Sunday, November 29, 2015

The Bride of Iran


bride of iran 001


 

From April 28, 2013, that's "The Bride of Iran."  C.I. noted:


 Thug and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki squats naked over Iran and reassures, "Don't worry.  I always make it fit."  Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.


For those who've forgotten, Flickr censored that.

Because of that comic, they began slapping a warning on all of my comics.

They really aren't about free speech.

We even did an article at Third on the nudity and S&M photos they feature with no warning.

But my political cartoon was too much for them.

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



Saturday, November 11, 28, 2015.  Chaos and violence continue, the Anbar Provincial Council objects to the war planes bombing Falluja, Haider al-Abadi appears to be slipping, and much more.


Today, the US government announced:


Strikes in Iraq
Bomber, fighter, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 17 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

 -- Near Baghdadi, two strikes destroyed two ISIL rocket rails and damaged a third ISIL rocket rail and denied ISIL access to terrain.

 -- Near Albu Hayat, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

 -- Near Mosul, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL mortar position and four ISIL fighting positions.

 -- Near Ramadi, seven strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL home-made explosives cache, an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL boat, an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb, two ISIL buildings, an ISIL heavy machine gun, an ISIL ammo cache, two ISIL weapons caches, and an ISIL fighting position.


 -- Near Sinjar, four strikes struck three separate tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and three ISIL vehicles.



The bombings have no positive effect.



They do, however, terrorize the Iraqi people.


For example, ALSUMARIA reports the Anbar Provincial Council issued a statement today decrying the bombing by warplanes flying over Falluja and notes that these bombs are effecting the lives of civilians and contributing to the deaths of "women and children and the elderly."  Civilians in Falluja are calling for an end to the bombings and safe passage out of Falluja.

Anbar is largely Sunni and what's taking place there in the so-called name of 'liberation' is not seen as such by everyone.












    • It's funny, isn't it, how when Iraqis object to actions by Bully Boy Bush, we on the left rush to insist that they be heard.  But when they're not pleased with Barack, we turn our backs on them and act like they weren't speaking.

    Or we whine about the US government interfering in an election but when Barack Obama overturned the results of Iraq's 2010 election, we fall silent.


    It's because so many of us lack ethics and integrity.


    Did someone say whore?


     Nov 27
    Why facts matter/How Big Media Failed Us in Iraq via @BillMoyersHQcounturl= via
    39 retweets30 likes







    Oh, can you tell us again about Bully Boy Bush?


    Please, ugly Grandma, can you tell us one more time about that?


    Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal.

    He's also out of office.

    Even the cheapest whore or coward can now call out Bully Boy Bush.

    But remember Katrina's grand standing because it's why THE NATION is sinking.

    And things will only get worse.

    The digital age means Barack's two terms won't be like Bill Clinton's for THE NATION.

    They can pretend -- and do -- that they held Bill's feet to the fire and led the fight for the left.

    But they didn't.

    Their whoring then is protected as it existed at the early stages of the internet.

    Their whoring under Barack?

    It's all over the internet.  Not just us, but WSWS and many others have called them out.

    They have failed to fight against Barack's continued war but Katrina sticks her ugly, big nose into Iraq anytime she thinks she can score points against Bully Boy Bush which, let's all be honest, is her attempt to turn the 2016 election to the Democrats.

    She doesn't care about Iraq.

    She never has.

    That's why she repeatedly ignored Americans who refused to fight -- or continue to fight -- in Iraq.

    War resisters found no support from Katrina.

    And we documented that in real time.

    So the ugly, old whore -- with a racist grandfather who got the family rich by ripping off African-American entertainers (including Lena Horne) --  needs to grasp that she's not fooling anyone.

    And her father's connections to the intelligence community -- which, when noted on her Wikipedia page, she has her interns scrub -- are part of the control of the left and she needs to be rejected completely by the left.


    She lies so well from her Harlem mansion.


