Sunday, December 18, 2016

Hejira

crisis in one of the largest in the world; 11m ppl estimated to need humanitarian aid in 2017




Where is the concern for Iraq?


To look at the Twitter feeds of the likes of Debra Messing, Alyssa Milano and other washed up and soon to be forgottens, Iraq just doesn't exist.

They want war on Syria, you understand.  They just don't want to acknowledge the realities that US wars create.

Yesterday, we noted Iraq's Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi gave a speech congratulating himself on having not heard a word of any attacks on civilians.


Today, Human Rights Watch notes:


An Iraqi government-backed militia on November 29, 2016, executed at least four men they suspected of affiliation with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Human Rights Watch said today. The men were killed without any judicial proceeding. Murder of prisoners in a conflict is a war crime.  
Residents of the Shayalat al-Imam village said that Iraqi Security Forces were in the village when the Hashad al-Jabour militia executed the men and stood idly by while they witnessed at least one execution. The villagers did not see them take any steps to stop the killings or punish the killers. Some Hashad al-Asha`ri militias from Sunni tribes, including the Hashad al-Jabour, are members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which are fighting alongside the Iraqi troops to retake areas of northern Iraq from ISIS.
“The Iraqi government should make clear that government-backed militias don’t have a green light to abuse or execute captives regardless of what they think they’re guilty of,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Iraqi army should intervene to stop militias from committing abuses against civilians and captured fighters, not stand idly by, and should punish fighters who commit abuses.”


Of course, HRW's Kenneth Roth hasn't Tweeted about the above.  He's too busy Tweeting about president-elect Donald Trump.

Does that idiot boy Kenny Roth think he looks mature, reasoned or reasonable with all those stupid Tweets?  He's made a fool of himself with his lust for Hillary The War Hawk and we warned about that long before the election took place.

He needs to decide if he's working for human rights or for Hillary Clinton.

As the people of Iraq can attest, there's a big difference between the two.

Today, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber and fighter aircraft conducted seven strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb facility.

-- Near Beiji, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL-held building and an ISIL supply boat.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed three tactical vehicles, a supply cache, two front-end loaders, a vehicle-borne bomb, five fighting positions, three ISIL-held buildings, a communications tower and an anti-air artillery system; damaged five ISIL supply routes; and suppressed three mortar teams, a bunker and an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed an ISIL bunker.


Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.




Meanwhile, it's day 62 of the ongoing slog to liberate or 'liberate' Mosul.


Mohammed Tawfeeq retweeted
Salma Abdelaziz
Salma Abdelaziz ‏@SalmaCNN
Out of Mosul, into limbo: The refugees fleeing ISIS by @bencnn and @mtawfeeqCNN http://cnn.it/2hwIPqp

The refugees continue to mount as the slog continues.



“Arab World: Why hasn’t the Iraqi army taken Mosul?”





I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
-- "Hejira," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album of the same name




The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4549 (including 32 in Operation Inherent Resolve which includes at least 3 Iraq War fatalities).


New content is going up at THIRD and Kat's "Kat's Korner: John Legend can sing, it's making albums he struggles with" went up here earlier today.










The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.