1/03/2015

revenge is back!

sunday night on abc, 'revenge' returns.

i can't wait.

it's going to be danny's funeral and plans by emily and her father david to get revenge on victoria - and they mean for it to be a 'to the death' sort of thing.




are you ready for it?

me too.

i can't wait.

and sorry to former show runner mike k., season 3 didn't miss you and season 4 hasn't either.

the show is so much better without you.


also be sure to check out the 2014 commentaries:


 2014 year-in-review pieces:  Isaiah's "2014 Self-Exposure," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2014 In Music," Ruth's "Ruth's Radio Report 2014," Martha and Shirley's "2014 in Books (Martha & Shirley)"  Ann and Stan's "2014 in Film (Ann and Stan)" which first went up at their own sites as Ann's "2014 in Films (Ann and Stan)" and Stan's "2014 in film (Ann and Stan)," Third's "2014 Notable Events" and my "2014: The Year of Self-Exposure."


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



Saturday, January 3, 2015.  Chaos and violence continue, 3 Sunni clerics are assassinated and the White House is silent, 3 Sunni children are part of 20 civilians killed in Falluja and the White House is silent, Barack wants US troops to train the League of Righteous and America is silent, and much more.

Nickolay Mladenov has declared, "The Iraqi ordinary citizen continues to suffer from violence and terrorism.  2014 has seen the highest number of causalities since the violence in 2006 - 2007."

Nickolay Mladenov is United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to Iraq.  The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq counts at least 12,282 deaths and 23,126 people left injured.  This doesn't include Anbar which means the numbers are significantly higher since Anbar is the scene of much violence.

Not including Anbar not only reduces the number of dead and wounded, it also allows people to pose and pretend.

'Oh, that awful Islamic State! Killing innocent civilians!'

You mean like the Iraqi government does?

Alsumaria reports 20 civilians were killed in Falluja yesterday -- including 3 children -- and another twenty left injured.

Who killed and wounded those people?

The Iraqi military.

They've been bombing residential neighborhoods in Falluja since January.  It's a War Crime.

Nickolay Mladenov has made one statement opposing it -- it's now a year that it's been going on, that the Iraqi government has been killing Iraqi civilians.

And Nickolay thinks one statement takes care of it?

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has never said one word.

Not one word.

Does he really think he represent the best of the world's aspirations by staying silent about a government killing civilians?

1900.

That's not the century.

That's the number of civilian corpses Falluja General Hospital has received since the fall of victims of these attacks.

1900 is the number the western press won't tell you.

1900 is the number of innocents whose lives didn't matter to the Iraqi government and whose deaths clearly do not matter to the world press, to the White House or to the United Nations.

At what point does the world insist that the Iraqi government stop killing Iraqi civilians?

If you're wondering that's why the UN doesn't include Anbar in their death tolls -- they don't want to confront the reality that people are being killed -- so many are being killed -- by the Iraqi government.


It's not because they can't 'verify' the deaths.  They can verify deaths in Anbar as easily as they can anywhere else in Iraq -- in fact, they can verify them in Anbar a great deal easier than they can in Nineveh Province (especially Mosul).

They chose not to include Anbar and have done so because they don't want to 'embarrass' the Iraqi government.

Never forget that: The UN which proclaims "it's your world" bends over backwards to avoid documenting the deaths in Anbar because they don't want to 'embarrass' the Iraqi government.



And the White House just doesn't give a damn about Sunnis.

Doubt it?

Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) reported Friday about an attack in Basra Thursday night which left 3 Sunni clerics dead.  The State Dept said nothing.

No statement was issued.

Nothing.

Not even a damn tweet.

Three religious leaders are assassinated and two more are injured and the White House is silent -- Joe Biden's Twitter feed had time yesterday for Brazil, the State Dept had time for North Korea, the State Dept's Brett McGurk had time to trumpet bombings and other non-State Dept issues -- everyone's silent.


They'll issue a statement on the Shi'ites at the drop of hat.

But the Sunni community -- and it's noticed in Iraq -- can be attacked, can be savaged and the from the White House on down, the administration just doesn't give a damn.

And that's clear by the White House's refusal to call out the bombing of residential neighborhoods in Iraq.  These are legally defined War Crimes -- recognized as such by the US government.  And it is incumbent upon the White House to call them out.

These War Crimes?  They also legally mean the White House cannot arm the Iraqi government -- not when it's killing Iraqi civilians.  And this isn't in doubt, it's been going on since January of 2014.  It is documented, it is established.

Again, the White House silence is noted by Sunnis in Iraq.

Of the assassination,  AFP notes that "the Iraqi Islamic Party, one of the main Sunni political parties, said the attack was carried out by 'criminal militias,' an apparent reference to Shiite fighters Baghdad has turned to for support in its battle against IS."  And, of course, these Shi'ite militias forces would have been part of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's tour of Basra on December 31st and clearly could have stayed the next day to take part in the assassinations.  The Iraqi military that the US wants to train first needs to be purged of all criminal militia elements -- including those who, of course, kidnapped and killed US troops -- for those who missed it, Barack Obama released some of those in 2009 as a deal to get the League of Righteous to release the 1 living British hostage and the corpses of the other British hostages -- but remember, Barack insists that he doesn't make deals with terrorists.  The League of Righteous has been very clear that a deal was made -- very clear to the Iraqi press.

