Pregnancy talk

Do we get our pre-pregnancy bodies back after pregnancy?

I'm not talking hips or waistline. 

I'm talking all these different things. 

As if being tired all the time wasn't enough, I'm constipated.  (Means I can't do number two.)

This is day three of being constipated.  The first day, I thought, "Well I guess I was too busy today."  Day two, my stomach was killing me.  Today, a friend at work said, "Ann, you're constipated.  It happens sometimes during pregnancy."  So I'm on prunes, a fiber cereal and some high fiber beans.  That was dinner tonight.  I want to try to get rid of it that way and not just go buy something on a shelf in the store.  But if I have to use laxatives than I will.

So is this something that's going to happen all the time after I give birth or is this just a pregnancy thing?

And if it's going to happen all the time, they need to work on those sex-ed classes.

There are things that I'm going through right now that would have grossed me out as a teen enough to make me not want to have sex. 

And that's just what I'm going through.  All my friends keep telling me horror stories.

Now I want a baby so I'll be fine with it.

But, seriously, this sort of thing would have made me, at 15, think, "Oh, I never want to have sex."



This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, October 24, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, an Iraqi journalist is stabbed to death, Barack gets busted for lying about Iraq, Nouri gets accused of assassinating a political rival, Robert Gibbs justifies the killing of a 16-year-old American, new e-mails reveal the White House should have known what was going on during the Benghazi attack, and more.

 

Reporting for the Pentagon's American Forces Press Service, Jim Garamone notes Lt Gen Mark P. Hertling expressed doubt on Tuesday as to what Iraq might become -- democracy or something else, "They are still struggling and it pains me to watch it."  He also stated, "There was a lot of blood and sweat and tears and hard work put into that country by American soldiers."  Joel Gehrke (Washington Examiner) ties "the general's misgivings about the insurgency and Iraqi security forces" to comments made by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the debate Monday as well as to those of Senator John McCain who has stated, "Iraq is going to hell in a hand-basket.  Al Qaida has doubled there presence there.  There are al Qaida training camps in Western Iraq. . . . I've got to hand it to the president to [be able] to say things [in the debate] that in my view defy reality."

 

Let's stay with the debate for a moment.  The increasingly dishonest Stephen M. Walt is aghast at Foreign Policy over the 'neocons' advising Mitt Romney.   Here's an example of the dishonesty:

 

 

To be fair, an awful lot of supposedly sensible Democrats supported the war too, including a lot of senior officials in the Obama administration. But they didn't dream up the war or work overtime to sell it from 1998 onward. They just went along with the idea because they thought it was politically expedient, they couldn't imagine how it might go south, or they were convinced that Saddam was a Very Bad Man and that it was our duty to "liberate" the Iraqi people from him. They were right about Saddam's character, of course, but occupying the entire country turned out to be a pretty stupid way of dealing with him.

 

 

You have to be a huge liar to say "to be fair" and then proceed not to be fair.  Barack's had necons throughout his administration.  We regularly call out Victoria Nuland who is better known as Mrs. Robert Kagan and who is even better known as Dick Cheney's National Security Adivsor (2003 to 2005).   In February 2011, whistle blower Sibel Edmonds (Boiling Frogs) noted some of the many neocons serving in Barack's administration: Marc Grossman, Dennis Ross and Frederick Kagan (that would be Victoria Nuland's brother-in-law).  In 2010,  Kristine Frazao (Russia Today -- link is video and text) thought Kagan's addition was so important, she did a report on just that, opening with, "They're ba-a-a-ck!  The US government may be done with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld but another neoconservative is returning to the government payroll.  That same year, Allen McDuffee (ThinkTanked) observed, "Because we overinflated the impact of neoconservatives during the Bush administration and paid little attention to them before that, we're missing the fact that neocons are having the same influence in the Obama administration they've always had, according to a report issued by the Brookings Institution." And if we drop back another year, we can land on Jacob Heilbrunn's Huffington Post report from May of 2009 which opened:

 

This morning leading neoconservatives such as William Kristol and Robert Kagan held a meeting at the Mayflower Hotel -- in support of President Obama's Afghanistan policy. Kristol and Kagan, as Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen has reported, have formed a successor organization to the Project for the New American Century, which came into disrepute for its advocacy of the Iraq War. The new one is called the Foreign Policy Initiative. Its contention is that America remains, in the words of Madeleine Albright, the "indispensable nation"and, furthermore, that neocons can play a valuable role in coming years in ensuring that it remains one.

 

 

So Walt's sudden concern about the neocons return to power is rather disingenuous.  Return to power?  When Barack brought them into his administration?  His insincerity and lack of scruples go a long way towards explaining why many of the people who applauded him just five years ago wouldn't cross the street to greet him today. 

 

On Monday's debate, Mark Johnson (Fellowship of Reconciliation) observes:

 

On Monday night, we heard President Obama and Governor Romney each profess their love of militarism.

The president boasted, "We spend more on our military than the next 10 countries combined; China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, you name it." Then his opponent called for increasing the military budget even more! It was the president who called the United States the "one indispensible nation," but both candidates showed their love of U.S. exceptionalism and exhibited paternalistic worldviews.

That is not the way I see our relationship with our sisters and brothers across the globe.

 

 

Mark Johnson is posting from Basra, he's back in Iraq.  Barack's taken a distortion (lie) he made in the debate and turned it into a new ad which Glenn Kessler (Washington Post) gives  three Pinocchios.  Among other things, the ad proclaims, "Mitt Romney would have left thirty thousand troops there [Iraq]."  Kessler reviews how the Status Of Force Agreement (negotiated under the Bush administration) was coming to an end and the Barack administration attempted to negotiate another agreement.  The deal faltered on the issue of immunity.  But even after it was seen as faltering, negotiations continued (and still continue -- but we will get to that).

This was established by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey (Chair of the Joint Chiefs) appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee November 15, 2011 (for reporting on that hearing,  see  "Iraq snapshot,"  "Iraq snapshot,"  "Iraq snapshot."  Ava reported on it with "Scott Brown questions Panetta and Dempsey (Ava),"  Wally reported on it with "The costs (Wally)" and Kat reported on it with "Who wanted what?").  By November 15th, the press had been telling you for weeks that negotiations were over.  But that's not what Senator Joe Lieberman and Panetta were saying at the hearing.  Excerpt.

Senator Joe Lieberman:  Let me, Secretary Panetta, pick up from that point. I've heard from friends in Iraq -- Iraqis -- that Prime Minister Maliki said at one point that he needed to stop the negotiations -- leave aside for one moment the reasons -- but he was prepared to begin negotiations again between two sovereign nations -- the US and Iraq -- about some troops being in Iraq after January 1st.  So that's what I've heard from there. But I want to ask you from the administration point of view. I know that Prime Minister Maliki is coming here in a few weeks to Washington. Is the administration planning to pursue further discussions with the Iraqi government about deploying at least some US forces in Iraq after the end of this year?

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?

As Kessler points out, the administration attempted to negotiate a variation of a SOFA and failed.  Failed.  But the administration wants to spin.  Kessler:


In other words, Obama has spun a diplomatic failure -- an inability to reach a deal with Iraq -- into a "mission accomplished" talking point. In fact, Obama made a dubious claim in the debate that having any troops in Iraq "would not help us in the Middle East."
Since the departure of U.S. troops, the United States has lost leverage in Iraq. For instance, Iran uses Iraqi airspace and convoys on the ground to ferry arms and military equipment to the beleaguered regime in Syria -- a government that Obama says must fall.

