Though
US President Barack Obama has repeatedy attempted to portay the Iraq
War as a success, reality has refused to play along.
David Kerr (Catholic News Agency) reports
today, "U.S. Military Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio says the collapse
of Iraq's Christian population is among the legacies of America's
invasion in 2003." He is quoted stating, "Yes, you can say in a certain
sense that the invasion of Iraq did provoke this tremendous diminution
of the Christian population in that country."
Catholic Culture quotes him stating, "Before they were a minority that was protected but now they are a minority that is not protected." Meanwhile
Mohammed Tawfeeq and Frederik Pleitgen (CNN) report
Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi is calling out Barack's
description of Iraq as "free, stable and democratic," asking, "What sort
of Iraq are we talking about? How the Americans will feel proud? How
the American administration is going to justify to the taxpayer the
billions of dollars that has been spent and at the end of the day the
American saying, 'Sorry, we have no leverage even to put things in order
in Iraq'?" In addition,
Al Sturgeon (Sioux City Journal) weighs in
with his opinion on whether the Iraq War was "'worth it?' Unless you
can check reasoning and logic at the door, the answer seems to be a
resounding 'no.'" Actress
Kim Schultz wrote the play
No Place Called Home to draw attention to the Iraqi refugee crisis.
At Policy Mic, she points out:
Over
4 million Iraqis have been displaced since the 2003 invasion, a war
that would not have taken place without the Bush administration's
violent overreaction to 9/11. That's 4 million people; about 1 in 5
Iraqi citizens have been displaced. After travelling across the country
to perform my play, I've learned that most Americans don't know this.
And at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the invasion. 100,000. These are big numbers.
Almost
3,000 innocent Americans died on 9/11, a tremendous loss. Yet the
carnage in Iraq is far greater, and the 100,000+ innocent lives lost in
Iraq in the wake of our invasion get scant attention, if any. These
people were real mothers, sons, and daughters. What day commemorates the
Iraqi father shot on the street? Or the kidnapped and beheaded uncle?
Or the murdered Iraqi child?
Most Americans
don't know these numbers or the stories behind the numbers, because it
doesn't fit the narrative we tell ourselves about our war of
"liberation," or what the news media told us about Iraq.
Last week,
Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) was reporting
on something troubling western rulers, "The political crisis engulfing
Iraq's power-sharing government threatens to further dealy a landmark
draft of its long-delayed oil law -- five years after the first version
was submitted to parliament. [. . .] The first hydrocarbon draft law
was agreed by Iraq's diverse political blocs in 2007, but it's approval
has been held back by infighting among Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish
political groups, worrying investors seeking more guarantees for the
industry." The war that was about oil couldn't let the hydrocarbons
law remain in a state of limbo.
CNN reports:
US Vice President Joe Biden spoke today with Speaker of Parliament
Osama al-Nujaifi and spoke on Friday with Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi:
"The
two Iraqi leaders described deliberations under way among all Iraqi
political factions and parties in the run-up to a proposed national
conference led by President Jalal Talabani," the White House statement
said. "The vice president discussed with both leaders the importance of
resolving outstanding issues through the political process. The vice
president and Iraqi leaders agreed to stay in close touch as events
unfold."In addition the White House, the Iraqi Parliament also released a statement.
KUNA reports,
"A statement by the parliament said Biden and Al-Nujaifi, who is a
member in the Iraqiya List, discussed ways of narrowing the gaps
between the parties to end the political conflict. They also discussed
the national conference that would bring about participation of
political forces to discuss the political process."
After much intervention from the US,
Al Rafidayn reports
Iraqiya spokesperson Maysoon al-Damluji announced Iraqiya was ending
their boycott of Parliament. The paper notes deep divisions continue
between the various blocs. Unlike the New York Times' sad report, Al
Rafidayn does note the Erbil Agreement and the failure (by Nouri) to
implement it.