    In the real world, Loveday Morris (WASHINGTON POST) reports:



     In a mansion tiled with salmon-pink marble, Sunni politician Osama al-Nujaifi greets visitors in an expansive meeting room. From a chair flanked by the national flag, he insists he is still vice president of Iraq — even though Iraq’s prime minister says he is not.

    Nujaifi’s position and Iraq’s two other vice presidencies were eliminated by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in purported cost-cutting measures announced this summer. But there is little change at Nujaifi’s office. His staff is still paid, he said, and he is working as normal.
    Nujaifi’s defiance highlights Abadi’s weak hand as he fails to execute anything but superficial changes after pledging wide-ranging reforms in response to street protests. Smelling blood as he flounders, his political rivals have turned on him, while ­Iranian-backed militias leverage what they can from him.



    Barack backed Nouri (after Bully Boy Bush installed him).  He gave Nouri the second term that the Iraqi voters had denied him.

    Then when Nouri's strident hatred of Sunnis became even more intolerable even Barack had to walk away.

    Not too far, he can't tire himself out, after all.

    He stayed in Nouri's political party (Dawa) when picking the new prime minister of Iraq in August 2014.

    He didn't pick well.

    That's become obvious with each passing month.

    Haider al-Abadi's a failure.

    In a speech today, ALL IRAQ NEWS notes, Haider declared that he has accomplished reforms and cited opening up (a tiny) part of the Green Zone and Baghdad's night life as successful reforms.  He also spoke of the necessity to prosecute corruption . . . but offered no examples of success with that goal.


    Opening a small spot of the Green Zone -- and not even open to all Iraqis -- was treated as a major move by the press -- those who actually reported on the opening, however, tended to note how nothing had really changed.

    And Baghdad's night life was already doing well before Haider became prime minister.

    In fact, the biggest problem for Baghdad's night life was -- and remains -- Shi'ite police that regularly try to shut down clubs for 'morality' reasons.


    As Barack continues to back Haider, it's interesting to note that the  only real support he receives in Iraq comes from the man the US government has branded a threat to the US.

    ALL IRAQ NEWS reports Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has called for Haider al-Abadi to continue his push for reforms even in the face of the appeal that a coalition led by Osama al-Nujaifi has filed with the Federal Court of Iraq to overrule Abadi's move to cancel the posts of vice president.  ALSUMARIA notes this follows an October 24th decision upholding Haider's move.  However, Wael Grace (AL MADA) reports Parliament's stating that despite voting to pass the bill they have never received the official legislation on this move.



    Nothing gets sorted out.


    On the political front, US Senator John McCain is in Iraq and has Tweeted the following on his meet-ups.















  • 12 hours ago
    Starting imp't trip to w/ visiting PM & discussing fight vs
    Embedded image permalink
    57 retweets 55 likes







    1. 12 hours ago
      Will be live from tomorrow w/ , discussing latest on fight vs terror
      41 retweets 44 likes



    Media Matters has their Soros-bought panties in a wad as usual.




  •   5 hours ago
    yes, has invited two GOP senators to discuss Iraq tm. No panel scheduled re: PP terror attack
    View conversation
    35 retweets 18 likes



    • It's all binary and political games to Bitch-boi Boehlert and the other Soros whores at Media Matters.

    Real critics would point out that the two senators support more war on Iraq.

    They'd note that this means to war hawks will be on and that there will be no voices of peace.


    But for Boehlert isn't about actions or opinions, it's just about team jerseys.


    They don't do media critiques at Media Matters, they just spread the text equivalents of venereal diseases.


    Turning to some of today's violence,   IRAQI SPRING MC reports government forces shelled Salman Village today resulting in the deaths of several civilians.  ALSUMARIA notes a suicide car bomber in Tuz took his own life and the lives of 5 other people with fifteen more left injured,, a Tarmiya roadside bombing killed 1 person, and former MP Mishan al-Jubouri's cousin was kidnapped in Hillah and then found dead hours later.  al-Juburi is also a Sheikh in the al-Jiburi tribe and he is part of the Sunni community in Iraq.  In addition, AFP reports, "A bomb-rigged mass grave believed to hold the remains of more than 120 people killed by the Islamic State group has been found in north Iraq, an official said today."