And, of course,  Tim Arango (New York Times) reported September 26th:

 
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.

Back in December 2011, Nouri accused Vice President Tareq al-Hasehmi of being a terrorist.  While Tareq was in the KRG, Nouri ordered his arrest.  The KRG refused to hand him over.  After killing one of Tareq's bodyguards -- he was tortured by Nouri's forces who tried to pretend kidney failure had nothing to do with torture -- they then staged their kangaroo court and convicted Tareq who now resides in Turkey.    Josh Rogan (Foreign Policy) picks up the story there:

But Hashimi is still technically the vice president and he is fighting for what he calls a "fair trial." He argues that Maliki has hijacked the Iraqi political system and become beholden to Iranian interests, which include supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Hashimi said he has evidence and reports from politicians, from officers in the Interior Ministry, and from Iraqi intelligence officials, all pointing to a growing and active ground transport route from Iran to Syria. The route crosses through the Zarbatia checkpoint on the Iran-Iraq border, west of the Iranian town of Mehran, flows through the city of Karbala, and crosses over to Syria via the al-Qaim border crossing, he said.
"The transit is not only aerial using Iraqi airspace, but the ground transit is becoming a phenomenon. Munitions, heavy arms, and even militias are passing checkpoints without any sort of obstruction," Hashimi said in a telephone interview. "I am very afraid the U.S. and the international community is only focused on the aerial transit and leaving behind the ground transit. Everything should be checked now."

 

Noting Hashemi's remarks, Paul Mulshine (New Jersey Star Ledger) observes, "Got that? Not only is the nation we liberated helping the Iranians to ferry arms to Syris, but its elected vice-president is under a death sentence and is living in exile.

Ain't democracy wonderful?"

 

Last Friday, Al Arabiya aired an interview with Vice President al-Hashemi:

Tareq al-Hashemi:   I am with the Syrian people against the unprecedented repression and killing.  I am with the Syrians and champion them in finding an opportunity to live in freedom.  What is happening in Syria will also inspire a generation of true change in Iraq.

 

Al Arabiya:  Hashemi scoffed at the statements made by the Iraqi government about searching Iranian planes crossing  into Syria via Iraq.

 

Tareq al-Hashemi:  We have proof on this matter and so does the US administration.  And in truth, this random inspection is considered fabrication. 

 

Al Arabiya:  He urged the international community to see Iraq's double standard regarding its policy towards Syria.  He said there is an Iraqi-Iranian agreement to down planes that medical and humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians and at the same time turn a blind eye to the planes that carry weapons and artillery to the Syrian regime.

 

Tareq al-Hashemi:  This is an issue that the international community must pay attention to.

 

Al Arabiya:  He accused Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki of persecuting Sunni Iraqis.

 

Tareq al-Hashemi:  The sectarian issue is another matter.  Today, when you go to prisons, you will find that over 90% of inmates are Sunnis.  This is something that cannot be ignored.  Today, the Arab Sunnis are targeted by Nouri al-Maliki's government exclusively.  Today, the torture that is carried out, the random apprehensions, turning our provinces into regions have occured for sectarian purposes.

 

That's far from the only serious accusation Nouri's currently facing.  He now stands accused of the assassination of a political figure.  From the September 27th snapshot:  "Alsumaria reports that the former governor of Basra, Mohammed Misbah Waili, was assassinated today (the firearm had a silencer)."  And from the October 2nd snapshot: "On fear, Alsumaria reports that in Basara accusations are being tossed around following the assassination last Thursday of former Governor (2005 to 2009) Mohammed Misbah Waili with some accusing a clan within the province and the clan accusing unnamed foreign powers."  Despite a so-called investigation, nothing has been turned up regarding the who or why of the assassination.  However, Kitabat reports that the family of the late governor is stating that Nouri and others in Dawa (Nouri's political party -- State of Law is his political slate) wanted him dead and they are accusing Nouri of ordering the assassination.  Family members state that when they arrived at the scene they found security officers in offficial Iraqi military uniforms, these officers surrounded the scene and prevented the family from going to the car where they could hear the governor, still alive, screaming.  They are arguing that had he been immediately moved to a hospital, he would be alive today.  The family says that the refusal to move the injured governor to a hospital resulted from orders from higher up.  They are going to file a lawsuit against Nouri and others (Abdullah Auaz al-Jubouri and Issam al-Asadi) in a Basra court.  A member of the family tells Kitabat that although they know Nouri acts as if he is above the Constitution and the judiciary, the family is stronger than Nouri and the Dawa Party because they have the truth on their side.

 

 

Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 146 killed in violence so far this month.  Today? 

All Iraq News reports a Baghdad roadside bombing has injured three police officers and an armed Baghdad attack has left 2 Iraqi soldiers dead.  AP says the Baghdad roadside bombing followed the armed attack and note that 1 of the three injured police officers have died.  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports, "Gunmen attacked a minibus [in Baghdad] with small arms fire and killed seven government employees who work for al-Nasra State Industry Company," and a Falluja suicide bomber attacked the home of the father of Rafei al-Essawi (Minister of Finance) leaving 1 woman dead and five more injured (and the suicide bomber dead), and an attack on a Mousl checkpoint left 1 person dead. Alsumaria reports a Kirkuk roadside bombing left one 1 student dead and 2 more injured and a Kirkuk bicycle bombing has left three police officers injured.  Adam Schreck (AP) says it was a motorcycle bombing and notes 9-year-old Ahmed al-Obeidi was killed in the explosion.  In addition, Kitabat reports that journalist Zia Mehdi was stabbed to death in Baghdad while she was doing an investigation into the persecution of Iraq's LGBT community.

 

Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory notes the investigative journalist was in Baghdad's Tahrir Square at ten a.m. Monday morning conducting meetings and interviews and she was also working on a story about prostitution and brothels in Iraq.  She went to a police station to interview some of the 180 women arrested but a police officer prevented her from entering and he denied that there were any prostitutes among the arrested.  He left and then moments later re-appeared telling her she could enter but without her colleagues.  Zia Mehdi didn't feel comfortable with that offer and instead returned to Tahrir Square to continue her LGBT interviews.  Later she was discovered dead, stabbed to death, still in her jacket that noted she was a journalist.

Dropping back to the October 15th snapshot:

So far this year, Iraq is known to have executed 119 people. It has ignored calls from the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. Despite the fact that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani insists he is against the death penalty and regularly basks in applause for that stance, he has not blocked one execution. (His 'opposition' is refusing to sign the death warrants, leaving it for a vice president to sign it. As president, he could object to any or all executions and stop them immediately. He refuses to use that power.)

These executions are beginning to cause more problems for Iraq. Kitabat reports that Alegeria has summed the Iraqi ambassador to express their alarm that an Alegerian, Abdullah Ahmad Belhadi, has been executed and Saudi Arabia is objecting to plans to execute their citizens -- though Faleh al-Fayad, Iraqi national security adviser, declares the Saudi executions will go forward.


Today, Meshal al-Otaibi (Saudi Gazette) reports that the execution of Abdullah al-Qahtani, Saudi citizen in Iraq, has been postponed "according to his lawyer Abdulrahman Al-Jurais."

