Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

12/30/2020

wonder woman 1984 really sucks

that's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Grinch Who Stole The Stimulus and Christmas" about the inept and disappointing nancy pelosi.

ava and c.i.'s latest is 'TV: WONDER WOMAN 1984 is an awful film' and they are right, it is an awful film.

how many men have speaking parts? steve trevor, some asian-american at the smithsonian, 2 homeless men who appear in two parts of the movie (1 to assault kristen wiig's character), an evil arab (of course they would run with that stereotype), the jewelry robbers, main villian max, max's son, a rich man max swindles, the president of the u.s., a tele-evangelist, an ugly man who is supposed to be a hunk who offers diana a cab, then shows up and speaks to her at a party (before morphing into steve trevor) and then shows up at the end to enjoy the snow ...

go down the list. women? with more than ten lines?

it's just diana and cheetah (gal gadot and kristen wiig). there's an african-american woman at the smithsonian who comes close to having more than ten lines, that's it.

this is feminism?

cheetah isn't even the main villian - the boring max is.

and boring is what the film is.

patty jenkins (the director) is bragging about how no 1 dies in her film.

i don't see how that's a good thing.

you've got guns going off constantly, a missile and much more.

and there are no human costs?

don't pass that off as peace or feminism.

it is an awful movie and it is a boring 1.

that's all patty jenkins has turned out. there's no tension and no excitement.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Tuesday, December 29, 2020. Iraq comes in second as deadliest place to be a journalist in 2020 per Reporters Without Borders, Jake Sullivan gets slapped on social media, and much more.

As the year winds down, Reporters Without Borders looks back at 2020. OPB notes, "More journalists are being killed outside of war zones, and the overwhelming majority of this year’s grim total of at least 50 dead were deliberately targeted, many of them murdered while investigating organized crime, corruption and environmental degradation, Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday." Rayhan Uddin (MIDDLE EAST EYE) points out, "Iraq was the world’s second deadliest country for journalists in 2020, according to an annual report published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday. " ALJAZEERA offers this context, "The total number of journalists killed in 2020 was slightly lower than the 53 reported in 2019, although RSF said fewer journalists worked in the field this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic."

On Iraq, Reporters Without Borders notes:

Iraqi journalists risk their lives when they cover protests or investigate corruption, and the dangers have grown since the start of an unprecedented wave of anti-government protests in October 2019. Journalists who dare to report the demands of the protesters are liable to be harassed, abducted, physically attacked or even killed by unidentified militias. The threats come from all quarters and are designed to deter them from investigating or publishing the fruits of their research. Coverage of political or religious figures still regarded as untouchable can lead to prosecution or to media bans for disrespecting “national or religious symbols.” Murders of journalists go unpunished because they are not investigated or, if there is an investigation, it goes nowhere, relatives say.

The state’s powerlessness increases the dangers and makes it impossible to determine whether what the many militias are doing suits the government, whether the government has given them the go-ahead, or whether it has no control over the situation. The authorities have, however, banned live reporting from the protests, disconnected the Internet and, in a decision by the Media Regulation Commission, banned ten media outlets from covering the protests. Journalists are also worried by a proposed cyber-crime law providing for prison sentences (including life imprisonment) for online posts that endanger “the independence, unity or integrity of the country, or its economic, political, military or security interests.” The vagueness of this wording is alarming and liable to discourage the emergence of a truly free and independent press.

On RWB's World Press Freedom Index, Iraq comes in at 162. And they note, "In Iraq, three journalists were killed in exactly the same way: by a shot to the head fired by unidentified gunmen while they were covering protests. A fourth was killed in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region while trying to flee from clashes between security forces and demonstrators." Khazan Jangiz (RUDAW) identifies the six journalists killed (if you're a media assistant or whatever we count you as a journalist here and have since the site started):

Two of the journalists were killed in Basra. Prominent Iraqi journalist Ahmed Abdul Samad and his cameraman Safaa al-Ghali were shot dead by unknown gunmen in their car while covering Iraq’s ongoing protests for Dijlah TV in January.

Yussef Sattar, a journalist and activist, was killed during protests in Baghdad, also in January.

Hunar Rasool, a Kurdish journalist for Gali Kurdistan TV died from injuries in Ranya, Sulaimani province on August 12 after he tried to escape clashes between protesters and security forces.