We're going to do a lengthy sidebar right now on the League, National Iraqi News Agency reports the League's Qais al-Khazail declared Tuesday that the United States and Israel were conspiring to destroy Iraq.

And that's who Barack's sending US troops to train.

The League is also known as Assaib al-Haq.  Tim Arango (New York Times) reported in September of 2013 that thug Nouri al-Malliki, then the prime minister of Iraq, had brought the Shi'ite militias under his wing -- providing them with military uniforms and weapons:




In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and, ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.


Again, this is the military that Barack wants US troops to train.  Grasp that.

If you're not getting how disgusting this is, let's drop back to the June 9th snapshot:

This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. 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."

No one ever did.  Barack was never held accountable for it.

But grasp that US troops are being expected to advise and train those who targeted and killed them but those who are running around Iraq telling the press that the US is conspiring with Israel to destroy Iraq.



Let's go back to the assassination of the 3 clerics.  Alsumaria notes that Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jubouri has called Friday for a serious investigation, for accountability and for prosecution over these assassinations (two more clerics were left injured in the attack).  And, no surprise, he's not satisfied with leaving the investigation to the Ministry of the Interior and wants Parliament to form an investigative committee as well.


For Friday's violence, Alsumaria notes an Abu Ghraib roadside bombing has left 1 person dead and four more injured, a Hussein roadside bombing has left seven people injured, and a Mahmudiya sticky bombing left two people injured. All Iraq News notes that the corpses of 3 police members were discovered dumped in Tikrit,  AFP reports that the Islamic State kidnapped "a total of 170 men were taken from the villages of Al-Shajara and Gharib in Kirkuk province, after two ISIS flags were burned in the area, an account confirmed by other officials from the province."




With the Iraqi military failing in Mosul so spectacularly last year, Parliament is investigating what went wrong. National Iraqi News Agency notes that Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc has stated they are prepared to call Nouri al-Maliki to testify in Parliament if the investigation warrants it.  Nouri is now one of Iraq's three vice presidents.  At the time of the fall of Mosul, he was the prime minister of Iraq.  More recently, Nouri attempted to publicly pin the blame for his failures as commander-in-chief with the fall of Mosul on the Kurds.












Posted by at

1/01/2015

why is barack so sexist and cbs so stupid?

cbs news reports gah-gah drooling over the 6 books barack is supposedly reading on his winter break.

why is it i notice what cbs doesn't?

every damn book is written by a man.

i'm sorry, do girls have cooties?

is that what barack's trying to tell us.

the little bitch is too precious to read the work of women writers?

this is the 21st f--ing century.


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


Wednesday, December 31, 2014.  As Iraq is gripped by violence, we look at the whoring and the lying that allowed it to happen.


If you ever questioned the proposition that US politicians are basically crooked and dishonest, let's note two people writing about Iraq today.


Jack A. Smith (Dissident Voice) offers:


The U.S. war against Iraq ended officially December 31, 2011, but it has now metamorphosed into Washington’s air war against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. There are increasing hints U.S. ground troops may be sent in this year. (3,000 American military advisers are already there and 1,500 allied troops are expected soon.)


We can all follow that.


And now here's nutty Dennis Kucinich, former US House Rep:

Establish a US Commission on Truth and Reconciliation. America was led into a war against Iraq, a war which killed over 1 million innocent Iraqis, a war which was based on every manner of deceit. In our name, and with our tax dollars, countless people were either killed, injured or tortured, their homes ruined, the land destroyed. It is time for Americans to know the truth about Iraq and other wars. Let us push Congress and the President to create a US Commission on Truth and Reconciliation.
We must require the highest level of accountability from those who have held the highest positions in our government. Lies which took us into war and established a national security state have separated us from each other, and from the world. Let us reunite in the spirit of truth and justice, seeking the moral high ground and a newer world.



Can Dennis just stop f**king around and lying.

There will not be -- in the next 20 years at least -- a US Commission on Truth and Reconciliation.  Why are you wasting people's time deceiving them?

There are things to focus on and your nonsense is not one of them.

You want a Truth Commission?  How about you tell the American people about the flight you took with Barack?  How about you explain how you got on that plane insisting you were sticking to your guns and not voting for ObamaCare but by the time you touched ground you were breaking your public promise?  Why don't you tell the American people about that conversation?

It would be illuminating.

Not just to show the world self-serving you are, but to explain how politics in the US really work.

Dennis is a disgrace.  I've always felt that way.

Now he's writing of Iraq as if the illegal war is over.  That's offensive enough.

But he's lying to the American people as well.  A decision was made to go war on Iraq.  That wasn't -- though Dennis loves to pretend otherwise -- a decision of just Republicans or of just Republicans plus Hillary Clinton.

It's not going to happen.

And this gets to the core of why I despise Dennis.

In 2004, in Boston, as he let down his supporters -- which really is the constant thread in the public career of Dennis Kucinich -- a young woman approached me crying, feeling he betrayed her and the rest and I comforted by leading her (eventually) in a chant of "F**k Dennis Kucinich!"

Dennis is never serious, Dennis is a con artist.