 

 

Turning to the topic of Libya, e-mails wonder why Bob Somerby calls Elise Labott "CNN's tremendously awful 'foreign affairs reporter'" and "a genuine nightmare"?  Because she's a woman.  He knows nothing about her reporting and has never critiqued before today.  He probably doesn't know she's a CNN producer and that she covers the State Dept.  Bob's not real smart sometimes but he never passes a chance to demonize a woman.  If a man had reported what Elise did, Bob would treat them with kid gloves.  He only beats up on women -- see CiCi Connelly, Katharine Seelye, Maureen Dowd, Anne Gearan and on and on and on.  He'll go after State Dept reporters Labott and Gearan but you'll never see him take on AP's Matthew Lee.  Bob only beats up on women.  We noted this a long time ago, over 7 years ago, in fact.  In the Howler world a woman is demonized but a man guilty of the same 'crime' is treated as savable and redeemable but the witch, you understand, must be drowned -- even if she floats.  Especially if she floats.

 

Elise Labott has the same problems any other person does and she can be wrong and she can be right.  As a journalist, she's one of the strongest working today.  And unlike Bob Somerby, we've noted Elisa Labott many times here.  What are we talking about when we're talking about Libya?  US House Rep Darrell Issa outlined it very clearly at a hearing earlier this month:

 

 

Committee Chair Darrell Issa:  On September 11, 2012, four brave Americans serving their country were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi, Libya.  Tyrone Woods spent two decades as a Navy Seal serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Since 2010, he protected the American diplomatic personnel.  Tyrone leaves behind a widow and three children.   Glen Doherty, also a former Seal and an experienced paramedic, had served his country in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  His family and colleagues grieve today for his death.  Sean Smith, a communications specialist, joined the State Dept after six years in the United States Air Force.  Sean leaves behind a widow and two young children.  Ambassador Chris Stevens, a man I had known personally during his tours, US Ambassador to Libya, ventured into a volatile and dangerous situation as Libyans revolted against the long time Gaddafi regime.  He did so because he believed the people of Libya wanted and deserved the same things we have: freedom from tyranny. 

 

See those names: Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, Chris Stevens, Tyrone Woods.  Guess where you didn't see them?  At The Daily Howler.  Bob Somerby thinks he can trash Elise Labott.  But Elise has noted the dead, she's done the work for over a month now.  Not true of Bob Somerby, not true at all.

 

Last night Ruth noted Sharyl Attkisson (CBS News) reports on e-mails sent from the Benghazi consulate on September 11, 2012 during the attack and immediately after including one sent at 6:07 pm where it is noted "the embassy in Trpoli reported the Islamic military group 'Ansar al-SHaria Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack'."  This is what Elise is covering as well: "Two hours after first being notified of an attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, a government e-mail to the White House, the State Department and the FBI said an Islamist group had claimed credit, according to a copy obtained by CNN." (Elise maintains Barack used the term "terror" on September 12th.  That's her take and her opinion.  As noted in the October 17th snapshot, we disagree.  Others disagreeing that there's a clear-cut assessment include The Washington Post and CBS News (text report by Brian Montopoli, video report by Jan Crawford.)  Anne Gearan (Washington Post) adds, "The reference to Ansar al-Sharia may fuel Republican efforts to show that the White House had evidence of terrorism almost immediately but sat on it. Five days after the attack, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice said the attack appeared to have grown out of a 'spontaneous' protest over an anti-Muslim video." Mark Hosenball (Reuters) explains, "While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president's secure command post. Other addressees included intelligence and military units as well as one used by the FBI command center, the source said."   John Parkinson, Dana Hughes and Sunlen Miller (ABC News) pick up there:

 

In light of the emails, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire teamed up today to write a letter to question President Obama why his administration "consistently described the attack for days afterward as a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam video."

"These emails make clear that your administration knew within two hours of the attack that it was a terrorist act and that Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant group with links to al Qaeda, had claimed responsibility for it," the trio wrote. "This latest revelation only adds to the confusion surrounding what you and your administration knew about the attacks in Benghazi, when you knew it, and why you responded to those tragic events in the ways that you did."

 

John Hudson (The Atlantic) notes that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared, "Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence."  No, it wouldn't necessarily hold as evidence in a court of law; however, it is used as evidence by the State Dept and the US intelligence community all the time. Equally true, someone's who has claimed to have taken responsibility needs to stop minimizing and justifying information's that's coming out.  Part of taking responsiblity is shutting your mouth when you're exposed to have misled.  Hillary misled.  She was very clear in her accountability that State didn't make the false claims the White House did.  She's been silent as to why that is.  Now she wants to dismiss new findings.  That's not accountability, that's excuses.  She needs to either explain why the White House told people the attack was something that it wasn't or she needs to bow out of the matter. 

 

 

Meanwhile, the Drone War has also brought out the worst in Team Obama.  Conor Friedersdorf (The Atlantic -- link is text and video) reports on what happened when former White House plus-size spokesmodel Robert Gibbs started justifying the killing of an American teenager.

 

How does Team Obama justify killing him?
The answer Gibbs gave is chilling:

ADAMSON: ...It's an American citizen that is being targeted without due process, without trial. And, he's underage. He's a minor.

GIBBS: I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father if they are truly concerned about the well being of their children. I don't think becoming an al Qaeda jihadist terrorist is the best way to go about doing your business.

Again, note that this kid wasn't killed in the same drone strike as his father. He was hit by a drone strike elsewhere, and by the time he was killed, his father had already been dead for two weeks. Gibbs nevertheless defends the strike, not by arguing that the kid was a threat, or that killing him was an accident, but by saying that his late father irresponsibly joined al Qaeda terrorists. Killing an American citizen without due process on that logic ought to be grounds for impeachment. Is that the real answer? Or would the Obama Administration like to clarify its reasoning? Any Congress that respected its oversight responsibilities would get to the bottom of this.

 

 

Conor's correct, Congressional oversight is sorely needed. 

 

 

 

iraq

the washington post

glenn kessler

the new york times

tim arango

all iraq news

alsumaria

the national interest kenneth m. pollack

saudi gazette

meshal al-otaibi
kitabat

foreign policy

josh rogin

 cnn

mohammed tawfeeq

cbs news

brian montopoli

elise labott

abc news

sunlen miller

The new strategy that plays into the debate image problem

Jan Crawford (CBS News -- link is video) reports that Mitt Romney is going to focus on the economy and not engage in the attacks.

"Attacking me is not an agenda," he told Barack last night in the debates.

In the report, he declares in a speech that he can handle the attacks from Barack but "we cannot handle four more years of what he's given us."

I think it's a smart move.  "Bitchy" is the term that's being applied to Barack.  Ava and C.I. carved that observation out long ago but people are really starting to use that term.

Because it's apt.  And accurate.  Barack's acting like a little bitch.

From "The only thing worse than the debate itself (Ava and C.I.):"


Some argued on BBC and NPR last night that it [the debate] disappointed because there was too much agreement -- a difference only in tone, NPR's Mara Liasson seemed to believe, for example.
We'd argue it disappointed because how many times can you see a grown man act bitchy?  Tired bitchy at that.
 "And the 1980s are now calling," Barack said sure he had a soundbyte, "to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years."
Can someone get Spock a humor transplant?  How about explaining to him that explaining the 'funny' tanks the 'funny.'
"Ring, ring.  Governor Romney, it's for you, the 1980s want their foreign policy back."  Keep it short, you get in, you grab the laugh, you get out.
Poor Barack, it's not for lack of trying that he hasn't mastered bitchy.


And that did not play well.  Barack's attempts at bitchy?  I heard about it all day at the office.  Mid-day, everyone had read Ava and C.I.'s piece and were thrilled because there was some hesitancy to apply "bitchy" to Barack.  People would speak haltingly.  By mid-day, it was said in a matter of fact voice.  Or asked -- as in, "When did he become such a little bitch?"

And that really hurts him because he already seems weak and now "bitchy" is applied which is seen as feminine or less than masculine.  So it really compounds his image problems.

