Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Amy Klobucher embraces racism

So Missy Elliott has a new song.

It's Lizzo's "Tempo" and you really have to stream it.

What am I listening to right now? Music from another room. C.I. and a group of people are in the living room -- we're at her DC home -- talking about Iraq and the turntable's on. Right now it's a disc from Aretha Franklin's AMAZING GRACE album. I think it's side A of the first disc -- "Mary Don't You Weep" is playing right now.

AMAZING GRACE came out in 1972.

And I'm thinking about the hideous John McCain and how he opposed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the creation of MLK Day. From THE GRIO:

You guys may want to rewrite his legacy beyond recognition and act like he was holding a torch next to Harriet Tubman, but my memory is too long for that, and the receipts repeatedly say otherwise.

Leave MLK out of this

Before anyone starts up with that Martin Luther King, “turn the other cheek” rhetoric, let us not forget that in 1983 when this nation saw it fit to recognize MLK by giving him his own holiday, it was John McCain who staunchly opposed the gesture. That’s right, McCain actually voted against the bill even after then President Ronald Reagan decided to approve it.

That's John McCain. He was disgusting. The world's better off with him dead.

I bring that up because of C.I.'s "Surveying those vying for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination." Amy Klobucher wants to mourn her 'hero' John McCain? Well Miss Whitey McWhitey can do that without my support. I'm crossing her off my list of people I would be willing to vote for. I don't embrace racism. Amy clearly does.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, March 20, 2019. 16 years and now 16 years and counting.

Here on earth I'm a lost soul
Ever trying to find my way back home
Maybe that's why each new star is born
Expanding heaven's room
Eternity in bloom
And will I see you up in that heaven
In all it's light will I know you're there
Will we say the things that we never dared
If wishing makes it so
Won't you let me know
That life is eternal
And love is immortal
And death is only a horizon
Life is eternal
As we move into the light
And a horizon is nothing
Save the limit of our sight
Save the limit of our sight
"Life Is Eternal," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY? album

Life is eternal but war shouldn't be. Despite that, the Iraq War has now turned 16 years old. How'd we get here?

IN THESE TIMES' Sarah Lazare reminds us of those who voted for the Iraq War.

Sarah Lazare‏ @sarahlazare 9 hours ago

On the 16th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, here's a reminder of the Democratic U.S. Senators who voted "yae" to authorizing the horrific war and occupation. 

25 replies409 retweets825 likes

Of those 29 Senate Democrats who supported the Iraq War? Four ended up on presidential tickets after the vote. Five if you count from before the vote (Joe Lieberman was Al Gore's 2000 running mate). One of the above thinks he's doing the country a favor by running again. He's begging for campaign contributions before he's even officially declared. Yes, that is pretty disgusting, pretty money grubbing and, sadly, yes, that is Joe Biden.

‏ @pixelatedboat

Hey hey hey, I’m good ol’ Joe Biden. Loveable Uncle Joe, from the memes. Wa-HEY! Look at me in sunglasses! I voted for the Iraq War and should be in prison

27 replies339 retweets2,724 likes

When does Joe Biden take responsibility? I know Joe. I even like Joe. But Joe's not cut out to be president. He didn't just make a mistake with his 2002 vote. There's also what took place from 2009 through 2016 -- when Barack Obama put him in charge of Iraq.

Not Hillary. Hillary could not be in charge of Iraq at that time. In an April 2008 public hearing, Hillary rightly called Nouri al-Maliki, then prime minister of Iraq, out and noted publicly that he was a thug and a threat to Iraq's future. Hillary was completely right.

But being right didn't change the fact that Nouri knew what she said and that Barack couldn't put her in charge of Iraq. As Secretary of State, she dealt with her counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and that was about it. Joe was in charge of Iraq.

It was under Joe's watch that the Iraqi people voted Nouri out of office but Joe and the White House decided the Iraqi people didn't matter, democracy didn't matter, showing Iraqis the power of the vote didn't matter. The only thing that mattered, under Joe's watch, was keeping Nouri in power. So they came up with The Erbil Agreement to give Nouri a second term. November 10, 2010, The Erbil Agreement is signed. November 11, 2010, the Iraqi Parliament has their first real session in over eight months and finally declares a president, a Speaker of Parliament and Nouri as prime minister-designate -- all the things that were supposed to happen in April of 2010 but didn't. And that went great, didn't it?

It did if "great" is Nouri terrorizing the people, if it's his attacking the people.

