Shutting Down the Domestic Arts Czar

From March 3, 2009, that's "Shutting Down the Domestic Arts Czar."


Making Dennis the Menace

Rounding up Lucy

Domestic Arts Czar

Al Distraction

Just as I always knew I was working up to Dennis getting turned out by the Domestic Arts Czar Al Sharpton, I always knew someone had to send him packing and from day one it was obvious it had to be Huey of The Boondocks.  Huey says that they've tangled before in my cartoon and that's because they had.  Al was always attacking The Boondocks.

But look at Al run from Huey, like the fat chicken he is.  :D

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

Thursday, August 9, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, the Iraqi government wastes money on luxury trucks, a woman whose husband was kidnapped in 2006 appeals to the International Olympic Committee for help, birth defects resulting from chemical war is recognized somewhat, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein decries "the politics of fear [which] have brought us everything that we are afraid of,"  Peace and Freedom vice presidential candidate Cindy Sheehan gets arrested, and more.   Today, as Jeff Carlisle (ESPN) reports, the US women's  soccer team won the gold medal, as NBC noted, it was their third Summer Olympics in a row to take home the gold in that event. With three more days left for the London Summer Olympics, Ahmed al-Samarrai gets a little of the press attention.  Who?  In 2004 ESPN reported on Ahmed noting that he was in charge of Iraq's Olympics  and had "survived an assassination attempt when attackers threw grenades and fired automatic weapons at his care in Baghdad after a roadside bomb failed to kill him."  In February 2004, Sinomania noted on the election the month before of "63 year old former athlete Ahmed al-Samarrai" as president of the Iraq National Olympics Committee.  Two years later, he would be in the news for a different reason.   Alan Abrahamson (Los Angeles Times) reported Jully 19, 2006:   Al-Samarrai was kidnapped Saturday. He and his colleagues had been at a sports meeting at a cultural center in downtown Baghdad. In all, dozens were seized. Reports say they were taken by heavily armed men dressed in camouflage and police uniforms. In May, meanwhile, 17 members of an Iraqi taekwondo squad, including four on the national team, were kidnapped on their way to Jordan, where they had hoped to obtain visas for a tournament in Las Vegas -- all 17 disappeared into the desert, with no word since. It remains unclear whether Rasheed was among them. The head of the Iraqi taekwondo association, Jamal Abdul Karim, was among those kidnapped Saturday. The abductions Saturday followed the killing Thursday of the Iraqi wrestling team's Sunni coach, shot dead in a Shiite district of Baghdad.   Of the dozens, 13 would eventually be released.  Ahmed was not one of the ones released.  In August 2008, Kim Gamel (AP) reported that Ahmed remained missing and that his "wife, Niran, who claims her Sunni husband was kidnapped at a time of sectarian violence and high-level government officials took little action.  She alleges her husband was targeted because he resisted attempts to use the committee as a political forum."  Niran spoke of the need for closure and for justice, for her husband and for the others who were kidnapped as well.  Gamel observed that Niran "faults the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for failing to investigate the attack or to arrest any of the kidnappers."  Niran stated, "They were abducting within al-Maliki's era.  He is the prime minister.  He's supposed to look after the people."   Today she tells Andrew Warshaw (Inside The Games), "Since 2006 not a single person from the Iraqi Government has helped me, the same Government who are still in power.  It's simply obscene.  I believe they know who was behind this.  They couldn't push my husband out legally [Nouri wanted to remove Ahmed from the committee and the kidnappers told Ahmed he was an embarrassment to Nouri] so they did it by force.  I have to believe Ahmed is still alive though maybe he has been tortured.  I'm tired and scared with not knowing his fate after this savage crime.  Somebody has to give us some hope.  Some of the families of those kidnapped with my husband had new-born babies who have never seen their fathers.  The IOC represents my last chance."  She wants, as the BBC explains, for the International Olympic Committee to ask serious questions of Nouri's government about the kidnappings.  If that is to happen, it will require public pressure.  In 2010, Jacquelin Magnay (Telegraph of London) explained the official position by quoting the Association of National Olympic Committees President Mario Vasquez who declared that they were not interested in finding out what happened to Ahmad and the others,  "It's not that we forget this issue, it's that we intentially do not want to deal with it.  We deliberately do not want to discuss these matters or mention this to the ministers. They don't want to deal with this either, we come here to discuss sports matter and not matters related to violence. They are regrettable, of course."     On the issue of the Olympics, Saturday, KUNA noted that Tunisia's Oussam Mellouli (swimmer) and Iraq's Dana Abdul Razak (pictured above, competes in the 100 meter track event) were the only Arabs to make it through the heats and qualify for the first rounds in their competitions.  And from there?  Jim Caple (ESPN) reported the Friday first round,"Dana Abdul Razak lined up in Lane 2 at Olympic Stadium for Heat 5 in the first round of the women's 100-meter dash. Two lanes over, Allyson Felix planted her feet in the starting blocks. The starter's gun went off and the Iraqi runner burst down the track alongside America's most famous female sprinter. Abdul Razak finished last in the heat, losing to Felix by eight-tenths of a second, but that didn't matter much. Earlier in the day, the Iraqi had won her heat. She had raced with some of the world's best and she had advanced women's sports in her country."  John Canzano (Oregonian) observed, "It wasn't lost on me that many of the sprinters around Abdul Razak in the mixed zone didn't grow up in a nation where being able to compete would even be a question. Also, with Allyson Felix of the U.S. coming through moments later after winning the heat and wearing the finest track and field gear to go with the best training/nutrition to go with a USA Track and Field handler who escorted her, I wondered about the vast disparity in resources available to athletes here."  She now holds the record for Iraq in the 100-meter dash (11.91). When Dana Abdul Razak first competed in the Summer Olympics it was 2008 and she was the only athlete from Iraq.  This year she was one of eight at the Summer Olympics.  She's part of a group of Iraqi athletes making steady progress.   The other seven Iraqis competing in London were Ahmed Abdulkareem, Adnan Taess Akkar, Noor Amer al-Ameri, Mohanad Ahmed Dheyaa al-Azzawi, Safaa al-Jumaili, Rand al-Mashhadani and Ali Nadhim Salman Salman.     From London to Vietnam, on The Takeaway (PRI) today, environmental destruction was addressed.   John Hockenberry: Today the US started a clean up effort to deal with the effects of spraying millions of gallons of the toxic defoliant known as Agent Orange over jungle areas to destory enemy cover during the Vietnam War.  In the almost 40 years since the war ended, Vietnam says several million people have been affected with up to 150,000 children born with severe birth defects because Agent Orange seeped into the water and soils.    US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear [audio clip]:  The dixon in the ground here is a legacy of the painful past we share.  