Monday, March 4, 2019

Eric Holder won't run? A nation gasps!

Exactly who was waiting for Eric Holder to run?

Maybe some Republicans. 

It would be real cute for them to watch him squirm as they asked how someone who was held in contempt of Congress can run for president with a  straight face?

 
The House has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, the first time Congress has taken such a dramatic move against a sitting Cabinet official.
The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats voting in support of a criminal contempt resolution, which authorizes Republicans leaders to seek criminal charges against Holder. This Democratic support came despite a round of behind-the-scenes lobbying by senior White House and Justice officials - as well as pressure from party leaders - to support Holder.


And don't forget his attack on the press.  From Wikipedia:

Under Holder's leadership, the Department of Justice brought six leak-related prosecutions against current or former U.S. government employees, while all previous Presidential administrations combined had tried a total of three such cases. Holder was reportedly "surprised" by news reports pointing out this statistic, and was said to have told associates that he did not wish to have leak prosecutions be his legacy.[72] Several prominent leak prosecutions under Holder involved communications between criminal defendants and journalists, and the pervasive use of traceable electronic communications between journalists and their sources provided the prosecution with a tool to determine the potential origin of published information.[73] Under Holder, the Justice Department argued that journalists had no legal protection to maintain the confidentiality of their sources, and can be compelled by the government to reveal them, or potentially face criminal contempt charges.[74] On September 17, 2018, the Freedom of the Press Foundation obtained documents regarding the use of FISA courts to spy on journalists.[75][76][77]
On May 13, 2013, the Associated Press announced that the telephone records for 20 of their reporters during a two-month period in 2012 had been seized by the Justice Department as part of the 2013 Department of Justice investigations of reporters. The AP described these acts as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into their news-gathering operation.[78][79] Holder testified under oath to the House Judiciary Committee that he had recused himself from these leak investigations to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Holder said his Deputy Attorney General, James Cole was in charge of the AP investigation and would've ordered the subpoenas.[80] When questioning turned to the possibility of journalists being charged under the Espionage Act for reporting classified material, Holder stated: "With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I've ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be a wise policy."[81]
It was later reported that the DOJ monitored Fox News reporter James Rosen's activities by tracking his visits to the State Department through phone traces, timing of calls and his personal emails.[82] NBC confirmed with the Justice Department that Holder had personally signed off on the Rosen subpoenas. The DOJ defended their decision and spoke about a balance between protecting national secrets and the 1st Amendment, stating: "After extensive deliberations, and after following all applicable laws, regulations and policies, the Department sought an appropriately tailored search warrant under the Privacy Protection Act."[83] The revelation brought into question whether Holder had been intentionally misleading during his previous testimony. House Committee members sent an open letter to Holder, saying: "It is imperative that the committee, the Congress, and the American people be provided a full and accurate account of your involvement."[84]


Eric Holder not running is only a loss for the GOP.



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

 
Monday, March 4, 2019.  More US bases are built in Iraq while Iraqis continue to suffer from lack of jobs in their own country.



Calls for US troops out of Iraq have been a feature of the ongoing war for over a decade now.  Typically, the Kurds call for US troops to stay.  NIQASH's Mustafa Habib says they're not the only ones calling for US troops to remain.


During a secret meeting among leaders of tribal a few days ago, they decided to reject the campaign led by Shiite parties and factions to drive out US troops from the country, they stressed the need for these forces to protect Anbar from ISIS.
 
 




Regardless of where the leaders fall on the issue, the Iraqi people's position remains the same -- all US troops -- all foreign troops period -- out of Iraq.

Despite that fact, as we noted in THIRD's "Editorial: When does the US leave Iraq?" last night,  US bases are going up in Iraq.




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new Air Bases in , the first one near Al Rutba (Al Anbar Province) seems to be fully operational, sand bags on the runways have been removed. As for H-3 airbase, works are still in progress, southern runway is still sandbagged.





US Sets Up 2 New Bases in Western




MAJOR: US EXPANDS OCCUPATION OF IRAQ – BUILDS TWO NEW BASES




"U.S. Has 31 Military Bases, 34,000 Soldiers in Iraq."