Aswat al Iraq adds,
"The Chairman of Iraq's al-Ahrar (Liberals) Bloc, Bahaa al-Aaraji, has
highly assessed the decision of al-Iraqiya Bloc, led by former Prime
Minister, Iyad Allawi, to resume attending the Iraqi Parliament's
sessions and its acceptance of its call, calling on the Bloc to end its
boycott to attend the sessions of the Council of Ministers as well."
Al Mada reports
that Iraqiya made its decision following a three hour meeting of
various Iraqiya members. They are seeing their return to Parliament as a
gesture of goodwill and state that the political crisis ends only by
returning to the Erbil Agreement and releasing the innocnets who have
been arrested while resolving the issues regarding Vice President Tareq
al-Hashemi and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq. Nouri has issued
an arrest warrant for the vice president on charges of 'terrorism.' He's
also demanded that al-Mutlaq be stripped of his post. Both al-Hashemi
and and al-Mutlaq are members of Iraqiya which bested Nouri's State of
Law in the March 2010 elections.
At the US State Dept today, spokesperson Victoria Nuland declared (link is text with video option):
Well,
first of all, we are encouraged by the decision of the Iraqiya bloc to
end their boycott and to return to work at the Council of
Representatives and also by the statements of other key blocs inside
Iraq welcoming that decision. We're also encouraged that President
Talabani has pledged to lead a process that's going to prepare a
national conference that's going to focus on a political solution that
protects the interests of all Iraqis within their constitution.
Our
understanding is that the consultations leading to that conference are
still ongoing. I think we've said here and elsewhere that we have been
active, whether it's at the level of Vice President Biden, Secretary
Clinton, Ambassador Jeffrey, in encouraging all of the Iraqi leaders to
participate in this dialogue. We've been talking to all of them about
their interest in preserving a unified Iraq and protecting their
hard-fought constitution.
Alsumaria TV notes
that only the boycott of Parliament has been ended and nothing has been
said about the boycott of the Council of Ministers. But, of course,
the Cabinet was no longer involved in the hydrocarbon process. Making
that clear is
Reuters report
today that, "After five years in the making, Iraq's parliament could
have a first reading of a landmark oil law by early February, a senior
Iraqi energy official said on Monday."
RTT adds,
"The development comes amid a Shia-Sunni power struggle triggered by a
warrant issued for the arrest of Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi
on terror charges. Hashemi is a senior leader of the Iraqiya bloc headed
by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi."
CNN has a video interview with al-Hashemi.
Tareq
al-Hashemi: This case is politically motivated from the beginning. [. .
.] For the prime minister to be chief in command [commander in chief],
Minister of Defense, Minister of Interior and the Chief of Intelligence
and the Chief of National Security, what else you could do that? My
country, in fact, because of this unbelievable power consolidation that
we are heading back to restore the same regime that prevailed before
2003.
Dar Addustour reports
State of Law MP Nahida Daini is defending Nouri's failure to name a
Minister of Defense by stating Nouri has left the post vacant because he
is afraid of a coup. If you were afraid of a coup, you might actually
fill the security ministries (Interior, Defense and National Security)
but instead Nouri has left them vacant (despite the Constitutional
requirement that a Cabinet be named in 30 days for someone to become
prime minister). He's left them vacant for a year and a month. Soon to
be a year and two months. Because, Daini insists with an apparent
straight face, Nouri fears a coup. Daini does admit that the Erbil
Agreement has been ignored.
The excitement over the
oil law possibly coming to a vote may cause many outlets to ignore the
targeting of al-Hashemi as well as the plight of 2 Iraqi women.
Amnesty issued the following:
Amnesty
International has called on the Iraqi authorities to reveal the
whereabouts of two women arrested earlier this month, apparently for
their connection to the country's vice-president.
Rasha
Nameer Jaafer al-Hussain and Bassima Saleem Kiryakos were arrested by
security forces at their homes on 1 January. Both women work in the
media team of Iraqi Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is wanted by
the Iraqi authorities on terrorism-related charges.