Nouri's biggest slaughter? The April 23, 2013 massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from Nouri's federal forces storming in. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

If you're surprised ISIS took hold in Iraq, you weren't paying attention.

Joe was in charge of Iraq. Joe saw the Iraqi people use the ballot box to rid themselves of Nouri in 2010. Joe saw them use their representatives in an attempt to toss Nouri out. How did Joe handle the no-confidence vote? He got fat ass Jalal Talabani to bury it. So they've used the ballot box to get rid of Nouri. They use their elected representatives to get rid of Nouri. And what's left?

Taking to the streets in protest.

And when they do that, what happens? Nouri harasses them. He has them attacked. He has them arrested and tortured.

Grasp for one damn minute that he even did this with the press. He did this with the press as well.

Let's drop back to the February 28, 2011 snapshot to smear Joe Biden's face in the dirty mess he made:

Over the weekend, protesting continued in Iraq as it did on Friday's Day Of Rage. Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reported that protests continued Saturday with Samarra protesters defying a "curfew to attend the funerals of two people killed during protests" on Friday and that Iraqi forces opened fire on the protesters/mourners leaving eight injured while Basra also saw a funeral for a protester killed on Friday. On Sunday, BNO News reports, protests continued in Iraq with 27 protesters left wounded in Amara City by Iraqi forces. Today, at Baghdad's Tahrir Square, Alsumaria TV reports Iraqis turned out to demonstrate again.

Saturday, Wael Grace and Adam Youssef (Al M ada) reported the disturbing news that after Friday's Baghdad demonstration, four journalists who had been reporting on the protests were eating lunch when Iraqi security forces rushed into the restaurant and arrested them with eye witnesses noting that they brutal attacked the journalists inside the restaurant, cursing the journalists as they beat them with their rifle handles. One of the journalists was Hossam Serail who says that they left Tahrir Square with colleagues including journalists, writers intellectuals, filmmakers. They went into the restaurant where the Iraqi military barged in, beat and kicked them, hit them in the face and head with the handles of their rifles, cursed the press and journalists, put him the trunk of a Hummer. This is Nouri al-Maliki's Iraq -- the Iraq the US forces prop up at the command of the Barack Obama. Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) added that the journalists stated "they were handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by soldiers from an army intelligence unit" and quotes Hossam Serail (spelled Hussam al-Ssairi) stating, "It was like they were dealing with a bunch of al-Qaeda operatives, not a group of journalists. Yesterday was like a test, like a picture of the new democracy in Iraq."

In addition, Alsumaria TV adds, "Iraqi security forces released on Friday Alsumaria reporters Sanan Adnan and Idris Jawad in addition to cameraman Safaa' Hatem. Alsumaria reporters were arrested while covering the protests of Baghdad's Tahrir Square. Security forces attacked as well Alsumaria employees Ali Hamed and Muhannad Abdul Sattar who managed to escape." Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) reported Sunday, "Iraqi security forces detained about 300 people, including prominent journalists, artists and lawyers who took part in nationwide demonstrations Friday, in what some of them described as an operation to intimidate Baghdad intellectuals who hold sway over popular opinion." The Committee to Protect Journalists notes the above and other crackdowns on the press in Iraq (as well as in Yemen and Libya):

Security forces prohibited cameras from entering Baghdad's Tahrir Square, where there were thousands of people protesting, according to news reports and local journalists. Police confiscated tapes that reporters managed to shoot in the square, according to Al-Jazeera.

[. . .]

Anti-riot forces also raided the offices of Al-Diyar satellite TV station in Baghdad and detained 10 of its staff members for three hours, according to Al-Diyar's website. In the afternoon, anti-riot police stormed the office for a second time, prohibited the staff from entering the building, and detained at least three more employees.

Niyaz Abdulla, a correspondent for Radio Nawa and a volunteer for Metro Center, a local press freedom group, was assaulted today while covering demonstrations in Erbil. "I was on the air when a plainclothes security officer came and started threatening me," she told CPJ. The officer threatened to call over men to attack her, alluding to a potential sexual assault. "I stayed calm but it was very disturbing," Abdulla said. She added that two of her colleagues had their cameras confiscated while they were covering the demonstration.

In Karbala, anti-riot forces attacked Afaq and Al-Salam satellite channels crews, according to news reports. "They were beaten and cursed at while they were covering the march in Karbala," Jihad Jaafar, a correspondent for Afaq channel told Noun news website. He added that the tapes of the crews were confiscated.

