Al-Maliki Confident of US Withdrawal
McCain says that victory is in sight in Iraq. In contrast, Iraqi PM Nuri al-Malki says that at US troop withdrawal is in sight.
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Kurdish MP Mahmud Osman is pledging that there will be no US bases in Iraqi Kurdistan without a national consensus on that issue. Kurdistan is semi-autonomous and some US politicians have called for siting bases there.
Iraq is increasing its police patrols on the Syrian border, in the wake of the US raid into Syria.
AFP reports that the US is deeply unpopular in Fallujah, where people want US troops out of Iraq.
Liz Sly argues that prfound elements of instability still characterize Iraq in general and Baghdad in specific.
3 of the Yemenis who recently attacked the US embassy in Sanaa had recently returned from Iraq. Those who worried than Iraq War would generate, rather than stifle, terrorism, appear amply vindicated by now.
The Lehrer News Hour on PBS gets the scoop that the draft Security Agreement between Iraq and the US may revoke legal immunity for private security guards contracting with the Department of Defense in Iraq; but it does not put security guards working for the US State Department under Iraqi jurisdiction.
At Tomdispatch.com, Andrew Bacevich looks at the expansion of Bush's 'war on terror' even as the meaning of the gimmicky phrase has been watered down by stunts and domestic political talking points.
McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Saturday:
' Baghdad
A roadside bomb was discovered and later safely defused by the bomb squad in al-Bataween neighbourhood, central Baghdad at noon, Saturday.
Basra
A land mine detonated in an open area in al-Shiaiba, 30 km to the west of Basra city, Friday evening, where children get together to play. The explosion killed one boy and severely injured another.
Kirkuk
A shepherd accidentally set off an unexploded mortar shell in al-Tarqiyah village, to the west of Kirkuk city, Friday. He was injured and taken for treatment.
Local police found an IED near the police station in First Qadisiyah neighbourhood, central Kirkuk at 6.30 p.m. and were able to defuse it without damages or casualties.
Dohuk
Turkish artillery heavily bombarded villages in Amidi district, to the northeast of Dohuk city, Friday spreading fear amongst the residents without causing any casualties.
Mosul
Three gunmen driving a green sedan approached a checkpoint in al-Sukkar neighbourhood and opened fire at the Iraqi security forces manning it, killing two soldiers.
A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in the industrial neighbourhood of al-Karama, central Mosul injuring two policemen.
A parked car bomb targeted a police patrol in Baghdad Street, southern Mosul injuring two policemen.
Diyala
A roadside bomb exploded in al-Rabea village, Khanaqeen district at 8 a.m. Saturday injuring one civilian.
Gunmen abducted Omar Owaid Nasir near Himreen bridge, Saadiyah district, in northeastern Diyala late Friday. The gunmen took the man and left his car on the street.
Anbar
The observation post at the checkpoint across the main road from Camp Tariq, currently being used as an American military base in Garma, 18 km to the northeast of Fallujah, was blown up with an IED at 10 a.m. Saturday. The two Iraqi soldiers manning the post were killed.
A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol on the Sbaihat road near Garma this afternoon causing damages to the vehicle.'
posted by Juan Cole @ 11/02/2008 01:27:00 AM
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Andrew Bacevich suggests that the "War on Terror" is now devoid of strategic purpose, (because)"To the extent that any inkling of a strategy once existed -- the preposterous neoconservative vision of employing American power to "transform" the Islamic world -- events have long since demolished the assumptions on which it was based."
Does he think the neocons are gone?
About two years ago, Bush declared that the Iraqi people should show a lot of gratitude towards the Americans (for invading and destroying their country?)
Now, I think that the American people should show a lot of gratitude towards us, Iraqis, for forcing an end to the war when the American public wanted to, but couldn't, end it.
"McCain says that victory is in sight in Iraq."
I saw McCain on SNL last night. He's quite a talented comedian.
DAN SAGALYN [media personality]
But to David Tafuri, there is good reason to not have these contractors [like Blackwater] subject to Iraqi law.
DAVID TAFURI [former AEI-GOP-DoD "Rule of Law Coördinator" to the International Zone régime]
The Iraqi legal system is getting stronger and is maturing, but there are still problems with the Iraqi legal system. And it would be very costly and very difficult for a contractor company to defend one of its employees if that employee ended up in an Iraqi detention center. The courts have not operated at full capacity in many places, courts were not able to operate at all for several years because of the security situation. So there's been enormous strain on the legal system.