Two “media assistants” – Nizar Thanoun and Husham al-Hashimi – were shot dead in Baghdad by unidentified assailants in Baghdad in 2020, RSF said.

From the Committee to Protect Journalists, we'll note another 2020 murder that's Iraq related:

In a case of direct and public killing of a journalist by a government, on December 12 Iran executed journalist Roohollah Zam by hanging after sentencing him to death. Zam’s website and Telegram channel, Amad News—which he ran from exile—had reported critically on Iranian officials and shared the timings and locations of protests in 2017; Telegram shut down the channel in late 2017, but the account later reemerged under a different name. CPJ classifies Zam’s killing as a murder, based on methodology that defines murder as the targeted killing of a journalist in direct reprisal for their work. Iranian intelligence agents detained Zam in Iraq in October 2019 and took him to Iran, according to CPJ research; authorities aired a video of him apologizing on a state television. He was convicted and sentenced to death in June on 17 charges including espionage, spreading false news abroad, and insulting Islamic values and the supreme leader; the sentence was confirmed on December 8. In announcing his execution, Iranian state media referred to Zam as “the leader of the riots,” referring to protests in the country in 2017, according to The Associated Press.

ALSUMARIA covers the Reporters Without Borders story on the number of journalists killed but it also notes CPJ's report on the number of journalists jailed. From that CPJ report:

A record number of journalists were imprisoned globally for their work in 2020 as authoritarian nations arrested many covering COVID-19 or political instability. Amid the pandemic, governments delayed trials, restricted visitors, and disregarded the increased health risk in prison; at least two journalists died after contracting the disease in custody.

In its annual global survey, the Committee to Protect Journalists found at least 274 journalists in jail in relation to their work on December 1, 2020, exceeding the high of 272 in 2016. China, which arrested several journalists for their coverage of the pandemic, was the world’s worst jailer for the second year in a row. It was followed by Turkey, which continues to try journalists free on parole and arrest new ones; Egypt, which went to great lengths to keep custody of journalists not convicted of any crime; and Saudi Arabia. Countries where the number of jailed journalists rose significantly include Belarus, where mass protests have ensued over the disputed re-election of the long-time president, and Ethiopia, where political unrest has degenerated into armed conflict.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that repressive governments have imprisoned at least 250 journalists. Lack of global leadership on democratic values – particularly from the United States, where President Donald Trump has inexhaustibly denigrated the press and cozied up to dictators such as Egyptian President Abdelfattah el-Sisi – has perpetuated the crisis. As authoritarians leveraged Trump’s “fake news” rhetoric to justify their actions – particularly in Egypt – the number of journalists jailed on “false news” charges steadily increased. This year, 34 journalists were jailed for “false news,” compared with 31 last year.

Within the United States, no journalists were jailed at the time of CPJ’s prison census, but an unprecedented 110 journalists were arrested or criminally charged in 2020 and around 300 were assaulted, the majority by law enforcement, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. At least 12 still face criminal charges, some of which carry jail terms. Observers told CPJ that the polarized political climate, militarized law enforcement, and vitriol toward the media combined during a wave of protests to eradicate norms that once afforded journalists police protection.

CPJ has published recommendations to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden for restoring U.S. press freedom leadership globally, which include ensuring accountability for the domestic attacks on journalists as well as instructing diplomats abroad to attend trials of journalists and speak out in support of independent media. CPJ found the lack of trust in media in the U.S. to be particularly dangerous during the global pandemic.

CPJ lists these three Iraqi journalists as currently jailed:

Guhdar Zebari	Wllat News	October 22, 2020	Iraq
Omed Haje Baroshky	Freelance	September 13, 2020	Iraq
Sherwan Amin Sherwani	Freelance	October 7, 2020	Iraq

In related news, NRT reports a crackdown on freedom of expression in the KRG:

The Peace and Freedom Organization (PFO) said on Sunday (December 27) that there were at least 207 major instances in the Kurdistan Region where freedom of the press and expression were violated during 2020, a shocking 133 percent increase compared with 87 the previous year.

The violations included preventing protests, detaining journalists and activists, closing media outlets and offices, and killing protesters, the local watchdog said in its annual report.