In addition, CPJ's Deputy Director Robert Mahoney is quoted stating, "We are particularly disturbed that a democratically elected government such as that of Iraq would attempt to quash coverage of political protests. We call on Baghdad to honor its commitments to respect media freedom."

Over the weekend, a number of journalists were detained during and after their coverage of the mass demonstrations that took place in central Baghdad's al-Tahrir Square. Simone Vecchiator (International Press Institute) notes:

During a news conference held on Sunday, four journalists -- Hussam Saraie of Al-Sabah Al-Jadid newspaper, Ali Abdul Sada of the Al-Mada daily, Ali al-Mussawi of Sabah newspaper and Hadi al-Mehdi of Demozee radio -- reported being handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened by security forces. They also claimed they were held in custody for nine hours and forced to sign a document, the contents of which were not revealed to them.
Aswat al Iraq news agency reported that the journalists will file a court case against the executive authority in response to the alleged violations of their civil rights.
This episode is the latest in a series of repressive measures adopted by security forces in order to stifle media reports about the current political and social unrest.

Meanwhile Nasiriyah reports that Maj Gen Qassim Atta, the spokesperson for Baghdad Operations Command is insisting he has no idea about targeting of the media, specifically four journalists being arrested on Friday, and insists there will be an investigation. He's calling on witnesses to come forward . . . so they can be disappeared? This morning Kelly McEvers (NPR's Morning Edition) reported on the attacks on journalists and focused on Hadi Al Mahdi whose "leg is really swollen" and who was one of the four noted above stopped Friday afternoon while "eating lunch with other journalists when soldiers pulled up, blindfolded them, and whisked them away. Mahdi was beaten in the leg, eyes, and head. A solider tried to get him to admit he was being paid to topple the regime."

Hadi Al Mahdi: I replied, I told the guy who was investigating me, I'm pretty sure that your brother is unemployed and the street in your area is unpaved and you know that this political regime is a very corrupt one.

Kelly McEvers: Mahdi was later put in a room with what he says were about 200 detainees, some of them journalists and intellectuals, many of them young protesters.

Before we move on, let's also note Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) who reported:

Four journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after they had left a protest at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. They said they were handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by soldiers from an army intelligence unit.
"It was like they were dealing with a bunch of al-Qaeda operatives, not a group of journalists," said Hussam al-Ssairi, a journalist and poet, who was among a group and described seeing hundreds of protesters in black hoods at the detention facility. "Yesterday was like a test, like a picture of the new democracy in Iraq."

There were no independent media -- beggar media, Panhandle Media -- PACIFICA, DEMOCRACY NOW and all other b.s. outlets -- in the US who reported on these series issues. They can beg for money, they just can't cover the issues that actually matter.

And the US government looked the other way and Joe was in charge. Then came the Hawija massacre. Still the US government looked the other way.

What followed?

The rise of ISIS. ISIS did not come about by accident or happenstance. It was a direct response to Nouri's terrorizing the Sunni people.

This is all on Joe's plate. His Iraq issues go far beyond just voting for the war in 2002.

And let's get personal in a way I'd prefer to avoid. When one of Joe's sons was publicly embarrassed, I noted here -- as well as face to face -- that it's not that you fall, we all fall, it's how you get up. I meant that and I mean it today.

If Joe really wants to be president, he needs to own what he's done.

His announcement speech should include: "I voted for the Iraq War. I was wrong. I've done many things wrong with regards to Iraq. But I've thought about it at length and I know I can make things better and I have a plan which I will now outline . . ."

Joe needs to talk the talk -- for his son, for himself. If he can't do that, he just needs to go away.

The Democratic Party does not have time to pretend that the Iraq War didn't happen and doesn't continue to this day. Own your mistakes and talk about how you can fix them.

I think it would be a winning campaign but it would damn sure be an honest campaign and a campaign that elevated the whole country.

It would also do something for the Iraqi people. They have been screwed over. Not just with the war but with the occupation. They have little say in their own lives and they know that. It would be something if at least one US official could get honest. Again, they already know this truth -- the power would be someone in the US government finally admitting it.

No one tells the truth about Iraq anymore.

The few truth tellers we had are gone.

Some, like Norman Solomon, just lost interest. They just walked away. Norman was one of the most important voices in the US. He became a pledged delegate for Barack Obama in 2008 and he never could be counted on for Iraq again. It was a great loss.

