that, but we can't fix that.  The United States of America can't fix that problem.  No country outside that region can fix that problem.  It will be the people themselves who will ultimately have to come to some resolution through a process of evolving solutions to fix it.
The world will be presented more and more with those kinds of issues, where responsible leadership will always end up having to rely on responsible judgment, and how do we deal with these problems?
Jon Harper (Stars and Stripes) notes, "Hagel’s remarks came at a time when America is again deploying troops to Iraq to try to defeat insurgents. The U.S. military has also been injected into Syria’s civil war, waging an air campaign and planning to train moderate Syrian rebels to take on the Islamic State terrorist group and other radical factions. Still, the Iraqi government and some in Congress are calling for the Obama administration to step up American military involvement in the conflict against the militants."
In Wednesday's snapshot, we covered some of the Iraqi government's critiques of and opposition to the US' military involvement in Iraq.  Mustafa Habib (Niqash) has written another important report, this one focusing on the distance growing between the governments of Iraq and the United States:
The US has been leading an international alliance against the extremist Islamic State group in Iraq. But locals say the US is not doing enough. Politicians in Baghdad recently led a call to scrap the strategic agreement the two countries have had since 2008. Could this be a symptom of Iran's ever-growing influence in Iraq? 

Four months have passed since the US began to work with an international alliance to confront the threat of the extremist group, the Islamic State, in Iraq. Yet for many locals, there don’t seem to be any obvious results.


The Islamic State, or IS, group still has control of over around 70 percent of the province of Anbar as well as other cities, like Tikrit and Baiji in Salahaddin province as well as parts of Diyala and Kirkuk.


As a result of what appears to be something of a stalemate, some Iraqi politicians have started to question an essential agreement between Iraq and the US, known as the Strategic Framework Agreement for a Relationship of Friendship and Cooperation between the United States and the Republic of Iraq. It’s known as the SFA for short.

As the US Embassy in Iraq’s website describes the agreement, which was signed in November 2008, it, “guides our overall political, economic, cultural, and security ties with Iraq”. 


Section 3 of the SFA describes the close cooperation between the two signatories on defence and security in Iraq. Yet slowly but surely Iraqis are starting to question: Why can’t a superpower like the US defeat the IS group? 


And last week Iraqi MPs began to push for answers, with some even suggesting a cancellation of the SFA. Among them was Alia Nassif, an MP for the ruling State of Law party, a Shiite Muslim-majority party headed by both the current and former Prime Ministers of Iraq. “Iraq does not benefit from the security agreement with the US,” a statement from Nassif’s office said. “On the contrary the agreement has become a heavy burden on us because the US has not fulfilled one of its stated obligations – strengthening and supporting the democratic system in Iraq. The IS group threatens the whole existence of the Iraqi state.”
As the critiques and slams grow louder, it creates the space for Nouri to return.  And there are those on Arabic social media who don't see the critiques of Haider al-Abadi as 'spontaneous' but as part of an arrangement the current prime minister has with previous prime minister Nouri al-Maliki that will allow him to return to power.
Some argue this supposed plan is the reason Haider's refused to demand Nouri vacate the prime minister residence.  Haider became prime minister in August, yet all these months later he still does not live in the home of the prime minister, all these months later Nouri continues to reside there and refuses to leave.
The month Haider became prime minister is the same month US President Barack Obama began ordering war planes to bomb Iraq.  Like Haider, Barack's accomplished very little.
At the Pentagon on Thursday, an Air Force press briefing was held with the Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Mark A. Welsh III taking questions.  We'll note this exchange.

Q: Do you think that there's just too much emphasis at the moment on the air part of the equation, that everyone thinks you're going -- from the air, you can defeat ISIS, you can defeat Al Qaeda in Yemen, when defeat may not be what is possible from the air?