Head of the PFO Sangar Yousif told a press conference for the report’s release that the numbers in some categories are certainly higher because the organization largely dealt with collective cases, rather than individual violations. For instance, if a reporting team with several journalists was prevented from covering an event, it was counted as one violation.

According to the 2020 report, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or groups associated with the Region’s parties prevented 79 protests, killed nine protesters, closed six media outlets or offices, arrested 64 journalists and activists, prevented journalists from covering a news event 30 times, physically attacked journalists eleven times, and prevented the work of organizations three times.

Jake Sullivan is Joe Biden's nominee for National Security Advisor and, when Joe Biden was Vice President, Jake was Joe's National Security Advisor. That meant, since Joe was tasked by Barack Obama with Iraq, Jake should be something of an expert on Iraq. His ability to do any job was called into question when Jake took to social media and tried to preen and posture on the topic with a Tweet:

Saudi Arabia’s sentencing of Loujain al-Hathloul for simply exercising her universal rights is unjust and troubling. As we have said, the Biden-Harris administration will stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur.

He was quickly put in check by MBS 2030:

You know who killed this journalist in Iraq

9:21 AM · Dec 29, 2020

If the video doesn't show above, click here. The assailants are captured on camera but no arrests. Jake Sullivan thought he could preen and posture and he got slapped in the face with the reality that, in Iraq, you can murder a journalist, get caught doing so on camera and still get away with it.

Idiots like Jake Sullivan are embarrassments and should think before they Tweet. In Iraq, no one ever solves the murder of a journalist. Doubt me? From the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization:

Huner Rasool	Male	12/08/2020	Iraqi/Kurdish	New request	Link
Nizar Thanoun	Male	11/02/2020	Iraqi	New request	Link
Ahmed Abdul Samad	Male	10/01/2020	Iraqi	New request	Link
Safaa Ghali	Male	10/01/2020	Iraqi	New request	Link
Ahmed Muhana al-Lami	Male	06/12/2019	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Samir Ali Hussein Shgara	Male	10/01/2019	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Arkan Sharifi	Male	30/10/2017	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Harb Hazaa al-Dulaimi	Male	07/07/2017	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Soudad al-Douri	Male	07/07/2017	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Véronique Robert	Female	24/06/2017	French/Swiss	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Bakhtyar Haddad	Male	19/06/2017	Iraqi	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Stephan Villeneuve	Male	19/06/2017	French	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Souhaib Al-Hiti	Male	30/05/2017	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Shifa Zikri Ibrahim (aka Shifa Gardi)	Female	25/02/2017	Iraqi	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Mohammed Thabet al-Obeidi	Male	06/12/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Ali Resan	Male	22/10/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Ahmet Haceroğlu	Male	21/10/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Ali Ghani	Male	20/08/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Mustafa Saeed	Male	14/08/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Widad Hussein Ali	Male	13/08/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Ali Mahmud	Male	13/07/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Hassan al-Anbaki	Male	12/01/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Saif Talal	Male	12/01/2016	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Yahya Abd Hamad	Male	12/09/2015	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Yahya al-Khatib	Male	16/08/2015	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Ghazi Al-Obeidi	Male	05/08/2015	Iraqi	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Jalaa Al-Abadi	Male	15/07/2015	Iraqi	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Suahaa Ahmed Radhi	Female	01/07/2015	Iraqi	No Information Received So Far	Link	Link
Majed Al Rabi’i (aka Majid Al Rabi'i)	Male	06/05/2015	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link
Raed Al-Juburi	Male	05/05/2015	Iraqi	Ongoing/Unresolved	Link	Link

And if those names overwhelm you, take a minute to grasp that the list above is from one out of seven pages listing murdered Iraqi journalists since 2003, one out of seven pages. Yeah, Jake Sullivan needs to stop preening.

Staying with the topic of violence . . .

MNA states:

According to the Iraqi sources on Tuesday two US convoys were targeted in the southern provinces of Iraq.

A convoy was targeted in Al-Diwaniyah province in the south of Iraq, Sabrin News reported.

Al-Sumaria news also reported that the convoy was affiliated with the international coalition and was targeted on the Al-Diwaniyah international Road.

The Shafaq News quoted a security source as saying that a bomb had exploded in the path of the convoy, damaging one of the vehicles.