And, before anyone e-mails, I was asked early this morning if I wanted to participate in the writing.  I really wanted to say yes but I heard C.I. when she was on the phone with Wally and Cedric (Cedric's my husband) and knew from her comments that she pretty much knew what to emphasize so I felt like I'd just be along for the ride but getting credit like I was a co-writer.  So I said no but it was very sweet of Ava and C.I. to offer.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, October 13, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, Barack gets creative on Iraq in a debate, 'fact checkers' ignore that the White House continues to negotiate to send more US troops back into Iraq, US Army data says over 18,000 US Army personnel in Iraq (but you have to go to the Guardian for that story, not the US press), the political crisis continues in Iraq and more.   Defense Video & Image Distribution System has the strangest story about how Col Matthe Riordan is leaving Iraq and Lt Col Kim Thomas.  And the photo is confusing as well -- it shows people in what appear to be US army uniforms.  But how could that be?   Fact checking last night's debate between US President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, one outlet after another declared all US troops were out of Iraq, all troops had left.  So, as Joni Mitchell sings, "Help me, I think I'm falling . . ."  And the confusion just continues as Simon Rogers (Guardian) posts a chart from the US Army listing the US Army Deployments in 2012 -- this year.  If all US troops left Iraq at the end of 2011, then surely Iraq did not make the list of "Top 10 Countries" in 2012 for deployment, right?   Wait, there it is! Number five on the list of deployments with a little less than 20,000 US troops.  How can that be?  How can we have thousands of US troops in Iraq?  Didn't they all just tell us last night and this morning that all US troops left Iraq at the end of 2011?  How many are present?  Click on map, on Iraq (yes, geography can be hard -- especially for the US press) and you get the number 18,400 ("In 2012 there were 18,400 Army personnel deployed in Iraq").    So, CNN, you're wrong when you declare all "left Iraq in December 2011."    And, Shashank Bengali (Los Angeles Times), you're wrong when you state: "The last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in December."    And also on the dunce list, Susan Cornwell and Lucy Shackelford (Reuters) who maintain:  "The last U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq last December, ending a war launched in March 2003.   Why were they and so many others who've been silent for so long finally talking about Iraq?  Because it was a topic that came up last night when Bob Schieffer moderated a debate between the Democratic and Republican party presidential candidates -- President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.  Covering the exchange,   Glenn Kessler (Washington Post) observed,  "Romney's right -- Obama did try to get a status of forces agreement, but could not get an agreement with the government of Iraq. So now he stresses the fact that he has removed all troops from Iraq, while knocking Romney for supporting what he originally had hoped to achieve."  Also weighing in on Barack's deception is the editorial board of the New Jersey Star-Ledger:   The claim is true. The problem is that Obama wanted to keep 10,000 troops on the ground in Iraq as well. He later cut that number to 5,000, and wasn't able to keep even that contingent in place only because his attempts to negotiate an agreement with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ended in failure. Obama had insisted on a guarantee that the remaining U.S. troops would be immune from criminal prosecution in Iraq, a demand that Maliki refused. So for Obama to paint Romney as a die-hard combatant in Iraq was beyond misleading. It was a stunt. And given the emotions that still surround the troubled U.S. occupation, and the fact that Obama clearly knew he was being dishonest, he wins the whopper.     Grace Wyler (Business Insider) also points out, "Romney is actually correct on this point. The status of forces agreement -- put into place in 2008, before Obama took office -- called for a full U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011. When that time came, the Obama administration tried to work out an extension of the agreement with the Iraqi government that would have kept an unspecified number of U.S. troops (likely between 3,000 and 5,000) in the country to train Iraqi security forces."  John Glaser (Antiwar.com) offers that Barack was dishonest due to the fact that the truth "conflicted with his attempts to claime he ended the war in Iraq."  Jeremy Hammond (Foreign Policy Journal) observes that, in the Iraq exchange, "Romney was being honest and Obama was, well, lying."  From Hammond's analysis:   While Obama is fond of taking credit for ending the war in Iraq, in fact, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) under which all U.S. combat troops were withdrawn at the end of 2011 was signed on November 17, 2008, under the Bush administration. Obama was critical of the SOFA, his publicly stated position being that the troops should be withdrawn sooner. "In contrast," the New York Times noted at the time, "President-elect Obama had campaigned under a promise to withdraw all American combat brigades from Iraq by May 2010". Obama not only did not keep that promise, but his administration sought since as early as September 2010 to obtain a new agreement with Iraq under which 15,000 to 20,000 combat troops would remain beyond the deadline at the end of 2011; but "Obama insisted that it could only happen if Maliki requested it", wrote investigative historian and journalist Gareth Porter, since the White House "was worried about losing support from the Democratic Party's anti-war base as Congressional mid-term elections approached". The Wall Street Journal similarly pointed out that "Mr. Obama could face a political backlash at home if he doesn't meet his campaign pledge to bring troops home from Iraq", and by April 2011, the U.S. had dropped the number of troops it sought to keep in Iraq down to 10,000. The discussions over a new agreement "face political obstacles in both countries," the Journal also noted, "and have faltered in recent weeks because of Iraqi worries that a continued U.S. military presence could fuel sectarian tension and lead to protests similar to those sweeping other Arab countries".     None of the fact checkers bothered to acknowledge what  Tim Arango (New York Times) reported September 26th:   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.     In one of the debates better moments, Mitt Romney declared:   We don't want another Iraq, we don't want another Afghanistan. That's not the right course for us. The right course for us is to make sure that we go after the - the people who are leaders of these various anti-American groups and these - these jihadists, but also help the Muslim world. And how do we do that? A group of Arab scholars came together, organized by the U.N., to look at how we can help the - the world reject these - these terrorists. And the answer they came up with was this: One, more economic development. We should key our foreign aid, our direct foreign investment, and that of our friends, we should coordinate it to make sure that we - we push back and give them more economic development. Number two, better education. Number three, gender equality. Number four, the rule of law. We have to help these nations create civil societies.       Mark Leon Goldberg (UN Dispatch) points out, "Mitt Romney was almost certainly referring to the Arab Human Development Report. This is a groundbreaking study organized by the United Nations Development Program that gives regional scholars a platform to write dispassionate, self critical assessments of the Arab world's progress on a myriad of social development indicators. This includes indices like literacy rates; internet access; maternal mortality rates; primary school enrollment; adolescent fertility rates; higher educational attainment; among others."     "I was about to wake my children up to go to school when the blast took place collapsing walls and shattering the glass in the windows. Thank God the curtains prevented flying pieces of glass from injuring my daughters. Thank God none of them were hurt. When we will stop being killed like this?" Lamia Sami asks in a report by Lindsey Tugman (CBS News). Iraq was slammed with bombings today. Alsumaria quotes a Baghdad Operations Command spokesperson declaring there were five bombs (car bomb and sticky bombings) northwest of Baghdad alone today. Alsumaria counts 6 dead and 14 injured in bombings northwest of Baghdad. All Iraq News notes a Baghdad mortar attack left three people injured. CNN adds a Baghdad car bombing has claimed 2 lives and left ten people injured and they count 11 dead and thirty-two injured in the day's violence. BBC News explains, "The latest attacks come ahead of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, which begins on Friday." Prensa Latina observes, "Media in this capital linked Tuesday's incidents to those which occurred last Saturday, also in areas that are predominantly Shiite Muslim, the great majority in Iraq, from which were reported eight dead and two dozen wounded, if data from official spokespersons are to be believed."   