But the project we undertake here today hand-in-hand with the Vietnamese is, as Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton said, "a sign of the hopeful future we are building together."   John Hockenberry: Speaking there that's US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear.  He was at a ceremony today here in Danang where all of this is being kicked off.  Joining us now is Susan Hammond Director of the War Legacies Project, joins us from Chester, Vermont.  Susan Hammond, thank you for joining us.   Susan Hammond: Thank you for having me.   John Hockenberry:  How much unfinished business do you say is here?  It's more than just a clean up that begins today, yes?   Susan Hammond:  It is.  Well this is the first part of a multi-part problem. The fact that there is still dixon in several hot spots throughout Vietnam -- It's significant that the US is finally getting around to helping the Vietnamese clean this dioxin up.  But there's also the longterm health effects in Vietnam that still need to be addressed.   John Hockenberry: And how would those be addressed?  Separate treaties or is that a part of this agreement, it's just in a different stage?   Susan Hammond: No.  At this point, it's -- the US has provided some limited funding for programs within the Danang area to provide services for children with disabilities though they do not say it's directly related to Agent Orange.   John Hockenberry: How much political interest is there on Capitol Hill to pursuing, you know, programs of recompense like this?  As we know, there's a very, very strong lobby on the POW - MIA issue.  I'm wondering if they go together on this or if they are opposed to this?   Susan Hammond:  Uhm, most are not opposed.  There are veterans with their own issues with Agent Orange, that they're labeling Congress but even many of the veterans are supportive of addressing this issue in Vietnam because they're facing it themselves in their own human health and their children's to some extent.     We'll note some of Ambassador David Shear's remarks:   Xin chao. This morning we celebrate a historic milestone for our bilateral relationship. Today's ceremony marks the start of a project between Vietnam's Ministry of National Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, to clean up dioxin contaminated soil and sediment at the airport left from the Vietnam War. Over the next few years, workers will dig up the contaminated soil and sediment and place it in a stockpile, where it will be treated using thermal desorption technology. This process uses high temperatures to break down the dioxin in the contaminated soil and make it safe by Vietnamese and U.S. standards for the many men, women, and children who live and work in this area. We have worked together closely over many years in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation to reach this point. With Presidential and Congressional support from Washington, my Embassy has cooperated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Office 33 since its establishment in 1999 to coordinate Vietnam's policies and programs on Agent Orange. We've used annual meetings of the Joint Advisory Committee under the leadership of Office 33 and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to seek science-based solutions to complex environmental and health issues related to Agent Orange. As part of Vietnam's contribution to the cleanup, the Ministry of National Defense cleared unexploded ordinance from the airport site and will construct a power substation to supply electricity for the remediation process. We also greatly appreciate the strong commitment of other partners, including the Danang People's Committee and Airport Authorities, to the success of this project.     It is a historic moment.  And it's several decades after the end of that conflict.  What of Iraq?    Dropping back to the October 13, 2010 snapshot:   Alsumaria TV reported yesterday that the Adan school in northern Baghdad was one of the areas where cancer is breaking out at alarming rates and that the cancer is traced "to Dijla water pollution caused by wastes."  Today they report that breast cancer cases remain high.  Wastes in water again? Breast Cancer Society of Iraq [PDF format warning] surveyed Iraqi women and found that only 21% of conducted a self-exam for lumps.  Last July, Democracy Now! (link has text, audio and video) addressed the rising cases of cancer in Falluja:   JUAN GONZALEZ: Patrick, I'd like to ask you about this whole other issue of the report on -- by Chris Busby and some other epidemiologists about the situation in Fallujah and the enormous increases in leukemias and cancers in Fallujah after the US soldiers' attack on that city. Could you talk about that?    PATRICK COCKBURN: Sure. I think what's significant, very significant, about this study is that it confirms lots of anecdotal evidence that there had been a serious increase in cancer, in babies being born deformed, I mean, sometimes with --grotesquely so, babies -- you know, a baby girl born with two heads, you know, people born without limbs, then a whole range of cancers increased enormously. That this was -- when I was in Fallujah, doctors would talk about this, but, you know one couldn't -- one could write about this, but one couldn't really prove it from anecdotal evidence. Now this is a study, a scientific study, based on interviews with 4,800 people, which gives -- proves that this was in fact happening and is happening. And, of course, it took -- you know, it has taken place so much later than the siege of Fallujah, when it was heavily bombarded in 2004 by the US military, because previously, you know, Fallujah is such a dangerous place to this day, difficult to carry out a survey, but it's been finally done, and the results are pretty extraordinary.    AMY GOODMAN: What were the various weapons that were used in the bombing of Fallujah in 2004?    PATRICK COCKBURN: Well, primarily, it was sort of, you know, artillery and bombing. Initially it was denied that white phosphorus had been used, but later this was confirmed. I think one shouldn't lose sight of the fact, in this case, that before one thinks about was depleted uranium used and other things, that just simply the use of high -- large quantities of high explosives in a city filled with civilians and people packed into houses -- often you find, you know, whole families living in one room -- was, in itself, going to create, lead to very, very high civilian casualties. But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about the increase in cancers and so forth, and the suspicion that maybe depleted uranium, maybe some other weapon, which we don't know about -- this is not my speculation, but of one of the professors who carried out the study -- might have been employed in Fallujah, and that would be an explanation for results which parallel, in fact exceed, the illnesses subsequently suffered by survivors of Hiroshima.    The study referred to is by Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi and is [PDF format warning] entitled "Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009" (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health).     The damage caused by the US government's decision to use harmful chemicals in Vietnam gets some US government recognition today.  When does that same recognition arrive for Iraq?     Prashant Rao (AFP) reported yesterday on Falluja General Hospital where, last month, 4 American nurses and 2 American doctors helped with the opening of a cardiac catheterisation lab nearly eight years after the November 2004 assault on the city in which various weapons -- some banned -- were used resulting in birth defects -- continued birth defects in Iraq.  He notes:   Medics and officials in Fallujah, however, including hospital director Lawas, have no doubt the defects have been caused by the US forces' alleged use of depleted uranium rounds in 2004. "Fallujah has seen many wars, and it was attacked twice by American troops, and many weapons were used in this city," said Lawas. "We think that there is a link between those weapons and the diseases."   