Minutes after the news was reported, Saberin News announced that another US convoy had been targeted in the city of Samawah in Muthanna Province.

Still on violence, NRT reports:

One person was killed and another was injured in Diyala governorate when an unidentified armed group attacked Um Hunta village in northern Jalawla sub-district on Tuesday evening (December 29).

NRT reporter Garmian Hama Pur said that the security forces blamed Islamic State remnants for the attack.

Still on deaths, ANADOLU AGENCY reports:

A leader in Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s movement was shot dead in southern Iraq on Tuesday, according to an Iraqi police officer.

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Rami al-Shabani in al-Diwaniyah city, killing him instantly, police captain Jamal al-Din al-Sudairy told Anadolu Agency.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Baxtiyar Goran Tweets:

A senior member/commander of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Saraya al-Salam assassinated in Diwaniya province. 
The assassination coincides with an IED attack on US-led coalition logistics convoy by a militia cell affiliated with Sadr in the province a day earlier — @TomtheBasedCat
. 
#Iraq

3:53 AM · Dec 29, 2020

New content at THIRD:

The following sites updated:

12/29/2020

k-mart

saw that video and had to share. remember k-mart? i do. are they still around?

i remember my favorite k-mart. it had a place to sit and eat and order food that was in the middle of the store against a back wall. these days, they're all at the front

and they'd have blue light specials.

and i'd always go to the section where they had the vinyl records.

after that?

i'd go to where they had the books and magazines.

and then i'd go over to the jewelry and look at the ear rings. then, finally, then i'd get around to shopping for whatever i went in for in the 1st place.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Monday, December 28, 2020. As the useless continue to whine about the Trump pardons they not only ignore fears of an upcoming attack in Iraq but also the many crimes in Iraq carried out by the US -- and the man behind the death squads, he's got a new company in Texas, where are you pathetic Gerry Condon and the rest who are so furious over the pardons? Why aren't you calling out War Criminals? Oh, that's right, it's not about justice for Iraq it's about partisan b.s. We get it, you're fakes and frauds. We get it.

Starting in Iraq, MEO notes this morning, "Iraq’s capital Baghdad and other cities are at risk of serious power shortages after Iran slashed gas exports, the electricity ministry said on Sunday, potentially placing further pressure on the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi." What are they talking about? From Sunday:

Here's news that effects every person in Iraq, REUTERS reports:

Iraq’s capital Baghdad and other cities are at risk of serious power shortages after Iran slashed gas exports, the electricity ministry said on Sunday, potentially placing further pressure on the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Iran has reduced gas exports to Iraq to five million cubic metres from 50 million cubic metres two weeks ago citing unpaid bills, a ministry spokesman said.

It also officially informed Iraq’s electricity ministry on Sunday that it plans to cut shipments further to three million cubic metres, the spokesman said.

Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) adds, "Iraq signed a two-year contract with Iran in June, renewing commitments to import Iranian gas for electricity, Iranian state media reported." This comes as ALMADA reports that Iraq is expecting zero degree temperatures for Monday and Thursday. Current temperature in Baghdad right now? 45 degrees F/ 9 degrees C.

BLOOMBERG NEWS states, "Iran started cutting exports to its neighbor, which is OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, after Iraq fell behind on its gas payments. Iraq owes around $2.7 billion in unpaid bills, Moussa said." That's what BLOOMBERG says. REUTERS says:

Iran's state gas company said on Monday it had slashed supplies to neighbouring Iraq over arrears of more than $6 billion, after the Iraqi electricity ministry said the cuts placed Baghdad and other cities at risk of serious power shortages. "The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity owes more than $5 billion in gas bills to the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), of which $3 billion remains blocked and inaccessible in ...TBI (Trade Bank of Iraq), and more than $2 billion is overdue debt," NIGC said in a statement.

MENAFN adds, "Iraq's Electricity Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Abadi stated that, on Tuesday, Iran"s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian manages to pay a visit to Iraq." In related news, THE DAILY SABAH reports:

Turkey, through its Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK), will begin electricity exports to Iraq Monday, through a transmission line between the southeastern Turkish province of Şırnak's Silopi district and Zakho province of Iraq that is located within the boundaries of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

EPDK opened electricity export applications to Iraq last month, which resulted in an amendment to the power supply license with Aksa Aksen Enerji Ticareti Inc. to include supplies to other markets, i.e. Iraq, in conjunction with the Turkish domestic market.