    Meanwhile, David Pugliese (OTTAWA CITIZEN) reports newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will reportedly keep Aurora surveillance jets and at least one military refuelling aircraft in Iraq:

    The move would placate coalition allies, particularly the United States, who view the refuelling plane and the surveillance aircraft as valuable contributions to the ongoing air campaign.
    The move would also allow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to continue to say he is keeping his election promise of withdrawing Canada’s six CF-18 fighter jets. Trudeau promised to end Canada’s combat mission in Iraq and Syria by bringing the CF-18s home before March. Sources have said that there is a good chance the Polaris and the Auroras will stay…..it is unclear at this point how many Canadian Forces personnel will remain in Kuwait to support the planes.






    npr










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    Posted by Isaiah at 2:29 PM 0 comments
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    Saturday, November 21, 2015

    Talk Is Cheap


    Talk Is Cheap


     
    From April 24, 2013, that's "Talk Is Cheap."


    C.I. wrote:

     Barack declares, "Well I can't protect you but I give a pretty speech -- the greatest speech ever my minions say.  So it all balances out.  Look for my next Course in Miracles this week in Texas."   Little Dicky returns in a Marilyn Monroe dress to holler, "I love you, Barry!"   Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.






    People ask about Little Dicky from time to time.


    He is of course the Great Satan who runs Daily Kos -- a cheap whore with circles around his eyes.


    He's also -- for all his whoring for Barack -- someone with a long history of problems with African-Americans -- as well as with women of all races.


    Little Dicky is popular with readers.


    They want more of his whoring butt.


    I just don't have many thoughts on other things to do with him.


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




    Thursday, November 19, 2015.  Chaos and violence continue, Yazidis fondle their inner revenge demons, Hillary War Hawk Clinton talks more destruction, and much more.



    Today, the US Defense Dept announced the following:

    Strikes in Iraq

    Bomber, attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 19 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Kirkuk, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL fighting position.

    -- Near Kisik, six strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL weapons caches, 12 ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL vehicles, and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

    -- Near Mosul, four strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL weapons cache and two ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Ramadi, four strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL tactical vehicles, an ISIL tunnel, seven ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL- controlled bridge, an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb, an ISIL bed down location, an ISIL staging area, and cratered two ISIL roads.


    -- Near Sinjar, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL tactical vehicle, and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.




    They do a lot of bragging at the Defense Dept.  For example.


    Targets Damaged/Destroyed as of November 13, 2015






    That's a whole lot of bombings.


    Of course, former US House Rep Mike Rogers points out, at CNN, "And we have bombed ISIS in Syria for over a year, yet three of their deadliest attacks have happened in the last three weeks."


    Rogers is making the point as he argues for more war.

    His little pitch for more carnage, however, is likely to go unnoticed since Hillary let her War Hawk wings flutter in a major speech today.



     Hillary Clinton:  This is not a time for scoring political points. When New York was attacked on 9/11, we had a Republican president, a Republican governor and a Republican mayor, and I worked with all of them. We pulled together and put partisanship aside to rebuild our city and protect our country. 


    And, so modest, apparently it was this 'bi-partisan' drive that forced her to vote for the illegal war -- which she did in 2002.

    She pulled together with other War Hawks.

    "This is not a time for scoring political points," she said.  Or, apparently, for common sense.
    Hillary Clinton:  Our strategy should have three main elements. One, defeat ISIS in Syria, Iraq and across the Middle East; two, disrupt and dismantle the growing terrorist infrastructure that facilitates the flow of fighters, financing arms and propaganda around the world; three, harden our defenses and those of our allies against external and homegrown threats.


    I'm sorry when Hillary ran the Pentagon, does anyone remember --

    What's that?

    She was never Secretary of Defense?

    She was Secretary of State?


    Hmm.