Some, like Dahr Jamal, had to walk away. Dahr covers the environment now. He wasn't a columnist, he was a reporter. He went to Iraq and covered it and told the truth. I can certainly understand him moving on to other topics. Michael Ware covered Iraq and covered Iraq and ended up with Post-Traumatic Stress. I'm thankful to Michael, Dahr and Molly Bingham and others who made a difference and I do understand how they could not make it their whole lives.

But the reality is that with them gone and the voices of people like Norman Solomon also gone, the Iraq War is pretty much ignored in the United States.

Whores like Amy Goodman aren't going to do a damn thing. (And I draw a line between the people who really gave a damn like Norman Solomon and the cheap and tacky Amy Goodmans -- I draw that line, others in the community don't -- see new content at THIRD.)

16 years the Iraq War has dragged on. And it can't even garner the attention it needs.

It's depressing and it's sad.

Save the limit of our sight, indeed.

But here's the other reality. The young will take over this and they will right it. That's how it's going to go. I can say that because I see it on campuses when we speak. People realize now, young people, that they own their vote, they don't owe it to anyone. They realize that the Amy Goodmans are hucksters who steal your money and pretend to care.

The Iraq War has dragged on because, in the US, everyone basically moved on. Again, Dahr, Molly and Michael and others like them, it's completely understandable and I hold no ill will towards them. Norman Solomon's walk away brings me to tears to think about it even now, however. But I don't consider him a whore. Danny Schechter was a whore. And I made that opinion clear to Danny to his face. He profited off the Iraq War, he made his name bigger from the Iraq War and then he dropped it. Worse, after Barack was elected, Danny wanted to call me or e-mail me always to whine about what Barack was doing and how Danny couldn't call him out -- blah, blah, blah. What a coward. Live a coward, die a coward. I have no sympathy for Danny and I'm not sad he's dead. He made himself useless. And people like him and Amy Goodman and so many others grabbed your money and wasted it because that's what they do. They can't cover anything because they lack dedication and, let's be honest, they think they're going to overthrow the status quo.

They're never going to do anything. They lack the will and fortitude.

But they're convinced that they can and so they look for something someone creates and works on and then they latch onto it -- Black Lives Matter, Occupy, you name it. They try to put their filthy paws all over it and use to bring about their 'revolution.' And then they drop it three or four months later for some new 'cause' that they just know will bring about their 'revolution.'

They are embarrassments. They're human feces is what they are. They are why the Iraq War is 16 years old. They are why the Iraqi people suffer.

When's the last time any of them thought about the people who stood for peace?

You want to stop the war on Venezuela?

How the hell do you think you're doing that CODEPINK, DEMOCRACY NOW!, etc?

You think your slogans are getting real?

It's not.

The people who took brave stands in the past should be recognized, should be interviewed, should be asked to speak. Those people include Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman.

Isn't it funny how those people, the Darrell Andersons, who risked so much mere years ago, are not recognized today. The crap that is DATELINE and 20/20 can do clip jobs and pretend that the world needed to know what happened to Lorena Bobbitt but PACIFICA RADIO can't do even an hour with the Iraq War resisters. Their stories matter, their brave stands matter. They made a difference. And starting with Ivan Brobeck, they did so without Panhandle Media. Starting with Ivan, Amy Goodman and others turned their backs on war resisters.

The Iraq War continues. It's why Edward Wong and Eric Schmitt grab the vapors in today's NEW YORK TIMES:

The United States’ attempts to isolate Iran, including by punishing Iraqi militias and politicians who are supported by Iranian officials, has deepened tensions not only between Washington and Baghdad but also within the Trump administration.

American military and intelligence officials said the increasing pressure on Iraq risks infuriating its Parliament, including politicians linked to Iran, which could limit the movements of the 5,200 United States troops based in Iraq.

Oh dear Lord!

Grasp what the shocked Grey Lady is lamenting.

It's not the reality that this would make US troops even more of a target. That's not Wongy and Schmitty's concern. It's that US troops might "limit the movements" -- oh, no. Oh, horror!

That is horror to THE NEW YORK TIMES. It sold the damn war. And it didn't just sell it ahead of the war. It sold it with one lying article after another once the war started. John F. Burns should rot in hell for the copy he produced and that's the truth. Falluja Dexy? Supposedly he's 'woke' now. I have no idea but if he learned something, good for him. Won't bring back the dead, but . . .

THE NEW YORK TIMES, to this day, wants the Iraq War. they want it and they fear it ending.