Turning to oil, Nick Snow (Oil & Gas Journal) reports:   Iraq must build a new hydrocarbons regime to attract the necessary financing if it expects to solve its infrastructure problems and become the world's No. 2 exporter, an official of the country's government and the International Energy Agency's chief economist both said. "We have an ambitious plan to double production by the end of this decade," Jabir Habeb, Iraq's ambassador to the US, said at an Oct. 22 seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on IEA's Iraq Energy Outlook, which was released earlier in October. "It may be more ambitious than the IEA's projections, but it's apparent there's no alternative." That report's central scenario projected Iraq's oil production more than doubling to 6.1 million b/d by 2020 and reaching 8.3 million b/d in 2035. This growth in production of more than 5 million b/d by 2035 would make Iraq the largest contributor to more global supplies during that period, it indicated. But the country will need to develop a hydrocarbons regime with the necessary transparency to attract foreign investments to repair badly neglected oil and gas production, pipelines, and terminals, IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol observed.     Dropping back to the October 18th snapshot:   Early this morning, Laura Rozen (The Back Channel) reported, "Oil giant Exxon Mobil is expected to soon announce that it is pulling out of non-Kurdish Iraq, an energy expert source told Al-Monitor Wednesday on condition of anonymity.  The decision would not apply to Exxon's contracts in Kurdish Iraq, which has been a source of on-going tension with Baghdad authorities for the company, the source said."  Ahmed Rasheed and Patricky Markey (Reuters) state the corporation didn't inform "Iraq of its interest in quitting the country's West Qurna oilfield project" according to unnamed sources.  Sometimes unnamed sources lie.  This may be one of those times.  This is very embarrassing for Nouri and his government and feigning surprise may be their effort to play it off.  'How could we have stopped it?  We didn't even know it was coming!'   That would explain why the 'big surprise' that isn't is being played like it is.  Derek Brower (Petroleum Economist) has been covering this story for over 48 hours (including a source that stated ExxonMobil had informed the Iraqi government) and he notes that ExxonMobil will be focusing all their "efforts on upstream projects in Kurdistan instead."  In addition to the claim in Rasheed and Markey's piece about  Iraq having had no meeting on this, Brower notes that a meeting took place today at the Ministry of Oil.  It would appear Nouri's spinning like crazy in an effort to save his faltering image.  (Nouri can certainly spend billions -- as he proved last week on his mad shopping spree for weapons, he just doesn't seem able to maintain releations with those who help Iraq generate large revenues.)     Al Rafidayn reports today that the Kurdistan Regional Government is now exporting oil on the international markets in spite of Baghdad's objections with many observers expecting this to lead to more tenstions between Nouri's Baghdad-based government and the KRG. This as the political crisis continues in Iraq.  Goran Sabah Ghafour (Kurdish Globe) observes:   Iraq is now in the middle of nowhere vis-à-vis lack of governance. The public tease the bare-knuckle efforts of the Iraqi politicians to rule. Iraq's premier Nuri Kamal Al-Maliki works day in and day out to strengthen his stronghold by whatever means he has. Everyday via the media and press we are exposed to nonsense from politicians. The public is disgruntled and blighted by the barking laughs of their leaders appearing on TV saying: "everything will be ok" while the country is on the brink of obliteration with nothing on the right track.   There are many requests at this point for Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug, to appear before Parliament.  Last week, the latest request was made and this was for Nouri to explain himself with regards to the Central Bank.  Nouri's resisting as he has with all other requests.  Per the Constitution, if Parliament summons a prime minister, he or she must appear before them.  But Nouri's never obeyed the Constitution.  Dar Addustour reports rumors of how Nouri may get his way yet again:  He has files on members of another party, apparently dating back to 2007, which would, if revealed, 'implicate' them in terrorism.  The most obvious blackmail targets are the Kurds and Iraqiya.  But if you think back to 2007 and the Diyala attack (by US forces and Nouri's Baghdad forces) that lasted through 2007, what may stand out the most is who they were kicking out: the Mahdi militia.  In other words, whether there's any proof of anything there or not, the most obvious target of his whisper campaign would be Moqtada al-Sadr. State of Law (Nouri's political slate) is all over the Iraqi press insisting they're not the reason that the Fedral Court Act hasn't passed.  It's probably going to have the same legs that yesterday's story about the back and forth between Ammar al-Hakim (ISCI leader) and a Saudi newspaper did (no traction). More interesting is State of Law echoing talking points of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (such as in this All Iraq News article). Or All Iraq News quoting State of Law MP Mansour al-Tamimi expressing support for Jalal.  This comes, no surprise, as All Iraq News features Iraqiya MPs quoting Jalal's committment to the process of resolving the political crisis.  Alsumaria notes that Jalal met with the Sadr bloc.  The bloc.  Moqtada, like many in Iraqiya, feels stabbed in the back by Jalal's actions last May. Meanwhile, it's apparently not enough that two villages in Basra are being terrorized by packs of wild dogs, Al Rafidayn reports that large numbers of large rats are damaging store goods, farm produce and biting children throughout Basra.  Abu Mohammed is quoted stating that the plague of rodents has lasted for over a year now and that the residents see it as terrorism .  Abu Ali notes that rats have attacked their children resulting in nose and finger wounds and they have damaged their home.  It's as though the rats are coming out of the sand, says another and the bait and poison that once worked now does not.   Back to the US for a few veterans topics, Mike Kernels (News & Records) reports on the increased unemployment rate for veterans of today's wars with veterans aged 20 to 24 suffering from a 14.5% unemployment rate, 14.6% for Black veterans and 19.9% for female veterans.  Rick Maze (Navy Times) reports:   National Guard and reserve members who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are having a harder time than other veterans getting disability compensation claims approved by the Veterans Affairs Department. New data obtained by Veterans for Common Sense under the Freedom of Information Act shows the denial rate for claims filed by reserve component combat veterans is four times higher than for post-9/11 combat veterans who were active-duty members.   Harvard's Linda J. Blimes (Sentinel Source) notes the veterans vote and states it's assumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a slight lead.  The column's much longer that that but completely useless and, for the record, when you write "Romney does have some negatives, however" -- you probably need to have noted some negatives Barack has as well as some positives Romney would have.  It's a very one-sided column that will confirm many suspicions about Blimes from the last years and used those suspicions to dismiss her accurate financial models.  Unlike Blimes, NBC's Bill Briggs talks to actual veterans and four share what they made of the debates and what they think the most pressing issues for veterans are.  In addition, Disabled Veterans of America notes:   Held annually, National Disability Employment Awareness Month is led by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, but its true spirit lies in the many observances held at the grassroots level across the nation every year. For specific ideas about how DAV members can support National Disability Employment Awareness Month, visit www.dol.gov/odep/. Suggestions range from simple, such as putting up a poster, to comprehensive, such as implementing a disability education program. Regardless, all play an important part in fostering a more inclusive workforce, one where every person is recognized for his or her abilities -- every day of every month. For more information please visit the Office of Disability Employment Policy Workplace Flexibility Toolkit.     That's this month.  Hopefully, you already knew that.  I didn't and wouldn't if it hadn't been e-mailed to us, so thank you for that e-mail.       iraq bob schieffer npr mara liasson antiwar.com john glaser usa today the los angeles times the new york times tim arango the washington post glenn kessler shashank bengali cnn nbc news reuters susan cornwell lucy shackelford rick maze

