Wednesday, September 04, 2013

The spying, the selling of war

Hump day.  Let's note  Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Just Keep Lying"  from Labor Day.


Just Keep Lying Campaign


Barack's in Sweden.  And he's lying over there.  Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) notes:

 Apparently assuming that even if Americans had heard about the spying, Europeans might not, President Obama kicked off his Sweden visit today by lying some more, and insisting that no one in Europe or anywhere else in the world has the NSA snooping on their phone calls and reading their emails.

As Barack pushes for war with Syria, the NSA spying gets less attention and wasn't that the point of it all anyway?  To distract us from his illegal activities.

Norman Pollack (Counterpunch) covers Syria:

Welcome, to the Obama administration, wholly bereft of compassion, morality, and sight, although possessing in abundance power, might, and strength—as the missile-firing destroyers off Syria attest. Casualties, wholly beside the point, so long as the response is robust, building confidence that America keeps its word whenever it plans to attack. One should not hold one’s breath about the possibility of Congressional disapproval, John McCain, on September 2, stating for the cameras that although he would prefer stronger action, Congress cannot withdraw support from POTUS here, lest it send a signal to the world that America is weak, lacks resolution, implicitly, is sinking. Stand up, and fight, together cheerleaders for war; and to the extent McCain has counterparts in the Democratic party (he assuredly does), we see brought out not for the first time its moral bankruptcy and that of its leaders. We see also the perhaps more ambitious vision and version of hegemony than at any time before, in response to an American capitalism beginning to totter, consumed by the greed of its upper groups and its ideological-political suffusion of militarism.

I love that paragraph.  I wish every outlet had a Norman Pollack to tell the truth and tell it in a powerful and stylish way.

He really is my favorite writer to come along since Barack was first sworn in as president.

If we had a host of Norman Pollacks, our world would be a much better place.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Wednesday, September 4, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue,  one attack may have ugly implications for Iraq's future, Nouri says Iraq will suffer from an attack on Syria, Barack continues to push for war on Syria, John Kerry is revealed to be a dining buddy of Bashar al-Assad, the US-backed 'rebels' of Syria in al Qaeda attacked a Christian village today, and much more.

Tom Cohen (CNN) reports US President Barack Obama declared today, "A red line for us in we star seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized."  What is The Dalibama of War babbling about?  His push for war on Syria and, Cohen states, "Conservative critics have said Obama painted himself into a corner with his statement last year that Syria's use of chemical weapons was a red line that would change his approach to its civil war."  Cohen's mistaken, it's not just conservative critics who are making this claim and Cohen is wrong in that he refuses to explain really what the claim is.  Devin Dwyer (ABC News) reported last week:
While Obama has long spoken out against Bashar al-Assad and the use of chemical weapons, it was the president’s apparent off-the-cuff comments one year ago that may now be most responsible for putting the U.S. in a bind.
Obama’s warning in August 2012 that use of a “whole bunch” of chemical weapons would cross a “red line,” triggering “enormous consequences,” went much further than aides had planned, several told the New York Times earlier this year.  Some reportedly wished Obama could have taken those words back.
Now, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has made ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan his signature foreign policy achievement, is at risk of entangling the U.S. in a fresh Middle East conflict.
 AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets:
  2. 10h
    Obama Assures Americans This Will Not Be Another 1456 Ottoman Siege Of Belgrade - :
    View summary 
     
It was beyond stupid for Barack to make that ultimatum and it was the action of a politically naive savant which really makes you wonder who really runs the White House?  But that's how the US government ended up where they are now and, note, Some White House aides "reportedly wished Obama could have taken those words back."  That doesn't sound like conservative critics.  Betty's certainly not a conservative and, last night, addressing Secretary of State John Kerry went on and on about "reputation" in yesterday's hearing which can be boiled down as Barack shot off his mouth and Kerry feels it is the duty of the Congress to ignore the will of the people to protect The Dahlibahma of War from his own big, fat mouth.  This led Betty to state what we should all be wondering,  "And for that, you want innocent Syrians to die in your pretend 'precision strike'."
Pat Buchanan is a conservative and he writes at Antiwar.com:
Because Barack Obama, two years ago, said “Assad must go,” and, one year ago, said any use of chemical weapons crosses his “red line,” Congress has no choice but to plunge America into yet another Mideast war.
Can this be? Are we really, as a nation, required to go to war to make good the simple-minded statements of an untutored president who had no constitutional authority to issue his impulsive ultimata?
Are we really required to go to war to get the egg off Obama’s face?
 
On Barack's false claim that he didn't draw the red line, Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report):

With obscene imperial arrogance, President Obama proclaimed that the “world” – not he – has drawn a bloody “red line” in Syria. “I didn’t set a red line,” said Obama, at a stop in Sweden on his way to a Group of 20 nations meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia. “The world set a red line.”
That’s news to the rest of the planet, including most of the Group of 20 and the meeting’s host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who described Obama’s claims that Syria used sarin gas against civilians in rebel-held areas as “completely ridiculous.” “It does not fit any logic,” said Putin, since Syrian President Assad’s forces “have the so-called rebels surrounded and are finishing them off.”
It’s news to China, which will surely join Russia in vetoing any Security Council motion to provide legal cover for Obama’s aggression. And it’s news to the usually compliant UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who this week reaffirmed that “the Security Council has primary responsibility for international peace and security" and “the use of force is lawful only when in exercise of self-defense in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations Charter and or when the Security Council approves such action.”
It’s news to Great Britain, America’s temporarily wayward poodle, whose parliament rejected any militarily entanglement in Obama’s red line. As esteemed political analyst William Blum points out, 64 percent of the people of France oppose their government’s planned participation Obama’s Battle of the Red Line.
Apparently, a young and impressionable Obama took the 1985 USA for Africa song “We are the World” too literally, and believes that all one need do is sing or shout the words to make it so.
Also calling out leaders -- in Congress and out -- is Margaret Kimberley (Black Agenda Report):

The black misleadership scoundrels are also worthy of scorn in this crime. Van Jones was tossed under the wheels of Obama’s bus yet has sung his praises ever since. As a “left” commentator on CNN he said, “If you kill Assad right now, wonderful.” Jones also claimed that the United States overthrew a dictator in Iran in 1953. Of course Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected and Jones was left to feebly explain that he meant to use the word leader.
Jones wasn’t alone in trashing black Americans’ historic opposition to military aggression. We didn’t really need further proof that black politics has reached its nadir under Obama, but Eleanor Holmes Norton provided us with more. The non-voting Washington DC delegate to congress had this to say about why Obama will probably win congressional approval for more death and destruction. “If [Obama] gets saved at all, I think it’ll be because, it’ll be because of loyalty of Democrats. They just don’t want to see him shamed and humiliated on the national stage.” Not satisfied at her public expression of stupidity she had this to say. “At the moment, that’s the only reason I would vote for it if I could vote on it.” So shallow and shameful were Norton’s words that one might be tempted to support the district’s powerless status. 
Today Barack got a little closer to getting his war on Syria.  Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times) reports, "A divided Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted narrowly Wednesday to authorize a punitive U.S. strike against Syria, opening the way for a vote in the full Senate next week."  Ruth asked that we note her Senator Chris Murphy was one of the votes against authorizing an attack on Syria.  On Labor Day, Ruth noted Murphy's comments about Syria and would have guessed that he would have voted for authorization. She notes that she and a friend in her neighborhood went door to door speaking to those home about the need to contact Murphy and distributing fliers with contact info.   Jake Miller (CBS News) explains, "With the exceptions of Sens. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., all of the panel's Democrats voted in favor of the resolution. Udall and Murphy were opposed, while Markey voted 'present.'"  Gregory Korte (USA Today) notes, "The vote was 10-7. Five Republicans and two Democrats voted against it. The committee's consensus followed closed-door meetings Wednesday morning, which delayed the start of the committee's meeting by nearly three hours."  Along with Murphy and Udall, the other "no" votes were Republican Senators John Barasso, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, James Risch and Marco Rubio.  "Yes" votes were Democratic Senators Barbra Boxer, Chris Coons, Dick Durbin, Ben Cardin, Tim Kaine, Robert Menendez and Jean Shaheen.  Republicans voting "yes" to attack were Bob Corker, Jeff Flake and John McCain.
If it surprises you that more did not stand up, look at the House minority leader and the idiotic story she told:

"I’ll tell you this story and then I really do have to go. My five-year-old grandson, as I was leaving San Francisco yesterday, he said to me, Mimi, my name, Mimi, war with Syria, are you yes war with Syria, no, war with Syria. And he’s five years old. We’re not talking about war; we’re talking about action. Yes war with Syria, no with war in Syria. I said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ He said, ‘I think no war.’ I said, ‘Well, I generally agree with that but you know, they have killed hundreds of children, they’ve killed hundreds of children there. ‘ And he said, five years old, ‘Were these children in the United States?’ And I said, ‘No, but they’re children wherever they are.’
Justin Raimondo (Antiwar.com) calls out Pelosi's stupidity:

To the reporters crowding around her, who share the globalist assumptions of the political class, her remarks seemed… well, unremarkable. To ordinary people, however, Pelosi’s smart-as-a-whip grandson posed a very good question, perhaps the only pertinent one in this whole debate: what does the Syrian civil war have to do with us? Which makes one wonder: what was Pelosi thinking as she related a narrative whose real meaning seemed to elude her.
Which brings us rather neatly to the central question underlying the debate over whether to strike Syria: What was the Obama administration thinking when they decided to try to pull this off? Do they live on another planet from the rest of us?
That is really the central issue here. Forget the "weapons of mass destruction:" let’s not even talk about the vague and very shaky "evidence" linking the Assad regime to the use of sarin gas – and it’s probably best to ignore the "moral" arguments users of phosphorus bombs and depleted uranium weaponry invoke when justifying this war. The real question is what kind of mindset are the Nancy Pelosis of this world operating under. It’s not a partisan mindset: the leadership of both parties, as well as the White House have all drunk from the same pitcher of Kool-Aid. 


For Congressional advocates for war, international law doesn't matter. Nor, as Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com), does public opinion appear to matter:

 But while the president can count on old-guard hawks to vote yes before they even hear what country they’re voting to lob missiles at, the American public is nowhere near so easy to trick, and despite top officials repeatedly advocating the war in public addresses, the polls continue to show broad, bipartisan opposition among Americans for the conflict.
Nationwide, the administration can’t even crack the 30% mark on selling the war to the public, even with television news networks shamelessly reiterating administration lies about unquestionable “proof” of Assad’s guilt and Secretary of State John Kerry loudly and repeatedly comparing Assad to Adolf Hitler.

John Kerry calls Assad "Hitler" today but Anthony Bond and David Martosko (Daily Mail) point out that he didn't feel that way in 2009 when he and his wife, Teresa Heinz, shared "a cozy and intimate dinner with Bashar al-Assad" and the First Lady of Syria Asma al-Akhras.   But today, Kerry screams al-Assad is Hitler?  Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) observes:



Officials are throwing every rhetorical trick in the book at Congress to see what sticks at this point, from Hitler to Iran, and making any empty promises about keeping the war limited to skeptics while talking up escalation to hawks.
There is palpable desperation in the administration’s attempts to sell the war at all costs, and while officials have regularly tried to trick the country into war throughout history, there have been few that have been so flagrant about it. Fortunately, the polls are still not on their side, and the American public appear unwilling to be fooled this time.
Antiwar.com urges all readers to contact their Congressmen and urge them to vote against attacking Syria. Click here for contract information.


Yesterday, MoveOn sent out the following e-mail:
**OFFICIAL VOTE**
Dear MoveOn member,
We need your help making an important decision.
President Obama has asked Congress to authorize the use of military force in Syria in response to recent reports of a chemical weapons attack by the government there.1
Because MoveOn is its members, the stance MoveOn takes on this issue will be decided by MoveOn members.
Should MoveOn support or oppose the congressional authorization to use military force in Syria?
Click here to cast your vote:
Voting starts now and will go through 10:00 a.m. ET tomorrow. The more people who participate, the better the decision will be—so please take a moment to vote now by clicking here:
Thanks for all you do.
–Anna, Mark, Susannah, Linda, and the rest of the team

Today Rebecca Shabad (The Hill) reports, "The liberal group MoveOn said Wednesday it opposes military action in Syria and will work to defeat it in Congress.  The group, which spearheaded liberal opposition to the Iraq War, said it surveyed its 8 million members and found overwhelming opposition to President Obama’s call for Syria strikes."



I'm honestly surprised by that move -- not by the results of the vote but that MoveOn listened to their membership.  Maybe if John Kerry would stop repeatedly hissing "Hitler," he could hear the voice of the people as well?  Or maybe the question to ask is WWHB: Who Would Hitler Back?


Today on Morning Edition (NPR -- link is audio and transcript), US-backing efforts in Syria were discussed:


RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
President Obama has promised limited military action against Syria. He says missile strikes are not about regime change and there will be no boots on the ground. But even as the Congress debates the president's plans for action, the White House is looking at broader options.
NPR's Tom Bowman reports the president may call on the U.S. military to help build up the Syrian opposition.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Right now it's not the Pentagon but the CIA that's working with the Syrian rebels, mostly providing training in Jordan. But the president also promised weapons for the rebels back in June and they haven't arrived. So yesterday at a Senate hearing, Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee put this question to Secretary of State John Kerry.

(SOUNDBITE OF HEARING)

SENATOR BOB CORKER: Why have we been so slow, so inept in so many ways at helping build capacity of this opposition that we have said publicly that we support?

SECRETARY JOHN KERRY: I think, Senator, we need to have that discussion tomorrow in classified session. We can talk about some components of that.


BOWMAN: Classified session, meaning behind closed doors; that's because the CIA is handling the effort. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Senator Corker the U.S. military is on the sidelines.

Again, WWHB?  As Robert Fisk (ZNet) pointed out last week:




If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa’ida.
Quite an alliance! Was it not the Three Musketeers who shouted “All for one and one for all” each time they sought combat? This really should be the new battle cry if – or when – the statesmen of the Western world go to war against Bashar al-Assad.
The men who destroyed so many thousands on 9/11 will then be fighting alongside the very nation whose innocents they so cruelly murdered almost exactly 12 years ago. Quite an achievement for Obama, Cameron, Hollande and the rest of the miniature warlords.