GEN. WELSH: No, I don't think, speaking specifically to ISIS, that the -- that the DOD approach is not to defeat ISIS from the air. The intent is to inhibit ISIS, to attrite ISIS, to slow ISIS down, to give a ground force time to be trained because the ground force will be required.
You -- you don't dictate end states from the air. You can't control territory. You can't influence people. You can't maintain lines of control after you've established them. That will take a ground force -- in this case, a coalition ground force that's being trained now to try and make that effort, and we'll support it from the air.
You don't dictate end states from the air.
. . . the DOD approach is not to defeat ISIS fromt he air.
Over a billion dollars has been spent on Barack's 'plan' since August and it's accomplished nothing of merit and even the Defense Dept is no longer propping it up.
The 'plan' was for these air bombings to continue and, in February, for the Iraqi military to attempt to retake Mosul.
Now it's thought that this would be too soon, that the Iraqi military is not ready yet.  When will it be ready?
Haider al-Abadi started this week making comments about how, in three years, the Iraqi military might be ready.  
Might.
So these bombings will just continue and the billions will just keep adding up?
There is no plan so it should come as no surprise that the White House also failed to come up with a backup plan.
Two incidents of violence garnered Twitter attention on Thursday.



  • | fighters stoning an Iraqi women in Nineveh Province accused of adultery.
    And on the topic of violence, the Iraqi government announced 16 Sunni corpses were discovered in a mass grave in Kobachi. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) rushes to blame the Islamic State by quoting a mayor of a nearby city.  AP presents no qualifiers or questions. Saif Hameed, Ned Parker and Gareth Jones (Reuters) note the mayor's claim but also note the area was liberated in November and "Shi'ite militias have also been accused of atrocities when retaking land from Islamic State, which swept across northern Iraq last summer as the Iraqi army collapsed."

    Iraqi Spring MC notes 1 corpse was discovered in Basra (blindfolded with shots to the head),  a border police captain was killed in Muqdadiyah, an Aden roadside bombing left six people injured or dead, the Iraqi military's bombing of the residential neighborhood's in Falluja left 2 civilians dead and thirteen more (including three children) injured, and the corpse of the brother of an Iraqi journalist who was kidnapped was discovered outside Samarra.  Alsumaria reports a Heer home bombing left 3 women dead.  National Iraqi News Agency notes 1 corpse was discovered dumped in the streets of Baghdad.


    Al Jazeera adds:

    Sources told Al Jazeera that at least 16 Peshmerga soldiers were killed on Thursday trying to repel an ISIL attack on the Mosul Dam in Nineveh province.
    The dam, located on the Tigris river, provides electricity to northwestern province of Anbar, which is under ISIL's control.
    In another attack, seven fighters from militias fighting against ISIL in Diyala Province were killed in the town of al- Mansuriya.


    In news of other attacks, Paul McLeary (Defense News) reports, "The 300 US soldiers and Marines at al Asad air base in Iraq's Anbar province continue to see mortar fire directed at their positions, with six more mortar rounds landing on the sprawling complex last week."  As those US troops remain under attack, National Iraqi News Agency notes Anthony H. Cordesman is predicting that the number of US troops in Iraq by the end of 2015 will be around 9,000 to 15,000.

    Meanwhile Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 134 violent deaths across Iraq on Thursday with twenty-three more people injured.

    In other news, Column Lynch (Foreign Policy) reports the White House's ambassador-at-large for War Crimes is stepping down and notes:

    The administration has largely pressed the case for accountability for crimes selectively, passionately promoting the international prosecution of political rivals, from the late Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while seeking to protect American military personnel and allies like Israel from international scrutiny for their own alleged crimes, according to rights advocates. The Obama Administration has made it clear it has no intention of formally joining the International Criminal Court, arguing that a push for Senate ratification of the treaty establishing the Hague-based court would be destined for defeat.
    The administration’s standing on such issues has also been tainted by its refusal to punish CIA operatives involved in the torture of detainees or to close down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, a source of widespread outrage around the world. 
    Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America issued the following on Thursday:
    New York, N.Y. (January 15, 2015) – American Sniper, the biopic of Iraq war veteran U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, earned six Oscar nominations this morning, including nods for Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper. The film, based on Kyle’s New York Times best-selling biography of the same name, offers a gripping portrayal of the Iraq War, the struggles of post-traumatic stress and the impact of war on military families.
    “IAVA congratulates the American Sniper team on this historic achievement. American Sniper is a new war film classic and maybe the greatest modern war film of our time. Its power is in its focused simplicity that accurately portrays the heroism, horror and tragedy that is the Iraq War,” said IAVA CEO and Founder Paul Rieckhoff, who attended the New York City premiere in December. “About 2.8 million men and women have served in the post-9/11 wars, yet there is still a clear military-civilian divide in this country. But director Clint Eastwood – an Army veteran himself who used the G.I. bill to go to college – got it right. We hope all Americans will see the film, join in the conversation, and learn more about veterans’ issues at iava.org.”
    American Sniper was nominated for an Oscar in the following categories:
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Sound Editing
    • Best Adapted Screen Play
    • Best Film Editing
    • Best Sound Mixing
    Over the past few weeks, IAVA has partnered with the film to bring more than 40 pre-released screenings to its members nationwide. IAVA met with Bradley Cooper and sent members and staff to the film’s premiere in Washington, D.C.
    The film depicts extremely violent war imagery. Veterans in need of community are encouraged to explore IAVA’s member-based programs or call the Veteran Crisis Line at 800-273-8255 to be connected with qualified responders.
    The 87th annual Academy Awards will be held on Feb. 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The film opens in theaters nationwide tomorrow.
    Note to media: Email press@iava.org or call 212-982-9699 to speak with IAVA CEO and Founder Paul Rieckhoff or IAVA leadership.
    Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (www.IAVA.org) is the nation's first and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and has nearly 300,000 Member Veterans and civilian supporters nationwide. Celebrating its 10th year anniversary, IAVA recently received the highest rating - four-stars - from Charity Navigator, America's largest charity evaluator.
     

    Thursday, January 15, 2015

    Tweet of the week

    Tweet of the week:

    Shiite militias have been butchering Sunnis in Iraq, we Muslims are so occupied with the"evil Zionists" instead of the Iranian Safawists...



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

     
    Wednesday, January 14, 2015.  Chaos and violence continue, support for the US bombings of Iraq begin to fade within the Iraqi government, both the Iraqi government and the US government attempt to harvest the corpses of children for their own propaganda purposes, and much more.



    Monday in Berkeley, there was a protest which included a chant, "Yemini lives matter, Afghan lives matter, Iraqi lives matter, Pakistan lives matter!"

    We're noting the protest mainly because Tuesday's Flashpoints (KPFA) featured a report on the protest that Dennis Bernstein and others with Flashpoint did.  The protest was at UC Berkeley School of Law.


    Stephanie Tang: The Bush regime opened this torture chamber at Guantanamo not just to imprison captives after 9/11 as it expanded it's military adventures into the Middle East.  The Bush regime opened Guantanamo  to send a message to the world that the US could operate with impunity, outside the norms of international law.  Obama made his first promise upon taking office that he would close this immoral hellhole of a prison. He's had 6 years to close it.  He has had 6 years to punish those who ordered the torture and forever repudiate indefinite detention and secret renditions as American policy.  But Obama has done none of this.  We are here from the World Cant Wait, the National Lawyers Guild, CodePink and other people who care about justice, who stand up for justice and we demand the closure of Guantanamo immediately We demand the accountability that can only mean prosecuting the war criminals from George Bush and Dick Cheney on down.  This is the only way that torture will not become a permanent part of the arsenal of the US power spreading around the world.  Torture is a war crime it is never acceptable or legal under any circumstances. This is clear in international law and US law.  The third reason we're here today is particular to the University of California and it's law school  at Boalt Hall.  There is a War Criminal on the faculty here. John Yoo is a tenured professor. He wrote the memos that enabled the Bush-Cheney regime to establish their formal official torture program. John Yoo continues to publicly promote that program, defined it and, therefore, he is still doing harm.


    The report also featured an alumni informing the dean's office, "I came here in 1959 because there was a wonderful man on the faculty named Frank Newman, a great supporter of human rights became dean and became a justice and he would never permit someone like John Yoo to speak in front of his class -- let alone become a professor.  And I think that it's important  to understand that the reputation of this law school is based on people like Frank Newman and that the reputation, if it's going to be based on people like John Yoo people aren't going to come here."


    Moving to Iraq,  Ben Ariel (Israel National News) reports that Iraq has donated $28 million to the Arab League for the Palestinians.  In response, the following Tweet was posted:










  • And this Tweet as well:















  • What are they Tweeting about?