His runs in the Democrat parties presidential primaries -- which, let's be clear, is not running for president, he's never run for president -- are fake.

They're an attempt to corral people into the Democratic Party (and keep them from going to the Green Party or elsewhere).  After his fake run,  Dennis gives his little fake ass speech, after denouncing the party, urging his supporters to support the Democratic Party.  He's a tiny valve intended to release steam and frustration before all of us on the left are supposed to join hands and march behind whomever the party's decided gets the nomination.

In 2008, Barack Obama 'won' Iowa.

After the early round of the caucus, Dennis instructed his followers to take their support to Barack.

At what point does that little bitch plan to take accountability for that?

I believe Barack's actions in Libya were illegal.  I called them out here.

Dennis did so on Fox News.  But never took accountability for his role in promoting Barack Obama and helping to make him the nominee for the Democratic Party.

Dennis has never, ever run for president.

Don't believe the lies of Amy Goodman.

He's participated -- poorly -- in the Democratic Party's primaries.

Cynthia McKinney ran for president, Ralph Nader ran for president, H. Ross Perot ran for president, Barack ran for president, John McCain ran, etc.

But Dennis never ran for president.

The most he ever ran for was the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

There's a huge difference between that and running for president.

Look at any of his speeches when he repeatedly sought the party's nomination in one cycle after another.

Read the speeches and ask yourself, "If someone really believes that, why don't they run for president?"

Dennis is a fake ass.

He lives to distract.  Maybe because he's so nutty.  Maybe because that's the role he's assigned himself.

But he's worthless time and again.

If he wants to matter, it's not that hard.  Tell the truth about the plane ride.  Explain to Americans how you changed your mind on that plane ride.

He doesn't want to talk about the truth.

Talking about the truth might change the system.  It would certainly upset the apple cart.  So instead, he keeps lying and distracting.

At a certain point, his freak show doesn't even deliver snorts of derision.

At that point, he becomes an embarrassment that the world simply can't afford.

Dennis could have ended the Iraq War at any point.  Any member of the US Congress could have.  Former US Senator Mike Gravel told those truths and the response was John Edwards and Hillary Clinton caught on mike talking about how to purge certain people from the debates.


Real quick, let's see if we're all idiots like Dennis.  Here's the test. Can you  read Ahmed Rasheed and Ned Parker's latest report for Reuters and grasp what they're saying:


As Shi'ite forces push into territories held by Islamic State, many Sunnis have fled for fear of both the Shi’ite-led government and the Sunni jihadists.
Shi'ite leaders insist Islamic State must never be allowed to strike them again, nor return to areas now abandoned.
Shi'ite groups now decide who can stay in a community and who should leave; whose houses should be destroyed and whose can stand.
In one case, a powerful Shi’ite paramilitary organization has started redrawing the geography of central Iraq, building a road between Shi’ite parts of Diyala province and Samarra, a Sunni city that is home to a Shi’ite shrine.


You can summarize the above as Shi'ites clear out an area of the Islamic State and then purge the Sunni elements as well.

So you're not a complete idiot or crazy.

Not everyone can make that claim.

This morning, we noted the article and ethnic cleansing in Iraq.

Crazy Reider Visser  takes to Twitter with his own brand of insanity.

Maybe he thinks he's successfully disputing Ned Parker and Ahmed Rasheed?


As we explained "A crackpot runs AFP, Al Jazeera and the Christian Science Monitor" (June, 2013), this is the 'expert' who was running around the globe insisting the CIA was pretending to be the State Dept and he was being persecuted and hunted and his parents wanted him to get mental help.  As we explained:


 The man's a loon.  Read his September 2012 post for laughs.  He's being 'punished' and 'stalked' by the police in his country because . . . he took photos.  He didn't understand it was a crime, he writes, before making a xenophobic remark about the Japanese.  But Reider was done with his country.  He moved to England.  But the Norwegian police followed him there as well!  And continued to harass him.  So he went to the US and, "The Norwegians came after me to the United States as well. Easily recognisable officers of the organised crime unit within the Oslo police even followed me into research libraries where they deliberately sat next to me and made noise in order to disturb my work on Iraq."
Yeah, watch out, in US libraries, for those Norwegian police crime units.



It needs to be noted, and it has been repeatedly here, Reider and Joel Wing and all the little Circle Jerk buddies?

They weren't telling truths.

They were lying.

They were pimping for Nouri al-Maliki -- a thug. They were passing him off as a leader.

He led Iraq, alright, into the brink of destruction.

For all those just so amazed at the violence today in Iraq, so surprised by it, let's drop back for more of the June 2013 entry where we noted crazy Reider:




AFP's gotta be the dumbest and trashiest in the secretarial pool as evidenced by their latest nonsense. Nouri's gone on state TV (which he controls) to say what's happening in Syria is causing sectarian strife in Iraq.  Who knew AFP was also Iraqi state TV?

It must be because all it can do is present his comments in a vacuum, as if to exonerate his own actions and convict the Iraqis.

The most obvious point to make re: Syria is that, if true (it's not), how interesting that Nouri chose not to side with the west on the issue.

What goes on in Syria is not why there is sectarian strife in Iraq.