    I'm confused then.

    Where in the world is her advocating for diplomacy?


    Three main elements and they're all military.

    She didn't learn a thing from all those photo ops.


    She didn't learn much at all.

    Sahwa.

    Sons Of Iraq (and Daughters Of Iraq).

    Awakenings.

    Three terms for the same thing.

    Hillary wanted to reference them -- largely Sunni fighters that the US government paid.


     Hillary Clinton:  Ultimately, however, a ground campaign in Iraq will only succeed if more Iraqi Sunnis join the fight. But that won’t happen so long as they do not feel they have a stake in their country or confidence in their own security and capacity to confront ISIS.   Now, we’ve been in a similar place before in Iraq. In the first Sunni awakening in 2007, we were able to provide sufficient support and assurances to the Sunni tribes to persuade them to join us in rooting out Al Qaida. Unfortunately, under Prime Minister Maliki’s rule, those tribes were betrayed and forgotten. So the task of bringing Sunnis off the sidelines into this new fight will be considerably more difficult. But nonetheless, we need to lay the foundation for a second Sunni awakening.


    During Nouri al-Maliki's rule?

    This happened during Nouri al-Maliki's rule?

    Damn that Bully Boy Bush!

    He installed Nouri in 2006.

    This happened because of Nouri.

    If only Iraq could have gotten rid of Nouri.

    The Iraqis even tried.

    He lost the 2010 election to Ayad Allawi.


    But that damn Bully Boy Bush insisted Nouri get a second term and --

    Huh?

    Bully Boy Bush wasn't in the White House in 2010?

    Oh, that's right.

    It was Barack -- and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- who disregarded the voice of the Iraqi people, spat on their votes, pissed on the Iraqi Constitution and crafted The Erbil Agreement to give Nouri the second term the Iraqi people wouldn't.


    Hillary's correct that today's divisions were fostered by Nouri.

    He persecuted the Sunnis.

    But his actions were already known.

    Secret jails and prisons he used for torture were already exposed.

    But Barack gave him a second term and Hillary didn't object.


    Now she wants to insist that the same US government must lead -- the one that disregarded the Iraqi voters while hectoring them about 'democracy' -- and they must lead this battle -- the battle the US government started.
    Hillary Clinton:  This is a time for American leadership. No other country can rally the world to defeat ISIS and win the generational struggle against radical jihadism.  Only the United States can mobilize common action on a global scale, and that’s exactly what we need. The entire world must be part of this fight, but we must lead it. 


    The only leadership Hillary's ever offered is leading American's children into wars.



    Let's move over to liberated Sinjar and the peaceful Yazidis, so grateful to return to Sinjar that they hugged everyone and prayed.

    Or something.


    On All Things Considered (NPR), Alice Fordham reported on the reaction of some Yazidis.
    FORDHAM: And he directs his anger at the Arab Muslims from his area who he says collaborated with the extremists. Not one of the Yazidis I speak to distinguishes between Arab Muslim families who stayed in ISIS-held areas and ISIS fighters. Some Arab leaders fear widespread revenge killing and looting. South of Sinjar, there's a string of ISIS-held villages mainly populated by Arab Muslims. I ask a Yazidi commander named Badr al-Hajji if there are civilians there.




    And how 'bout this money quote?








    •  Monday, AFP reported that the Yazidis 'celebrated' their return to Sinjar by looting Sunni homes and setting them on fire.

    AFP also reminds, "Rights group Amnesty International documented attacks by Yazidi militiamen against two Sunni Arab villages north of Sinjar in January, in which 21 people were killed and numerous houses burned."
    Today, Isabel Coles (Reuters) visits the area and hears from Yazidis such as one man who she sees loading (stolen) sofas onto his truck and explains, "This is our neighbor's house.  I've come to take his belongings, and now I'm going to blow up his house."
     