Grasp that Tim Arango had the scoop for weeks about Barack secretly sending US troops back into Iraq in 2012. Grasp that he had an on the record source -- a US general -- and Jill Abramson, dirty whore that she is, wouldn't let the story run. It was an election year! Barack was taking credit for ending the Iraq War! We must not tell the truth! So the story was repeatedly killed until finally Tim worked it into the middle of a report on Syria.

For those who forgot or never knew, Tim Arango reported, "Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence."

Why does PACIFICA exist today? Once upon a time it could argue it was created for peace. But PACIFICA didn't report on that and they don't cover Iraq today. They lie to you and then they lie some more. And the Iraq War gets a little older each day and more people suffer and more people die and more dreams are destroyed.

An unresponsive government is a sad thing, yes. But an unresponsive media that asks for your 'donations'? That's just pathetic. It's time to starve that beast and bring it down because they won't understand anything but unemployment. They can't get real jobs -- no real media outlet would hire them. Stop donating to their beggar outlets and maybe they'll finally do a honest day's work. BLACK AGENDA REPORT, WSWS? Those are functioning outlets. I'm not seeing a lot of others who can make that claim.

For the others? Starve the beast. Or at least make them work for the coins you toss at them.

Truth goes up in vapors
The steeples lean
Winds of change patriarchs
Snug in your bible belt dreams
God goes up the chimney
Like childhood Santa Claus
The good slaves love the good book
A rebel loves a cause

-- "Don't Interrupt The Sorrow," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS album

New content at THIRD:

The following sites updated:

World news: Iraq | guardian.co.uk

Kurdish rebels say Kirkuk is set to fall – archive, 20 March 1991

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Antiwar.com Original

The Death of Peace

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Black Agenda Report

Martyred Marielle Franco speaks about her background & political perspective on May 15, 2017

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Third Estate Sunday Review

TV: ABC and Colbert fizzle while NOW APOCALYPSE sizzles

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Trina's Kitchen

Elizabeth Warren

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Mikey Likes It!

A Court ruling

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Ann's Mega Dub

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

The War Criminal

‏ @DrGroshong

KILLING INNOCENT BABIES IN IRAQ DOES NOT MAKE YOU RUTHLESS....... RIGHT? 

So many War Criminals and Dick Cheney is only one.

We have so many homegrown War Criminals in the US, have you noticed?

How about the fact that so many of them have also been our presidents?

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, March 19, 2019. 16 years and counting.

We're about fourteen hours away from the 16th anniversary of the start of the ongoing Iraq War.

The ongoing and never-ending war.

Where are the leaders in Congress? Barbara Lee? You make me laugh. This is a woman whose first lie starts with the events of her birth. Barbara gave up on the Iraq War long, long ago. When Barack Obama was first elected president, she did pretend to still care about the Afghanistan War and good, golly, gosh and for real if Barack hadn't pulled US troops out of Iraq in ten or so months, Babsie Lee was going to get serious and put on her frowny face. She made that promise over and over throughout the eight years of Barack's presidency and she never did a damn thing.

SHE NEVER DID A DAMN THING could be an honest title for a book about Babsie.

Benchmarks? We don't need no stinking benchmarks!

House National Security Chairmen and Ranking Members Joint Statement on Iraq Security

March 18, 2019

WASHINGTON—House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) and Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX); Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA); and Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) today made the following joint statement:

“After years of American and Iraqi citizens struggling and sacrificing side by side, the United States must remain committed to supporting a sovereign and democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors and safe for its citizens, regardless of their religion, sect, or ethnicity. Continued American engagement will be essential to ensuring future stability and security for Iraq.

“At the request of the Iraqi government, American trainers and advisors have helped lay the groundwork for a safe, democratic Iraq, including the training of more than 89,000 soldiers of the Iraqi Army and the Regional Guard Brigades. But we need to make sure this stability is sustainable. The Administration should continue these joint efforts, such as training and replenishing Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service after the punishing counter-ISIS battles. These and other initiatives will allow Iraq to defend itself and provide security for its people and will prevent Americans from fighting the same battles of the past.

“Beyond security assistance, the United States should continue efforts to help nearly two million internally displaced persons to safely and voluntarily return home. That will require closer coordination with international NGOs and multilateral partners including the UN, European allies, and Arab Gulf countries. The Administration’s commitment of nearly $340 million to help Iraq’s religious and ethnic component communities recover from the ISIS genocide is a good step. But all of Iraq’s people, including Iraq’s Sunni population, will need assistance to guarantee the defeat of ISIS and return to full participation in civic life.