Let's move to another topic, former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki is back in the news. MEMRI states:

Speaking with Iran’s Al-Alam television on Dec. 24, Maliki, who served as Iraqi premier from 2006-2014, said that the regime’s fall “would not have meant the end of the story, but only the beginning.” Its collapse would have been followed by an invasion by Al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda terrorists, “and Israel would also enter the picture,” said Maliki. This in turn would have sparked a “major regional crisis,” he added.

To prevent this, Iraq had been prepared to send its army to Syria, said Maliki.

True/false? Consider the source -- sources. MEMRI is not known as a news outlet or as a non-biased source. Nouri is someone desperate to be back in power as prime minister. Journalist Heshmat Alavi Tweets:

Former Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki, a pawn of #Iran's regime:

We would have sent the Iraqi Army to fight in #Syria if It were needed to prevent the fall of al-Assad.

Soleimani led the initiative in Syria, as he did in Iraq, Lebanon & Yemen.  

Jafar A. Ahmad Tweets:

so Nouri al-Maliki admitted that the killing of Qasem Soleimani negatively impacted the pro Iran groups/ militias in Iraq. He also said the ring that Soleimani was wearing is a gift from him to Soleimani. twitter.com/AhadTv/status/

When not granting interviews, Nouri's busy preparing for the upcoming vote (supposed to take place in June) by creating splinter parties that he hopes will dilute the vote for others.

In other news, Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) reports this morning:

A spokesperson for an Iran-backed militia has denied allegations that one of its commanders was apprehended in connection with a recent rocket attack targeting the US embassy in Baghdad, instead attributing his arrest to a “criminal case”.

“The arrest of an Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) militia commander is not related to the attack on the US embassy,” AAH spokesperson spokesperson Mahmood al-Rubaii told Iraqi state media on Sunday. “It is on a criminal charge”.

Again, dropping back to Sunday:

In the real world, a threat has been made on Iraq's prime minister. Baxtiyar Goran Tweets:

Iraqi court issues arrest warrant for Kataib Hezbollah’s head of security Abu Ali al-Askari — sources tell al-Hadath. 
—
Askari in a tweet last night threatened Mustafa al-Kadhimi of cutting of his ears. 
#Iraq #Iran

Quote Tweet

ا لـ حـ ـد ث

THE BAGHDAD POST notes:

Abu Ali al-Askari, a senior Kataib Hezbollah commander, said in a statement on Twitter that the region is boiling, warning that there is the possibility of a full-blown confrontation between the Iraqi security forces and pro-Iran militias.

[. . .]

Considering him "a traitor", Askari called on PM Kadhimi not to test the patience of the “Resistance” any longer, threatening that the time is appropriate "to cut his ears as the ears of a goat are cut", after which he added, the Iranian Intelligence, the CIA and local hypocrites would be incapable of protecting him.

Somehow this news is not being reported in the west. A lot isn't. You've got pretend outrage over pardons by Donald Trump that people try to pass off as Iraq coverage. It's not. It's a lot of junk and a lot of garbage. Nothing will change the pardons. And at least they served some time. The people -- US military -- that attacked the REUTERS journalists and the family -- exposed in the WIKILEAKS video -- served no time. The US military that attacked journalists on April 8, 2003 resulted in no prison sentences. They fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, they fired on ALJAZEERA's Baghdad office and they fired on ABU DHABI's Baghdad office. These are War Crimes. Three people were killed, four more seriously injured.

Why the Trump pardons? Why are they cluttering up the media landscape?

A) It's Donald Trump. B) It's easy coverage. No one has to learn anything to cover a story reported over a decade ago. C) It's so damn easy.

They call out the mercenaries and they feel good about themselves. They're too impotent to call out War Crimes. They hide behind 'patriotism.' So they go to town on these mercenaries and get to feel good about themselves because they 'support' veterans. They do grasp that most mercenaries -- in any war -- are veterans, right? Oh, they didn't think about that, did they? Aren't they all, the pardoned, former US Marines? Oh, let's ignore that, right?