    Hillary's nonsense today did not address that.
    In other news, Stars and Stripes reports, "A servicemember working with the Combined Joint Task Force directing coalition operations against Islamic State militants died of a non-combat-related injury in Iraq on Thursday, the coalition said."  Reuters adds, "The service member was not identified, and the U.S. military statement offered no other details."



    Lastly, the US State Dept issued the following today:





    Iraq: U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction Efforts Save Lives and Build Capacity


    Fact Sheet
    Office of the Spokesperson
    Washington, DC
    November 19, 2015 


    The United States has invested more than $280 million in Iraq since 2003 toward the clearance and safe disposal of landmines, unexploded ordnance, and excess conventional weapons and munitions. This assistance, directed through several Iraqi and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), has made significant progress toward protecting communities from potential risks, restoring access to land and infrastructure, and developing Iraqi capacity to manage weapons abatement programs independently over the long term.
    The Landmine /Unexploded Ordnance Challenge
    Communities across Iraq face danger from an estimated 10-to-15 million landmines and pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from conflicts dating back to the 1940s. Numerous large barrier minefields and UXO remain along the Iran/Iraq border as a result of the 1980s conflict between the two nations. The war in 1990-1991 and the conflict that began in 2003 scattered significant numbers of additional UXO, particularly in the south of the country.
    The recent activities of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq have dramatically altered the Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) landscape. As civilians flee large population centers like Mosul, they have become internally displaced persons in areas where they are not familiar with mine and UXO hazards. As families begin to return to their homes, they are confronted with both hazards from the recent conflict, as well as deliberate mining and booby-trapping of homes by ISIL.
    Recent Accomplishments
    During the past year, the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs’ Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) provided over $23 million to support CWD efforts in Iraq which led to the following results:
    • Safely released and cleared landmines and UXO from more than 65 million square meters (from a total of 752 million square meters) of land across Iraq, which has revitalized economic and agricultural development throughout the nation.
    • Destroyed more than 61,979 pieces of UXO and abandoned or otherwise at-risk munitions.
    • Provided risk education to more than 38,000 Iraqi men, women and children, saving lives and preventing injuries with outreach programs to warn about the potential dangers from landmines and UXO in their communities.
    U.S.-Funded Partner Initiatives:
    • MAG (Mines Advisory Group): State Department funding has enabled MAG Iraq to clear over 34 square kilometers of contaminated land, freeing 300 contaminated sites for productive use and responding to more than 20,000 spot tasks to safely remove and destroy 840,730 landmines and pieces of UXO in northern and central Iraq. In the upcoming fiscal years, MAG plans to begin clearing newly liberated areas for the safe and timely return of IDPs such as the Yazidi population in Sinuni, Zammar, and Rabeea. Additionally, MAG plans to deploy community liaison teams to deliver risk education to an estimated 71,700 civilians affected by ISIL-related violence.
    • Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA): NPA provided technical advisors to the Iraqi Regional Mine Action Center - South in Basrah (RMAC-S) to assist it in fulfilling its role as a regulatory body that is able to coordinate and monitor mine action activities. This project has enabled the RMAC-S to conduct a survey designed to provide a more accurate picture of the mine/UXO situation in southern Iraq. Additionally, NPA’s WRA-funded teams cleared 164,868 square meters in 2014 and found 74 cluster sub-munitions, and 20 other pieces of UXO. In 2015, the same teams have so far cleared 1,732,105 square meters finding 1,086 cluster sub munitions, 157 other pieces of UXO, 22 anti-tank mines, and 7 anti-personnel mines.
    • Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD): FSD’s proposed area of intervention was captured by ISIL and then liberated by Peshmerga forces between July 2014 and February 2015. Subsequently, FSD plans to deploy survey and clearance teams to those areas in late 2015 to increase civilian security for returning IDPs.
    • Danish Demining Group (DDG): DDG will begin conducting survey and clearance operations in southern Iraq as well as assist in developing the program capacity of the RMAC-S in coordination with the Iraq Directorate of Mine Action (DMA). Additionally, DDG hopes to conduct risk education with the goal of reaching 120,000 beneficiaries in northern Iraq.
    • Information Management and Mine Action Programs (iMMAP): iMMAP advisors continue to provide operational management, strategic planning, victims’ assistance support, and technical expertise. In September 2015, the DMA, Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA), and iMMAP signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing iMMAP to establish a joint DMA and IKMAA Information Management Database to track humanitarian mine action (HMA) information in areas liberated from ISIL, and facilitate the flow of HMA data among various mine action NGOs assisting in reconstruction efforts.
    • Spirit of Soccer (SoS): Spirit of Soccer continues to implement innovative projects using soccer as a means to promote education and outreach to children about the risks from landmines and UXO. Expanding on these techniques, SoS incorporated trauma training for youth affected by ISIL-related violence, and pursued local league and tournament sponsorships in order to target young Iraqi males at risk of joining extremist groups.
    • Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI): MLI enhanced and refined the 12 Mine Detection Dog teams working with a local Iraqi demining organization. Furthermore, MLI continued the Children Against Mines Program in southern Iraq; linking three American schools to three Iraqi schools to promote mine risk education in schools and provide medical assistance to young survivors.
    • Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD): The 2014 Country Planning Workshop for Iraq, which was facilitated by GICHD in August 2014 in Istanbul, provided an opportunity for key mine action stakeholders to exchange ideas and to explore, consider and assess future options and opportunities for advancing the assessment and management of CWD activities in Iraq. DMA based in Baghdad, IKMAA based in Kurdistan, PM/WRA, and all relevant international non-governmental organizations participated in this workshop.
    The United States is the world’s single largest financial supporter of efforts to clear unexploded ordnance and landmines. Since 1993, the United States has contributed more than $2.5 billion to more than 90 countries around the world to reduce the harmful worldwide effects of at-risk, illicitly proliferated, and indiscriminately used conventional weapons of war. For more information on U.S. humanitarian demining and Conventional Weapons Destruction programs, check out the latest edition of our annual report, To Walk the Earth in Safety.
    For further information, please contact David McKeeby in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at PM-CPA@state.gov.





