Press TV observed this week, "The US dropped thousands of depleted uranium bombs on the Iraq city of Fallujah in 2003, which killed thousands of people. A great proportion of all births in Fallujah since the strike have suffered from abnormalities and the rate of mutation among newborns is higher than what was found in Japan after America attacked the Asian country during the Second World War."   As with Vietnam, the destruction did damage to the native population as well as the US troops sent to the country.   Juan Gonzalez (New York Daily News) has long been reporting on the US service members who assume they're in good health.  In September 2004, he reported on Spec Gerard Darren Matthew whose "face would swell up each morning. He had constant migraine headaches, blurred vision, blackouts and a burning sensation whenever he urinated."  In the summer of 2004, he and his wife Janice had a new baby, Victoria Claudette who "was missing three fingers and most of her right hand.  Matthew and his wife believe Victoria's shocking deformity has something to do with her father's illness and the war -- especially since there is no history of birth defects in either of their families."   Iraq's health care system has not recovered from the Iraq War which not only overtaxed the hospitals, also led to the facilities and their equipment being injured and forced many trained medical professionals out of the country.  A major reinvestment in medicine would be a good move for Iraq but instead doctors have to plead with the government to protect them and to pass laws to ensure they can practice medicine.   On the issue of money, Nouri has insisted there are no surplus oil revenues to share with the Iraqi people (Moqtada al-Sadr publicly called out that claim) but Trade Arabia reports there is money for luxury trucks, "Mercedes-Benz recently delivered 250 of its Actros trucks to Iraq's State Company for Automotive Industry (SCAI) to assist in reconstruction efforts in the country." Lucky Gold and Samuel Burke (CNN's Amanpour --, link is text and video) observes that while Iraq is seeing record profits on oil, "ordinary Iraqis are still waiting to share in those profits and to live in saety." In ongoing violence, Alsumaria reports that 1 Sahwa ("Awakening," "Sons of Iraq") was killed in his home this morning when unknown assailants stormed the house and began shooting.  In addition, they note that Iraqiya's Salman Jumaili survived an attempted assassination via a roadside bombing -- three bodyguards were injured.   AFP adds that two Baghdad roadside bombings left 2 people dead and nineteen injured. Travis Brecher (Reuters) notes a Baghdad car bombing has claimed 8 lives and left thirty people injured.  Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 24 dead and over 50 injured in Wednesday's violence.  Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count notes at least 113 deaths so far this month due to violence.   Tuesday saw Nouri declare an end to terrorism.  So why are mass arrests still taking place?  Alsumaria reports police rounded up and arrested over 100 people in Nineveh Province for 'terrorism.'  Again, you have to be willfully ignorant to believe Nouri changes.  Salah Nasrawi (Al-Ahram) also questions Nouri's claim of an end to terrorism:   Last month, the Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq said it was launching a "sacred offensive" aimed at recovering territory given up by the militants. It also vowed to target Iraqi judges and prosecutors and said it would try to help prisoners break out of jails. Some 325 Iraqis were killed in July and 679 wounded, making it the bloodiest month in two years. Some 282 others were killed in June, and about 700 people were injured. The figures, released by the government, showed that civilians, soldiers and policemen were among casualties.   In addition, Nasrawi observes, "The most recent spate of attacks comes amid a prolonged political crisis over power-sharing in Iraq, with the leaders of the country's Sunni and Kurdish communities accusing Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki of authoritarianism and seeking to reinforce his rule."   Al Rafidayn reports Nouri's spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh states that the political blocs met with Nouri yesterday but there was no agreement reached.   al-Dabbagh also attempted to justify to the press Iraq's lousy treatment of the Syrian refugees (the refugees are apparently treated well in the KRG -- the UN has visited those camps and reported to the Security Council on those camps, I'm not referring to the KRG treatment, I'm referring to Baghad housing the refugees in abandoned buildings and refusing to allow them mobility).  And he yet again denied that there were any secret prisons in Iraq. Ayad al-Tamimi (Al Mada) reports that the election law is still bottled up in Parliament with no forward movement.  State of Law Mp Abbas al-Bayati states that they are a long way off from resolving various issues about the proposed law.  AKnews notes Martin Kobler, UN Secertary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Envoy to Iraq, expressed dismay at the start of the week over this delay that he dubbed a "threat to democracy." July 19th, Kobler appeared before the UN Security Council and stated: As we speak, my political deputy, Mr. [Gyorgy Busztin], is engaged in facilitation efforts to bring about the formation of a new, Independent High Election Commission which is representative of the main components of Iraq -- including women and children and minorities.  The urgent selection of the commissioners is essential for ensuring that the provincial council elections due to take place in March 2013 can be conducted on time. I'm concerned that the ongoing political stalemate is hindering the process however.  In recent days, I have discussed with political leaders -- including Prime Minister al-Maliki -- the need for a swfit conclusion of this political process and the need for an adequate representation of women and minorities in the commission. Today, I would like to re-iterate my appeal to all political blocs to expedite the selection of professional commissioners.  UNAMI stands here ready to actively assist.   Tuesday came news that Parliament thought they'd arrived at a stop-gap measure: they'd tack on 35 days to the current Electoral Commission.  AK News quotes the Chair of the Electoral Commission Faraj al-Haidari stating, "A new board of commissioners was supposed to be formed because the delay creates confusion.  The required period to complete the commission's procedures after the ratification of the election law and the budget according to international standards is six months.  Until now the law is not published in the official newspaper and the budget hasn't yet arrived."   On electoral laws, Mustafa Habib (niqash) reports:     Last week, the Iraqi parliament approved a law that many, including the country's highest court, say is unconstitutional. What MPs did was approve amendments to a law regulating how provincial elections are decided. Provincial elections are due to be held in April 2013. They will be governed by the provincial election law 36, passed in 2008 and upon which the 2009 provincial elections were based. But in 2009 there were conflicts about electoral districts and minority representation and this was what led to calls for a revision of the law. A parliamentary committee was formed to look into the matter.  "The law contains many violations and irregularities," Ziad al-Thari, a member of the committee tasked with amending the law, says. "These affected the 2009 elections and that's why we needed to amend this law. However all the efforts made by the regions and provinces committee to introduce major amendments to the law over the last year have failed. And mainly this has been because of the conflicts between the different political blocs." As a result, an amended version of the electoral law was only passed into law by the Iraqi parliament on August 2. And what is causing conflict now is a part of the revised electoral law which says that if some parties don't get enough votes to make any difference to them, the votes they did get will be given to bigger parties. In 2009 this led to a lack of representation for many smaller Iraqi parties.     Well it would appear Barack Obama and Bully Boy Bush conveyed the importance of eliminating other parties to ensure dominance and corruption.  In the US there are many third party and independent candidates making a run for the presidency.  We're following two.  Jill Stein has the Green Party's presidential nomination and her running mate is Cheri Honkala.  Roseanne Barr has the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party and her running mate is Cindy Sheehan.  Rob Kall (OpEdNews) interviewed Dr. Jill Stein yesterday and we'll again note that audio interview:   Jill Stein:  It is very important, I think, that we stand up and we vote with our feet and we vote with our votes and we not bow to the disinformation campaigns and the propaganda that tells us that we better just be good little boys and girls and let them call the shots and that silence is the best political strategy.  You know, this is the time to reject that politics of fear and to recognize he politics of fear which has told us to be quiet, that we've got to just vote for the lesser evil.  The politics of fear have brough us everything that we are afraid of: The massive bailouts for Wall Street, the expanding war for oil, the declining wages for workers, the offshoring of our jobs.  This president is negotiating the latest free trade agreement which is like NAFTA on steroids -- the attack on our civil liberties in which President Obama co-signed all the violations of George W. Bush and then took it further to where he can not only throw anybody in jail for whatever his pleasure is, you know, he doesn't have to justify it or even tell anybody, need not accuse you of any crime or try you before a jury.  You know, he has the power of indefinite detention including the power of assassination.  So it's just staggering how our civil liberties are being stripped from us.  We cannot afford to sit back and let this happen.  He sabotaged the international accord on climate so that there will not be an agreement until after 2020 when it is too late.  The science is telling us now that it was too optimistic.  It's going to be far worse. It is far worse already than the worst models predicted.  And that - that model said if we haven't made substantial progress before 2020, we're basically going up into flames.  It's not like the climate goes through some limited change and then it's in a new, steady state.  It never gets to a steady state.  It moves into temperature acceleration.  That's not okay.  That's not compatible with life, let alone compatible with an economy or civilization as we know it.  The politics of fear have brought us everything that we are afraid of.  It is time to reject that propaganda campaign -- bought and paid for by Wall Street and corporate America.  It's time to reject the politics of fear and stand up with the politics of courage  and move forward now with the solutions that will actually fix this problem, that will provide the jobs that will stabilize the climate, that can create health care and education, for that matter, as a human right, that will downsize the military and rightsize the military, that will tax the rich and ensure that we have the resources to do it.  We do have the resources.  We're just running out of time.  The clock is ticking.  So be afraid of passivity, be afraid of being co-opted, be afraid of being betrayed.  But do not be afraid of yourself and that we are the ones we have been waiting for and we need to move this forward in a hurry.     16 people were arrested yesterday as they protested the nuclear Bangor Trident Sub Base.  One of the sixteen was Cindy Sheehan:      Peace activists lined the roadside with anti-nuke signs, banners and a full-scale inflatable Trident II D-5 ballistic missile.  Around 7:00 am Peacekeepers from Ground Zero entered the road to safely stop incoming traffic.  Three activists entered the roadway carrying a banner with the message "Abolish Nuclear Weapons."  Washington State Patrol officers escorted the protestors to the median for processing. Almost immediately, another group of activists entered the roadway with a banner bearing the message "Give Peace a Chance. No, Seriously."  As they were being removed from the roadway two more groups carried banners calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons onto the roadway in the same sequence and were subsequently removed.  Traffic entering the base was stopped continuously until all protestors were cleared from the roadway. A total of 16 persons engaged in the blockade.  All were issued citations at the scene for "Walking on roadway where prohibited" and released.   Those cited were Tom Rogers, Poulsbo, WA; Cindy Sheehan, Vacaville, CA; Marion Ward, Vancouver, WA; Michael Siptroth, Belfair, WA; Mal Chaddock, Portland, OR; Ann Havill, Bend, OR; Betsy Lamb, Bend, OR; Bernie Meyer, Olympia, WA; Leonard Eiger, North Bend, WA; Constance Mears, Poulsbo, WA; Gordon Sturrock, Eugene, OR; Brenda McMillan, Port Townsend, WA; Mack Johnson, Silverdale, WA; Gilberto Z Perez, Bainbridge Island, WA; George W Rodkey, Tacoma, WA and Elizabeth Murray, Bellingham, WA.   There are many candidates running for the Oval Office.  We're noting Jill and Cheri and Roseanne and Cindy.  Why? They're independent runs and they're peace candidates.  In addition, they are women.  One of the saddest things about 2008 is how so many women and feminist outlets silenced themselves -- politics of fear! -- and refused to cover the women in the race (Cynthia McKinney was running for president on the Green Party ticket, Rosa Clemente was her running mate; Sarah Palin was John McCain's running mate on the Republican Party ticket).  You didn't have to like them, you didn't have to say you'd vote for one of them but if you are, for example, Feminist Wire Daily, I think we have the right to expect that you will cover runs for the presidency by women.  Your failure to do so not only embarrassed and shamed you in 2008, it continues to and that will always be the case.  100 years from now, someone will ask, "Well did Feminist Majority Foundation or Women's Media Center at least have one kind word for Sarah Palin on some area?  The woman wasn't Adolf Hitler.  Surely a feminist could be counted on to say at least one thing nice even if they weren't going to vote for her.  I mean Ralph Nader even noted she was the only candidate with executive branch experience so surely feminist outlets were able to disagree with her on some issues but to find one positive statement about her, right?"  Wrong.  And on disagree, Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr are both strong women.  They want votes.  I'm not going to hold them to a different standard than I would male politicians.  Meaning, if they hit hard, even at each other, that's politics.  It's great that we've got four women on two tickets this year.  That's something to celebrate.  And all four are strong women.  I can't imagine the kind of internal shame of your gender you'd have to have in order to be silent on these four women and their campaigns.          iraq the los angeles times the associated press kuna espn jim caple the oregonian john canzano pri the takeaway john hockenberry juan gonzalez democracy now afp prashant rao mustafa habib