AFP fails at their job repeatedly acting as a megaphone for whomever's in power.  In this case, we're dealing with a paranoid tyrant.  AFP sends their stenography out over the wires and, in doing so, does tremendous damage.  The press is supposed to be a watchodg not a stenographer.

This is the week that saw Nouri (illegally) kick Kurds out of the Cabinet.  For the record, the sectarian strife Nouri's alarmed about at this second is Sunni v. Shi'ite.  But it takes a lot of never when you conduct your war on the Kurds to, in the same week, insist others are playing sectarian games.  Nouri's always been enabled by a slovenly and unprofessional western press.

In 2010, Nouri agreed to the US-brokered Erbil Agreement.

Now Nouri's a known liar who's failed to keep every promise he's made in his first and second term.  For those who missed Nouri's first broken promise, he was out of Iraq at the time, and only a few months into being prime minister, when the US began putting up blast walls and barricades throughout Baghdad.  An enraged Nouri insisted they were coming down immediately as soon as he returned to Iraq, he even used the words "promise" in the statement.  Of course, Nouri returned and the walls stayed up.  Add "being Joshua with the rams horns outside the walls of Jericho" to a list of the many things Nouri has tried to be but instead failed miserably at.

Nouri only agreed to it because he wanted a second term as prime minister and he never planned to honor it.  Other political blocs thought it was for real -- because the US government brokered it and vouched for it -- and signed on.  If Nouri's having trouble and you're an outlet reporting today, you can't ignore The Erbil Agreement.  Since the summer of 2011, Iraqiya (who won in the 2010 elections), the Kurds (Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, KRG President Massoud Barzani, etc) and clric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr have been demanding that Nouri stop postponing and implement The Erbil Agreement as he was supposed to at the end of 2010.

Nouri's failure to implement the contract has disenfranchised many.  When a people stop believing that their voices are listened to, they find means other than conversation to make their points.  What's happening isn't surprising unless you're a stenographer for AFP.   You sort of picture Prahsant Rao and Reider Visser lunching on plain yogurt and lamenting how their thunder thighs will look next weekend in their bridesmaids dresses.


That's how Iraq arrived at where it is today.

A lot of liars.


Over the last few years, a lot of e-mails have come in lamenting tone an language.

To which I say, you can eat my _____.


Honestly, tone?

You're bothered by the tone?

People are dying and you're bothered that I'm angry that a country supposedly 'liberated' has instead been trashed, decimated and poisoned?


As for language?

I've repeatedly noted that I have a very foul mouth.  We are work place friendly.  Which means we are limited to 'swear' words we can use.  My favorite word is four letters long and starts with an "s," ends with a "t" and waves hello via "hi" in the middle.  I can't use that word here.

I can use "whore" and Media Whores Online pioneered calling out the whores.  I wish MWO was still around.

But if you can't grasp how much lying and whoring has taken place on Iraq in the last six years, let's note this:


Alice Fordham has a report for NPR's Morning Edition (link is text and audio) that wants to insist Nouri's trying to bring the Sahwa into the military -- while ignoring what Ned Parker's outlined above and what's taken place for the entire second term of Nouri al-Maliki until right before these elections.
She's providing a wrong impression to listeners.



So what, you say, in 2009, Fordham wrongly thought Nouri would incorporate the Sahwa.

And if that was from 2009 or even 2010, I'd call it out but note that Fordham got it wrong.

Trouble is, that's from the April 18, 2014 snapshot.

At that point, at that late date, you're not just 'wrong,' you're whoring because you're deliberately wrong.  (Fordham was deliberately wrong on other details and we noted in that snapshot.)

Does it matter?

Does any of it matter?

It has to.

Because it's life or death.

If Alice Fordham had done actual reporting, if Joel Wing and Crazy Reider hadn't whored for thug Nouri, Iraq might not be where it is now, where it is today.

Violence had dropped off.

The government in place was imposed by the US government so, political science would argue, there was always a chance of renewed violence when the bulk of US forces left the country.

So violence could very well have increased.  It could have even gotten worse than it is now.

But what bred the violence was Nouri al-Maliki.

And what allowed him to breed the violence was a world that largely looked away, a press that near universally hid the truth -- western press, excuse me -- about what Nouri was doing.

This is a man so hateful that he sent agents of the Ministry of the Interior into Iraqi schools to target gay and thought to be gay men, to stir up hate against these men, to tell the students that these men would kill them, that these men drink blood, etc.  And not just tell the students that.

See, here's what got Nouri in trouble, they had a handout.

When reports first emerged -- in the Iraqi media, please no western outlet touched it -- Nouri's spokesperson insisted the actions of the Ministry were being distorted and nothing of the sort happened.

But there was the handout.

And when Alsumaria and Al Mada got a hold of the handout, Nouri's story suddenly changed from it didn't happen to oops how did this happen.

This is how evil Nouri al-Maliki is.

He deliberately attempted to frighten children of gay men and encouraged them to attack and kill gay men.

It was there in the presentation and, too bad for Nouri, it was there in the handout.

He was evil.

That's only one example.

But this is the man that press carried water for.  This is the thug that Joel Wing and Crazy Reider portayed as respectable and a real leader.

People need to be held accountable for what they do.

And if that means I have to be the biggest bitch online day after day, then that's what it means for however long this site continues.