Selective outrage.

Blackwater's actions in Iraq are appalling. Many of us found the actions appalling in real time -- which means long before that Bahgdad drive-by. Many of us called them out long before that. Anyone want to explain how standard operating behavior -- which is what that drive-by was -- results in the demonization of the worker drones but not the head of the company Erik Prince?

I'm really tired of all the garbage that wants to pretend that the drive-by was some shocking event when, sadly, it was your average day in Iraq thanks to the US government.

Not hearing anything about the US arming and egging on death squads but then that might require a backbone and a sense of ethics and those still whining over the Trump pardons lack both. From March 6, 2013, Mona Mahmood, Maggie O'Kane, Chavala Madlena, Teresa Smith, Ben Ferguson, Patrick Farrelly, Guy Grandjean, Josh Strauss, Roisin Glynn, Irene Baqué, Marcus Morgan, Jake Zervudachi and Joshua Boswell (GUARDIAN) reported:

Retired Colonel Jim Steele, whose military decorations include the Silver Star, the Defence Distinguished Service Medal, four Legions of Merit, three Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart, is not at home. Nor is he at his office headquarters in Geneva, where he is listed as the chief executive officer of Buchanan Renewables, an energy company. Similar efforts to track him down at his company's office in Monrovia are futile. Messages are left. He doesn't call back.

For over a year the Guardian has been trying to contact Steele, 68, to ask him about his role during the Iraq war as US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld's personal envoy to Iraq's Special Police Commandos: a fearsome paramilitary force that ran a secret network of detention centres across the country – where those suspected of rebelling against the US-led invasion were tortured for information.

On the 10th anniversary of the Iraq invasion the allegations of American links to the units that eventually accelerated Iraq's descent into civil war cast the US occupation in a new and even more controversial light. The investigation was sparked over a year ago by millions of classified US military documents dumped onto the internet and their mysterious references to US soldiers ordered to ignore torture. Private Bradley Manning, 25, is facing a 20-year sentence, accused of leaking military secrets.

Steele's contribution was pivotal. He was the covert US figure behind the intelligence gathering of the new commando units. The aim: to halt a nascent Sunni insurgency in its tracks by extracting information from detainees.

It was a role made for Steele. The veteran had made his name in El Salvador almost 20 years earlier as head of a US group of special forces advisers who were training and funding the Salvadoran military to fight the FNLM guerrilla insurgency. These government units developed a fearsome international reputation for their death squad activities. Steele's own biography describes his work there as the "training of the best counterinsurgency force" in El Salvador.

Of his El Salvador experience in 1986, Steele told Dr Max Manwaring, the author of El Salvador at War: An Oral History: "When I arrived here there was a tendency to focus on technical indicators … but in an insurgency the focus has to be on human aspects. That means getting people to talk to you."

But the arming of one side of the conflict by the US hastened the country's descent into a civil war in which 75,000 people died and 1 million out of a population of 6 million became refugees.

Celerino Castillo, a Senior Drug Enforcement Administration special agent who worked alongside Steele in El Salvador, says: "I first heard about Colonel James Steele going to Iraq and I said they're going to implement what is known as the Salvadoran Option in Iraq and that's exactly what happened. And I was devastated because I knew the atrocities that were going to occur in Iraq which we knew had occurred in El Salvador."

It was in El Salvador that Steele first came in to close contact with the man who would eventually command US operations in Iraq: David Petraeus. Then a young major, Petraeus visited El Salvador in 1986 and reportedly even stayed with Steele at his house.

I'm sorry, COMMON DREAMS, COURAGE TO RESIST and all the rest of you cowards, when are you going to call for Jim Steele to be held accountable? Oh, that's right, never.

But you know what you accomplish as you cower in fear, you pathetic idiots? Not a damn thing except to help Jim Steele. He's terrorized multiple countries and he hasn't gone into hiding. No, he hasn't gone into hiding. What he's done instead, thanks to the useless like yourselves, is to set up his own security company -- in the US, no less. It's called Steele -- that's the company name and it boasts of it's "real world training" with active shooters. Yeah, he's terrorizing now in the US just like he did overseas but, hey, Gerry Condon, keep pretending your life hasn't been a complete waste.