It's full circle for the CIA, back in business with al Qaeda after training and funding them to fight against the USSR military in Afghanistan.  The Voice of Russia reports Russian President Vladamir Putin is criticizing the US government for getting in bed with al Qaeda:

 "Surely, this lie is not very elegant," he said. "I watched the debates in Congress. A congressman asks Mr. [US Secretary of State John] Kerry: 'Is there al-Qaeda there? There has been rumor that they are gaining strength'. He [Kerry] replies, 'No. I am telling you firmly: there are none of them there'," Putin said.
As a matter of fact, "the principal combative unit [acting in Syria now] is the so-called Nusra, which is an al-Qaeda unit," Putin said. "And they know this. I even felt quite awkward. We are communicating with them and assume that they are decent people. And he is telling an outright lie, and he knows that he is lying. This is sad," Putin said apparently referring to Kerry.


 Darya Korsunskaya, Steve Gutterman and Timothy Heritage (Reuters) report it this way:
"They lie beautifully, of course. I saw debates in Congress. A congressman asks Mr Kerry: 'Is al Qaeda there?' He says: 'No, I am telling you responsibly that it is not'," Putin said at a meeting of his human rights council in the Kremlin.
"Al Qaeda units are the main military echelon, and they know this," he said, referring to the United States. "It was unpleasant and surprising for me - we talk to them, we proceed from the assumption that they are decent people. But he is lying and knows he is lying. It's sad."
In fairness to John Kerry, he's never dined with al Qaeda so he might have trouble identifying them.

In an attempt to help him, let's note Karin Laub and Sarah DiLorenzo (AP) reported this afternoon that a vicious assault took place on the "Christian mountain village" of Maaloula today.  Bashar al-Assad's forces?  No, al-Assad's government has been secular.   So who was it?  Barack Obama's beloved rebels, "rebels from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group launched the assault on predominantly Christian Maaloula."

 This is who Barack is supporting. 


Syria shares a border with Iraq.   All Iraq News notes Nouri al-Maliki is planning to deliver a speech on Syria today.  Hou Qiang (Xinhua) reports, "Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki on Wednesday launched a new peace initiative to end the Syrian crisis and called on the Arab countries and the world to back his plan.Maliki said at his weekly statement that his nine-point initiative is a modified version of Iraq's former peace plan, which was rejected by the Syrian opposition last year.  The plan includes a series of proposals like stopping arming the both sides of the conflict, withdrawal of all foreign fighters, supporting investigation into the use of chemical weapons and rejection of military intervention in Syria, as well as establishing a fund for the return of Syrian refugees."


Krishnadev Calamur (NPR) looks at the region and how they view an attack on Syria.  We'll note the section on Iraq:


Iraq has been careful to maintain neutrality in Syria, but its prime minister blamed the recent increase in violence on what was happening next door.
"The internal situation in Syria is playing a major role with what's happening in Iraq," Nouri al-Maliki said .
He was also critical of the proposed in Syria.
"The military solution is a dead end that has nothing in it but the destruction of Syria," he said. "Nothing is obvious on the horizon other than destruction, catastrophe and a civil war that has no winner."
Maliki previously would further destabilize the region.
In recent years, Iraq has drawn closer to Iran, and, , has granted Iran access to its airspace to deliver weapons and fighters to Assad.
It's worth pointing out that the Obama administration, in its attempt to make a case for military action in Syria, has insisted it , where the U.S. spent more than eight years until the withdrawal of troops in 2011.

 On this, Nouri's position is the position of a number of Iraqis.  But it is not the position of Iraq.  The KRG only recently made a statement to the effect of they will stay out of it.  The Kurds in Iraq generally speaking support the Kurds in Syria.  In Iraq, the Kurds have a semi-autonomous area.  In Syria, they do not.  The US-invasion of Iraq toppled the presidency of Saddam Hussein and his government which was seen as serving the Sunni population.  After the invasion, the (US-installed) Shi'ites took over.  They are the majority population in Iraq.  In Syria, it's the other side of the coin with an estimated 74% of the population being Sunni Muslim.  Some Sunnis in Iraq support the Sunnis in Syria and some Iraqi Sunnis cross the border to fight in the Syrian War.  (Some Iraqi Shi'ites also cross the border to fight in Syria's civil war.)

The whole point here is that when you step away from leaders, you find a wider view and it's really simplistic to say: This is the Iraq view.

NPR would have been better off presenting Nouri's view as Nouri's and noting that Moqtada al-Sadr and Ayad Allawi are among those in agreement with him.  In the Sadr bloc's statements made yesterday, the Sadr bloc specifically noted that there was a wide range of opinions re: Syria within the National Iraqi Alliance -- a Shi'ite alliance of various political groups including Moqtada's bloc, Nouri's State of Law,  Ibrahim al-Jaafari's National Reform Trend, Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, and Ammar al-Hakim's Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

According to John Kerry's testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, he spent the last two years wooing foreign leaders to go to war with Syria.  He clearly failed in that time to do his job and overseeing the US mission in Iraq to increase diplomatic ties.

How sad for John if Nouri's remarks today shake the resolve of other leaders to go to war on Syria.  But that is possible and it's what can happen when you fail to do your job.  As Secretary of State, Kerry should have been interacting with Iraq regularly. Didn't happen.

It's not just Nouri.  Yesterday, Wael Grace (Al Mada) reported that Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc was saying that a US military attack on Syria would make the already worsening security situation in Iraq spiral out of control.  And that is true.

Ayad Allawi's writing about Syria on his Facebook page and noting that Iraq shouldn't be expected to stop aid to Syria from Iran.  He's right.  Iraq can't even secure their own air space.  They lack the planes and the training.

In the fall of 2011, the State Dept began taking over the US mission in Iraq in preparation of the military drawdown.  The Dept has been given billions each Fiscal Year for that.  And yet they seem to have no idea of what goes on Iraq or what the sentiment there is.

Iraq is the best argument against attacking Syria.

Not just because we're seeing similar lies in the effort to sell the attack.

Also not only because Iraq is a testament to how US governmental 'help' has made another country worse, not better.

But the main reason is because an attack's going to make Iraq worse.  Attacking Syria means more refugees entering Iraq, means more al Qaeda and other fighters going through Iraq to enter and leave Syria, means the region is in turmoil and brings back the level of fear (which caused great mental stress in Iraq as studies demonstrated) that was present throughout the US occupation.  There is no way Iraq wins from an attack on Syria.

Ayad Allawi Tweets that attacking Syria is not a solution (and he links to this NBC report about the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee's vote today).



Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports that in anticipation of a US strike on Syria, Sahwas are being deployed to Mosul in expectation of an influx of refugees and, more to the point, to assist if the civil war in Syria spills over -- a fear that many Iraqis in the area fear.