The war has been going on so long that now it is now possible to have children serving whose parents served.  Two e-mails came into the public account noting an article Saturday about a Tweet.  Didn't see that article and won't link to it.  Two Sundays ago, at THIRD, we noted the same Tweet in "Editorial: The silence is deafening:"

Editorial: The silence is deafening

It's a simple question.



My first born son was 14 months old as I talked to him the night before I deployed to Kuwait/Iraq in June of 2003. My son just received mail from a recruiter for the first time. How the f**k is it possible he could go fight in the same war I did before he could walk? ENDTHEWAR









Why aren't others asking it?




And if anyone was asking sincerely for that other site to be noted, it never will be.  I still have the January 2005 e-mail the head of that site wrote that was a racist attack on then-US House Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones (she passed away in 2008).  That's why we don't highlight that site.  It's not that we're not aware of it, it's that we're far too aware of it.

We never highlight them.  We never highlighted Keith Olbermann even when he was our great hope supposedly.  Keith's anti-woman, sexist nature (among other things) was well known so we never highlighted him.  If there's someone we've always avoided in the 15 years of this site, there's generally a reason for that.


On the subject of Tweets,  Fadel al-Nashmi (ASHARQ AL-AWSAT) reports:


Twitter has closed the official account of the “Security Media Cell” that is affiliated with the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

The cell was initially formed under the name of the “Military Information Cell” after the ISIS terrorist organization took over large swathes of Iraqi territory in June 2014.

During the war on ISIS, the Cell played a pivotal role in disseminating combat-related military information and information from the Joint Operations Command.

It did not comment on the shutdown, but a source close to it told Asharq al-Awsat that “Twitter has suspended, not closed, the account.”



Adel Abdul Mahdi remains ineffective and ripe for removal.  Nouri al-Maliki, former prime minister and forever thug, is currently attempting to convince other politicians to support his move to remove Mahdi and step back in as prime minister.  Mahdi's inability to accomplish anything allows this to be a very real possibility.

At no time since 2003 has the president of Iraq (a ceremonial position) been elevated higher than the prime minister by the western press.  Now western outlets repeatedly report on Barham Salih and his pronouncements as though Barham is the leader of Iraq.  It as though they're preparing you for the end of Mahdi's rule.

Mahdi was, of course, the longtime choice of the CIA and his inability to rule says a lot about their poor analytics.  They pushed him hard every time starting in 2010.  He was the answer, they insisted.

He has turned out to be no answer at all.

Terrorism and violence happen for reasons.  These include economic reasons.  There are no jobs in Iraq.  That could have been addressed long ago -- and should have been.  But it's become a growing problem and one that Mahdi can't address apparently.


The graduates of universities have demonstrated in Alwai area in the middle of Baghdad to demand Baghdad government providing them with job opportunities .
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If you're not getting how bad the situation is, note this.



These stats on demographics and growth rates should keep you up at night
 
 



If the referred to article doesn't show in the Tweet, it's Chloe Cornish's piece for THE FINANCIAL TIMES which notes that overall joblessness in Iraq is at 13% but for the younger adult Iraqis it stands at 40%.  The article delves into the implications for Iraq's future as a result of the current babyboom taking place among Iraqi youth, so it's of interest for that as well.  But with protests in Baghdad over the lack of jobs, we're noting it due to the jobless rate.

Again:

The graduates of universities have demonstrated in Alwai area in the middle of Baghdad to demand Baghdad government providing them with job opportunities .
 
 

Replying to  
Sir i live in Iraq and I graduated from Computer engineering college two years ago and have no job yet, please help me sir
 
 


In Iraq, residents of Basra City protest in Bahariya Square near government council building. Demand jobs, better services, abolishment of Basra Council & accountability for the corrupt.
 
 



Again, this issue has festered for some time.  But Mahdi came to power after the protests began in Basra (July was when they started) so he should have had that on his lists of things to address in his first 100 days.  It's now around 124 days since he became prime minister and he's done nothing to address the lack of jobs.  He also still can't appoint a Minister of Defense or Minister of Interior.

Again, he's proven to be rather inept.




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