Wednesday, January 09, 2019

2020 around the corner

2020 thoughts?


  1.   Retweeted
    “You want a national emergency? 30 million Americans have no health insurance and many more are under-insured. Thousands die each year because they don’t go to a doctor when they should and our life expectancy is actually in decline.” -



I do like Bernie.  He would have won in 2016.  Too bad crooks stole the nomination from him.

I'm certainly considering him for 2020.  I'm also open to Tulsi.  I'd vote for her.

Those would be my first two choices. 

What surprises me is who would be my third choice right now?

I haven't really cared for Elizabeth Warren.  Is she being sincere lately?  I don't know but she's gone from someone I would never vote for to someone I'd consider voting for to someone who is my third choice -- ahead of Biden, Harris, Corey, Beto, etc.

I don't know how she'll be months from now but I will give her credit right now for raising real issues.  Good for her.


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


Wednesday, January 9, 2019.  Another surprise visit.


In Iraq today, another unannounced visit.


Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Iraq in an unannounced stop on his Mideast tour meant to promote the White House's hard-line position on Iran.


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The Iraq War, the ongoing Iraq War, hits the 16 year mark in two months and still US officials have to make "unannounced visits."  All these years later.

ABC avoids reality by allowing Elizabeth McLaughlin and Conor Finnegan to insist, "The president visited Iraq, also unannounced, the day after Christmas, saying the U.S. still could use bases there for operations in Syria."

They have all been unannounced.


Biden makes surprise trip to Iraq

CNN







As US president, Barak Obama made one visit to Iraq in his two terms (eight years).  Guess what?  It was unannounced.

Obama Makes Surprise Visit To Iraq



CBS News


Bully Boy Bush?

Background: Bush's Surprise Visits To Iraq, Afghanistan

CBS News


And, yes, it was also true of Afghanistan.


Obama makes surprise visit to Afghanistan

Washington Post


 



 

Get it yet?  If not, here's the BBC's Becky Branford:
Almost every visit by a Western figure to a warzone since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has been done without warning.
US President Barack Obama made regular unannounced visits to Afghanistan, as did Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair to Iraq.
Earlier this year Secretary of State John Kerry turned up in Somalia, a war-ravaged state currently waging an armed campaign against al-Shabab Islamist rebels - with reports suggesting even Somali officials believed a more junior US official would be attending.
But clearly these leaders - and their advisers - judge that the advantages of paying these visits outweigh the attendant security risks, both in terms of boosting morale of personnel overseas and in giving the leader in question a PR lift.

 
For those attempting to provide 'context,' grasp that there was a world before President Donald Trump (and there will be a world after him).  Back to Pompeo:





Reports: On Mideast trip, Pompeo makes unannounced Iraq stop


Pompeo in reassurance mission to Iraq over US Syria pullout plans





Pompeo Makes Surprise Stop In Iraq During Mideast Trip To Rally Allies






AP notes:

 In Baghdad, Pompeo met with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, President Barham Salih, Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim and Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi.
Pompeo and the Iraqi officials made no statements to the media.


The US State Dept issued the following this morning:


Readout
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 9, 2019





The below is attributable to Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino:‎
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo met today with Iraq’s Council of Representatives Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi and members of the Council of Representatives Foreign-Relations Committee. The Secretary emphasized U.S. support for the long-term bilateral partnership, anchored by the Strategic Framework Agreement, and the necessity of supporting Iraq’s democratic institutions, economic development, energy independence, and sovereignty. Secretary Pompeo emphasized the U.S. commitment to addressing Iraq’s security challenges, including the continuation of our security partnership with Iraqi Security Forces. 



Nick Wadhams (BLOOMBERG NEWS) maintains:

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Wednesday, which appeared partly aimed at patching up relations strained during Donald Trump’s surprise visit last month.

The U.S. president upset Iraqi lawmakers when he visited troops at the Ain Al-Asad base west of Baghdad but didn’t meet with the country’s new prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, though the two leaders did speak by phone.


If that was the point of the visit, it doesn't appear to have been very successful:




Iraqi Council of Representatives’ Foriegn Affairs Committee met today and called for reviewing US-Iraq relations following Pres Trump’ “uncoordinated” Visit to Iraq’s Anbar Province last month. If US Gov fails to handle Iraq file properly, it may lose it.






Again, if that was the purpose of the trip, it doesn't appear to have been successful.  But when has the US government ever delivered success in Iraq?

Never.

Well, that's not fair of me.  They have helped Big Business make tons of money off the lives of Iraqis because -- blood stained or not -- greed requires dollars, dollars and more dollars.



I'll tell you who is *really* unhappy at the thought of pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan. The contractors and the generals connected to the contractors. $$BILLIONS$$








Iraqi persecution of Sunni men helped to transform Al Qaeda in Iraq into ISIS. Now Iraq is doing it again--collective punishment of Sunnis that may help transform ISIS into ISIS 2.0.





He's linking to this report by Kristen Keo and Mara Revkin (WASHINGTON POST):



In Iraq, the government’s harsh counterterrorism strategy, which is widely perceived as collectively punishing the Sunnis, is generating new grievances that could increase local support for an Islamic State 2.0. More than 19,000 people have been detained on terrorism-related charges since 2014. Over 3,000 have been sentenced to death in rapid-fire trials that are sometimes decided in less than 10 minutes. Convictions are often based on thin and circumstantial evidence, the testimony of secret informants, or confessions induced through torture, making it easy for innocent people to be falsely accused and unfairly punished.

These injustices are fueling anger, and with it, a new wave of violence. Since 2016, the average number of Islamic State attacks in Iraq — including suicide bombings and targeted assassinations — has risen to 75 per month. In August, U.S. and U.N. reports estimated that the number of Islamic State fighters active in Iraq and Syria might exceed 30,000.
In our working paper based on an original household survey of over 1,400 Mosul residents — the Islamic State’s former de facto capital in Iraq — we identify two serious flaws in the government’s approach to prosecuting and punishing individuals accused of joining or supporting the Islamic State. First, it is unwilling to recognize variation in the severity and voluntariness of “collaboration.” Second, it relies heavily on unproven criminal justice and counterterrorism theories.





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