The debates are over

From last night, that's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Cowardly Debater."  Did you catch tonight's debate?

I was left wondering why we even bother to have debates.  Not only do they refuse to invite all candidates, they also refuse to make the duopoly stick to the questions asked. 

Patrick Martin (WSWS) previewed tonight's debate by reviewing Barack:


Obama won the Democratic Party nomination in 2008 over Hillary Clinton in large measure because he positioned himself as the more “antiwar” of the two candidates, in part by repeatedly citing her 2002 vote to authorize George W. Bush’s war of aggression against Iraq. He won the general election over McCain by taking advantage of the massive popular discontent with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Once in office, however, Obama reappointed Bush’s secretary of defense, Robert Gates, selected a former general as his national security adviser, and his “hawkish” former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. He doubled and then tripled the US troop commitment to Afghanistan, while adhering to the withdrawal schedule in Iraq negotiated by the Bush administration.

Last year, Obama played the decisive role in facilitating the NATO war against Libya, which led to the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi and 50,000 deaths. Now his administration is preparing a similar fate for the Assad regime in Syria, where the US-instigated civil war has already claimed 30,000 lives.

US troops, warplanes and drone missiles are now deployed over a far wider area than under the Bush administration, including the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and much of the Sahara and North Africa, in addition to Afghanistan and Pakistan.


If you haven't already, please go read Ava and C.I.'s "TV: When comedy just isn't funny" -- it's shockingly good.

Also check out the book posts from Rebecca, Kat and Marcia:


"book 'em friday: new barbra bio delivers!"

"Horrifyingly Mad"
"William J. Mann's Hello, Gorgeous"