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Neocomrade D. M. Tafuri is a credit to the militant extremist Republican Party.
I expect others will be struck by the resemblance of his wares to the white man's legal burden in Japan and Turkey in the period 1854-1914: "Let one of civilised US wind up in one of their stinkin’ jails? Surely you jest! And as to the natives’ idea of a fair trial, my dear, why . . . !"
’Tis not very edifying, but D. M. Tafuri goes far beyond:
(1) It was, of course, militant extremist Republicans who unilaterally and preëmptively produced his shaky-flaky "Iraqi legal system" in the first place. Ottoman and Tokugawa/Meiji juriridical horrors were at least thoroughly indigenous. The neocomrade puts himself in the position of a chef who would never dream of dinin’ on the swill that he churns out for the customers.
Even better, (2) Tafurian solicitude is not extended to some poor individual wretch of a[n alleged] thief or murderer or kidnapper who rots forgotten at Camp Sectarianism, but rather to the private-sector business corporation that hired him: "It would be very costly and very difficult for a contractor company to defend one of its employees if that employee ended up in an Iraqi detention center."
On that second point, as well as in respect of the obvious need for capitulations and extraterritoriality to protect Western Sieve from the pond scum of barbarism, D. M. Tafuri seems to have been preserved in ideological amber from the Gilded Age. Remember the happy days of yore when corporations were citizens too, and indeed, far more important citizens than any mere uppity monkeys could ever be? [*]
There will be no surprise, then, to learn about this neocomrade's background: "several venture capital and private equity funds, a foreign trade bank, a national excess insurance carrier, a leading manufacturer of smart card and security technology, foreign airline carriers, an international labor union [**] and regional and international business councils." It looks as if D. M. Tafuri may himself have a number of clients in need of bailin’ out, though not quite in the Baní Blackwater sense.
For that matter, it is not impossible that the neocomrade is tryin’ to hit two birds with one stone here. The NPR discussion gives the impression that the Crawfordstani Foreign Ministry is the only party whose supralegal privilege to hire corporate assistance that shall be above the law needs defense. JC summarized
The Lehrer News Hour on PBS gets the scoop that the draft Security Agreement between Iraq and the US may revoke legal immunity for private security guards contracting with the Department of Defense in Iraq; but it does not put security guards working for the US State Department under Iraqi jurisdiction,"
saying nothing of any clients other than DoD and Foggy Bottom.
Now if D. M. Tafuri proposes to set up as an adviser to other private business corporations that would like to make money in the neoliberated provinces of the former al-‘Iráq -- that is to say, if DMT acts like almost all his Big Management Party neocomrades in comparable circumstances have acted -- then a blanket supralegality for Blackwater and the like fits his own special requirements admirably. He certainly says nothing to suggest that any considerations peculiar to the diplomatic profession are at stake:
DAVID TAFURI, former rule of law coordinator: They provide the protection when you travel outside of the Green Zone, they often provide the protection when you travel in cities outside of Baghdad. They provide armored vehicles, and security professionals who are trained to protect diplomats. It's necessary for diplomats and reconstruction advisors to get out and to meet with Iraqis. Were contractors, security contractors not to be there, the U.S. military would have to take over those responsibilities, which would require even more U.S. soldiers to be in country.
Exactly what the neocomrade means by "reconstruction advisors" is not clear, but I see no reason why such a category should not include, say, "several venture capital and private equity funds, a foreign trade bank, a national excess insurance carrier, a leading manufacturer of smart card and security technology, foreign airline carriers, . . . ."
But God knows best. Happy days.
_____
[*] If anybody has forgotten, my Uncle Bob -- just kidding, though I believe we we are distantly related -- wrote DavidTafuriThought™ up in American Conservatism in the Age of Enterprise 1865-1910: a Study of William Graham Sumner, Stephen J. Field and Andrew Carnegie.
[**] Hmm. How did that creep in?
McCain was great on SNL. I'm in favor of him doing more SNL work. He looks to have a brand new career ahead of him!
At times, it looks like the real goal of the WOT has been to suppress dissent in the USA.
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