Meanwhile NINA reports that a Latifiya home invasion yesterday resulted in the shooting of "members of two families of two brothers, killing six children, two women and two men" before blowing up the home.  Kareem Raheem, Isabel Coles and Alison Williams (Reuters) quote  family member Haneen Mudhhir stating,  "Gunmen broke into our house overnight and shot my father four times in the head, they killed my two brothers, they killed my cousin, they were shooting everyone they saw, I escaped from the back door."  BBC News explains, "Latifiya is in a religiously-mixed region that came to be known as the 'Triangle of Death' at the peak of Iraq's insurgency in 2006 and 2007."  NINA also notes 3 Sahwa were shot dead in Ramadi with another three left injured, a Mosul car bombing claimed the lives of 5 police officers and left four people injured, a Tikrit attack left 1 Sahwa and 1 rebel dead and one rebel injured and two Shawa injured, and 3 Tarmiya bombings claimed the lives of 5 Iraqi soldiers and left seven more injured.   "And in the capital’s eastern Basmaya district,"  Press TV adds, "unknown gunmen killed a mechanic and his son. "  And in southern Baghdad, NINA reports:

 Police source told NINA that an improvised explosive device, emplaced near women beauty salon in Shurta neighborhood, went off wounding the salon's owner and three other civilians, happened to be nearby, as well as causing damages to the salon.


That attack is very important. al Qaeda may or may not be responsible for that attack but for years they have launched attacks in that area.  The attack, if carried out by al Qaeda, may have been an attack on business or anything.  But the best guess is it being an attack on women who refuse to live in Iraq as though Iraq is Afghanistan.


Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 187 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month.  AFP's Prashant Rao offers:

  2. 9h
    In the first three days of September, at least 90 people were killed, 252 wounded by violence in Iraq - tally:
    Expand














 
 
 the los angeles times
 
 

 jason ditz
 










 
 



Posted by at

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

MacDonald Stainsby exposes the fake left

Tuesday.  I had thought about blogging yesterday but Daddy duties called instead and we had to fly home and all of that.  Besides, there was a ton at The Common Ills including, as C.I. noted:



 Yesterday, Beth's "Iraq, favoritism and feminism (Beth)," Ruth's "Ruth's Report," Kat's "Kat's Korner: Jackson and His Computerband Glow" and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Just Keep Lying" and "Missing Hillary" all went up. 

We're highlighting "Missing Hillary" tonight.

missing hillary2




I love that comic.  You really need to read MacDonald Stainsby (CounterPunch):


Of course, this makes immediate sense, given that the same sources of funding received by “tar sands action” and 350.org also funded Moveon.org and multiple other pro-Democratic Party movements, campaigns and candidates. This saw-off– we don’t attack you, you don’t attack us– means the big NGO campaigns can exist without the contradiction of campaigns against people who share their sugar daddies.
The big NGO movement doubled down more than 2 years ago. They decided (without our input) that the tar sands of Canada were the wedge issue to begin a fightback against energy corporations around climate, and that the means to slowing down tar sands extraction was to stop the expansion of pipelines. In many ways, two years ago, this was somewhat accurate (albeit insufficient rather than wrong). Several things have happened along the way to call this into question.
Hydraulic Fracturing, or “fracking,” has become so widespread it even threatens to shadow tar sands– and given that the climate is planetary and knows no nation, fracking is now competing with tar sands around fossil fuel extraction, and the resultant emission damage as well as fossil fuel expansion.
There’s a part of this story you likely don’t know, and people like Bill McKibben– as well as Canadian public figure Tzeporah Berman– (who runs an outfit that legally exists as a project of the Tides Foundation called the North American Tar Sands Coalition, a secret outfit that determines both strategy and funding for literally dozens of environmental NGO’s and community groups across North America) would prefer it stays that way.
Many of the largest foundations now have a policy that they simply do not spend money opposing natural gas, even the natural gas that is fracked. Fracking has created a breakneck pace for new oil developments in the Bakken of North Dakota in the time since the Keystone XL pipeline became a household name for every environmentalist-sympathetic home in North America, but it is the major gas from the northeastern US, Texas and perhaps most significantly, northeastern British Columbia in Canada, that makes ignoring natural gas criminal and not mere incompetence.


Great work by Stainsby.  We need to see more pieces like this exposing the people on 'our' side who are really working against us.


We did an edition at Third over the Labor Day weekend.  Along with Dallas, here's who worked on 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 Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.



And here's what we came up with:




And I'm tired so that's it for me tonight.


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


Tuesday, September 5, 2013.  Chaos and violence continue, in part due to John Kerry who seems to think he's Secretary of Defense and not Secretary of State, the US government continue to be in violation of the law (Leahy Amendment) by providing aid to Iraq, Camp Ashraf is attacked again over the weekend,  protests break out across the US at the idea Barack will order an attack on Syria, and more.


Barack's still looking for a skirt to hide behind.  Lindsey Boerma (CBS News) reports US President Barack Obama made a statement today "flanked by" House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Speaker John Boehner.  It was all a for-show fakery.  Pelosi supports an attack on Syria "and expects Congress to vote the request through, she believes the American people still need to hear more about the intelligence on the ground in Syria."  Has all the plastic surgery finally effected her brain?  It didn't have to be that way.  Not just because she didn't need to have all that work done but also because we, in the eighth district had a choice, a better choice, in 2008 when Cindy Sheehan ran for the seat.  While Nancy babbles on about how the American people just need a little information, Cindy strongly calls out the proposal:



The President of the USA, aka, Able Servant of Empire, claims that his planned assault on Syria will be “limited” and he won’t order any “boots on the ground” as if he is angling for praise from the almost non-existent antiwar movement and/or to prove that he really earned that Noble Peace Prize!


Besides the fact that the US now has troops on the ground in 35 African countries; destroyed Libya for regime change; is bombing “al Qaeda” in Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; AND is already arming and training “al Qaeda” in Syria, the Able Servant of Empire is chomping at the bit of more mass murder to launch a Tomahawk missile attack on Syria.


My friend Ann Wright, who is a retired Colonel, US Army and a former diplomat who resigned when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, wrote in this piece about what could be the possible consequences of Obama’s “limited” assault on Syria:

Use her link to go to Ann Wright's piece, right now we're going back to the fake event today.   Justin Sink (The Hill) notes a petulant Barack whined, "This is not Iraq and this is not Afghanistan."  Today at the Senate hearing, Senator Barbara Boxer declared of comparing Iraq to Barack's Syria attack, " I believe it's a totally false comparison."