Al-Hashimi has denied the charges, saying the accusations are politically motivated.
"The
arrest of the two women appears to be part of a wider move targeting
individuals connected to Tareq al-Hashemi," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui,
Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Middle East and North
Africa.
"The Iraqi authorities must immediately disclose the
whereabouts of Rasha al-Hussain and Bassima Kiryakos. At the very
minimum they should have immediate access to their family and a lawyer.
"The
circumstances of their arrest and their incommunicado detention when we
know that torture is rife in Iraq can only raise the greatest fears for
their safety," she said.
Security forces detained the two women
without arrest warrants, informing the women's families that they were
being taken away for questioning, without explanation.
Bassima
Kiryakos called her husband on 20 January and informed him she was to be
released the following day but neither woman has been heard from since.
Bassima Kiryakos was previously arrested and beaten in December but released without charge after three days in detention.
The two women worked for Vice-President Tareq al-Hashimi,who is accused of ordering his bodyguards to commit acts of terrorism.
"It
is up to the authorities to provide convincing evidence that the two
women have committed a crime. Otherwise they should be immediately
released," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
A warrant for Tareq
al-Hashimi's arrest was issued on 19 December shortly after his
Sunni-backed al-Iraqiya party announced it would boycott Parliament,
accusing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government of being sectarian.
Al-Hashimi
is currently in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, a semi-autonomous area
controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
In December,
state run TV channel Al-Iraqiya broadcast "confessions" by men said to
be al-Hashemi's bodyguards saying that they had killed police officers
and officials from ministries in exchange for payoffs from al-Hashemi.
This was followed by a wave of arrests of Sunni politicians.
On
19 January, the Iraqi authorities reported they had arrested Ghadban
al-Khazraji, the deputy governor in charge of investment in Diyala
province and a member of the Islamic Iraqi party. Several of
al-Khazraji's bodyguards were also arrested.
In the last few years,
hundreds of detainees have been shown on the Al-Iraqiyqa channel making
"confessions" admitting responsibility for various terrorism related
offences.
These confessions have invariably been extracted under
torture and other ill-treatment. Many people were convicted by the
Central Criminal Court of Iraq on the basis of these confessions.
While not bothering to cover this,
the New York Times also misdirects
on drones in Iraq this morning but are we surprised that the paper
would intentionally get that wrong? Does any US paper have closer ties
to the CIA? No. And the CIA and the FBI operate in Iraq. Strangely Ted
Koppel can tell you that while the
New York Times
refuses to do so. Which is not to say the State Dept isn't operating
drones in Iraq. They are. We covered that (an dobjected to it) when it
was presented as wonderful to Congress. In addition, Turkey gave space
on the Iraq border to the CIA for a base and they are supposed to
receive drones in exchange for providing the land for the base. Iraq,
which cannot patrol its own skies due to training and a lack of planes,
has many drones flying over it. And that may be why Iraqis are objecting
and noticing the drones especially. The State Dept indicaes to the
paper that it is them but that's what the State Dept would do if it were
FBI or CIA drones.
Mark Thompson (Time magazine) sums it up best, "Somehow, the State Department has been able to shoot itself in the foot with an unarmed drone." At
the US State Dept today, spokesperson Victoria Nuland took questions and offered statements on the use of drones in Iraq.
MS.
NULAND: Okay. Let me tell you what I can on this situation. First of
all, let me say that the State Department has always used a wide variety
of security tools and techniques and procedures to ensure the safety of
our personnel and our facilities. We do have an unmanned aerial vehicle
program used by the State Department. These are tiny little things.
They are not armed. They are not capable of being armed. And what they
are designed to do is help give us pictures over our facilities to help
in their protection. The operation of this program is
extremely limited in scope. It is only going to even be considered in
critical threat environments. I'm not going to get into the where for
obvious reasons. We don't get into our precise security posture anywhere
around the world. So I'm not going to divulge details. But just to
repeat, we are talking about very limited use in critical threat areas
of tiny, little, unarmed, unmanned aircraft which cannot shoot
anything. They only take pictures to help us with embassy personnel and
facility security.
