A few days ago, Nancy Pelosi reclaimed the Speaker’s gavel eight
years after leading the Democrats to a resounding defeat. Yet again, she
used the plight of women as a human shield to at once justify her
campaign and intimidate anyone who did not want to support her. Let’s
get one thing straight, Pelosi is to the struggles faced by women as
Donald Trump is to grace and humility. Identity politics is nothing but a diversity hustle, For the record,
it’s not only Democrats who use this scam to get elected, Republicans
deploy the same game of grievance and feigned concern to wield power and
dupe their constituents. After all, Trump got elected President by
treading on the hopes and frustrations of his supporters the same way
that Barack Obama hoodwinked his believers. Just because they look like us does not mean they are for us. We have
to stop falling for the slick marketing schemes used by Democrats and
Republicans, one where they parade new faces and personalities to make
us believe that we are making progress. A merry-go-round that has
different colored and different genders of jackasses and elephants is
pure deception, putting new mannequins in window displays and keeping
policies intact does everything to perpetuate fraudulence and does
nothing to fix the underlying problems. Sadly, this dubious ruse keeps working every election cycle. The
first black president ended up being nothing more than a puppet of banks
and Wall Street, the first woman Secretary of State ended up being
another warmongering maniac, the first Muslim Congressman did nothing to
ameliorate the plight of the poor and oppressed, the first transsexual
representative will just fall in line and be another reliable vote of
neoliberalism. Establishment voices use identity to hide the insidious
policies that are being pushed by both parties, amazingly countless
Americans keep falling for this bulls**t.
Can they trick us again? Have we gotten any smarter?
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Iraq in an unannounced stop on his Mideast tour meant to promote the White House's hard-line position on Iran. abcn.ws/2CYeX09
0:22
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The Iraq War, the ongoing Iraq War, hits the 16 year mark in two months
and still US officials have to make "unannounced visits." All these
years later.
ABC avoids
reality by allowing Elizabeth McLaughlin and Conor Finnegan to insist,
"The president visited Iraq, also unannounced, the day after Christmas,
saying the U.S. still could use bases there for operations in Syria."
BAGHDAD
— In an unannounced visit shrouded in secrecy, Vice President Joseph R.
Biden Jr. came to Iraq on Thursday for the first time in almost five
years, ...
New York Times
As US president, Barak Obama made one visit to Iraq in his two terms (eight years). Guess what? It was unannounced.
BAGRAM
AIR BASE, Afghanistan — President Obama arrived in Afghanistan on
Sunday for an unannounced visit to mark Memorial Day with U.S. troops,
now in ...
Almost every visit by a Western figure to a warzone since the US-led
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has been done without warning. US President Barack Obama made regular unannounced visits to Afghanistan, as did Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair to Iraq. Earlier
this year Secretary of State John Kerry turned up in Somalia, a
war-ravaged state currently waging an armed campaign against al-Shabab
Islamist rebels - with reports suggesting even Somali officials believed
a more junior US official would be attending. But clearly these
leaders - and their advisers - judge that the advantages of paying these
visits outweigh the attendant security risks, both in terms of boosting
morale of personnel overseas and in giving the leader in question a PR
lift.
For those attempting to provide 'context,' grasp that there was a world
before President Donald Trump (and there will be a world after him).
Back to Pompeo:
Pompeo Makes Surprise Stop In Iraq During Mideast Trip To Rally Allies
AP notes: In Baghdad, Pompeo met with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi,
President Barham Salih, Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim and Parliament
Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi. Pompeo and the Iraqi officials made no statements to the media.
The US State Dept issued the following this morning:
Readout
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 9, 2019
The below is attributable to Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino:
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo met today with Iraq’s Council of
Representatives Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi and members of the Council
of Representatives Foreign-Relations Committee. The Secretary emphasized
U.S. support for the long-term bilateral partnership, anchored by the
Strategic Framework Agreement, and the necessity of supporting Iraq’s
democratic institutions, economic development, energy independence, and
sovereignty. Secretary Pompeo emphasized the U.S. commitment to
addressing Iraq’s security challenges, including the continuation of our
security partnership with Iraqi Security Forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo made an unannounced visit to
Baghdad on Wednesday, which appeared partly aimed at patching up
relations strained during Donald Trump’s surprise visit last month.
The
U.S. president upset Iraqi lawmakers when he visited troops at the Ain
Al-Asad base west of Baghdad but didn’t meet with the country’s new
prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, though the two leaders did speak by
phone.
If that was the point of the visit, it doesn't appear to have been very successful:
Iraqi Council of Representatives’ Foriegn Affairs Committee met today and called for reviewing US-Iraq relations following Pres Trump’ “uncoordinated” Visit to Iraq’s Anbar Province last month.
If US Gov fails to handle Iraq file properly, it may lose it.
Again, if that was the purpose of the trip, it doesn't appear to have
been successful. But when has the US government ever delivered success
in Iraq?
Never.
Well, that's not fair of me. They have helped Big Business make tons of
money off the lives of Iraqis because -- blood stained or not -- greed
requires dollars, dollars and more dollars.
I'll tell you who is *really* unhappy at the thought of pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan. The contractors and the generals connected to the contractors. $$BILLIONS$$ @realDonaldTrump
Iraqi persecution of Sunni men helped to transform Al Qaeda in Iraq into ISIS. Now Iraq is doing it again--collective punishment of Sunnis that may help transform ISIS into ISIS 2.0. bit.ly/2FlzsFZ
In Iraq, the government’s harsh counterterrorism strategy, which is widely perceived as collectively punishing the
Sunnis, is generating new grievances that could increase local support
for an Islamic State 2.0. More than 19,000 people have been detained on
terrorism-related charges since 2014. Over 3,000 have been sentenced to
death in rapid-fire trials that are sometimes decided in less than 10 minutes.
Convictions are often based on thin and circumstantial evidence, the
testimony of secret informants, or confessions induced through torture,
making it easy for innocent people to be falsely accused and unfairly
punished.
These injustices are fueling anger, and with it, a new wave of violence. Since 2016, the average number of Islamic State attacks in Iraq — including suicide bombings and targeted assassinations — has risen to 75 per month. In August, U.S. and U.N. reports estimated that the number of Islamic State fighters active in Iraq and Syria might exceed 30,000.
In our working paper based
on an original household survey of over 1,400 Mosul residents — the
Islamic State’s former de facto capital in Iraq — we identify two
serious flaws in the government’s approach to prosecuting and punishing
individuals accused of joining or supporting the Islamic State. First,
it is unwilling to recognize variation in the severity and voluntariness
of “collaboration.” Second, it relies heavily on unproven criminal
justice and counterterrorism theories.
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