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    Posted by Isaiah at 10:30 AM 0 comments

    Sunday, November 8, 2015

    Safety Net Scissorhands (The Watcher In The Woods)


    safety net scissorhands

     

    From April 14, 2013, that's  "Safety Net Scissorhands."  

    Barack going after the safety net is the theme of this one.

    And we're doing a Sunday theme post -- favorite Disney film.



    That is hard.

    I love THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG and THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN and NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN.  (Before someone brings up a Don Knotts film from the 60s, those were Universal films, not Disney ones.)

    I also really love THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME which may be my favorite animated Dinsey film.

    But I'm going to go with a left field choice.

    THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS.

    This is a Disney film that's often forgotten.

    And while TRON's gotten a fresh review after years of being considered a failure, no such luck has come to Disney's sole horror outing.

    This was a spooky and scary, live action film.

    And it's my pick for the best of Disney.




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


    Saturday, November 7, 2015.  Chaos and violence continue, rains continue to threaten Iraqis, apologists for politicians feed the war, Nouri al-Maliki refuses to fade away, and much more.


    The public discourse would be a lot better off if partisan whores would just sit their tired asses down and stop polluting the conversation with spin and misdirection.

    Saritha Prabhu is intellectually dishonest or just a plain idiot.  At The Tennessean she wants to whine and uses the Congressional Benghazi hearing to start her nonsense:
    But listening to the above, one wondered if the Republicans on this panel and in Congress had any sense of irony, or shame or any sense of proportion.
    What they said with utter seriousness about ignored warnings and dead Americans and uninvestigated truth seemed to many listeners to apply also on a much bigger scale to the Iraq War.
    The origins of the latter have, of course, never been investigated fully.


    You care about the Iraq War, do you, Saritha?

    No, you don't.

    You just lie and lie again.

    The reality of that is clear in the quoted passage above.

    Saritha claims that Republicans lack a sense of proportion and more.