QUESTION: How big is a tiny, little thing?
MS. NULAND: I haven't seen them, but I've seen pictures of people holding them.
QUESTION: Are we talking about, like, mosquitoes?
MS. NULAND: No, we're talking about like the size of --
QUESTION: That's not tiny.
MS. NULAND: -- my podium. Yeah, like that. Like that.
QUESTION:
But when you said they are used to give us pictures over our
facilities, is that – is it the case that they are only used over U.S.
facilities? Or do they also get used, for example, when U.S. officials
may travel?
MS. NULAND: They can be used to protect facilities and personnel, personnel who are moving.
QUESTION: So not just over U.S. facilities?
MS. NULAND: They can be used over the facilities or to track personnel who are moving, yes.
QUESTION: Not in the facilities, though, right, who are moving?
MS. NULAND: They can't see inside walls. No, they cannot. No, they don't have --
QUESTION:
No. But I -- it goes to my next -- no, but my next question is sort of
directly relevant. Either countries that are sovereign -- and some of us
remember the sort of great enthusiasm with which a former
administration talked about how Iraq had regained its sovereignty after
the U.S. invasion -- either a country that is sovereign has control of
its airspace or it doesn't. And so if you are letting these things not
fly just over your embassy or your facilities, as you suggested, but in
fact, they can roam elsewhere in the country, do you have any agreement
or authorization from the Iraqi or from any government in the world to
do that, to essentially give you access to their airspace?
MS.
NULAND: Well, let me just make a general statement in response to that,
Arshad, and I think you will understand that, again, to protect
operational security I'm not going to get into details. But we, the
State Department, always work closely with host governments on the
physical protection of our facilities and our personnel, and this was
part and parcel of that.
QUESTION:
But you can work closely with somebody and still not have their
explicit agreement for you to use their airspace, correct?
MS.
NULAND: Suffice to say that this is part and parcel of a larger
security program where it is necessary and we do work closely with host
governments.
QUESTION:
Well, in each instance, and I'm not asking you where these are used and
I understand you don't want to talk about exactly where they're used,
but in each instance when they are used, do you obtain the agreement of
the host country for use of their airspace?
MS. NULAND: In the context of our larger security posture, we always work with host governments.
QUESTION: That's not a yes. I mean, you can work with them. It doesn't mean you've gotten their permission.
MS.
NULAND: We are talking about something that started as a pilot program,
something that is now being bid out and looked at for broader use. So
some of the questions that you are probing for are premature; but in the
context of our general consultations with governments on security,
those are ongoing and we always consult with hosts.
QUESTION: Does the -- consultation is a very different thing from obtaining their permission.
MS. NULAND: I understand. I don't have anything further on your precise question.
QUESTION: Last one on this for me, if I may.
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: What -- does the U.S. Government permit any foreign country to use unmanned aerial vehicles over -- in its airspace?
MS. NULAND: To my knowledge, Arshad, we have never received such a request from a foreign country.
Nuland would go on to deny any knowledge that the drones were resulting in any anger on the part of Iraqis.
Last
Friday,
a US helicopter went down in Baghdad (emergency landing) and a second
US helicopter instantly landed and took away the people in the first
helicopter. The helicopter incident is important to Iraqis.
Dar Addustour notes
that Parliament's Security and Defense Committee will be addressing the
issue this week and they see it as a clear violation of the Strategic
Framework Agreement that the US currently operates in Iraq under. So
the sick and addictive relationship between the two countries leaders
continues.
If I lay my head down on you, would it be, would it be too late?