Read on ...

Making Dennis the Menace

From March 2, 2009, that's "Making Dennis the Menace." This is the summary C.I. did of the comic:

Dennis pleads with Martha Wilson, "Get Mr. Wilson! This Domestic Arts Czar is trying to turn me out!" Al Distraction adds, "Get those pants sagging lower you little Greek homo! And you forgot your piece. You want to be a menace? We're going to make you a menace, boy!"

When Al Sharpton went crazy over comics and I saw him as a self-appointed comic czar thinking he could tell the nation what to draw and what not to, I saw this comic.  I knew that no matter how many I did in the series, this is where it ended, Al with Dennis the Menance and Al supposedly turning Dennis out into gangsta boy but really more turning him out the way Rick James turned out Teena Marie if you get my meaning. :D

• Rounding up Lucy
• Domestic Arts Czar
• Al Distraction

Those were the three that came before.  That's probably my favorite series of Barack's time in office.  Emily e-mailed asking me about my favorite during the Bush years?  It will probably always be Celibacy in the City.  I just had so much fun with that (where Condi, Mary Cheney and Harriet Miers are 'career gals' in DC).  That one still makes me laugh.

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

Thursday, August 2, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri fumes as Turkey visits Kirkuk, Allawi makes a high profile stop in the region, is the Dept of Veterans Affairs violating US law, what is controlling ownership, and more.   With the non-stop wars of the last years, there are a large number of veterans in the US population.  Some of them would like to start their own businesses.  Gordon Block (Watertown Daily Times) reports on "soldiers and veterans" who turned out for a seminar on that topic that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was behind.  Those attending were able to ineract with "Empire State Development; the Departments of State, Labor, and Taxation and Finance; the state Liquor Authority and the Workers' Compensation Board." Governor Cuomo's Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights, Alphonso B. David, explains, "We want them to understand there are these resources."  This week the Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration Marie C. Johns explored the topic at The Huffington Post and noted, "In fact, over nine percent of veterans start or purchase a business once they return home.  And the ripple effect of their entrepreneurial spirit is evident in the rate of small business ownership across the nation.  Currently, there are over two million veteran entrepreneurs employing close to six million people across the nation."   Veteran businesses, Congress was told today, that apply for to be recognized as such by the VA suffer from a 60% initial rejection rate and there is a 40% rejection rate for those who apply a second time. The VA's Leney stated that the VA believed, this year alone, 59 businesses had fraudulently applied for veteran status and that they had referred those 59 to the Office of Inspector General.  This is more than double the 2011 numbers (25 referred) and 2012 is not yet over.       Chair Marlin Stutzman: Everyone here knows about the problems VA has had implementing the small business provisions  of a series of public laws beginning Public Law 109-461 and we'll hear more about it today, I'm sure.  While addressing those continuing issues is important, especially those that may include criminal activity, the past is not my focus today.  I want to know how and -- equally important -- when VA will put in place the systems and the policies that will shorten the time, decrease the level of effort needed to pass muster to lower the costs and finally create a community of veteran owned businesses that is reasonably free from unqualified companies.  This is not just a VA task.  There are issues we in Congress need to deal with as well.   "We have patiently waited for signs of progress following the installation of a new Executive Director of Smll and Veteran Business Programs at the VA," declared Chair Bill Johnson this morning.  "And while some improvements have  been made, unfortunately the goals established nearly a year ago have yet to be achieved.  This Committee has an oversight responsibility to the American people to ensure that tax dollars administered by the VA are going to legitimate, qualified, veteran owned businesses.  I am hopeful that today's hearing will encourage and assist the VA in reaching their goals of improving the CVE [Center for Veterans Enterprise]  once and for all."   Stutzman and Johnson were co-chairing a joint hearing of two House Veterans Affairs subcommittees -- the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity (Johnson) and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation (Stutzman).    The first panel was the Executive Director of VA's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Thomas Leney.  That's what we're emphasizing today because I want it on the record here that the Congress believes the VA is not in compliance with the law.  In addition, we're going to note the most puzzling and troubling moment of the hearing.  This also took place on the first panel.  If you're a veteran wanting to start a small business, you may need money.  One way to get money for your business is to bring in investors.  But while, in the real world, doing that will not penalize you, in the faux world of VA classifications, it turns out many veteran owned businesses are not getting recognized as such -- which can mean that they are not allowed to bid for VA contracts.  VA is operating under a defintion of ownership and control that is unique to the world of VA and clearly puzzled the members of Subcommittees -- Democrats and Republicans.   First up, the issue of the law. Excerpt:   Chair Bill Johnson:  Mr. Leney,  you heard the quote I read just a little bit before from the Federal District Judge for the District of Columbia.  He said "several of the groups cited by the CVE as a basis for denying the application for inclusion in the VetBiz VIP database are described in such generalized and ambiguous terms that the Court is essentially left to guess as to the precise basis for the agency's decision."  So what steps has the CVE taken to ensure that decisions for appeals are sufficiently reasoned so that,  if the issue does go to court, a judge can properly exercise judicial review.     Thomas Leney:  Uh -- sir, I find that, uh, judicial concern, uh, troubling --   Chair Bill Johnson: Okay, I know you find it troubling. And we've got a lot of witnesses to hear from today.  I don't want to -- I don't want to spin our wheels. Have you made any improvements as a result of that District Judge's findings and the input that we've given you from this Committee -- Subcommittee -- to make sure that appeals are sufficiently reasoned to make sure that they can be understood? Has any action been taken?   Thomas Leney: Yes, sir. As I mentioned in my oral statement every request for reconsideration receives a legal review from our Office of General Counsel on the basis of are we prepared to defend it in court?   Chair Bill Johnson: Have you made any changes to your process to make sure that they are --   Thomas Leney: That is the change to the process.  Every one of our requests for  reconsideration receives a legal review.   Chair Bill Johnson:  Okay. And that wasn't being done prior to -- Thomas Leney:  That was not being done prior.   Chair Bill Johnson:  Does -- does VA possess the necessary expertice in making determinations of ownership under their current process?   Thomas Leney:  Yes, sir.   Chair Bill Johnson: Okay.  