Saturday, April 29, 2017

Barack's VA response


."



 

From May 25, 2014, that's "Barack's VA response."  C.I. noted:

Barack declares, "I'm madder than heck.  Madder than hell even!"  Valerie Jarrett offers, "Ladies and gentlemen, his mad as hell face."  Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.


Barack did nothing to help veterans.

That's reality.

What a joke he was.

Remember that promise to end veterans homelessness?

Remember how he didn't?


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


Friday, April 28, 2017.  Chaos and violence continue, The Mosul Slog continues, bickering continues between the governments of Qatar and Iraq, national reconciliation is declared doomed by State Of Law, and more.



Not hyperbole: Many in the media have a bigger problem with Obama being paid for a speech than they had with Bush invading Iraq.
 
 



And what of those hypocrites who have a problem with Bully Boy Bush starting the Iraq War and Barack Obama refusing to end it?

Cat got your mouse and keyboard, Bruce P. Knight?


Iraqis aren't as lucky as Bruce, they are silenced but not by hypocrisy.


THE REGISTER reports that the Iraqi government is again shutting down the internet, most recently yesterday morning

It's amazing how little outcry there is over this attack on freedoms or over the US arming and aiding a government so clearly corrupt and unable to reform.

On that, the Iraqi government has refused to pursue reconciliation.

This despite the 2007 'benchmarks' for continued US funding devised by Bully Boy Bush and signed off on by both the US Congress and the then-Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Ten years later and there's still no reconciliation.

Yet, somehow, US funds, arms and troops still go over to Iraq.

To fight ISIS?

What will it be tomorrow?

ISIS only rose to prominence in Iraq because Nouri al-Maliki refused reconciliation and persecuted the Sunni people.

What's changed?

In 2014, Hayder al-Abadi became prime minister.

That's about it.


THE BAGHDAD POST reports that MP Mohamed al-Ja'fari has said that the reconciliation is "doomed to failure."

This is just one opinion, right?

Wrong.

He's a member of State Of Law.

State Of Law is the political coalition created by Nouri al-Maliki to avoid running with his political party (Dawa).  So State Of Law is making clear that they remain opposed to reconciliation.

And Hayder al-Abadi, the current prime minister?

He's also a member of Nouri's State Of Law coalition.

Which explains why he does nothing to bring about reconciliation either.


So get ready because the never-ending Iraq War is never going to end.

As long as the government persecutes a group, some organization will rise up -- it's the basic reaction to persecution.


: has killed the |i Colonel and commander of the 18th Brigade Khader Tal Morshedi in Western .
 
 


It's day 191 of The Mosul Slog.

This week, Doctors Without Borders noted:

The hospital opened by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Qayyarah, Iraq, last December is around 35 miles (60 km) south of Mosul. Distant enough not to hear the sounds of airstrikes and rocket fire, but sufficiently close for the wounded to be brought in when medical facilities nearer the front line are no longer able to cope.
On February 18, the Iraqi army launched an offensive with the support of the U.S.-led coalition to retake west Mosul, the part of the city still under control of the so-called Islamic State.

The fighting has claimed many victims, and large numbers of people continue to flee from neighborhoods being gradually recaptured by the army. Some of those displaced by the fighting have ended up in camps in Qayyarah. The MSF team is now caring for patients from west Mosul, displaced persons camps, Qayyarah town, and the region.

Hospital for medical and surgical emergencies


The MSF team treats medical and surgical emergencies as the hospital in Qayyarah has an emergency room, operating theater and inpatient departments. The level of activity is intense—between January and March, more than 3,750 patients were admitted to the emergency room.
A four-bed intensive care unit was recently opened to provide care for burn victims, patients in shock and other critical conditions.
The team in the emergency room sees patients wounded by airstrikes, explosions, mortar fire and land mines. Away from major roads, there are still mines that occasionally injure children, farm workers and shepherds. In west Mosul, whole families sometimes fall victim to the fighting. 
Below, MSF emergency doctor Ana Leticia recalls the story of a family caught in an explosion while trying to escape west Mosul.

The mother was in a state of shock when she arrived. Her 12-year old daughter looked after her younger brothers and sisters while waiting for her mother to be cared for by the MSF psychiatrist and get better. 