There are a lot of people willing to prop up thugs like Nouri.

The last six years hasn't seen a lot of attempts -- outside of the Iraqi press -- to defend the people of Iraq.


This week, the American Kurdish Council of California's Delovan Barawri (at Huffington Post) noted:

Yet, while the oppressive Middle Eastern regimes subjugated their citizens, especially the minorities, the global players kept a blind eye on the brutality, often supporting and arming the oppressors. A prime example is the Obama administration's support of the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Maliki, in spite of his dictatorial and marginalizing policies, which ultimately allowed the Sunni regions to turn into breeding grounds for ISIS.



And that's what all the whoring did.

It allowed the White House to support Nouri.

A thug.  Someone who killed protesters.  Someone I believe had a journalist killed (Hadi al-Mahdi).  He certainly had Hadi and other journalists tortured.

And even when this did get coverage by the western media, it was limited coverage.  (Click here for Annie Gowen and Aziz Alwan covering it for the Washington Post.)

This is the thug that when the bulk of US forces departed Iraq, turned Iraq's military tanks onto his political rivals.  And Liz Sly reported on it for western media (Washington Post) but people had other things to do apparently.

So let's not pretend that the Islamic State popped up out of the middle of nowhere and for no reason.

A lot of whoring allowed the despot Nouri al-Maliki to get away with, yes, murder.

And the response to that can be seen in Iraq today.


From time to time, a friend will say to me that they can't believe I called out _____ -- a mutual friend.  Of course I did.  The hurt feelings of a friend don't begin to equal the suffering of the Iraqi people  Those whose actions encourage and prolong the suffering of the Iraqi people probably deserve a little more than hurt feelings over getting roughed up verbally in the global town square that is the internet.

And maybe instead of whimpering and whining, they could take accountability for their part in increasing violence in Iraq?






Posted by at

12/31/2014

good for joan collins

british actress joan collins will be made a dame by the queen of england.

she is, of course, a film, tv and theater actress.

her most famous role will always be alexis carrington on the tv show 'dynasty' - the whole world delighted in her performance.

and she's continued to delight and also added the role of author to her resume.


so good for joan.

it's quite an honor to a long list of honors she's accumulated in her career

her website notes:

Delighted to Officially report that Joan will finally be awarded A Dame - DBE For services to Charity in the New Years Honours List just published.. Joan as you can imagine was thrilled to be included on the list and I am sure her legion of fans and admirers are just as thrilled for her..



bbc has a nice overview of her life and career here.

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


Tuesday, December 30, 2014.  Chaos and violence continue, who keeps declaring the death of Iraq (hint: It's not Iraqis), the Yazidis aren't the only religious minority in Iraq, the US State Dept continues to mistake itself for the Defense Dept, a lot of ugly gets aimed at an Iraq War veteran, and much more.



Dar Addustour offers all Iraqis the warm wishes as 2014 turns into 2015 and they hope for peace and prosperity. There are other notes of cheer in the Iraqi media and there are some concerns.  Pretty much the most negative thought is when Khalid al-Quarqghouli (Kitabat) wonders if it's time to see all of Iraq as one big refugee camp?

On the refugee crisis, the UN Tweets:






    • Image preview



    Mu Xuequan (Xinhua) reports:

     Conflicts in Iraq took a heavy toll on civilians in the country this year, having caused thousands of casualties and displaced more than 2 million people, an official with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday.
    "The ongoing cycle of violence, which contravenes international humanitarian law and has resulted in the continued loss of civilian lives and the destruction of property essential for survival, remains a matter of serious concern for the ICRC," said Patrick Youssef, head of the ICRC delegation in Iraq, in a statement.


    "Most negative" is not to pick on al-Quarqghouli or the opinion expressed.

    It is to provide a context.

    There are serious problems in Iraq -- as a result of the illegal war -- and no one would pretend otherwise.

    But, regardless of the outlet in Iraq, you don't read claims that the country is dead.

    No, for nonsense like that, you have to go to American outlets where you find things like "the year Iraq ceased to exist."  It's penned by CIA contractor/contractee Juan Cole and the fact that TruthDig publishes it really means that 2015 may see the old Ramparts battle -- where one faction accused Robert Scheer of being a disruptive element paid to disrupt paid to disrupt by the government -- re-emerge publicly in Scheer's final years.


    But for right now, everyone should just ponder why it is that Iraqis -- who truly suffer every day -- are not the ones declaring their own deaths.  It's pompous Americans who do that.  Especially pompous ones who supported the illegal war -- as Juan Cole did.

    Let's stay with idiots for a moment.

    Max Blumenthal will probably be named as a stupid ass in the year-in-review.  He won't be the only one.  But it'll be for something different than what we are noting today.

    Blumenthal is among a select few whining about the film American Sniper and its based on Iraq War veteran Chris Kyle,  Kyle was killed (in the United States) in 2013.

    I'm not understanding Max except for the fact that he's clearly trash.

    He's attacking the late veteran and trashing him -- which is something Blumenthal does frequently.  In fact, I have other things to cover in the year-in-review so let's pull it out now and put it on the table.

    Jane Fonda, during Vietnam, was not anti-troops.  She spoke to the troops because she wanted to reach them.  She took part in the GI Coffeehouse movement and many other elements.