“The United States must also help promote new opportunities for Iraqi trade and investment. Unemployment is high and the infrastructure degraded, but Iraq has a strong workforce teeming with potential and ability. Only through ongoing diplomatic engagement, in Baghdad and beyond, can we help Iraq meet these political and developmental challenges.

“At this critical point, it would be a mistake to pull back from Iraq as it seeks to preserve its sovereignty from both internal and external threats and grow into a thriving, vibrant democracy. We call on the Administration to continue to engage with Congress to ensure a stable future for the Iraqi people.”

Bipartisanship that can carry us all to the grave! War Pig Eliot Engel has been supporting the Iraq War from day one. He can't get enough of it. Of course, eh's not there. But, given the chance, the noted Zionist will gladly give the lives of other Americans to keep the Iraq War going. Eliot is the prime example when people complain that there's not a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans.

He wants the US to remain in Iraq. He insists that this is what the puppet government wants.

Indeed, the puppet government does want this. They are installed by the US government and have no real standing in Iraq. Without US forces, tey could fall. Any time that's been even a possibility, the US government has rushed to prop up the puppet government. For example, the Bremer walls that went up and the surge that followed because the Iraqi people -- not militias -- almost breached the heavily fortified Green Zone in Nouri al-Maliki's first term as prime minister. Or take Barack Obama sending so many back into Iraq. Was that because Mosul was seized? No. Mosul was seized and the US government didn't bat an eye -- remember, Barack called them "junior varsity." But when the media was trembling that Baghdad might fall? Send US troops! Send more US troops! Send more!

Te Iraqi government has no legitimacy. And the White House, whomever occupies it -- from whichever party -- can argue that the people of Iraq can't vote. Remember, Iraq's only 16 at this point. Maybe in two years, when it's the 18th anniversary, they'll have voting rights and be able to use them.

In 2006, Bully Boy Bush named Nouri prime minister. Why? The CIA evaluation of Nouri argued that his paranoia was so immense, he would be easily to manipulate.

In 2010, the Iraqi people, in some mistaken belief that their country belonged to them, ignored threats and turned out in huge numbers to vote -- specifically to vote Nouri out of office. As a result of their votes, Ayad Allawi and Iraqiya were the winners.

Now Ayad's term as prime minister was marked by?

Not a damn thing because he didn't get to be prime minister. Thug Nouri refused to honor the results of the election. Please note, US Gen Ray Odierno had seen this coming. He had warned ahead of the elections. But war monger Chris Hill dismissed it. He knew, from all those daily naps on the job, that this would never happen. As usual, idiot Chris was wrong.

The Iraqi people voted thug Nouri out. They'd already seen the damage he was doing. The secret prisons and torture centers -- you know, the sort of thing that the US government insisted Saddam Hussein had done -- but, for Nouri, they looked the other way.

Grasp what a moment this was. Iraqiya was not Shi'ite, it was not Sunni. Iraqiya was a party for a united Iraq. It welcomed all Iraqis -- including women.

The US government, in the immediate aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003, stripped the rights of Iraqi women by putting cowardly thugs in power. The US war has destroyed the rights of women in Iraq. And every time Iraqi women fought back, the US government offered no support -- regardless of who was sitting in the Oval Office.

But in the lead up to the 2010 elections and in the aftermath of them, there was one woman on the national stage: Maysoun al-Damalouji, the spokesperson for Iraqiya.

Why did people show up to vote despite warnings and threats? Because Iraqiya represented a new path in post-invasion Iraq. It was a path that would bring Iraqis together, reject sectarianism, pave the way to a united future.

For those reasons alone, it was important for the US government to support the results of the election.

Equally true, with the US government insisting it wanted democracy in Iraq and that it wanted it in Iraq because then it would spread across the region, they should have supported the results.

But they didn't.

They backed Nouri for the eight months (and several weeks) that he brought the government to a standstill by refusing to step down. They went further, they brokered the contract known as The Erbil Agreement. In return for agreeing Nouri would be prime minister for a second term, The Erbil Agreement offered the various political entities what they wanted. On paper, they offered that. In reality? It would never arrive.

November 10, 2010, The Erbil Agreement is signed. November 11, 2010, the Iraqi Parliament has their first real session in over eight months and finally declares a president, a Speaker of Parliament and Nouri as prime minister-designate -- all the things that were supposed to happen in April of 2010 but didn't.

March 7, 2010, Iraq concluded Parliamentary elections. The Guardian's editorial board noted in August 2010, "These elections were hailed prematurely by Mr Obama as a success, but everything that has happened since has surely doused that optimism in a cold shower of reality."