    16 children have died in Iraq from exposure to the cold.  Al-Shorfa reports that they died in central and northern Iraq according to Iraq's human rights commission member Masroor Aswad who couldn't wait to harness a tragedy by claiming all the dead children were homeless as a result of the Islamic State.  A claim, of course, that he can't back up nor can the press truly investigate.

    Of course, that reality didn't stop the US State Dept from presenting a claim as fact and spreading it.

    Meanwhile, USAID wants to trumpet, "USG agencies have supported the Iraq humanitarian response with nearly $218.4 million in FY 2014 and FY 2015 funding. This includes nearly $10.2 million in FY 2015 assistance from USAID/OFDA for programs providing life-saving assistance to vulnerable Iraqis."


    16 children are dead and for the governments of Iraq and the United States, this is 'wonderful' because they can use it to attack the Islamic State.

    So eager are they to use these deaths, they fail to factor in how it looks to the rest of the world.

    As the Tweets note, Iraq's got plenty of millions to give . . . to those outside of Iraq.  While Iraqi children freeze to death, Haider al-Abadi cuts a charity check for $28 million.

    And the US?

    $218.4 million in humanitarian aid . . . spread out over the last fiscal year and the current one.  So that's roughly $109 million a year.

    But Pierre Bienaime (Business Insider) notes, "According to Defense News, the US donated $300 million in military equipment to Iraq in 2014, and will deliver 6 M1 Abrams tanks and 50 humvees to the Baghdad government at no cost."  And that's just one aspect of the millions and millions of military aid the US government provided Iraq with.  But only $109 million to help the refugees.
    The US government funds violence full out but when it comes to humanitarian causes they play cheap and the world sees it.

    Despite this, they have the gall to attempt to use the deaths of 16 children -- deaths that could have been prevented had the US government or the Iraqi government not been so cheap and shown so little value?

    They don't only fail to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, they spark a global outrage as they make clear how little value they place on human lives.


    Meanwhile, the two greedy factions turn on each other as the 'plan' of US President Barack Obama -- bomb from the air and bomb some more -- produces little-to-no results.

    Ahmed Rasheed and Ned Parker (Reuters) report that Barack's envoy John Allen, retired US general, heard complaints yesterday and today from figures including Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jubouri.   The latter is a Sunni and his comments that the US government is not doing enough militarily can be seen as going to the refusal to arm Sunni tribes in the fight against the Islamic State.

    Alsumaria reports that US Gen John Allen declared today that the US government would not be arming Sunni tribe leaders.  It is up to the Ministry of Defense, Allen insisted, to arm the Sunnis.


    Again, this is not a minor issue for al-Jabouri.  He raised it last month with US Senator John McCain.  From the December 27th snapshot:


    As we noted Friday morning, US Senator John McCain was in Iraq and scheduled to meet with Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jubouri.  Anadolu Agency reports they did meet and that Jubouri asked for the US to arm :100,000 Sunni tribesmen living in four regions that are controlled by the ISIL."

    From McCain's Twitter feed:







    Again, though the request the Speaker made to McCain is not being factored into the coverage today of the criticism, the reality is this request is the spine of the criticism being made by al-Jabouri.

    As for Iraq's Prime Minister?

    He's been making complaints publicly prior to meeting with Allen on Tuesday.  As AFP reported at the start of the week, the Prime Minister slammed the coalition the US government has put together declaring it was taking too long to provide "military support" to the Iraq military.

    Rasheed and Parker note today, "A statement from Abadi's office after the talks said US-led alliance should 'increase the tempo of the effective air strikes on Islamic State positions', and also called for the training program for Iraqi security forces to be expanded."


    After the meeting, Haider tried to put a smiley face on it with the following Tweet:





    Productive meeting w/ Gen Allen and . Agreed to expand Coalition airstrikes and training & arming of ISF 





    Adding to these problems, the White House has lost a powerful ally in Iraq.  Press TV reports:

    The head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq has dismissed the US-led coalition’s sincerity in its fight against the ISIL terrorists, saying Iraqis can defend their country on their own.
    “People of Iraq have the ability to liberate their homeland from the terrorists of ISIL and there is no need of foreign interference and international or American forces,” said Ammar al-Hakim.