    She is wrongly seen as someone who 'spat' on American troops (that myth refuses to die).

    For some on the other side, Jane is a focal point and they try to make her the voice of the left.

    (This despite the fact that, while she can't stop playing aged sexpot and updating the world on her supposed hot sex life -- c'mon, Jane, we know better -- she can't say a word against the ongoing Iraq War.)

    What Jane serves as mostly now is a cautionary tale.

    How far on the left do we go, what is acceptable, etc.

    Here's what's not acceptable: Hating groups of people.

    That's unacceptable.

    And that's all Max Blumenthal has to offer.


    There was some local story about an Iraq War veteran that killed someone or someones.  Max took to Twitter to try to turn into the story of the year.

    When victims of burn pits need help, Max is never there.  Can't use that online presence to help them.

    But when there's something that he thinks can be used to indict the entire body of the US military, he runs with it with like crazy.


    And he's the reason that the right can repeatedly convince people that the left hates service members.

    I support war resisters -- we've covered them more than any other website.  But I've also noted that if I'm going to support those who feel the war is illegal and unethical and wrong, I'm going to support the right of those who feel differently as well.

    Jose or Joanne sent to Iraq by the US government is not the problem and is not the enemy.

    It's amazing that Max Blumenthal can attack a dead man who was sent to Iraq by the US government and did the tasks the US government ordered him to do yet Max Blumenthal can't say one damn word about Barack Obama, US President, and his failure to the end the Iraq War -- remember, that's the 'promise' that got him elected.  (It was never an honest promise and unlike so many temple whores in The Cult of St. Barack, we pointed it out while his lap were flapping on the campaign trail.)


    I got fury in my soul
    Fury's gonna take me to the glory goal
    In my mind I can't study war no more
    Save the people
    Save the children
    Save the country now!
    -- "Save The Country," written by Laura Nyro, first appears on her New York Tendaberry

    I've got fury in my soul and I've got anger.

    None of which I aim at someone who was sent to Iraq.

    I'll blame Bully Boy Bush, I'll blame Barack.

    I'm not going to blame someone who was, in my opinion, betrayed by their own government, misused by the government, etc.

    I fully support the right of any member of the US military to resist the illegal war.  I also support the right to serve in it -- even to believe in it.

    I don't believe in it and I never will.

    But I don't just support people who agree with me and think like me and speak like me.

    And I certainly do not blame those who did what they were ordered to do.

    I am appalled that Blumenthal and his ilk repeatedly attack and blame those following orders and yet protect the ones in power, the ones who give the orders.

    And don't give me your bulls**t that you call out Bully Boy Bush.  It's 2014.  I can't imagine anything easier in the world than calling out Bully Boy Bush.  I also can't imagine anything more stupid since the Iraq War continues and Bully Boy Bush left the White House in January of 2009.

    Big Brave Maxie-Pad Blumenthal can't call out Barack, can he?

    But he can attack those who served in Iraq -- especially if they're dead and can't respond to him.

    I will gladly defend my position -- the war is illegal -- but if I'm calling out someone for their deployment in Iraq, it's because what they personally did amounts to War Crimes.

    That would be Steven D. Green and his ilk who plotted and conspired to gang rape and kill 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and to kill her five-year-old sister and to kill both parents.  They broke into the family's home, they tried to make it appear 'terrrorists' were responsible for their actions.

    These are War Crimes.

    Check our archives, they were called out repeatedly here.

    Maxi can't make the same claim, can he?

    War Crimes?

    Civilians in Falluja, since the start of the year, have been bombed as a means of collective punishment -- these are daily bombings carried out by the Iraqi military.  This is the legal definition of a War Crime.  Max Blumenthal has called that out when?

    So let's not pretend this is about War Crimes because Max clearly doesn't give a damn about War Crimes.

    Chris Kyle was not sent to Iraq as part of the diplomatic corps.  He was trained to be a sniper and he was sent to a war to carry out that duty.

    If you don't like that people were sent to Iraq to be snipers, I don't see why you rail at Chris Kyle.

    You rail at the officials who sent Kyle into Iraq.

    And don't bore us with your empty words against Bully Boy Bush.

    That's about as 'brave' as calling out Tricky Dick Nixon.

    If you're against war, and I am, you call out the people responsible for it.  In 2014, that would mean you'd have to call out Barack Obama.

    Chris Kyle is gone.  He does have a family who is proud of him and they have every right to be.  He did what was asked to do by the government.

    I don't support war.

    But I'm not shocked that someone trained by the government to be a sniper and then sent by the government to Iraq would shoot people dead.  That's not shocking to me and it's not surprising.

    I'm not angry at Chris Kyle or his memory.

    I am angry at the US government and the officials who sent Chris Kyle and so many others into an illegal war.


    I am not a fan of Clint Eastwood's.  I never have been.  I know him loosely and I honestly don't care for him.

    I certainly didn't go on Larry King in the 90s raving about how In The Line Of Fire was a 'feminist statement' -- no, that embarrassing moment came from a woman who's given us far too many embarrassing moment.

    (I'm not referring to Renee Russo who I know and like.  I'm referring to an actress who did not appear in the film.)

    But he has every right as a film maker to make American Sniper and I hope it's a good movie (I won't be seeing it).