Does -- VA does not allow for affiliatons whereas because you testified a few minutes ago that because your processes are consistent, your regulations are consistent with SBA regulations if I heard you correct.     Thomas Leney: Yes, sir.   Chair BIll Johnson:  The VA does not allow for affiliatons whereas government-wide rules do allow for affiliatons.  Why is there a difference between SBA and VA's interpretation?   Thomas Leney:  Sir, in response to engagement with this Committee, we undertook a review of our regulation with respect to 13 CFR 125 and 13 CFR 124 which are the SBA regulations. We found that not only are our regulations similar, our interpretations are similar as well.  In fact, based on our review to date the SBA regulations routinely reaches similar if not identical decisions as the VA.  We have -- We have undertaken a review of the regulation.  We're doing that in collaboration with the SBA and, in fact, one of the elements, if you compare the two regulations, our regulation is much more detailed than 13 CFR 125.   Chair Bill Johnson: What about 13 CFR 121, Mr. Leney, that's also a part of this disccusion that describes the intent of the Congress?  How do you -- how do you involve 13 CFR 121 in your process?   Thomas Leney: Sir, the 13 CFR 121 is one of the regulations we are now looking at as part of our review of our regulations.    Chair Bill Johnson: But it's been for a long time and we've suggested that you include it for a long time.  And you're just now looking at it?   Thomas Leney:  Sir, our focus -- my focus has been to implement the regulations that the VA utilizes for the verification program.   Chair Bill Johnson:  But shouldn't the regulation be based on the law, Mr. Leney?   Thomas Leney:  The regulation, we believe, is based on the law, sir. Chair Bill Johnson:  But not if you exclude, uhm, 121.   Thomas Leney:  Sir, like I say, the Secretary [of the VA Eric Shinseki] has directed us to review the regulation.  We are doing so in conjunction with the SBA and stakeholders.  I cannot -- I cannot speak to why it was not being done previously.  But it is being done now.   Chair Bill Johnson:  How long have you been here, Mr. Leney?   Thomas Leney:  Sir, I've been here a year.   Chair Bill Johnson:  And this is not the first time that you've testified before this Subcommittee.   Thomas Leney:  This is not the first time.    Chair Bill Johnson:  We've talked about 121 before.   Thomas Leney: Yes, sir.   Chair Bill Johnson: Okay.  So why are you waiting for the Secretary to tell you to do something that the law clearly requires?   Thomas Leney:  Sir, as I stated, my focus has been to implement the regulation that is in place with the VA. That regulation has been long standing and it has been tested.  We are now reviewing that regulation based on an extensive series of stakeholder engagements.  And I'll be happy to come back and report --   Chair Bill Johnson:  You'll get a chance  to come back, Mr. Leney, because it's a violation of the law.  121 is part of the process and that's what this Subcommittee demands, it's what the American people demand.  That's why we're losing patience with the process -- because we keep making these suggestions and we keep spinning our wheels and chasing this same rabbit around the corner over and over again.  So I'm sure I'll have more questions but I'm going to go now to Mr. Stutzman for his questions.   Chair Marlin Stutzman: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  I believe the VA has a fairly robust statistical analysis section.  Is that correct?   Thomas Leney:  Sir, I can't speak to that. I don't know.   Chair Marlin Stutzman: You don't know that --   Thomas Leney:  I don't know the extent of the statistical analysis.   Chair Marlin Stutzman:  You do have -- You do have one?   Thomas Leney:  I can't speak to that.  I do not know.     Now let's move over to issues of ownership and control and, again, we're just on the first panel and the one witness, Thomas Leney.     US House Reps Jerry McNerney and Phil Roe asked about veterans who are turned down despite owning 51% of their company.  They can't get a veterans small business contract if they own 51% because that's not "control."  Roe explained that if you owned 51% of GM stock, you control General Motors.  However, that's not the VA definition.  The VA definition is that the owner must have 100% control.  There can be partners, but they can't have control or even voting rights because, as the VA is interpreting it, even voting rights waters down control.  No, that doesn't make any sense at all.     Chair Bill Johnson:  You said you're going towards lines of clear delineation.  Give us the definition of control.  You ought to be able to do that.  You're the Director of this department. Tell this Subcommittee right now, tell the people that are listening today what is the defintion of control if 51% ownership doesn't qualify.  What is it?     Thomas Leney: The definition of 100% control is that you can do anything you want with that business, make any decision concerning that business to include selling that business for a dollar and no one else in that business to include other owners -- other minority owners -- can do anything to prevent you from doing so.   Chair Bill Johnson: Mr. Leney, do you know of any business in the world that has more than one owner where that defintion would qualify?  Can you name me one business?  One?   Thomas Leney: I can name you thousands of businesses   Chair Bill Johnson:  Where that definition qualifies?   Thomas Leney:  Yes, sir.   Chair Bill Johnson:  Under a court of law?   Thomas Leney:  Yes, sir.   Chair Bill Johnson:  I'd like to see them.  Would you write them down and submit them to this Committee?   Thomas Leney:  Yes, sir.   Chair Bill Johnson:  I'd like you to do that.  I'd like to see that.   Those were among the big moments in the hearing today.  Time and space permitting, we'll note some other moments from the hearing tomorrow.     Lara Jakes (AP) reports that attempts by the US government to have Ali Mussa Daqduq extradited to the US to stand trial for his part in "the 20007 killings of five American soldiers" has been rebuffed by an Iraqi legal panel composed of three judges whose ruling notes, "It is not possible to hand him over because the charges were dropped in the same case.  Therefore, the court decided to reject the request to hand over the Lebanese defendant Ali Mussa Daqduq to the U.S. judicial authorities, and to release him immediately."   Back in December, law professor Robert Chesney noted where blame could fall.  The list included:   Blame the Maliki administration for intransigence in refusing to let us remove Daqduq during the waning days of our presence, and for now apparently going forward with comically minor charges.  Blame the Obama administration for not somehow overcoming that intransigence.  Blame critics of the administration who fiercely objected (for reasons that still make little sense to me) to the prospect that Daqduq might be brought into the United States for a military commission trial, making a fetish out of GTMO as the only permitted geographic location for such proceedings.  Blame the Obama administration for refusing to use GTMO in the face of such intransigence.    Back in June of 2009, the US began releasing those responsible for the deaths of the five American soldiers.  They did so, see the June 9, 2009 snapshot, so that Barack could get a terrorist group to turn over some British corpses.  As noted in that snapshot:     CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama." Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."   