The US press largely avoided what took place. No one -- especially not the Jill Abramson controlled NEW YORK TIMES -- wanted to report what was actually taking place. Since this is still new news to so many, let's again note the August 2015 broadcast of Kevin Sylvester's THIS SUNDAY EDITION (CBC) which featured Emma Sky discussing Iraq:

Emma Sky: And that [2010] national election was a very closely contested election. Iraqis of all persuasions and stripes went out to participate in that election. They'd become convinced that politics was the way forward, that they could achieve what they wanted through politics and not violence. To people who had previously been insurgents, people who'd not voted before turned out in large numbers to vote in that election. And during that election, the incumbent, Nouri al-Maliki, lost by 2 seats. And the bloc that won was a bloc called Iraqiya led by Ayad Allawi which campaigned on "NO" to sectarianism, really trying to move beyond this horrible sectarian fighting -- an Iraq for Iraqis and no sectarianism. And that message had attracted most of the Sunnis, a lot of the secular Shia and minority groups as well.

Kevin Sylvester: People who felt they'd been shut out during Maliki's regime basically -- or his governance.

Emma Sky: Yes, people that felt, you know, that they wanted to be part of the country called Iraq not -- they wanted to be this, they wanted Iraq to be the focus and not sect or ethnicity to be the focus. And Maliki refused to accept the results. He just said, "It is not right." He wanted a recount. He tried to use de-Ba'athification to eliminate or disqualify some Iraqiya members and take away the votes that they had gained. And he just sat in his seat and sat in his seat. And it became a real sort of internal disagreement within the US system about what to do? So my boss, Gen [Ray] Odierno, was adamant that the US should uphold the Constitutional process, protect the political process, allow the winning group to have first go at trying to form the government for thirty days. And he didn't think Allawi would be able to do it with himself as prime minister but he thought if you start the process they could reach agreement between Allawi and Maliki or a third candidate might appear who could become the new prime minister. So that was his recommendation.

Kevin Sylvester: Well he even calls [US Vice President Joe] Biden -- Biden seems to suggest that that's what the administration will support and then they do a complete switch around. What happened?

Emma Sky: Well the ambassador at the time was a guy who hadn't got experience of the region, he was new in Iraq and didn't really want to be there. He didn't have the same feel for the country as the general who'd been there for year after year after year.

Kevin Sylvester: Chris Hill.

Emma Sky: And he had, for him, you know 'Iraq needs a Shia strongman. Maliki's our man. Maliki's our friend. Maliki will give us a follow on security agreement to keep troops in country.' So it looks as if Biden's listening to these two recommendations and that at the end Biden went along with the Ambassador's recommendation. And the problem -- well a number of problems -- but nobody wanted Maliki. People were very fearful that he was becoming a dictator, that he was sectarian, that he was divisive. And the elites had tried to remove him through votes of no confidence in previous years and the US had stepped in each time and said, "Look, this is not the time, do it through a national election." So they had a national election, Maliki lost and they were really convinced they'd be able to get rid of him. So when Biden made clear that the US position was to keep Maliki as prime minister, this caused a huge upset with Iraqiya. They began to fear that America was plotting with Iran in secret agreement. So they moved further and further and further away from being able to reach a compromise with Maliki. And no matter how much pressure the Americans put on Iraqiya, they weren't going to agree to Maliki as prime minister and provided this opening to Iran because Iran's influence was way low at this stage because America -- America was credited with ending the civil war through the 'surge.' But Iran sensed an opportunity and the Iranians pressured Moqtada al-Sadr -- and they pressured him and pressured him. And he hated Maliki but they put so much pressure on to agree to a second Maliki term and the price for that was all American troops out of the country by the end of 2011. So during this period, Americans got outplayed by Iran and Maliki moved very much over to the Iranian camp because they'd guaranteed his second term.

Kevin Sylvester: Should-should the Obama administration been paying more attention? Should they have -- You know, you talk about Chris Hill, the ambassador you mentioned, seemed more -- at one point, you describe him being more interested in putting green lawn turf down on the Embassy in order to play la crosse or something. This is a guy you definitely paint as not having his head in Iraq. How much of what has happened since then is at the fault of the Obama administration? Hillary Clinton who put Chris Hill in place? [For the record, Barack Obama nominated Chris Hill for the post -- and the Senate confirmed it -- not Hillary.] How much of what happens -- has happened since -- is at their feet?