This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, October 22, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri's targeting of the Central Bank brings him some unwanted international attention, an Iraqi legend -- one who found international fame as a singer and whose lovers reportedly included a prime minister -- passes away, protests return to Iraq, Barack mentions Iraq in a new advertisement, is nepotism enriching the Biden family, and more.     The character of Pinocchio first appears at the end of the 19th century in Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio.  The wooden puppet who wanted to be a human boy had a nose that grew and grew as he told more and more lies.  In 1940, Disney would make the film Pinocchio and reach new audiences.  It and similar themed tales -- such as Aesop's The Boy Who Cried Wolf -- experience popularity not just because they impart the lesson that lying is wrong but also because we want to believe that those who lie are made to suffer in some manner for their deceptions.  We want to believe that lying has consequences and we want to believe that because, when we look around, we rarely see any punishment or even social disgrace for lying.  Bully Boy Bush, for example, with the help of a compliant press, lied the country into an illegal war.  And did so without any apparent suffering.    The lies about Iraq never end.  Today it's Bernard Whitman (Huffington Post) rushing to explain to you that number two on his reasons he thinks you should vote for Barack is the Iraq War.  Writing with the sort of engorged passion generally reserved for erotica, Whitman wants you to believe, "President Obama would not have started the war in Iraq, but he certainly delivered on his promise to end it."  He wouldn't have started it?  How is that known?  Here's what I know.  Barack Obama to the New York Times about how he would have voted in 2002 on authorization for the Iraq War --  had he been in the Senate -- in an article published July 26, 2004, "But, I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports.  What would I have done?  I don't know.  What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made."  Again, the lies about Iraq never end.     As for his alleged ending of the Iraq War?  Here's Cindy Sheehan (Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox) weighing in on Candy Crowley's nonsense on CNN:   First, she claimed that Obama "ended the war in Iraq like he promised during the 2008 campaign."  Actually, A: It ended because of an agreement that was entered into between the US and the Puppet Government of Iraq before George Bush left office; B: the Obama administration did everything it could to NOT have to leave Iraq; and, C: the occupation continues to this day with tens of thousands of independent contractors and thousands of other civilian employees staffing the enormous embassy and consulates around the country.  But the above are inconvenient facts that we are supposed to forget so we can triumphantly trumpet: "Vote for Obama, he ended the war in Iraq!"   And we should also remember what Tim Arango (New York Times) reported September 26th:   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.   Today, Barack Obama released an ad proclaiming he ended the Iraq War and that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would have left 30,000 troops in Iraq.  James Rainey's writing about it for some reason -- not to fact check --  at the Los Angeles Times.   Were he a functioning journalist, Rainey might want to ask, "Is Barack saying Mitt's a better negotiator?"   The ad includes this line, "Mitt Romney would have left 30,000 troops there" -- so Barack thinks Mitt would have been able to have done that, to have successfully negotiated the agreement that Barack's still working on today?   So why Barack's sudden interest in Iraq and Afghanistan today?  The last of the three debates between Barack and Romney is tonight.  As we pointed out at Third yesterday, the same media that loved to cluck about how the candidates weren't talking about the wars, that same media that was in charge of the debates hasn't been keen to ask questions about the wars.   Possibly because, despite Barack's attempts to brag, there's nothing to praise there.  Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan (McClatchy Newspapters) observes, "Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki maintains a strong grip on his fledgling country but the emerging realization that he is a puppet of the Iranian regime has diminished his stature on the world stage and led to criticism of his continued leadership by U.S. lawmakers."  Peter Feaver (Foreign Policy) notes:   According to Michael Gordon: "Mr. Biden also predicted that the Americans could work out a deal with a government led by Mr. Maliki. 'Maliki wants us to stick around because he does not see a future in Iraq otherwise,' Mr. Biden said. 'I'll bet you my vice presidency Maliki will extend the SOFA' he added, referring to the Status of Forces Agreement the Obama administration hoped to negotiate."     Feaver is responding to a critique of his earlier comments -- a critique by F. Gregory Gause III.  Feaver actually shouldn't have bothered.  When you're either as stupid or as much a liar as Gause, you don't deserve a response. In fact, we're only going to include one paragraph.  We were doing three but the person I'm dictating this too just told me he's not sure how to clean up everything.  (Meaning turn so many curse words into work-safe ones.)  So we're wiping out everything and emphasizing one tiny sliver only:     In the end, Maliki accepted a political deal brokered in Tehran that returned him to the prime ministry with the support of Shiite political groups closely aligned with Iran, like Muqtada al-Sadr's followers and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.   The Erbil Agreement was negotiated by the US, not by Iran.  Iran had nothing to do with the Erbil Agreement.      And briefly, one more section:   Once that coalition was formed, no U.S. diplomatic effort, no matter how skillful and concerted, was going to convince Maliki to alter the original withdrawal agreement and allow a substantial U.S. force to stay. Maliki was not so inclined anyway, but with the backing of Iran so central to his return to power, there was no conceivable set of inducements Washington could offer Maliki to move him off his position.     Am I doing the Saudi Arabia snapshot?  No.  You can't be an expert on everything.  And that's something that the writer might consider.  So when he was brushing up on Saudi Arabia for those bad articles he wrote during this period, he missed the coverage in the Iraqi press.  Nouri was fine with it.  Nouri wanted US troops on the ground.  He'd made that clear when he visited DC in the summer of 2009.    The issue was immunity.  That was the big issue with the SOFA in 2008.  It was the big issue as 2011 drew to a close.    If you don't know what went down, maybe you should find another topic to address?   We may return to this idiot tomorrow when I can hopefully be a little more calm on this topic.  But there are neocons who are more factual than Gause The Third is.  Again, we embrace the tales like The Boy Who Cried Wolf because we want to believe that those who lie get punished.   On tonight's debate, Ian Wilder (On The Wilder Side) explains:   It's four years later, and here I am back speaking at the public area on the edge of the Hofstra campus before the presidential debate.   It saddens me to report that the ills I spoke of in the presidential campaign four years ago remain unchanged.  The corporate media still uphold the charade of the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates.  The commission is still controlled by the Democratic and Republican Parties.  Its' still is funded by large corporations like Anheuser-Busch.  The commission still excludes any candidate outside of the Democratic and Republican parties even if the candidate is  on enough ballots to win the electoral college.  Both the Green Party and Libertarian candidates are on enough ballots to win, but are excluded from the debates.  And by the the terms of the Democratic-Republican debate agreement, Debate hosts such as my alma matter Hofstra are even excluded from scheduling other qualified presidential candidates to speak on campus.  I am disappointed that my college would sell out the quest for knowledge so cheaply. Of course, the corporate media never reports on these restrictive terms of the agreement.  nor do they report that debate sponsor Anheuser-Busch is not an American company. It is owned by Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate.  Lastly, the corporate media failed to report on the biggest debate stories of the year that 3 of the 10 sponsors have pulled out of the debates because they realized that the debate is not nonpartisan.   The YWCA, Philips Electronics, and British advertising firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty have all pulled out of sponsorship. The YWCA and Phillips have issued statements that the debates are bi-partisan, not nonpartisan. I support one of the candidates wrongfully shut out of the debates, Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein.  Dr. Stein is on 85% of the ballots in the country.  She has called for all qualified candidates who could win the electoral college to be in the debate.  She understands that the corporate control of the debates and our democracy needs to be remedied.  She has consistently supported the reforms called for by the occupy movement.  She has chosen anti-poverty crusader Cheri Honkala as her running mate. As Green Party candidates, they follow the party policy of refusing all corporate donations.   On the topic of the presidential tickets, Barack's running mate and current Vice President Joe Biden is in the news cycle.  Charlie Gasparino (Fox Business) reports that when Hill International's president David Richter was asked about the success of the subsidiary HillStone International:   Richter didn't mince words. It really helps, he said, to have "the brother of the vice president as a partner," according to a person who was present.  The "brother" Richter was referring to during the meeting is James Biden, the younger brother of Vice President Joe Biden. Since November 2010, James Biden has been the executive vice president of Hill International's housing subsidiary despite little if any documented work history in residential construction. And if the company's projections are accurate, both Hill and Biden are on the verge of a huge payday, beneficiaries, some analysts believe, of James Biden's connections to the Obama Administration through his older brother.   Indeed, the Iraq project may be the most lucrative single development in Hill's history. Since 2011, Hill, located in Marlton, NJ., has been losing money; the shares were recently trading at $3.82, down about 28% this year on New York Stock Exchange trading.   We'll cover Iraqi oil tomorrow but the above is breaking in the news cycle and I know and like Joe Biden but I don't play favorites.  Hopefully, the story is not as bad as it sounds but we noted it here the day it broke, we didn't try to hide it or play personal favorites.      Turning to Iraq and violence, Al Rafidayn reports a Nineveh Province roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left another injured and a Salahuddin Province roadside bombing left one police officer injured. Also in Salahuddin Province, All Iraq News notes a Samarr cemetery bombing targeted a mosque but left no one dead or injured.  Alsumaria reports a Shirqat bombing targeting a police chief that left his assistant injured, 1 Sahwa was shot dead in Azlerarip, 1 woman was killed in Wasit, 2 security officers shot dead in Baghdad, and the Turkish military continued to shell northern Iraq.       Saturday,  Alsumaria reported "hundreds of teachers" had taken to the streets on Friday in Basra to protest the lack of advances in education and their living conditions.  In addition, they demanded the government imporve the public services and address the crumbling infrastructure.   That was actually the second day in a row of protests in Basra.  Al-Hasany reports that Friday, following morning prayers, various social sectors in Basra turned out to demonstrate.  Some had signs and placards with carttons calling out the government's corruption and authoritarian nature, others decried the ongoing violence, and some called for the United Nations to step in and end the unjust rule by a corrupt government.  As you look through the pictures that illustrate the article, it's clear that "hundreds" turned out on Friday, possibly even "thousands."  The protesters are all male but they're of all ages -- including the little boy carrying a sign decrying the lack of public services.  