    Ammar al-Hakim is someone factions in the US government have long supported to be Prime Minister.  He has charmed many US officials visiting Iraq as well as many foreign correspondents. He's managed, within the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, to fill the shoes of his late father.  He's emerged as a very powerful Shi'ite leader. And now he's saying the US military is no use to Iraq.


    This rejection comes on the heels of Moqtada al-Sadr making similar remarks.  While movement leader and cleric Moqtada was never an ally of the White House, Haider al-Abadi is or was.  And Moqtada has called for the US military to butt out of Iraq.
    So one faction of Shi'ites, represented by Haider, complain that the US government isn't doing enough, another faction, represented by Ammar, claim that the US military is not needed and still another faction, represented by Moqtada, call for the US military to get out of Iraq.
    Meanwhile a Sunni segment, represented by Salim, complain about the US government's failure to arm Sunni tribal leaders.  
    And the Kurds?  
    Always taken for granted by the US government which has spent decades manipulating them.  Now the Kurds, tired of waiting for White House support, looks to Germany for arms (the way Sunnis are looking to Jordan).  
    It would appear all the time Barack has wasted 'building' a 'coalition' to drop bombs on Iraq should have been spent on diplomacy because the support he thought he had within the Iraqi government?  The support he needs to continue bombing Iraq?  It appears to be fading.

    And, again, Alsumaria reports that US Gen John Allen declared today that the US government would not be arming Sunni tribe leaders.  It is up to the Ministry of Defense, Allen insisted, to arm the Sunnis.

    That decision not to arm is a decision to choose sides in a battle while supposedly insisting that Iraq's government focus on being inclusive.


    The White House continues to choose sides -- as it did throughout Nouri's second term.

    The decisions they made then allowed Nouri to brutalize the Iraqi people and created the current problem.
    Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal (Asharq Al-Awsat) reminds everyone of the roots of the Islamic State in Iraq:

     The group started recruiting disgruntled former soldiers from Saddam Hussein’s disbanded army and played on the grievances of the Iraqi Sunni population, which was angered by Maliki’s sectarian policies and his giving free rein to armed Shi’ite militias to persecute Sunnis. This eventually led to popular uprisings in some of the country’s Sunni-dominated areas, where the people called for Maliki’s resignation and their full civil rights as Iraqi citizens. Maliki duly responded by violently quashing the uprisings, which led to thousands of Iraqis from Sunni tribes either being killed or driven from their homes, especially in the western Anbar province, which forms the main entry point into Syria. And here comes the next twist in the story: due to the lack of any international pressure on Maliki, this new group, now calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq, gained a safe haven in Anbar province, whose residents had fought its precursor, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, so fiercely. The organization then began to form sleeper cells in Sunni-dominated areas, especially in Mosul, and to recruit former members of Saddam Hussein’s army and fighters from the Naqshbandi Army, whose senior members include former Saddam aide Izzat Al-Douri. 


    There was no international pressure on Nouri -- certainly not from the White House.

    And today the White House pursues the same strategy of blindly backing Haider despite the fact that Shi'ite militias, under Haider, target, hunt and kill Sunnis.  No pressure from the White House over that, no concerns.  Nothing.

    It's hard to see how doing the exact same thing -- but with a new puppet named Haider al-Abadi -- will help Iraq or stop the violence.

    Yesterday, Hamza Mustafa (Asharq Al-Awsat) reported:


    Iraqi President Fuad Masoum and Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jabouri met on Tuesday in Baghdad to discuss a comprehensive national unity and reconciliation plan to bring together Iraq’s disparate ethnic and confessional communities.
    Presidential spokesman Khaled Shuwani told Asharq Al-Awsat both men had agreed during their meeting that “it was time to transform the issue of national unity from being one of slogans to a full-fledged national project taking into account social, political, economic, and security factors, in order to promote peaceful coexistence between Iraq’s various factions.” 

    Mustafa noted that Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi was also working on a unity plan.  Masoum is a Kurd, Salim, we've already noted is Sunni.  Allawi is a Shi'ite but he represented a hope for an inclusive Iraq as head of the non-sectarian political slate Iraqiya.


    But Allawi appears to be the only Shi'ite working on this.  And the conspicuous absence of Haider al-Abadi in this conversation is rather telling.


    Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) notes 129 deaths from violence across Iraq today.