    Other people have a right to make films from the same perspective, from opposite perspectives and from anywhere on the political spectrum.

    I raise that point because there are a lot jerks slamming Clint or his film -- not just slamming Chris Kyle -- and yet these same jerks?

    They slammed Kimberly Peirce for Stop-Loss.

    I don't know what world these idiots live in but when an indie director (what Peirce was at the time) gets a film budget from MTV, if any politics are in the movie at all, that's a bonus.

    Peirce didn't go far enough for the malcontents who apparently could have squeezed the money out of MTV and filmed the Camilo Mejia story.

    I think Camilo is a hero.

    (He's a War Resister for those who don't know.  In the US, on leave, Camilo decided not to return to Iraq because the war was illegal.  He had been stop-lossed.  He couldn't be stop-lossed, a fact that the military 'justice' system ignored.  US citizens serving in the US military could be stop-lossed -- their military service extended over their objections.  Non-US citizens could not be.  Camilo wasn't a US citizen at that time.  He tells his story in Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia.)


    Kimberly made a strong film that has done intense business on DVD, Blu Ray and streaming.


    Instead of accepting it for what it was, fringe elements on the left felt the need to trash the film.

    So these same elements are going to trash a film where the lead character wants to self-checkout (but ultimately doesn't) and they're going to trash a film about US sniper.

    Exactly what range of discussion does this fringe element believe remains for film?

    And exactly who do they think, on the left, will even try to make a film when Kimberly -- an acclaimed independent film director, one applauded by the LGBTQ community -- is attacked?

    You're ensuring that no one wants to make a film against the war because apparently nothing will satisfy you and there's apparently no strong aspect on the left that will tell you to pipe down.

    Clint made a film he had every right to make.

    If you're upset that it's not a peace film or an anti-war film, then you're going to have to accept your own blame because as I remember it, we stood alone in defending Kimberly (yes, I know her, I would have defended her regardless and she made a solid film in Stop-Loss which will have more impact long after the Max Blumenthals are gone -- are thankfully gone).

    Let's move over to the US State Dept which has posted the following by John Allen:


    In early June of this year, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters poured down the Tigris Valley. Multiple cities fell. The northern approaches to Baghdad were exposed to ISIL. Iraq was under siege, poorly governed and alone in the world.
    Six months later, and less than three months since the President called for an international effort against ISIL and I was appointed special envoy to the global coalition to counter ISIL, 60 nations met in Brussels on December 3, 2014, to demonstrate their shared commitment to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL. It is an expression of the threat ISIL poses to global security that so many partners came together so quickly to confront this emergency. It is also a powerful testament to the importance of American leadership. No other nation could bring together such a diverse coalition to tackle a challenge this complex like the United States.
    At this first ministerial-level meeting in Brussels, the Iraqi government also demonstrated its commitment to becoming a more proactive partner in the fight against ISIL. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi updated the coalition on the unity government's efforts to take important steps to benefit all Iraqis, including efforts to implement significant judicial sector reforms, and to root out decay and corruption in Iraq's security apparatus. Indeed, in recent weeks, Abadi removed two dozen generals and publicly disclosed the results of a government-sponsored investigation revealing thousands of ghost soldiers on the Iraqi military's rolls. And just days before we met in Brussels, Baghdad signed a critical oil deal with the Kurds on revenue management and oil exports.
    Iraq's continued progress toward reform and inclusiveness will be imperative to the coalition's success. There was recognition in Brussels, however, that ISIL is not solely an Iraqi problem. Nor is it solely a Syrian problem. ISIL is an international problem and demands a sustained international response.
    Under U.S. leadership, the coalition is responding to the global threat posed by ISIL with a coordinated global effort. So far, eight coalition partners are taking part in airstrikes over Iraq. Six nations are participating in strikes in Syria. As of early December, there have been more than 1,200 strikes against ISIL targets. And each time we have coordinated coalition air support with Iraqi forces on the ground, ISIL's momentum has been halted and it is now constantly looking over its shoulder for the next attack.
    While the immediate focus remains to degrade and defeat ISIL in Iraq, we and coalition partners will continue to strike at ISIL in Syria to deny them safe haven and to disrupt their ability to project power. We are having an impact in Syria; we have struck at ISIL's command-and-control nodes, supply lines, fighters and leaders, and military and economic infrastructure and resources in Syria. We have also debilitated ISIL's oil producing, processing and transportation infrastructure. This is critical given that the smuggling and sale of oil provides ISIL with as much as $1 million per day.
    Of course, we cannot hope to defeat ISIL through military action alone. Coalition partners are now in leading roles to stop the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, to limit ISIL's financing, and to defeat ISIL where it can do incredible harm: in the virtual space and marketplace of ideas. Nations as diverse as Morocco, Germany, and Kuwait have helped to steer these efforts. And when millions of men, women and children have been displaced by ISIL's barbarism, dozens of nations have stepped up to make significant humanitarian contributions, and will continue to need to do so, in order for the region to regain stability and for innocent civilians affected by conflict to regain hope for the future.
    Across each of these lines of effort, the coalition's ultimate success against ISIL will depend on our commitment, our creativity and our coordination. We also cannot truly defeat ISIL for the long-term if we do not use this unique moment in history to take action as a community of nations to address the underlying political, economic and social issues that have allowed ISIL's toxic and destructive ideology to flourish.
    This is an ambitious task and generational work. But we take on this challenge with a growing and diverse coalition of partners. If we can remain united in this common effort both to defeat ISIL and to lay the foundations for a more stable Middle East, we will have left a legacy that is far more powerful than the defeat of one intolerant and nihilistic group of terrorists. We will have laid the foundation for a world that is more tolerant, more secure and more prosperous. 