    And they may or they may not, I'm not going down that rabbit hole.

    But cheap little whores like Saritha need to be called out.

    If you think the Republicans did the right thing or they went overboard or somewhere in between, the issue really isn't the Republicans, not when you bring up the Iraq War.

    You should be asking where is the shame of the Congressional Democrats?

    The failure to investigate the Iraq War?

    The American people used the 2006 mid-term elections to repudiate the Iraq War.

    Democrats -- including trashy Nancy Pelosi who needs to be wheeled into a nursing home and not remain leader of the House after she led the party in one losing election after another allowing the GOP to take control of the House?

    They're the ones to be outraged at.

    They had the permission of the American people to investigate.

    They campaigned on this.

    They said they'd end the Iraq War, they said control over one House -- just one -- would give them the power to hold hearings and launch investigations.

    The American people responded to that by giving them control of not just one house of Congress but both houses of Congress.

    Saritha's a two-bit whore whose stupidity or intellectual dishonesty should forbid her from writing her allegedly generic columns (one of which was truly hate speech -- her attack on Christians).  But please note, she's castigating Congressional Republicans for not focusing on Iraq when she's got a column, her own space, to write whatever she wants and she doesn't write about Iraq.

    She's a fake ass liar.

    Ava and I took on MSNBC's 'coverage' of the Benghazi hearing in "TV: The least trusted name in news" and we noted:


    And that's why MSNBC is a cesspool.
    They offered one voice after another saying the exact same thing.
    They could brook no thought or opinion that strayed from the hymnal.
    For a brief moment, as the coverage was winding, down, Tom Brokaw appeared.
    He expressed the belief that nothing changed with the appearance.
    He offered that Hillary had pleased her supporters but done nothing to pull over her detractors.
    It was a fair and objective view.
    And it's what the entire coverage should have been.


    I bring this up now because Brokaw made many outstanding points.

    Ava and I could have gone into more of that but I know Tom and like Tom and didn't want to turn his brief moments in the coverage -- we watched two hours of MSNBC coverage and he was probably on for less than six minutes -- into the entire review.

    But Tom's most important point may have been that a hearing on Benghazi does not preclude one on Iraq.

    It's not an either/or.

    And he's right.

    And the point I'm making here is if you're upset that there's been no hearing on Iraq (as we've noted before, there have been Congressional hearings on Iraq) -- or upset that it wasn't the type that the Benghazi hearings have been (pointed and often harsh) -- why is that Republican issue?

    Again, Democrats held control of no house of Congress in 2005 and 2006 and those two years found Democrats campaigning on the promise of ending the war and doing investigations if they got even one house of Congress -- control of one house.

    The American people responded to the campaign promises and gave Democrats control of both houses.

    So if you're upset that the Secretary of State (Condi Rice back then) was not immediately called before Congress or someone else to answer for the Iraq War, that's not a Republican issue.

    You can lie and whore and be intellectually dishonest.

    But the reality is that until the 2010 mid-terms, Democrats controlled both houses of Congess.

    They didn't use that power to investigate Iraq any more than they used to end the illegal war.

    In case you missed that, and Saritha appears to have missed it, the Iraq War never ended.

    Democrats in Congress pretending to care?

    That ended.

    And that's why their embrace of Cindy Sheehan ended.

    They were happy to promote Cindy when they pretended they were powerless.

    But when they had the power and the Iraq War continued?

    They turned on Cindy.

    And instead of calling the politicians out, whores and spinners found distractions to focus on.


    At CounterPunch on Friday, Andrew Stewart offered:

    Or consider the Spielberg film LINCOLN, which featured both Williams and MUNICH screenwriter Tony Kushner. Besides being a breezy plagiarism of the Gore Vidal novel, it is essentially an analogy for the fight over the neoliberal Affordable Healthcare Act, a debacle loaded with huge gaps that is really a bail-out for the pharmaceutical and insurance companies. The film ends with the implication that Lincoln would have done more is he had lived, perhaps enacting the ideals of Thaddeus Stevens, suggesting in analogue that Obama would have preferred single-payer healthcare had he not been stopped by the GOP. Of course, that is total nonsense, Obama threw single-payer advocates under the bus as soon as possible and pulled in his major campaign donors from Big Pharma immediately. Likewise, Lincoln was not an abolitionist, his record towards Africans was reprehensible and he was in favor of repatriating freed slaves to Africa after the war.