Medical and psychological care

MSF has set up mental health consultations in Qayyarah for patients from the hospital and displaced persons’ camps. The team—a psychiatrist, two psychologists and a counsellor—treat adults and children alike.
Psychiatrist Joëlle Vernet set up the provision of mental health care in the hospital. "People have endured extremely tough situations," says Vernet. "And they still don’t feel at all safe, particularly as the bombing hasn’t stopped and there are soldiers and the sound of gunfire everywhere. They live in fear, they’re scared of reprisals. They don’t know what they can say or who they can say it to."
Many child patients are suffering from intense distress and displaying behavioral issues as a result, she says. "It was even harder for the parents—in reality mostly mothers, as the fathers were no longer with them. They didn’t have the strength to cope with their children’s pain and emotions. So our work was not just treating the child, but also treating the mother too, and child and mother together.
MSF hospital in Qayyarah is currently the only hospital structure properly set up to receive children in the area of Ninewa. Around half of all patients receiving treatment in the emergency room are under the age of 15.
Of the 192 patients who attended a mental health consultation from the beginning of February to mid-April, 30 were children under the age of 13.

8-year-old Duha and her family lived in west Mosul. Last month, their home was hit in an airstrike. Her mother, father and 16 other people in the house at the time were all killed in the bombing.
Duha was the sole survivor. A neighbor dug her out of the rubble, but her head, hands and one leg were severely burned. She now lives in east Mosul with her uncle who brings her to the hospital regularly to have her dressings changed.

Malnourished children from west Mosul

As the Iraqi army advanced into west Mosul, many families were able to escape. The MSF team has been seeing children with acute malnutrition, affected by food shortages in besieged West Mosul.

To treat malnourished children, MSF has set up a 12-bed therapeutic feeding center in Qayyarah hospital. Most of the children are under six months old, explains Ana Leticia, MSF emergency doctor.

Since the start of the military offensive to recapture Mosul in October 2016, MSF teams have increased medical and humanitarian assistance in Ninewa governorate. Across the country, MSF is working alongside Iraqi health staff in 10 governorates to ensure that the population has access to emergency medical care, including mother and child care.







Over 18 months ago, 26 citizens of Qatar were kidnapped while on a hunting trip in Iraq.  Last week, they were freed.

What should have been good news has instaed resulted in a back and forth of claims.

Who paid the ransom, where did it go, who is responsible . . .


AL ARABY notes:

The deal to secure the recent release of a Qatari hunting party kidnapped in southern Iraq went ahead with the "full knowledge" of Baghdad, officials in Doha claimed on Thursday, after Baghdad accused the Gulf emirate of paying ransom money without its approval.
Qatar regularly consulted with Iraqi officials during the tense negotiations with kidnappers, it claimed, in the first official statement made by the normally secretive government in Doha since the release last week.


REUTERS adds:

Qatar’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, told Doha-based Al Jazeera late on Wednesday that Baghdad had been consulted about the money he said was sent “to support the authorities in the release of Qatari abductees.”
“Qatar has provided funds to Iraq in an official, clear and public manner,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “Qatar did not deal with armed groups outside the authority of the (Iraqi) state.”





Governments have longed made deal with designated terrorist groups in Iraq (this includes the US government, see 2009's deal, for example, with The League of Righteousness) but then they try to deny any such deal was made.

The following community sites updated:











  • iraq
    Read on ...

    Saturday, April 15, 2017

    Shinseki's Limited Hang Out


     

    This is Isaiah's latest The World Today Just Nuts 


    From May 189, 2014, that's "Shinseki's Limited Hang Out."  C.I. noted:

    Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki explains, "Fake Ass Jeans aren't just pants.  No, it's a whole lifestyle.  My pair has a cut out ass.  Not because I'm a big fan of So Fine but because I'm so good at showing my ass.  Ask veterans."  Valerie Jarrett exclaims, "Fake Ass Jeans!  Oh, the smell of it!"  Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.



    I miss Valerie Jarrett so much.  Whenever I felt blocked for a cartoon idea, I'd just think of Valerie and, all the sudden, I'd have an idea.

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


    Friday, April 14, 2017.  Chaos and violence continue, The Mosul Slog continues, the US government continues to hand over everything to Iraq with no conditions and much more.


    The whore of Babylon herself gives props to another world class liar.


    ‘People Just Flat-Out Lie’ via
     
     



    Andrea Mithcell, now famous in syndication for calling a woman slut, is the woman who slept her way to the top of NBC, of course.  Dating and marrying Alan Greenspan ensured she'd be kept around while doing nothing.  (Don't try to find out details of her first marriage.  In her badly ghost written autobiography, Andrea disappeared her first husband and her step-children.)


    POLITICO: "She's never faced off against a White House like this before."


    Well maybe that's because she was happy to promote the lies of the Bully Boy Bush White House?