We've gone over this at length, see the July 24th snapshot most recently,   December 17, 2011, Charlie Savage (New York Times) reported on what was termed "a move likely to unleash a political backlash inside the United States." What was he reporting on? The White House's decision to release Ali Musa Daqduq to the Iraqi government, the man "accused of helping to orchestrate a January 2007 raid by Shiite militants who wore U.S.-style uniforms and carried forged identity cards. They killed five U.S. soldiers -- one immediately and four others who were kidnapped and later shot and dumped beside a road." Reporting on it the same day, Matt Apuzzo (AP) noted the reactions of two US senators.     Senator Mark Kirk (in a letter before the release): "Daqduq's Iranian paymasters would like nothing more than to see him transferred to Iraqi custody, where they could effectively pressure for his escape or release. We truly hope you will not let that happen."   Senator Saxby Chambliss (after news broke of the release): "Rather than ensure justice for five American soldiers killed by Hezbollah terrorist Ali Musa Daqduq, the administration turned him over to Iraq, once again completely abdicating its responsibility to hold on to deadly terrorists. Given Iraq's history of releasing detainees, I expect it is only a matter of time before this terrorist will be back on the battlefield."     Liz Sly and Peter Finn (Washington Post) reported that US National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor insisted that the White House "sought and received assurances that he will be tried for his crimes." Some assurances. May 7th, Daqduq was cleared of all charges. Senator Kelly Ayotte released a statement that day noting that she and 19 other US Senators lodged their objection to transferring Daqduq July 21, 2011 in a formal letter which "expressed the Senators' concerns that transferring Daqduq to Iraqi custody might result in his release and a return to terrorist activities." Those concerns were dismissed. When the May 7th verdict came down the White House demanded a "do-over" in Iraqi courts. No surprise (except maybe to the White House) the same Iraqi courts cleared Daqduq of the charges which led the July 12th fuming from the White House that appeared to be just for show: AFP reports that there was an attack on a police patrol in Taji yesterday which led to the deaths of four police officers and that there was an attack on a Taji prison in which four other police officers were killed.  Alsumaria reports that the attack started with a bombing at the gate and then assailants stormed the prison where they clashed with prison guards -- they state officials have not released the death tolls -- and they remind something similar happened in Baghdad Tuesday when a car bombing outside the counter-terrorism center was followed by assailants attempting to storm the center leading to five deaths and twenty-seven people being injured.  The supposed goal behind the Tuesday attack was to break out forty terrorists including leadership.  Of the Tuesday attack, Al Mada notes that there were six suicide bombers outside the center who detonated before assilants attempted to storm the counter-terrorism center. Meanwhile Alsumaria reports that this morning a Baghdad attack using three bombs have left 4 police officers dead and four more injured.  All Iraq News reports there has been an armed attack on the Diyala headquarters of Sahwa ("Awakening," "Sons of Iraq") which has claimed the life of 1 and left four more injured.  AFP notes a Baghdad car bombing has left 9 people dead and another thirty-two injured, a Kirkuk home invasion left four family members dead (the victims were Turkmen -- parents and two daughters -- and their throats were all slit), three more Kirkuk attacks resulted in the deaths of 7 Iraqi soldiers with eleven more left injured, a Tirkit attack resulted in 4 police officers being shot dead, a Tikrit bombing left 3 Sahwa dead, 1 soldier was shot dead in Dujail with four more kidnapped and a Samarra attack resulted in the death of 1 Sahwa and 1 police officer at the hands of unknown assailants.   As the violence in Iraq refuses to vanish, Ayman Khalil (Global Arab Network) offers a very in depth look at the violence and at the political crisis:   Iraq Body Count, an independent tracking database, reports no drop in civilian casualties, with an average of about 4,000 killed per year since 2009. The US troop pullout six months ago has taken the wind out of the sails of many armed groups, especially Shia groups, whose raison d'etre was opposing the occupation. But it has also led to a rebalancing of power in which politicians, militias, "terrorists" and countries in the region are vying for influence. "The main event in Iraq, which was postponed for many years due to the US presence, is the struggle among Iraqis to control the country," argues Michael Knights, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and author of several books on Iraq. Analysts expect the struggle to continue bubbling along for some time to come. Here are a few of the drivers of conflict in Iraq: Dysfunctional parliament: Iraqi politics are young - only truly born after the US withdrawal - and its players are still learning how to make democracy work. "The main driver of violence in Iraq is the dysfunctionality of the political process and the polarization between [Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki and his opponents," says Joost Hiltermann, Iraq analyst with the International Crisis Group. The Shiite rulers do not know how to absorb minorities into the fold, and many questions around the constitution, federalism and power/resource-sharing remain unanswered. The inability to reach agreement has left the government unable to do much of anything: unable to provide basic services (leading to mounting frustration with the government) and unable to properly run its security forces (who cannot contain the insurgents). Without some kind of political consensus on how to run the country, insurgent groups will keep finding fuel to light the fire. Or as one UN analyst put it: "Iraq will be stuck like this until Iraqi politics become mature enough."     With July now seen as the deadliest month in two years, Nouri's government is eager to change the topic and are instead trying to steer the focus to oil.  Kadhim Ajrash and Nayla Razzouk (Bloomberg News) report, "Iraq's crude exports in July rose for the third consecutive month to an average of 2.52 million barrels a day, generating sales of $7.5 billion, the head of the country's State Oil Marketing Organization said."  AFP adds, "Iraq's revenues from oil, which account for the lion's share of the country's income, were up by about $1 billion in July compared to the month before, an oil ministry spokesman said on Wednesday."  The announcement will most likely lead Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc to further question the Ministry of Finance's assertion earlier this week that there was no oil surplus revenues to distribute among the Iraqi people.  UPI notes that "independence-minded Kurds seeking their own oil industry and a new bombing offensive by al-Qaida, could cripple Baghdad's ambitions to become the world's top oil producer."     Meanwhile Reuters notes the KRG is stating they will cease exporting oil if Nouri's government "does not make all outstanding payments" owed to the KRG for oil.  Basil el-Dabh (Egypt Daily News) reports, "Baghdad owes the KRG 1.5 million USD in oil revenues needed to pay oil-producing companies in its region." Furthermore, Christopher Helman (Forbes) explores the conflict between Baghdad and the KRG over the issue of oil:   It started late last year with ExxonMobil, then a month ago Chevron joined in, followed this week by Total and now Gazprom. That's four of the world's biggest international oil and gas giants that have defied Baghdad to sign up for concessions to drill for oil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Baghdad has blacklisted the oil giants from future bidding rounds for southern fields, and has condemned the sweet deals that the Kurds have been offering as in violation of the Iraqi constitution.   