Emma Sky: Well, you know, I think they have to take some responsibility for this because of this mistake made in 2010. And Hillary Clinton wasn't very much involved in Iraq. She did appoint the ambassador but she wasn't involved in Iraq because President Obama had designated Biden to be his point-man on Iraq and Biden really didn't have the instinct for Iraq. He very much believed in ancient hatreds, it's in your blood, you just grow up hating each other and you think if there was anybody who would have actually understood Iraq it would have been Obama himself. You know, he understands identity more than many people. He understands multiple identities and how identities can change. He understands the potential of people to change. So he's got quite a different world view from somebody like Joe Biden who's always, you know, "My grandfather was Irish and hated the British. That's how things are." So it is unfortunate that when the American public had enough of this war, they wanted to end the war. For me, it wasn't so much about the troops leaving, it was the politics -- the poisonous politics. And keeping Maliki in power when his poisonous politics were already evident was, for me, the huge mistake the Obama administration made. Because what Maliki did in his second term was to go after his rivals. He was determined he was never going to lose an election again. So he accused leading Sunni politicians of terrorism and pushed them out of the political process. He reneged on his promises that he'd made to the tribal leaders who had fought against al Qaeda in Iraq during the surge. [She's referring to Sahwa, also known as Sons of Iraq and Daughters of Iraq and as Awakenings.] He didn't pay them. He subverted the judiciary. And just ended up causing these mass Sunni protests that created the environment that the Islamic State could rear its ugly head and say, "Hey!" And sadly -- and tragically, many Sunnis thought, "Maybe the Islamic State is better than Maliki." And you've got to be pretty bad for people to think the Islamic State's better.

Emma Sky is the author of THE UNRAVELING: HIGH HOPES AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES IN IRAQ.

We covered the above in real time. It wasn't hard to. You just had to pay attention. And it wasn't hard to see that Nouri, a thug, was only going to get worse.

Joe Biden needs to answer for Iraq. Barack put him in charge. Joe now wants to be president of the United States. Fine, Joe, then explain to us how your actions helped the Iraqi people? Because they didn't. Your actions gave Nouri a second term, your covering for him led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq.

Things could have been so different. If the US had backed the Iraqi people, imagine where their government might be now. If the US hadn't tossed aside their votes with the illegal Erbil Agreement, imagine how much better things could be.

And it was illegal. Even Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged that. Of course, he waited until after the contract gave him a second term as prime minister. Then he had his attorney tell the Iraqi press that the contract was illegal and he wouldn't honor it. That meant he would -- and did -- use it to get a second term but all the promises that he made to the political blocs in the contract in exchange for that second term? He wouldn't honor those.

Joe Biden's got a lot to explain.

So do pigs like Eliot.

Eliot chose to co-issue that statement. And does anyone notice what it's saying? The US needs to remain on the ground to train the Iraqis.

Over and over, this argument has been made. Over and over, this training has taken place.

Once upon a time, when the US media covered Iraq, the Democratically-controlled Congress insisted that these remarks about doing the same thing over and over weren't cutting it. They demanded benchmarks for success. If the Iraqi government couldn't meet those benchmarks, Democratic leaders like then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi insisted that the funds to Iraq would dry up.

Guess what?

They never met those benchmarks. Even now, eleven years after the benchmarks were put in writing, they've never met the benchmarks. But they keep getting money.

Let's be clear, the Iraqi government keeps getting money. Not the Iraqi people. The Iraqi government is one of the most corrupt governments in the world per Transparency International. A government installed is never going to feel it owes anything to the people.

So the thieves keep getting money.

The Iraqi people keep suffering.

Benchmarks for success? There are none. It's just do the same thing over and over and pretend that somehow it will be different this time. It's the turned corner that leads you in a circle.

The Iraq War has destroyed Iraq and done great harm. It has not spread democracy. Joe Biden should be hanging his head in shame, not attempting to launch a presidential campaign. He didn't just vote for the war, he actively subverted democracy in Iraq once the war started.

There's a pretense of caring about Iraq on the part of the US Congress. But last year, President Donald Trump nominated Matthew Tueller to be the Ambassador to Iraq. Iraq has no US ambassador currently, no lead for any diplomatic effort. March 6th, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee did finally hold a hearing on the nomination. But there's still been no vote. Watch the US Congress pretend again to give a damn about Iraq while actually making it very clear that they don't.

In several hours, the Iraq War reaches the 16 year mark. War is over, if you want it.

The following sites updated:

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)