In a possible response to the teachers, Alsumaria added State of Law MP Mohammed Chichod has stated that basic services can wait and that it is more important that the government focus on the military and weapons.  (State of Law is Nouri's political slate.)   Dar Addustour reports a Maysan Province demonstration on Sunday in which people gathered (dozens) to protest the lack of basic services as well as a probelm specific to the province, sinking homes. Though the protest was peaceful, the people were surprised to see Nouris security forces storm in using batons and attacking the people, hurling threats and insults at the people, firing into the air and injuring one child who was shot.  This morning, All Iraq News reports, the Maysan Province Council questioned the provincial governor and two of his deputies about yesterday's attack and demanded the launch of an investigation to determine what took place and that a formal apology be made to the family of the child shot on Sunday as well as to the families of any other injured children. For those who remember January 2011, this is how it started in Iraq.  Scattered protests building up to the February 25th protests across Iraq, as the cry for improved basic services, jobs and addressing 'the disappeared' in Iraq's 'justice' system.  As various governments were threatened in the region and a few brought down, Nouri grew worried. That's when he made his 'promise' that he wouldn't go for a third term (since rescinded by his attorney and many others), insisted that he would fix things in 100 days, begged Iraqis to stop protesting.  It was kick the can, what Nouri always does.  Stall, distract and hope your opponents are exhausted and just give up.  In this case, Nouri's opponents were the Iraqi people. Now it would appear that the protests are re-starting.     Dropping back to Saturday, " In other scandals, Nouri fired Sinan al-Shabibi as Governor of the Central Bank (despite Article 103 of the Constitution making clear that he doesn't have that right -- Parliament does).  Since then a warrant's been put out for al-Shabibi who is said to be in Europe.  An unnamed MP tells Al Mada that Nouri fired al-Shabibi because the man refused to loan Nouri $63 billion that Nouri said was for the government's budget.  Al Mada notes that Moqtada al-Sadr is calling out Nouri's attempts to politicize the Central Bank and he also asks where is the reform that Nouri promised in early 2011?"  Today Prashant Rao (AFP) reports, "The targeting of Iraq's well-respected central bank chief appears to be a move by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to consolidate power and sends a bad message to international investors, experts and diplomats say."  Long time Iraq observer Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group tells Rao, "The Maliki government will claim it (the move against Shabibi) is part of long-standing efforts to root out corruption.  It looks more like a long-standing effort to gain control over independent institutions."  Michael Peel (Financial Times of London) adds: Some analysts see the affairs as more evidence of a growing autocracy established by Mr Maliki, particularly since the withdrawal of US troops in December. The paradox of power in his administration is that, while his coalition grouping controls well under half the parliamentary seats, he has steadily increased his authority over important security and financial institutions.  In December, Tareq al-Hashemi, vice president, fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest on terrorism charges, claims he says were orchestrated by the premier.       The political crisis continues in Iraq.  Ahmed Abdul Murad (Kitabat) reports a delegation of Kurds arrived Sunday in Baghdad to discuss the political crisis.  Ayad al-Tamimi (Al Mada) reports they have met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and National Alliance leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari.  Rudaw explains:   A group of intellectuals, academics and political analysts gathered in Salahaddin on Oct. 20 to talk about the current political situation in Iraq.  At the meeting, Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani said, "We welcome constructive talks with Baghdad." Deputy Iraqi Prime Minister Roj Nuri Shaways and Barham Salih, deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), were also in attendance. According to the official website of the presidency of the Kurdistan Region, those at the meeting "praised the role of the President Barzani in building the new Iraq and in creating the new Iraqi government. They also informed Barzani that Iraq is deeply upset by the current political crisis and that their mission in visiting the Kurdistan Region is to take a positive message back to Baghdad in order to end this political crisis."   Alsumaria notes that today's meet-up was with Nouri who spoke of the need for real solutions. Nouri's second term may end before the political crisis is resolved.  The crisis is usually pegged to December 2011.  The political stalemate pre-dates the crisis.  Political Stalemate I is the eight months after March 2010 when Nouri brought the country to a stand still as he demanded a second term as prime minister.  The US-brokered Erbil Agreement (November 2010) ends Political Stalemate I.  Nouri's trashing the contract starts Political Stalemate II.  In the summer of 2011, Moqtada al-Sadr, the Kurds and Iraqiya called for a return to the Erbil Agreement so you can see that as the start of Political Stalemate II or you can date it back further when Nouri refuses to create an independent national security commission headed by Ayad Allawi as outlined in the Erbil Agreement.   Afifa Iskandar passed away Sunday. The singer  was not just an Iraqi institution, she was acclaimed throughout the region.  She was also an actress, knew pretty much everyone, reportedly was the mistress of one prime minister, retired to avoid another prime minister, a very interesting life.   All Iraq News reports she was 91-years-old, born in 1912 to an Iraqi father and a Greek Christian mother. The paper explains she began singing at the age of five and gave her first concert when she she was 8-years-old (gave the concert in Erbil).   Alsumaria notes that she married at the age of 12 and that she began singing in Baghdad clubs in 1935. She'd go on to sing at all the leading clubs including Cabaret Abdullah and the Paradise. In 1938, she'd travel to Egypt where she wowed Cario. The History News Network shares a story of a social get together where Afifa Iskander performed: To compare any singer to Um Kulthoum was the biggest compliment a singer could receive, especially in the fifties (this is before Arab rock had been invented). Afifa Iskander deserved it, not because of her overpowering voice nor her magnetic presence (factors which had made Um Kulthoum a star) but because of the warmth of her personality and the astonishing way she sang Iraqi ballads and made them her own. She was Iraq's Um Kulthoum because she sang Iraqi songs that spoke to Iraqis everywhere in the same way that Um Kulthoum, despite her great Arab following, sang primarily to Egyptians; and she became a national icon precisely because she was able to sing songs that did not imitate the style of Egyptian or Lebanese chanteuses, but were profoundly, natively Iraqi.   Al Rafidayn notes that she will be buried in a Baghdad cemetery near her mother. Her mother was a strong influence and played four instruments. Last month, Warvin reports, she was admitted to Baghdad Medical City Hospital, suffering from intestinal bleeding. Afifa was celebrated for her singing and her beauty.  Jabra Ibrahim Jabra shared a recollection in his posthumous Princesses' Street: Baghdad Memories:   Some of the writers were not happy at the Brazilian Cafe unless they sat on the front line chairs facing the street, which was always noisy and busy with its ever-changing scenes, people, colors, carriages, cars, and lottery ticket sellers shouting, "Five thousand dinars! Five thousand dinars!"  The din did not ceasue until about midnight, especially because next to the cafe was a famous nightclub, in which Afifa Iskandar sang. Desmond Stewart introduced me to Afifa Iskandar at her request, for he used to give her private English lessons.  To my surprise, I found her to be young, bright, and thirsty for knowledge and culture.  Desmond and I used to boast that we were the only two men in Baghdad, on going to the nightclub, whom the "artiste" would offer a drink and pay for it, not the contrary.    Another memory is shared in the book Outside In Marginality in the Modern Middle East (Eugene Rogan, editor):   [Amin] Al-Mumayyiz's wedding party in 1940 was a different affair.  By then he was a diplomat, and had moved house to al-Salihiya, a leafy suburb.  The musical entertainmnet started with the chalghi accompanied by singing of maqams and pastas by professionals and amateurs.  At midnight, the then renowned singer Afifa Iskandar arrived with her takht (band) headed by Salih al-Kuwaiti.  They came from the Otel al-Jawahiri (which belonged to the Kuwaiti brothers) after the end of their peformance there.  Afifa danced and sang and charmed all present with her smiles and jokes.        Skies explains that last year, during Ramadan, the series Baghdad Beauty aired -- a series tracing "the life of Affifa Iskandar, one of the first Iraqi singers which started to gain her fame in the 50s of the last century. [. . .] She sang in the same cabaret in which her father, Iskancer, plays the violin. Known personalities attend to the cabaret to listen to her. Among them, Naseem, the British, who reprsent what the UK wants from Iraq, Bakir Sidqi, an Iraqi Army leader, and lately a Nazi German, who offers his country as a new ally to Iraq."   In 2010, Hadani Ditmars (CounterCurrents) remembered a trip he took to Iraq and seeking out a Catholic doctor who as very popular in Baghdad, "Young and old, rich and poor, Kurds and Arabs, even Afifa Iskander -- the former star of Baghdad's old cabaret scene and mistress of Abdul Karim Qassim (the Iraqi leader who flirted with Russian Communists and was overthrown in the 1963 CIA-backed Baathist coup) -- came in for a visit. She was in her eighties then and being treated for dysentery, in a neighourhood that, less than a decade earlier, had been middle class."   General Abdul Karim Qassim overthrew the (British installed) Iraqi monarchy in a 1958 coup and was Prime Minister of Iraq until 1963. For demanding that the British and American venture Iraq Petroleum Company share ownership and profits with the Iraqi government, Qassim was targeted for overthrow by the CIA during the Kennedy administration. When Saddam Hussein came to power, Afifa Iskandar declared her retirment in order to avoid performing for him. As one of Iraq's legendary and most popular singers, she'd performed before the previous prime ministers and the royal family.     The Great Soviet Encyclopedia notes that, in the thirties, the "best-known" were "Muhammad Kubbanshi, Salima Murad, Afifa Iskandar, and Sabiha Ibrahim." She would perform in the film Layla in Iraq (1949) directed by Ahmed Kamal Morsy and an Iraqi film classic, the second film from the Stuiod of Baghdad. From 1930 to 1950, Susannah Tarbush (Saudi Gazette) notes, "Saleh Al-Kuwaity was the pre-eminent song writer in Iraq, writing songs for stars such as Zakiya George, Munira Al-Hawazwaz, Afifa Iskander and Zohour Hussein." In June 2008, Akhbaar notes, Afifa Iskandar was one of the artists honored during a cultural salute in Baghdad.     Among her influences was the Iraqi Jewish singer Salima Murad who was famous for the song "On The Banks of the Tigris." In the documentary about Iraqi music, On The Banks of the Tigris, Afifa Iskandar shared, "Salima Murad was my teacher. She was a real Iraqi!" And many feel that way about Afifa Iskandar. At Alsumaria's Facebook page, already 151 comments have been left at the story on Afifa's passing.     Earlier this year, Kurd Net noted a concert that was "reviving the Iraqi folklore song festival performed by a group of Iraqi artists in Sweden" and that among the famous and beloved Iraqi songs being performed were ones originally presented by Afifa Iskandar. Rotanata Radio notes that one of the songs she made famous was "It Burned My Soul."       It burned my soul when we parted I cried and drowned them in my tears What did my heart say when we parted It burned my sould when we parted As I bid farewell I say how can I forget them My heart, for God's sake, go with them I would rather die than us be apart I want those who left me to come back the journey I want to give them part of my soul as a keepsake I've experienced every kind of affliction             iraq the los angeles times james rainey alsumaria all iraq news history news network afp prashant rao al mada kitabat ahmed abdul murad al mada ayad al-tamimi rudaw alsumaria dar addustour al rafidayn