    First off, John Allen is actually General John Allen and I'm confused as to why "General" was left out of the byline the State Dept gave to the article (they do note the title in their end note).  And "special envoy"?

    Where's the State Dept's special envoy?

    Forget the general because he's not part of the State Dept and his column really should have appeared at DoD but Secretary of State John Kerry continues to mistake himself for Secretary of Defense.

    Silly me, when we advocated for him for this post, I thought he actually wanted it.

    I didn't think he'd be Ann Wright (who Barack should have nominated for Secretary of State in January of 2009) or anyone that would really fight for peace, but I did think he'd provide some dignity for the diplomatic corps.  And he's not been a total failure -- for example, Hillary had no oversight her entire four years as Secretary of State -- a point those who want to stop her apparent presidential bid should be making loudly right now.  She went through the entire four years without a State Dept Inspector General.  She didn't want one.  She didn't want oversight.  She thought she was above the American people she served.  There's your talking point to rally against her.  By contrast, John committed to Congress that he would have an inspector general and, within a few months, he did.

    But John Kerry needs to stop acting like he's Secretary of Defense (or, worse, Alexander Haig) and start acting like a Secretary of State.

    And the State Dept needs to stop promoting the military and start promoting diplomacy.

    General Allen has participated in many meet-ups on the Islamic State and each conference has gotten press attention.  But when it's diplomatic efforts, why isn't the State Dept promoting those efforts?  That includes stressing them in press briefings before the conferences take place.


    Let's turn now to religious minorities.  No, not the Yazidis.  They're all over -- didn't we love the photo with Samantha Power? surprised they didn't do a selfie.  Now that they have the right-wing p.r. firm (paid for by US war hawks), they're all over the place.  Still they whine that the Palestinians get more attention.

    Nazwat Shamdeen (Niqash) reports:

    As one activist from the Iraqi ethnic minority, the Shabak, says, all of the other segments of society attacked by the extremist Islamic State group have had attention and aid. However the Shabaks, who have lost all their land and who have been targeted by extremists in northern Iraq for over a decade, complain nobody seems to care about them.



    “We are the forgotten victims of the extremists,” says Mohammed Abbas, a political activist and member of Iraq’s Shabak ethnic minority. “All the parts of Iraqi society that have been attacked by extremists from the Islamic State group have gotten a lot of media attention. Except us,” he complains.


    Abbas says that almost all of the land belonging to the Shabaks is now gone. “Even the Yazidis still have the Shikhan district, north of Mosul, which remained untouched by the Islamic State and the Christians still have the city of Qosh. Both those areas are under the control of the Iraqi Kurdish military. But we don’t even have any land anywhere to bury our dead anymore,” Abbas concluded wearily. 



    Previously there were an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 members of the Shabak ethnicity in the northern province of Ninawa where the Islamic State, or IS, group has wreaked so much havoc. The Shabak, who mostly lived in about 50 towns and villages in a crescent slung over the Ninawa Plain, are often Muslim and mostly Shiite Muslim. There are also some Sunni Muslim Shabaks too. Some consider themselves closer in ethnicity to Iraq’s Kurds while others consider themselves to be more aligned with Iraq’s Arabs.


    Even the Iraqi Christians have taken a back seat to the Yazidis.  In fact, not even the annual attention -- limited attention -- Iraqi Christians receive from the press at Christmas matched the non-stop Yazidi coverage.  But again, they've now got a p.r. firm and they've got representative paid to travel to the US, Canada and England to advocate for war.

    Trudy Rubin (syndicated columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer) has long covered Iraq and she focuses on Iraqi Christians in her latest column which includes this:



    The number of Chaldeans (whose church dates to the early Christian era), and of members of other ancient Iraqi Christian sects, has plummeted in recent years amid repeated attacks by Shiite and Sunni Islamists. But the most terrible blow came this year, when Islamic State terrorists sent 200,000 Christians fleeing from their historical heartland in northern Iraq, including the city of Mosul, leaving it empty of Christians for the first time in 1,600 years.
    "As I speak, the process of the eradication of Christians in Iraq and throughout the Middle East continues," the Detroit-based Chaldean Bishop Francis Kalabat told a Senate hearing this month. Ten years ago, he said, there were more than 350 churches in Iraq, but today there are fewer than 40. Many were bombed and destroyed, especially in the historically Christian villages of the north. Community leaders estimate that the Christian population has dropped from more than a million to fewer than 400,000, many of them internal refugees.

    "The United States has a unique role and obligation in this conflict," Kalabat added in a stunning indictment, " ... because the plight of Christians in Iraq today is a direct result of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003."



    There will be a snapshot tomorrow.  It will probably be very brief.  After it goes up, our year in review content will start going up.












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