'Cause I can't blame you, baby, it's me that done wrong
'Cause I broke the skies that shine above
But I can't live, oh, without you, love you,
And it's hard to breathe when you're not near
But I can't lie here beside you, beside you
'Cause you steal my soul when you leave
Set me free, baby, set me free
(Disclosure,
I just plugged a friend's band and while I will make nothing off the
sale of the albums and singles, I do have a charity bet with a friend in
London on how big Graffiti6 will be this year in the US. If I win, he
donates a sum to
Amnesty International, if he wins, I donate to the
Actors Benevolent Fund. Stream the "
Free"
video and I think you'll agree Jamie Scott should make a big
impression here in the US -- for his singing, for his songwriting and,
yes, for his looks.)
Dar Addustour also notes
that a spokesperson for Nouri's Cabinet has announced there are
approximatey 50,000 Sahwa ("Awakenings," "Sons Of Iraq") and that they
are mainly in 9 provinces and that they wil move to dispense with them
despite calls by military commanders to keep them. Sahwa's been
targeted for some time but they've especially been targeted since
December 18th. From the 19th of December to today, there have been at
least 20 reported attacks targeting Sahwa and 18 have been killed with
eight more left injured (if you include family members of Sahwa, the
number killed and wounded increases). Before the announcement today,
Dan Morse (Washington Post) had reported
on the difficulties Sahwa face in finding government jobs. If Nouri's
plan to dispense with them is carried out, finding employment will
probably continue to be a huge problem for Sahwa.
Susan Ryan (The Journal) notes AKE's John Drake has compiled figures which see Iraq averageing "56 violent attacks a week" for 2011.
Reuters notes
today's violence includes a Wajihiya bombing targeting a police
officer's home left one person injured, a Baquba bombing targeted a
court official (no one was killed or injured), a Baquba roadside bombing
claimed the life of 1 police officer and left three more injured, a
Baquba suicide car bombing claimed the lives of 3 police officers with
three more people left injured, 1 police officer and his father were
shot dead in a Mosul drive-by shooting, 1 government worker was shot
dead in Mosul, 1 suspect was killed and an Iraqi soldier injured in
Mosul, a Rabia clash left 1 person dead and one Iraqi soldier injured, a
Baquba roadside bombing injured on Iraqi soldier and a Basra grenade
attack left 1 police officer dead and another injured.
Secretary
of Defense Leon Panetta: Senator, as I pointed out in my testimony,
what we seek with Iraq is a normal relationship now and that does
involve continuing negotiations with them as to what their needs are.
Uh, and I believe there will be continuing negotations. We're in
negotiations now with regards to the size of the security office that
will be there and so there will be -- There aren't zero troops that are
going to be there. We'll have, you know, hundreds that will be present
by virtue of that office assuming we can work out an agreement there.
But I think that once we've completed the implementation of the security
agreement that there will begin a series of negotiations about what
exactly are additional areas where we can be of assistance? What level
of trainers do they need? What can we do with regards to CT
[Counter-Terrorism] operations? What will we do on exercises --
joint-exercises -- that work together?
Senator Joe Lieberman: Right.
Secretary
Leon Panetta: We -- we have these kind of relationships with other
countries in the region and that's what we're going to continue to
pursue with Iraq.
Senator
Joe Lieberman: And in fact, just using the term that both of you have
used, that would be a normal relationship. A normal relationship would
not exlcude the presence of some American military in Iraq, correct?
Secretary Leon Panetta: That's correct.
Senator
Joe Lieberman: So what I hear you saying, assuming that this question
of immunities can be overcome, do you, Mr. Secretary, personally believe
that it's in the interests of the US to have some military presence in
Iraq as part of an agreement with the Iraqis?
Secretary
Leon Panetta: I believe -- I believe there are areas where we can
provide important assistance to the Iraqis but again I would stress to
you, Senator Lieberman, I know that you have been there that in order
for this to happen we've got to be able to have them basically say,
'These are our needs, this is what we want, these are the missions that
we want accomplished.' And then we can assist them in saying we can
provide this in order to accomplish those missions. It's got to be a
two-way street.
