Six years ago the lights went out in Iraq

Bush invaded Iraq six years ago today.From ICasualties.org:

U.S. Confirmed Deaths
Reported Deaths: 4259
Confirmed Deaths: 4258
Pending Confirmation: 1
DoD Confirmation List

From Just Foreign Policy.org

My video from last years anniversary:

Iraqi reporter hurls his shoes and insults at Bush..

He verbally bitchslaps da Shrub as well. From MSNBC via HuffPo:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/28223089#28223089

From the HuffPo writeup:

McClatchy reports that the man who hurled his shoes at Bush during his press conference was an Iraqi journalist. CNN notes that this is considered an insult among Muslims:

An Iraqi television journalist hurled two shoes at President Bush on Sunday during a joint news conference Bush was holding with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to mark the signing of a U.S.-Iraq security agreement.

Bush had just finished his prepared remarks in which he said the security agreement was made possible by the U.S. surge of troops earlier this year, whhen the journalist, Muthathar al Zaidi pulled his shoes off and hurled them at the president. “This is a goodbye kiss, you dog,” Zaidi shouted.

Bush dodged the shoes and was not struck. Bodyguards quickly wrestled Zaidi to the floor and hauled him, kicking and screaming, from the room. Two other Iraqi journalists were briefly detained after one of them called Zaidi’s actions “courageous.”

Maliki tried to confiscate all the video tape of the incident..the American government personnel intervened and all journalists were allowed to keep their video. As WaPo notes, tossing ones shoes at someone is the most extreme form of ‘dissing’:

Zaidi was seated in the second row of seats, about 12 feet from Bush’s lectern. Zaidi, colleagues said, was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen last year and was later released. Throwing a shoe at someone is considered the worst possible insult in Iraq, and is meant to show extreme disrespect and hatred towards someone.

As the BBC notes:

With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, Mr Zaidi said: “This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq.”

Bush is on his way to Afghanistan, wonder what treats await him there, ya know? 😉

Massive fraud and corruption in Iraq government-No kidding?

The post title is heavy on the sarcasm. We get little tidbits of news about the simply massive amount of fraud and corruption but then…it just fades away into the sunset.

I am tired of that bullshit. It’s huge and its costing us, as in American’s…Billions upon billions.

So, what does Maliki do? Why, according to a NYT writeup, he fires the folks charged with ferreting out the graft and corruption.

Reminds me of the Bush administration…how about you? From the NYT’s link above:

The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here.

The dismissals, which were confirmed by senior Iraqi and American government officials on Sunday and Monday, have come as estimates of official Iraqi corruption have soared. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.

The moves have not been publicly announced by Mr. Maliki’s government, but word of them has begun to circulate through the layers of Iraqi bureaucracy as Parliament prepares to vote on a long-awaited security agreement.

You know…if keeping our soldiers alive and in one piece isn’t enough of a reason to bring them ALL home now…this fucking horseshit should be, even for the neocons and the extreme rightwing nutjobs for crying out loud.

And the secrecy..another ala BushCo bush league move. Also there is the fear of retaliation. To speak on the record about what happens in the Iraq government can cost one their life. Again from the NYT:

Senior Iraqi officials and four of the dismissed officials, many of whom asked not to be named for fear of government reprisals, said inspectors had already been removed in the Ministries of Water Resources, Culture, Trade, and Youth and Sport. In addition, inspectors have been removed from the cabinet-level Central Bank of Iraq, and from two religious offices, the Sunni Endowment and the Christian Endowment, whose leaders carry the rank of deputy minister.

One senior Iraqi official said that the list of ministries whose inspectors had been dismissed also included the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the ministry’s public affairs office denied that on Monday.

Sweet-friggin-Jesus, the inspector for the Central Bank has been shitcanned…what a fucking farce.