January 3rd's coming up. It's cute how the media ignores that too. Donald Trump's been presented with a series of options regarding Iran -- all violent ones. Why? Because people fear violence will break out on the anniversary of the Iranian terrorist killed by the US government last January.

This is a thread from Lahib Higel of The Crisis Group:

The recent days quarrel between the #Iraqi gov. and resistance groups reflects an internal Iraqi power struggle more than a US-Iran showdown. With the upcoming anniversary of the killings of Muhandis and Soleimani, the fasa’il may be more anxious to take revenge than Iran is.

On 22 December, a barrage of rockets damaged parts of the US Embassy in the GZ. The

@WSJ

called it the largest attack on the embassy in a decade. Previous threats by the USG to close the Embassy ahead of an expected US military response still stand.

In the days following the rocket attacks, sec. forces detained members of Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH). On 25 Dec. footage was released of one of the detainees, Husam al-Zerjawi. AAH denied any accusations against him compromising national security and called for his immediate release.

Video footage of unknown resistance groups pledging allegiance to AAH leader Qais al-Khazali circulated on resistance-affiliated platforms threatening to attack the government.

PM Kadhimi ordered the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) into Baghdad streets to avoid a potential repeat of the Dora raid scenario against Kataib Hezbollah (KH) in June, when an armed convoy of the fasa’il threatened the government inside the GZ.

National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji was sent to mediate with AAH. In a tweet on 26 Dec. Khazali claimed that the situation had been resolved, with reason prevailing. The Interior Ministry denied reports that it had transferred custody of the detainee to the Hashd al-Shaabi.

The same day, Abu Ali al-Askeri, KH’s security spokesperson, tweeted that the rocket attacks only play into the enemy’s hands and should stop, but reasserted that the resistance factions will defend each other, as threats against one impacts all of them.

He urged PM Kadhimi not to test the patience of the resistance (Iraqi and foreign), which is ready to confront him, and that intelligence services of neither the US nor Iran can protect him.

This is indicative of two things: On the one hand the fasa’il are emphasizing the national faultline - the resistance against the ‘treacherous’ government - and on the other they distinguish their affiliation with the IRGC/Quds force from the MOIS of Iran.

Simultaneously, another prominent player, Muqtada al-Sadr, seeks to ride the wave of the latest quarrel, presenting himself as a level-headed politician. On 25 Dec. he cautioned against US-Iran tensions playing out in Iraq, and later stated that a US exit should be negotiated.

Whatever happens on the 3 January anniversary, the internal power struggles between the Iran-affiliated resistance groups and the government, Sadr and other more nationalist Shia parties will remain tense in the run-up to the planned June parliamentary elections.

The best scenario for 3 January is one in which continued rocket attacks will cause no casualties nor spark fierce demonstrations by the resistance groups in front of the US Embassy, thus preventing further escalation before Biden takes office on 20 January.

For more more details pertaining to the larger picture of US-Iran tensions, see our @crisisgroup
 trigger list.

The Iran-U.S. Trigger List

I hope January 3rd is just another day. Many are worried that it won't be. None of those worried or concerned appear to work in the press corps or the punditry industry. Fiddle on, COMMON DREAMS, fiddle on while the world burns.

Moving on to a different topic, International Christian Concern issued the following:

Iraq’s government continues to move forward with plans to close camps for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) by the end of March. This decision is met with increased resistance by many as the the timeline for complete closure narrows.

From the standpoint of the government, it is time to encourage the reintegration of camp residents back into society. They were displaced by ISIS in 2014, and Iraq declared ISIS militarily defeated in 2017. From the standpoint of residents, there are multiple reasons why they do not want to leave. Many cite security related concerns, as they do not feel safe nor welcome returning to their original homes. They often cite poor infrastructure which would make living in those areas difficult if not impossible.

At this point, most of Iraq’s remaining Christian community do not live in the kinds of camps which are being shuttered by the government. However, they do feel the pressure from the authorities to return. Some Christian areas such as Qeraqosh have seen a significant return of the original population, but several areas (particularly in western Nineveh) remain empty of Christians. Although their lives in their areas of displacement remain difficult, it is preferable to the kind of difficulties they anticipate should they move back to their homes.

For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

12/30/2020

wonder woman 1984 really sucks

12/29/2020

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