All Iraq News notes Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's Foreign Minister, arrived in Erbil yesterday on a regional visit and today he is visting Kirkuk.  The outlet states he may visit Baghdad.  Al Mada notes that Davutoglu was received yesterday by Kurdish Regional Government, the Minister of the Interior, the Governor of Erbil and other dignataries.  Click here for a photo of KRG President Massoud Barzani receving Davutoglu and the KRG press release notes that the two addressed the relationship between their two gvoernments (which has seen increased friendship, the release notes) and discussed economic and energy partnerships as well as the situation in Syria. The Journal of Turkish Weekly adds:   According to the written statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Davutoglu and Barzani held productive meetings in Irbil about bilateral relations, regional problems and discussed the Syria crisis. According to the statement, Davutoglu and Barzani clarified their satisfaction over the relations and agreed to expand them in all fields, particularly in the fields of economic development and energy. According to statement Davutoglu and Barzani discussed the situation in Syria. "They emphasized that the situation in Syria is grave. Syrian people continue to suffer. Loss of life and destruction are at unprecedented levels. They underlined that the actions of the Syrian regime and its policy to provoke sectarian and ethnic conflict within the country will further deteriorate the situation. The developments in Syria also pose a threat to regional security and stability. This situation is unacceptable by all standards," the statement said.      UPI reports that upon seeing Kirkuk, Davutoglu declared, "This is the most important day of my life. I am visiting Kirkuk, which was always in my dreams. I am happy to be the first Turkish foreign minister to visit Kirkuk in 75 years.  Kirkuk will be an eternal city of peace in Iraq where our Turkmen, Kurdish and Arab brothers live together."  All that peace talk was apparently too much for Baghdad.  UPI notes that the visit resulted in "outrage from the Iraqi government."  Basil el-Dabh (Egypt Daily News) also notes, "Iraq's federal government condemned Davuutogulu's visit on Thursday."   Kirkuk is disputed with both Baghdad and the KRG claiming it.  We're dropping back to the July 26, 2011 snapshot for more on this issue:   Of greater interest to us (and something's no one's reported on) is the RAND Corporation's  report entitled "Managing Arab-Kurd Tensions in Northern Iraq After the Withdrawal of U.S. Troops."  The 22-page report, authored by Larry Hanauer, Jeffrey Martini and Omar al-Shahery, markets "CBMs" -- "confidence-building measures" -- while arguing this is the answer.  If it strikes you as dangerously simplistic and requiring the the Kurdish region exist in a vacuum where nothing else happens, you may have read the already read the report.  CBMs may strike some as what the US military was engaged in after the Iraqi forces from the central government and the Kurdish peshmerga were constantly at one another's throats and the US military entered into a patrol program with the two where they acted as buffer or marriage counselor.  (And the report admits CBMs are based on that.)  Sunday Prashant Rao (AFP) reported US Col Michael Bowers has announced that, on August 1st, the US military will no longer be patrolling in northern Iraq with the Kurdish forces and forces controlled by Baghdad. That took years.  And had outside actors.  The authors acknowledge:   Continuing to contain Arab-Kurd tensions will require a neutral third-party arbitrator that can facilitate local CMBs, push for national-level negotiations, and prevent armed conflict between Iraqi and Kurdish troops.  While U.S. civilian entities could help implement CMBs and mediate political talks, the continued presence of U.S. military forces within the disputed internal boundaries would be the most effective way to prevent violent conflict between Arabs and Kurds.   As you read over the report, you may be struck by its failure to state the obvious: If the US government really wanted the issue solved, it would have been solved in the early years of the illegal war.  They don't want it solved.  The Kurds have been the most loyal ally the US has had in the country and, due to that, they don't want to upset them.  However, they're not going to pay back the loyalty with actual support, not when there's so much oil at stake.  So the Kurds were and will continue to be told their interests matter but the US will continue to blow the Kurdish issues off over and over.  Greed trumps loyalty is the message.  (If you doubt it, the Constitution guaranteed a census and referendum on Kirkuk by December 31, 2007.  Not only did the US government install Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister in 2006, they continued to back him for a second term in 2010 despite his failure to follow the Constitution.)   Along with avoiding that reality, the report seems rather small-minded or, at least, "niche driven."  Again, the authors acknowledge that as well noting that they're not presenting a solution to the problems or ways to reach a solution, just ways to kick the can further down the road and, hopefully, there won't be an explosion that forces the issue any time soon. ("Regional and local CBMs have the potential to keep a lid on inter-communal tensions that will, without question, boil beneath the surface for a long time.  They cannot, however, resolve what is, at its heart, a strategic political dispute that must be resolved at the national level.") Hopefully? Page nine of the report notes that the consensus of US military, officials, analysts, etc. who have worked on the issue is that -- "given enough time -- Arab and Kurdish participants will eventually have a dispute that leads to violence, which will cause the mechanism to degrade or collapse."   The report notes that, in late 2009, Gen Ray Odierno (top US commander in Iraq at that point) had declared the tensions between Arabs and Kurds to be "the greatest single driver of instability in Iraq."  It doesn't note how the US Ambassador to Iraq when Odierno made those remarks was Chris Hill who dismissed talk of tensions as well as the issue of the oil rich and disputed Kirkuk.         These issues are all at play.  Further irritating Nouri may be Ayad Allawi's visit.  KUNA reports that he is in Anakara meeting with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.   In other news, President Barzani has a response to Nouri's whisper campaign.  Earlier this week, State of Law was whispering to the press that Barzani would be called before Parliament for questioning.  Then the Speaker of Parliament's office weighed in noting that no such request had been made.  Al Mada reports today that Barzani states he's more than ready to appear before Parliament and answer questions if called.  This not only allows Barzani to appear open to the Iraqi people, it also underscores that Nouri's ongoing refusal to appear before Parliament for questioning is in violation of the Constitution.       iraq the associated press lara jakes the washington post liz sly the new york times charlie savage  afp all iraq news al mada alsumaria bloomberg news kadhim ajrash nayla razzouk

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