    I'm not remembering Andrew Stewart truth telling in real time but he may not have been given the opportunity or the space in real time.

    But in real time, Black Agenda Report was one of the few calling out ObamaCare for what it was: a gift to the insurance companies.  It wasn't about healthcare being improved or made affordable (a fact many more Americans will learn next year).  We called it out here.  And Trina, more than anyone else in this community, repeatedly called it out because she had lived through Mitt Romney bring 'universal' healthcare to her state (by forcing everyone to purchase it).

    But what passes for the left -- and not just Democrats (a lot of Socialists and Communists should be ashamed) -- decided the people of America didn't matter, their health didn't matter,

    Nothing will ever get better until people stop feeling their mission is to act as bodyguards for some politician.

    Politicians are public servants.

    The public's role in that is to demand action on this or that issue.

    When the public makes no demands, nothing happens.

    Look at the Iraq War.

    Those of us on the left demanded an end to it and Democrats knew they could use it to campaign on with a lot of promises.

    But the public failed to demand that these same politicians live up to their promises.

    Which is why the US is still in Iraq.


    And still in combat.

    In case you missed it, the US Defense Dept announced Friday:


    Strikes in Iraq

     Attack, bomber, fighter and ground attack aircraft conducted 14 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

     -- Near Albu Hayat, one strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed four ISIL heavy machine guns, seven ISIL fighting positions, and wounded ISIL fighters.

     -- Near Fallujah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle, an ISIL anti-air artillery piece, and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

     -- Near Kisik, one strike suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

     -- Near Ramadi, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL sniper positions, four ISIL heavy machine guns, two ISIL bunkers, three ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL building, an ISIL weapons cache, and denied ISIL access to terrain.

     -- Near Sinjar, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL bunkers, three ISIL assembly areas, and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.


     -- Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and suppressed an ISIL heavy machine gun position.


    In other violence, Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) notes, "A total of 21 people were killed and 38 others wounded on Saturday in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's provinces of Salahudin and Anbar, security sources said."



    Meanwhile the refusal to provide for the people turns even rain pour into violence.












    • Press TV (via Al Bawaba) reports 60 are dead due to this week's flash floods and "The Iraqi Health Ministry said on Friday that most of the victims died due to electrocution caused by flood-related incidents."  AFP adds, "The country's decrepit drainage system is unable to handle heavy rainfall, and parts of Baghdad too have suffered prolonged flooding."


    The deaths were often preventable.

    Had the government done its job and rebuilt the public infrastructure, the death toll would have been lower.

    The flash floods fall under a natural event (or "act of God") but the natural event does not offer cover for the deaths.

    This week, the Iraqi government was yet again trumpeting the arrival and/or impending arrival of weapons and war planes.

    It's always purchased plenty of weapons -- under Nouri al-Maliki prior to Haider al-Abadi -- it's just failed to protect the citizens.

    Unlike the Members of Parliament, the average Iraqi does not have a security team to provide protection.

    Instead, they're left to count on the government that supposedly represents them to . . . represent them.

    But instead the money officials haven't stolen have gone to buy this weapon and that.

    None of which prevent suicide bombers or, for that matter, electrocution during flash floods.

    Isabel Coles (Reuters) reports, "A cholera outbreak in Iraq has spread to neighboring Syria, Kuwait and Bahrain, and risks turning into a region-wide epidemic as millions of pilgrims prepare to visit the country, UNICEF's Iraq director said."



    And when you think things can't get worse . . .





























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    Posted by Isaiah at 6:18 PM 0 comments
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