Well it is a bit shaky but not for the reasons that the sad Boxer gave (she supports an attack on Syria).  The real difference is the levels of stupidity.   The crooks behind the start of that war were idiots.  But, clearly, they were much smarter than Barack Obama.  Friday,  Hannah Allam and Mark Seibel (McClatchy Newspapers) reported, "The Obama administration’s public case for attacking Syria is riddled with inconsistencies and hinges mainly on circumstantial evidence, undermining U.S. efforts this week to build support at home and abroad for a punitive strike against Bashar Assad’s regime."  Victor Wallace (Open Media Boston) goes over the lies being used to push for an attack:


First, the particular charge that the Assad forces have engaged in chemical attacks is dubious. The opposition forces have been militarily dependent on foreign fighters. The regime has been gaining the upper hand in combat. It invited the UN inspectors in, and could have no interest in carrying out an attack for which they would then be able to establish its culpability. [See http://shoebat.com/2013/08/27/evidence-syrian-rebels-used-chemical-weapo... and http://www.infowars.com/rebels-admit-responsibility-for-chemical-weapons... ] The opposition, being at a military disadvantage, could hope for success only by creating a scenario of chaos within which an all-out PR campaign blaming Assad could set the stage for external military intervention. The unseemly haste reflected in Obama’s call for an attack without waiting for the UN inspectors’ report is consistent with this interpretation.
Second, whatever the truth of the chemical-warfare charge, it is disingenuous for the US government to set itself up as an arbiter in such matters, given its own past complicity in chemical attacks (supplying Iraq with chemical weaponry in the 1980s; later using phosphorus against Iraq [Fallujah, 2004] and supporting Israel in its use of the same substance in the 2008-9 assault on Gaza). Evidently, whether or not chemical warfare should be condemned depends on who applies it. In other words, it can’t be the real reason for the planned US attack.
Third, independently of the rationale (i.e., even if the accusations against Assad were true), the idea that missile attacks on the country would constitute a remedy makes no sense. While they might indeed weaken the Assad regime and eventually make possible its overthrow (as happened with the Gaddafi regime in Libya), the outcome would be one of chaos and amplified suffering. Among the “victorious” opposition, the upper hand would go not to any democratic civilian organization but rather to whoever was best armed. This might suit US policymakers, but it makes a mockery of their proclaimed (democratic) values.
It is important that we try to persuade Congress to vote down Obama’s call for a military attack on Syria. [See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/obama-will-launch-a-huge_b_... ] But our arguments will be stronger if we can at the same time demonstrate that the premises behind his proposal are false.


Also calling out Barack's roll out of lies was Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey (Pravda):


Remember the declarations made by the United States of America that the Syrian government was "stalling" and not allowing the UN inspection team to carry out its work? While Secretary Kerry was making these declarations, the US government was informing the Syrians that the team did not have the conditions to enter the area under investigation. Then Kerry himself said the investigation came too late to be credible. To note: as soon as it received a request for the inspection team to visit the site, the Syrian government implemented an immediate ceasefire and granted unimpeded access. This, in the words of the US State Department, amounts to "destruction of evidence".
Moral of the story: do not believe a word John Kerry says; imagine a barefaced liar in charge of a country's diplomacy. Why, in 2011, Kerry was calling Bashar al-Assad "a very generous man" no doubt remembering the dinner he and his wife shared with the Assads two years previously, smiling politely at each other around the table.
Has the Obama administration informed its citizens of its funding and arming of the Syrian opposition, which includes terrorists with links to al-Qaeda? Has it explained its plans for military action? Does anyone really believe that it will amount to a few cruise missiles or more obviously, will it not be a campaign to topple the Syrian Government and turn the country into a haven for al-Qaeda?
Are the American Catholics aware of the official position of the Vatican, blasting the western powers, claiming there was no evidence against President Assad in the Ghouta attack and taking a firm stand against military intervention?


At Iraq Inquiry Digest, Andrew Mason notes:

Reported nearly a week ago by Kenneth Timmerman, a recognised authority on Middle Eastern military affairs, and published by the Daily Caller, a relatively new and successful entrant into the world of online reporting operating in the same sphere as the Huffington Post before it, this piece may explain why President Obama has taken the decision he has, to delay any US military action against the Syrian regime until such time as Congress returns on September 9 and further debates the situation.
The Obama administration has selectively used intelligence to justify military strikes on Syria, former military officers with access to the original intelligence reports say, in a manner that goes far beyond what critics charged the Bush administration of doing in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war.
According to these officers, who served in top positions in the United States, Britain, France, Israel, and Jordan, a Syrian military communication intercepted by Israel’s famed Unit 8200 electronic intelligence outfit has been doctored so that it leads a reader to just the opposite conclusion reached by the original report.
The doctored report was leaked to a private Internet-based newsletter that boasts of close ties to the Israeli intelligence community, and led to news reports that the United States now had firm evidence showing that the Syrian government had ordered the chemical weapons attack on August 21 against a rebel-controlled suburb of Damascus.
The doctored report was picked up on Israel’s Channel 2 TV on Aug. 24, then by Focus magazine in Germany, the Times of Israel, and eventually by The Cable in Washington, DC.
According to the doctored report, the chemical attack was carried out by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, an elite unit commanded by Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother.
However, the original communication intercepted by Unit 8200 between a major in command of the rocket troops assigned to the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division, and the general staff, shows just the opposite.
The general staff officer asked the major if he was responsible for the chemical weapons attack. From the tone of the conversation, it was clear that “the Syrian general staff were out of their minds with panic that an unauthorized strike had been launched by the 155th Brigade in express defiance of their instructions,” the former officers say.
According to the transcript of the original Unit 8200 report, the major “hotly denied firing any of his missiles” and invited the general staff to come and verify that all his weapons were present.
The report contains a note at the end that the major was interrogated by Syrian intelligence for three days, then returned to command of his unit. “All of his weapons were accounted for,” the report stated.
What is quite unusual about this account is that it hasn’t been more widely picked up on and referred to elsewhere.

Nancy Pelosi thinks the American people need to hear these lies repeated louder and more often.  As Patrick Martin (WSWS) observes, "President Obama’s announcement Saturday that he would seek congressional authorization for military strikes against Syria sets the stage for a two-week campaign of media propaganda and political intimidation. Its goal is to browbeat the American people into accepting yet another imperialist war in the Middle East."  Along with noting the fakery of US House Rep Barbara Lee's 'action' 'against' an attack on Syria, John V. Walsh (Dissident Voice) points out:

 In one way Obama's assault on Libya and now on Syria is worse than George W. Bush's war on Iraq. Bush at least took the time to lie to Congress. But such a lie to Congress is an indictable offense, and the lie is easily demonstrable if Congress marshals the likes of a Watergate hearing. So an impeachment move against Obama is also an opening for a move to indict Bush. And perhaps the unconstitutional assaults of Clinton on Sudan and Yugoslavia will be revisited. One can only hope.
It is time for all antiwarriors to champion the idea of impeachment and push for it now. The slogan might well be, "Impeach Obama. Indict Bush." It will not happen unless we demand it. And if we do not, we are acquiescing in the face of endless war.