    Peter Hart (FAIR) reminded in 2013:

    Ten years ago today, Colin Powell made the Bush administration’s case for going to war against Iraq. Much of what he said about Iraq’s threats to the United States was false. But the media coverage gave the opposite impression, and most of the pundits and journalists who promoted the justifications for the war paid no price for their failures.
    As FAIR reported at the time, even before the Powell address there were reasons to be skeptical of the administration’s claims.  On February 4, 2003, FAIR published “Iraq’s Hidden Weapons: From Allegation to Fact,” which made the point that “it has not been demonstrated that Iraq continues to hold unconventional weapons.”  FAIR criticized coverage like that of the New York Times (2/2/03), which asserted that “nobody seriously expected Mr. Hussein to lead inspectors to his stash of illegal poisons or rockets, or to let his scientists tell all.”
    As the FAIR release concluded:
    The media convey to the public the impression that the alleged banned weapons on which the Bush administration rests its case for war are known to exist, and that the question is simply whether inspectors are skillful enough to find them.
    Powell’s address was instrumental in pushing a faulty media line on Iraq’s WMDs further. That much was clear in the coverage right after his appearance at the United Nations, as FAIR documented on February 10 in “A Failure of Skepticism in Powell Coverage.”
    In Andrea Mitchell‘s report on NBC Nightly News (2/5/03), Powell’s allegations became actual capabilities of the Iraqi military: “Powell played a tape of a Mirage jet retrofitted to spray simulated anthrax, and a model of Iraq’s unmanned drones, capable of spraying chemical or germ weapons within a radius of at least 550 miles.”

    Dan Rather, introducing an interview with Powell (60 Minutes II, 2/5/03), shifted from reporting allegations to describing allegations as facts: “Holding a vial of anthrax-like powder, Powell said Saddam might have tens of thousands of liters of anthrax. He showed how Iraqi jets could spray that anthrax and how mobile laboratories are being used to concoct new weapons.” The anthrax supply is appropriately attributed as a claim by Powell, but the mobile laboratories were something that Powell “showed” to be actually operating.


    We included Dan Rather above because 'the resistance' has mistaken him for a truth teller.   He's about as real as Robert Redford's toupee.

    Also don't forget that Andrea was involved in the whole attack on former US Ambassador Joe Wilson for calling out Bully Boy Bush's yellow cake lies.  Andrea's own statements even attempted to mitigate the exposure of Joe's wife (and downplay the actions of Scooter Libby).


    There's nothing honest about Andrea.  Not her nose job, not the fillers in the cheeks, not that 'blond' hair and certainly not anything the 'journalist' offers on air.

    No wonder Jane Arraf would be attracted to her.

    Jane covered for thug Nouri al-Maliki -- covered for, not covered -- when he was prime minister.  She did the same for Saddam Hussein.  CNN's policy was to do anything to keep their reporters on the ground in the country (as Eason Jordan revealed in his now infamous NEW YORK TIMES column).  Jane parted ways with CNN but she internalized the policy.

    Her cover ups were most disgusting when it came to the rape of Sunni women and girls in jails and prison.  For months, she ignored the story.  Even when Parliament was investigating, she ignored the story.  When she finally 'stumbled' upon it, it was when Amnesty International issued a report.  And, in noting it, she managed to only quote men -- not a single woman or girl.  They were the victims but she was attempting to dumb down and white wash what had happened so she didn't quote the actual victims.

    Jane earned the title whore of Babylon.


    Day 178 of The Mosul Slog.


    The United Nations notes:


    Using satellite imagery and local researches, the most recent evaluation confirms that western Mosul has undergone extensive destruction, “far greater than in the east,” according to a senior United Nations aid official in the country.
    “The level of damage in western Mosul is already far greater than in the east, even before the battle to retake the Old City begins,” said Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, in a news release issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
    With more than 1,140 housing sites having been destroyed across the city, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) confirms that damage to houses in western Mosul is two and a half times greater than in the eastern districts with one-third of the residential devastation reported to have occurred in the Al Jadeda neighbourhood.
    Ms. Grande pointed out that nearly 300,000 civilians have already fled western Mosul and “hundreds of thousands more may in the days and weeks ahead.”
    She stressed that homes are being destroyed, schools and health centres damaged and that crucial public infrastructure, including electricity and water stations, are in ruins.
    “Under international humanitarian law, parties to the conflict are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians and limit damage to civilian infrastructure. Nothing is more important,” concluded the Humanitarian Coordinator. 





    Success?


    And elsewhere in Iraq?


    More violence.



  • Baghdad: Press reports: _Militias and government_ forces have carried out forcible displacements in...
     
     
    Maysan: A body of unidentified old man stabbed has been found in Huseein Al-Qadeem neighborhood in the middle of Emara.
     