Just remember, this is YOUR money being squandered, or to be more specific…your children and grandchildren’s money since we borrow it from fucking China and others. Oh and typical BushCo bullshit here too: The inspectors and investigators get no protection from the US who has demanded that they be put in place to begin with. Again the NYT piece:

But Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who leads an independent oversight office in Washington, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and who is currently working in Iraq, said he knew of six of the dismissals. He said the inspectors general were vulnerable because once their offices were created, the United States provided little support and training..[]

This shit makes me crazy…or crazier..not sure which m’dear reader. The second page of the writeup is sure to jack your jaw…or you simply do not give a shit what is done with our billions. Check it out if you have the balls, or the medications to relieve the anxiety that will come with reading how Maliki is stacking the deck, allowing known graft and corruption and putting suceeding in putting all government actions in secret, without one friggin ounce of sunlight, oversight or accountability..Saddam Hussein-style.

I. Just. Love. The. Irony…don’t you?

I hope Bush chokes on it like a pretzel…every remaining day of his miserable fucking life.

Crossposted, without all the vulgarity, at the UnCapitalist Journal. 😉

Ray McGovern to Colin Powell: Come clean dude

ConsortiumNews has an article up by the wonderful Ray McGovern. Ray is the man that spoke truth to power when BushCo was lying their way into the Iraq War. Ray spent an entire career working for the CIA as an analyst. He is also co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Ray has a few choice words for Colin Powell on how to restore his reputation. From the article:

Dear Colin,

You have said you regret the “blot” on your record caused by your parroting spurious intelligence at the U.N. to justify war on Iraq. On the chance you may not have noticed, I write to point out that you now have a unique opportunity to do some rehab on your reputation.

Ray then goes on to point out the obvious to Powell:

Your U.N. speech of Feb. 5, 2003 left me speechless, so to speak — largely because of the measure of respect I had had for you before then.

Outrage is too tame a word for what quickly became my reaction and that of my colleagues in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), as we watched you perform before the Security Council less than six weeks before the unnecessary, illegal attack on Iraq.

The purpose — as well as the speciousness — of your address were all too transparent and, in a same-day commentary, we VIPS warned President George W. Bush that, if he attacked Iraq, “the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.”

Catastrophic is an understatement. What happened is beyond catastrosphic to me. McGovern then goes on to list each lie perpetrated by either Powell or the smarmy idiots in the Bush Administration. He doesn’t mince words and he backs up what he says. Its worth a read, so check out the entire article. Here is what McGovern suggests Colin Powell do:

Let me suggest that you offer yourself as a witness to help clear the air on these very important issues. This would seem the responsible, patriotic thing to do in the circumstances and could also have the salutary effect of beginning the atonement process for that day of infamy at the Security Council.

If we hear no peep out of you in the coming weeks, we shall not be able to escape concluding one of two things:

(1) That, as was the case with the White House Situation Room sessions on torture, you were a willing participant in suppressing/falsifying key intelligence on Iraq; or

(2) That you lack the courage to expose the scoundrels who betrayed not only you, but also that segment of our country and our world that still puts a premium on truth telling and the law.

Think about it.

With all due respect,

Ray McGovern

Its simple and straightforward isn’t it? McGovern suggests Powell appear before Conyer’s committee and tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Any bets on whether Powell will do it? My guess is no..how about yours?

Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari: US must provide a "very clear timeline" to withdraw its troops from Iraq

I don’t know how much clearer BushCo and John McCain need to hear this from the Iraq Government. From the Yahoo article:

In an interview with Reuters, Zebari said the agreement, including the timeline, was “very close” and would probably be presented to the Iraqi parliament in early September.

Asked if Iraq would accept a document that did not include dates for a withdrawal, Zebari said: “No, no. Definitely there has to be a very clear timeline.”

BushCo is still pushing for immunity for US troops with regard to Iraqi Law prosecutions, which is going over like the proverbial lead balloon. Also being pushed by BushCo: the amount of power the American military will have to detain Iraqi citizens, and their authority to conduct military operations.

Frankly, I don’t care what excuses or rationale are used…I want our troops home NOW.

Artwork by the wonderfully talented Mark Bryan.