Yesterday,  Ryan Grim (Huffington Post) quoted Noam Chomsky weighing in on Barack's desire to attack Syria, "As international support for Obama's decision to attack Syria has collapsed, along with the credibility of government claims, the administration has fallen back on a standard pretext for war crimes when all else fails: the credibility of the threats of the self-designated policeman of the world." Meanwhile Shamus Cooke (at Iranian.com) calls out a large number of allegedly 'left' and 'antiwar' types who are nothing but Whores for Barack:


 
The most guilty parties who have aided and assisted Obama’s expected war plans will have blood-stained hands after the bombing begins. Perhaps the best example of this coterie is Van Jones, the former adviser to Obama who founded the Rebuild The Dream organization. On CNN, Jones announced his new appetite for foreign war.
 Many liberals took Jones’ “stand by our president” approach, even if it wasn’t stated as directly as Jones did, and even after “our president” was unable to present any sensible reason for waging another aggressive war in the Middle East.
A notch lower on the leftist spectrum of Syria war guilt is MoveOn.org, which has done everything in their power not to portray President Obama’s actions in their true light. But MoveOn had to take a more creative approach to covering up for Obama in Syria.
MoveOn organized a “teach-in” that was streamed on their website. The panel of speakers — with one exception — presented Obama’s position in a very evenhanded, “objective” way, presenting the president as an entirely reasonable person for wanting to bomb Syria, even if it might not be the best way to deal with the situation.
Instead of pointing out the flagrant similarities between Obama’s Syria war rationale and George Bush’s Iraq War lies, these similarities were papered over, thus legitimizing Obama’s criminal actions.
The worst Obama apologist on the panel was Matt Duss from the Center for American Progress, who explained that, although he was against a war on Syria, he “respects” that “other progressives of good faith may come to a different view.”
Phyllis Bennis from the Institute of Policy Studies was the only consistent anti-war panelist, who appeared as a fringe element when compared to the rest of the panel, only because she offered a common sense, consistent anti-war message.
The teach-in ended with a “what can we do” segment to influence the situation. Instead of mobilizing in the streets against Obama, the panelists discussed “contacting congressmen,” “calling the White House’s comment line,” “tweeting,” “email,” “petitions,” but no call was made for doing what was done against Bush: mobilize people in the streets to demand that the war be stopped.
MoveOn further exposed their pro-Obama, pro-war attitude on the website, where for days the featured petition being promoted was titled: “President Obama: Don’t Strike Syria Without Congressional Approval.”
Again, there is no basis for any strike on Syria, period — Congressional approval or otherwise. Even if Congress doesn’t approve Obama’s actions in Syria, it’s likely that he’ll attack Syria anyway, just as happened in Libya after Congress refused authorization.


David Swanson (War Is A Crime) observes:
Back in 2007, the Congressional Progressive Caucus helped organize 90 Congress members to commit to voting against war funding.  Most of them turned around and voted for war funding.  That was a high point for the CPC.  Since then, its commitments -- such as to vote against corporate healthcare -- have hardly been taken seriously, and so it's hardly been news when most members have gone back on their commitments.
The CPC has shifted in recent years away from pretending to take a stand on things, and instead toward issuing statements full of non-committal rhetoric.  That, too, is now a stage in the devolution of the CPC to which we can look back with nostalgia.
The CPC, on the question of a new war on Syria, is choosing to do nothing at all.  In fact, one of its two co-chairs is actively promoting war.  Compare this whip list with this list of CPC members.  You'll notice that virtually no members of the House of Representatives have taken any position on whether or not to attack Syria.  That includes most of those who claimed they wanted the president to allow a vote, as the Constitution requires.  The same is true for the CPC: virtually nobody has a position.
Those firmly committed to attacking Syria, in the House, include four Republicans, five non-CPC Democrats, and CPC Co-Chair Keith Ellison.  Those firmly committed against this madness include 10 Republicans, three non-CPC Democrats, and four CPC Democrats. 
Ellison was first elected as an opponent of war and an advocate for impeaching George W. Bush for the crime of war, but reversed his positions immediately upon election.  He just recently responded to pressure from Veterans For Peace in Minnesota and introduced into the Congressional Record acknowledgment that the Kellogg-Briand Pact bans all war.  He then turned around and threw his support in behind the next war.


Congressional approval is required, read the Constitution.  But Congressional authorization does not provide legality on the international stage.  As IPS analyst Phyllis Bennis noted repeatedly last week on  KPFA's Up Front with Guest Host Philip Maldari  (Tuesday, Democracy Now! on Wednesday,  CCTV and FAIR's Counterspin on Friday -- only one body can give legal authorization for the attack.  We'll quote her from her discussion with Peter Hart on Counterspin:



Phyllis Bennis:  Only if the [United Nations] Security Council votes to endorse the use of force is the use of force legal.  No other agency, institution, organization has that right.  So the Kosovo precedent that you refer to and that unfortunately this is being talked about in the press.  It's being asserted that if the Security Council doesn't agree, there are other options.  Yeah, there are other options.  The problem is they're all illegal.  The Kosovo model was illegal.  What the US did in 1999, when it wanted to bomb, to start an air war against Serbia over Kosovo, realized it would not get support of the Security Council because Russia had said it would veto.  So instead of saying, 'Well okay we don't have support of the Security Council, I guess we can't do it,' they said, 'Okay, we won't go to the Security Council, we'll simply go to the NATO High Command and ask their permission.'  Well, what a surprise, the NATO High Command said 'sure.'  It's like the hammer and the nail.  If you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  If you're NATO everything looks like it requires military intervention.  The problem is, under international law, the UN charter is the fundamental component under international law that determines issues of war and peace.  And the charter doesn't say that the Security Council or NATO or the President of the United States can all decide over the use of force.  The only agency that can legally approve the use of force is the Security Council of the United Nations.  Period.  Full stop.

Ban Ki-Moon is the Secretary General of the United Nations.  RTE notes that, as Phyllis Bennis has, the Secretary General states "use of force is only legal when it is in self-defense or with UN Security Council authorisation."  Whitney Cox (Ground Report) examines a Media and Public Opinion Research poll to argue that "most Americans who favor intervention would prefer to do so with the UN's blessing."

Amy Goodman (Democracy Now! -- link is text, audio and video) noted this morning, "Protests by antiwar groups against the proposed strike are continuing across the country and around the world."  WECT reports, "The Wilmington Peace Group gathered at the intersection of South College Road and Oleander Drive to protest the potential involvement of the United States military in the ongoing conflict in Syria.  The protest comes in light of President Barack Obama's request to Congress that U.S. military forces be sent to Syria."  Kat Carlton (Indiana Public Media) covers a protest last night in Bloomington and quotes participant David Kepple, of The Bloomington Peace Action Coalition and Just Peace Task Force of the Unitarian Universalist Church, stating "The important question is whether a strike can either protect Syrian civilians or stop weapons of mass destruction. It can do none of those, and it can embroil the United States in a much wider war that will engulf us for years."
Sunday, Ava and I noted the Saturday protest outside the White House, " While Barack was giving his speech Saturday, protesters could be found outside the White House.  It's a shame that it took so long.  Applause for A.N.S.W.E.R. and all the others present but grasp that what they finally achieved is still not of the size England saw on Wednesday."  Ty says e-mails have come in asking why we're stressing A.N.S.W.E.R.  when the article linked to only names CodeStink?  Because A.N.S.W.E.R. was one of the two organizations responsible for it.  Since that seems unclear, let's note Justin Mitchell (Voice of Russia) report published today:

The Hands off Syria protest was put on by two left-leaning activist organizations, the International Action Center and the ANSWER coalition. The organizers claimed protests were planned in dozens of cities across the country. Protests also took place in London and Germany.
The protestors were a mix of nationalities, ages, and political persuasions -- but they all agreed on one thing: avoiding foreign entanglements.
Kyle Phillips of Germantown, Maryland spoke for many of the protestors.
"I think the U.S. intervention would not help at all," Phillips said. "I think that we've proven time and time again that we can only hurt a country's people that live there, and that's what I'm worried about."
Phillips just wanted to see his country play a different role in the world. For others, such as Amal Esmail, the issue hit much closer to home.
"I have all my family [in Syria], I have my children here," Esmail told VOR. "I love the U.S.A. I love Syria. I don't want any conflict."
Though she carried the red, white and black flag of Bashar al-Assad's Syria as well as a posterboard with pictures depicting alleged rebel atrocities, Esmail said she did not necessarily support Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"The Syrian people over there should decide [who is in power]," she said. "I think that change is good, but not in this way."