     
    Baghdad: A body of unidentified man has been found in tajiyat area north of Baghdad.
     
     
    Baghdad: A person was killed and "5"were wounded as an IED exploded in Ma'lif area south of Baghdad.
     
     
    Basra: A body of unidentified man has been found at Ashar River in the middle of Basra.
     
     
    Anbar: An IED has hit a patrol in the middle of Heet ,further details unknown.
     
     
    Ninenevh: News agencies: Deaths and injuries were resulted and two hummers and vehicles destroyed as an attack...
     
     
    Nineveh: News agencies:The "Islamic State" has retaken some areas from the government forces at the suburbs of...
     
     
  • Baghdad: "3"persons were killed as an IED exploded in Furat neighborhood west of Baghdad.





  • All the violence is horrible, no question.

    But when bodies start surfacing in neighborhoods, it's usually a sign that the violence is about to intensify.  That has been the pattern.



    One of the biggest supporters of the Mosul operation -- and of Iraqi forces including the militias -- has been Haidar Sumeri.

    So this Tweet is especially interesting.


    We told you & told you again. "Al-Qaeda is on our side in ." - email from policy advisor to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (Feb 2012).
     
     







    Hillary worked with al Qaeda when it suited her.



    Meanwhile, Nouri al-Maliki plots his comeback.  Mohamed Mostafa (IRAQI NEWS) reports:



    Vice President and former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is tipped for the presidency of Iraq’s largest political group as the tenure of its incumbent leader nears its end.
    Maliki is a candidate for the presidency of the Iraqi National Alliance, according to press statements by Rasoul Radi, an MP from the State of the Law, the parliamentary bloc headed by Maliki.
    The alliance’s chairman, Ammar al-Hakim, is scheduled to end his tenure early August, and has recently called for starting measures to select his successor. The alliance’s member parties agreed to take a candidate’s party’s share of parliament seats into consideration when making the selection.

    The Iraqi National Alliance is Iraq’s largest Shia political coalition, and was founded in 2009 by former PM and current foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.



    Nouri back in charge?


    That would be a nightmare.

    If only the US government had some pull and was able to make the long promised reconciliation in Iraq take place -- even just legally.

    If only . . .

    Oh wait, there is.


    Wednesday the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced:

    WASHINGTON, Apr. 12, 2017 - The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Republic of Iraq for pilot and maintenance training, contractor logistical support (CLS) for trainer aircraft, and base support. The estimated cost is $1.06 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on April 11, 2017.
    The Government of Iraq has requested a possible sale of pilot training; maintenance training; and contractor logistical services support for C-172, C-208, and T-6 aircraft for up to five (5) years to include contractor aircraft modification; repair and spare parts; publications; aircraft ferry; and miscellaneous parts, along with training base operation support, base life support, security, construction, and other related elements of program support. The estimated total program value is $1.06 billion.
    The proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to provide for a stable, sovereign, and democratic Iraq, capable of combating terrorism and protecting its people and sovereignty. Iraq currently owns twelve (12) C-172, five (5) C-208, and fifteen (15) T-6 training aircraft. The training pipeline will allow the Iraqi Air Force to tailor pilot training for several U.S.-origin operational aircraft. The C-172s and T-6s are Iraq’s training platforms for their mobility and fighter attack fleets. The C-208s are Iraq’s platform of choice for training its Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) pilots.
    The proposed sale of training and support services will improve the Iraq’s ability to train its pilots and maintenance technicians. By training its own pilots and maintenance technicians in-country, Iraq will decrease its overseas training requirements, significantly reduce its training costs, and will enhance its ability to take over the sustainment of its aircraft. Iraq will have no difficulty absorbing this support. In addition to its primary mission – pilot and maintenance training for Iraqi Air Force personnel – this proposed sale includes Contractor Logistical Support costs for the trainer aircraft, as well as possible future construction and base operation support costs.
    The proposed sale of this training and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
    The principal contractor is Spartan College, Tulsa, OK. At this time, there are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.
    Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of approximately four U.S. Government representatives and 50-55 contractor representatives to Iraq.
    There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale. All training and support listed on this transmittal are authorized for release and export to the Government of Iraq.
    This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.

    All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.



    Bully Boy Bush got the Iraqi government to promise -- in writing -- that they would proceed with reconciliation.

    But they didn't.

    Barack Obama got oral promises.

    But they didn't.

    Donald Trump will now become the third idiot who hands over weapons Iraqis want without putting conditions on their handover.

    And thus the Iraq War never truly ends.



    The following community sites -- plus Cindy Sheehan and Diane Rehm -- updated:







  • Read on ...
    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.