Rebecca Myles has an audio report for Free Speech Radio News.  Peter Rugh (Indypendent) notes that protest took place Saturday in over 50 cities across the country and he reports on the one held in Times Square:

Relaying Obama's speech through the human microphone method popularized by Occupy Wall Street, the crowd in Times Square reacted strongly to Obama's words. "Hey Barack, remember Iraq,” they chanted, and “We don't want no World War III, come on let Syria be!” – a reference to what could be the unintended consequences of starting a war in the Mideast region that could draw in Iran, Israel and Lebanon. 
 “We have no business out there,” said Noor, a Syrian-American student who attended the Times Square rally and did not give her last name for fear of retribution from war enthusiasts and/or U.S. law enforcement, who have targeted both Muslims and anti-war activists in recent years without evidence of wrongdoing. 
Noor wanted her dissent registered, however, and noted that while Obama has condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for killing civilians in the two-years-long civil war, various factions of the rebel army challenging his regime — some linked to al-Qaeda — are accused of similar atrocities. Strikes on her country of origin would have more to do with “empire, greed and power,” she said. 



Last Saturday's protest was not a one-off for A.N.S.W.E.R.  They are planning more protests including this Saturday:

Now is the time for the people to step up pressure on Congress and demand that they vote NO to any resolution authorizing a military attack on Syria.

On Saturday, September 7, people are descending on Washington, D.C., for a major demonstration that will assemble at the White House and march on the Capitol Building as Congress returns to Washington, D.C., and prepares to vote. This demonstration is initiated by a broad ad hoc coalition called the Vote No War Against Syria Coalition. If you or your organization would like to be an endorser of the Sept. 7 demonstration, email votenowaronsyria@yahoo.com.

Those who can will stay over in Washington for daily demonstrations, and to maintain a round-the-clock visible anti-war presence at the U.S. Capitol building beginning Saturday, September 7 and continuing daily as Congress meets to take up and vote on the resolution.


A.N.S.W.E.R. will also hold protests around the country Saturday.  In San Francisco, this Saturday the protest kicks off at noon at  Chelsea Manning Plaza (Embarcadero).  And good for the International Action Center, they're a part of these actions as well, I've just been told on the other phone, and A.N.S.W.E.R. and the IAC will be working jointly on this action -- click here for a list of protests planned for across the country.


We noted Barbara Boxer's nonsense today.  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Syria today.  A brief overview of the hearing.  US Secretary of State John Kerry looks petty and bitchy when he deliberately mispronounces the name "Assad" -- Syria's President is Bashar al-Assad.  Not only is it stupid and childish and was done (by Colin Powell, among others) with Saddam Hussein's name so that his first name became "Sodom," it's also stupid because Assad is a very common last name so when Kerry acts like a prick to insult the Syrian president, he's actually insulting a large number of Arabs -- and "Assad" is used as both a first name and a last name in Arab culture.

The Committee Chair is Robert Menendez and he attempted to get Kerry to agree that the Congress would be wise to put in a no-boots-on-the-ground clause if they gave authorization for an attack on Syria.  Kerry didn't react, he over-reacted.  He was opposed to it and claimed that if more action was needed, this would hurt the US.  First off, Barack promised Saturday that there would be no boots on the ground.  Kerry's part of the inside team so since he was ranting like a crazy man on this issue, it's clear that Barack has -- as Samantha Power famously noted in March 2008 -- told the people one thing while planning for something else.

John Kerry went too far.  And was called on it by his team.  Tip to John, you're not a Senator anymore.

He was a witness.  But since he was in the Senate for so many years, he acted as though he were a Senator and not just in cutting off those asking him questions but also in forgetting to turn off his microphone.  Witnesses are expected to turn their mikes on when it's time for them to speak and to turn them off after they answer a question.  Kerry left his microphone on throughout the hearing, he never turned it off.  Allowing a number of things that he probably didn't want broadcasted to be broadcast.

Stupid mistake.  And those listening closely heard John Kerry being told to walk it back.  This resulted in his missing the sucking up Senator Ben Cardin was doing but did allow him to quickly insist that he (now) wasn't opposed to some sort of compromise or agreement on the boots-on-the-ground issue. 

 He continually whined one point over and over.

And we're emphasizing it because it has to do with Iraq.

Kerry maintains Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons and he insist that "one of the reasons" for their use "is that the West, writ laege, and the United States are not going to do anything about it."

He also yammered on about all the foreign leaders he'd spoken to about this.

Really?  Because that's above his pay level.  He's not President of the United States.  He gets that right?  He's yammering away about conversations with the King of Jordan and others that he's been having for the last year.

Guess what, John Kerry?

You weren't tasked with that.  If a military strike were needed, if a military option was desired, that's for the President and the Secretary of Defense to float to leaders and military officials of other countries.

John Kerry doesn't really think he's commander-in-chief, does he?

While he was busy pretending to be something other than the Secretary of State,  he wasn't doing the job he was supposed to.  That would be Iraq.

Did he forget who was in charge of the US mission in Iraq?

I know he knows it's not the Defense Dept because, in Barack's first term as president, John was the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and he heard from various State Dept officials about the budget, he advocated for the huge increase himself, because the State Dept was taking over the Iraq mission.

Iraq is falling apart.  And, yes, that has to do with the inept State Dept which has repeatedly failed to provide oversight -- let alone follow the laws.  Yes, laws are being broken, US laws, by the State Dept regarding Iraq.

Before we get to that, Sunday saw an attack in Iraq which led UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to issue  a statement:
The Secretary-General deplores the tragic events in Camp Ashraf today that have reportedly left 47 killed.  He expresses his sorrow and extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims.
The Secretary-General reiterates his full support for and his absolute confidence in the relentless work of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).  He appeals for the urgent restoration of security in the Camp as it is the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to ensure the safety and security of the residents. The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Iraq to promptly investigate the incident and disclose the findings.


Tim Arango (New York Times) reported there was confusion about the exact details, "The Iraqi security officials said 15 people in the camp had been killed and more than 30 wounded, while representatives of the group, known as Mujahedeen Khalq, or the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, said more than 50 people had been killed." Adam Schreck (AP) reports today that the United Nations just confirmed the deaths of 52 Ashraf residents.  Al Mada noted yesterday that Nouri's declared he should be over the Iraqi investigation since he's commander-in-chief.  And that's exactly why he shouldn't be over it.  Are we really surprised that the concepts of "independence" and "integrity" would escape Nouri?   Today the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a statement which included:

 Reiterating his previous statement, the UN Envoy expressed his outrage at the brutal killing of the camp’s residents. Mr. Busztin took note of the statement issued by the Government of Iraq announcing it has initiated its own investigation into the tragic events and acknowledging its responsibility for the safety of the camp’s residents. “I call on the Iraqi government to ensure that a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into this atrocious crime is conducted without delay and that the results of the investigation are made public”, he said.

 What does this have to do with the US government?


Camp Ashraf housed a group of Iranian dissidents who were  welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they could utilize. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the Geneva Conventions. As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp attacked twice. July 28, 2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). In a report released this summer entitled "Iraqi government must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009; by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike." April 8, 2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the assault took place). Amnesty International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on 8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive, including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on other occasions when the government has announced investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation was, in fact, carried out."  Those weren't the last attacks.  They were the last attacks while the residents were labeled as terrorists by the US State Dept.  (September 28, 2012, the designation was changed.)   In spite of this labeling, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions."  So the US has an obligation to protect the residents.  3,300 are no longer at Camp Ashraf.  They have moved to Camp Hurriyah for the most part.  A tiny number has received asylum in other countries. Approximately 100 were still at Camp Ashraf when it was attacked Sunday.








 February 9th of this year, the Ashraf residents were again attacked, this time the ones who had been relocated to Camp Hurriyah.  Trend News Agency counted 10 dead and over one hundred injured.  Prensa Latina reported, " A rain of self-propelled Katyusha missiles hit a provisional camp of Iraqi opposition Mujahedin-e Khalk, an organization Tehran calls terrorists, causing seven fatalities plus 50 wounded, according to an Iraqi official release."


What did Kerry say today about al-Assad?  Oh, right, that the chemical attack happened,  "one of the reasons," was because "the West, writ laege, and the United States are not going to do anything about it."  Would John Kerry care to tell the American people what, if any, message the State Dept conveyed to Nouri when Nouri's forces (on his orders, let's not kid) yet again attacked the Ashraf community back in February?

By Kerry's 'logic,' Sunday's attack could only have happened because the West didn't have a strong response to the attack.  Under the Geneva Conventions, the US government remains responsible for the Ashraf community until they are out of Iraq.

The UNAMI statement today also noted:
Underscoring the utmost volatility of the situation, as Camp Ashraf does not provide an adequate level of security for its residents, Mr. Busztin affirmed that “until the camps residents are relocated to safety, all measures must be taken to protect their lives”.

 Yes, that is correct.  It's also correct that the White House wants nothing to do with the residents.  Well then get them out of Iraq.  Once that happens, the US government's legal obligation expires.  This is a State Dept issue, getting them out of Iraq.  This was made clear in the court battle that took place when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.

Maybe if John Kerry and his staff hadn't spent the last year (and he appeared to mean 2012 and 2013 in other remarks to the Committee today but we'll just say a year) attempting to sell other nations on a military attack on Syria, he could have done the job he's actually responsible for.

We're going to go in another direction for the next part and set the Ashraf community and the violence done to them to the side to offer the clearest example of how the US State Dept is breaking the law currently.



The editorial board of the Providence Journal notes, "Some would characterize today’s Iraqi government as authoritarian, not democratic. One result has been that minority Sunnis have seen their trust in Iraq’s nascent democratic institutions decline precipitously, to the point that al-Qaida has rekindled its bid to stir trouble there." Press TV isn't concerned with that, they carry the water for Nouri.  They aren't the only outlets that carry Nouri's water but it's becoming ever more difficult to look the other way with the increased violence and Nouri's actions. Tim Arango (New York Times) reports:

 As security has deteriorated, Iraqis say it has become clearer with each bombing attack, each spasm of vigilante violence, that Iraq's American-trained security forces have been ineffective and, worse, a growing source of abuses themselves. And the hope for stability under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has vowed to be a leader for all Iraqis, is giving way to fears that his government is mimicking many of the repressive tactics that his Shiite constituency suffered under the past Sunni minority regime.
As Sunni jihadist groups have staged ever more deadly bombings this year, al-Maliki's forces have responded with their harshest security crackdowns yet - including, rights advocates say, indiscriminate roundups of Sunnis, the use of torture to extract confessions, the tainted use of secret informant testimony to secure convictions and frequent demands for bribes from the families of detainees.
A powerful notion of revenge, a subtext to much of the current turmoil across the Middle East, underlies the increasingly systemic violence in Iraq. Sunni bombings bring Shiite crackdowns as payback, driving more Sunnis toward extremism. Each fuels the other, again and again.





Those are strong observations from Arango and from the editorial board.  There's also what took place last spring.   The April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported 53 dead for several days now -- indicating that some of the wounded did not recover.  UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

That's only one example.  But what that massacre means -- a massacre the State Dept continues to ignore publicly, is that US aid gets cut off.  It's the Leahy Amendment.  And Peter Sullivan  (Foreign Policy) noted August 23rd:
The State Department confirmed Thursday that it has suspended assistance to the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia because of 12 killings in 2011 by an "ad hoc task force within the police department." Reuters reports that five of the dead were on a hit list of people deemed to be criminals. The State Department said there has been only "limited progress" in investigating the killings.

If that required cutting off aid (and it did), so does Nouri's forces attacking the protesters.  And remember, the governor of Kirkuk refused entry to Nouri's forces so Nouri had them helicoptered into Hawija -- with helicopters the US sold.  Also don't forget 2011 when Iraq's LGBT community was targeted by the government.  It was the Ministry of the Interior that visited schools and conflated gay with Emo and said they sucked human blood, etc.  Yes, the Ministry denied it.  But Alsumaria, Al Mada and others didn't just report what the Ministry did, they reproduced the Ministry of Interior's handout that was distributed during the presentation at each school.

Nouri ignored the Constitution and refused to nominate anyone to head the Ministry of the Interior so that he could control it.  It still has no Minister.  The attack on Iraqi youth that the Ministry of the Interior launched is on Nouri.  Try to remember that those suspected of being gay or Emo after the 'presentations' were stoned to death, were tortured to death, were mutilated and much more.

After the April 23 massacre, John Kerry and the State Dept are in violation of the Leahy Amendment.  Seems like he might have been able to be in compliance with the law if he'd bothered to oversee Iraq as the Secretary of State is supposed to do.  Instead, he's shirked his responsibilities as he's argued/advocated for war on Syria with various foreign leaders.

It's a real shame the US does not have a real Secretary of State but it does go a long way towards explaining how Nouri got away with his ever increasing authoritarianism.



September has just started.  Yet in the first two days of the month, Iraq Body Count notes 106 people have already died in violence.  Today,  National Iraqi News Agency reports an attack on a home to the south of Baghdad left 5 people dead ("father, mother and three children"), a Babil car bombing left 5 people dead and five injured, 1 person was shot dead in Basra, a Falluja roadside bombing has left two people injured, and a Baquba sticky bombing left two police officers injured.  Al Manar adds:
Eleven car bombs went off in Baghdad, killing at least 40 people and leaving dozens wounded, according to security and medical officials.
The blasts went off minutes apart at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), the latest in a trend of attacks timed to coincide with Baghdadis visiting cafes and other public areas during the evening.


AFP's Prashant Rao Tweets:

  2. 4h
    49 dead in wave of Iraq attacks centred on Baghdad - 's latest update:
    View summary


He also Tweeted, and we'll close with this, the following:


  2. 4h
    Not a day goes by when I am not in awe of the courage my Iraqi colleagues display, constantly braving mayhem to get information.
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 john v. walsh
 
 









 


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