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  1. If U Want To Take Out A Shiite - Use A ‘Suppository’ !
    11 points
  2. Cleric Sadr will be in the news in the coming days and weeks......I started this thread for anything Sadr......I couldn't find one dedicated to him... Iraqi women defy top cleric's call to separate genders at rallies COMPILED FROM WIRE SERVICES, BAGHDAD Feb 13, 2020 Iraqi demonstrators gather during ongoing anti-government protests, Baghdad, Feb. 13, 2020. (REUTERS Photo) Hundreds of Iraqi women of all ages flooded central Baghdad Thursday alongside male anti-government protesters, defying an order by powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to separate the genders at rallies. Most carried roses, Iraqi flags or signs defending their role in the regime change demonstrations. Men linked arms to form a protective ring around the women as they marched for over an hour. They were seen holding hands in Tahrir and even camping out in the square together. They marched through a tunnel and spilled out into Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the youth-dominated movement in a country where vast regions remain socially conservative. "We want to protect women's role in the protests as we're just like the men. There are efforts to kick us out of Tahrir but we'll only come back stronger," said Zainab Ahmad, a pharmacy student, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Some people were inciting against us a few days ago, seeking to keep women at home or keep them quiet. But we turned out today in large numbers to prove to those people that their efforts will end in failure," she said. On Saturday, al-Sadr had alleged drug and alcohol use among the protesters and said it was immoral for men and women to mix there. And a few moments before Thursday's women's march began, he once again took to Twitter to slam the protests as being rife with "nudity, promiscuity, drunkenness, immorality, debauchery... and non-believers." He also said Iraq must not "turn into Chicago," which he said was full of "moral looseness," including homosexuality, a claim that was mocked online. Al-Sadr initially threw his weight behind the anti-government uprising but recently repositioned himself toward the political establishment after political elites selected Mohammed Allawi as prime minister-designate, a candidate he endorsed. Since then, al-Sadr issued a dizzying array of calls to followers, asking them to return to the streets days after withdrawing support from protests. The often contradictory orders have exacerbated existing tensions between anti-government demonstrators and his followers, with some activists claiming al-Sadr's followers had threatened them to follow the cleric's line or leave protest sites. Anti-government protesters who took to the streets on Oct. 1 in Baghdad and southern Iraq to decry rampant government corruption, poor services and unemployment have rejected Allawi's candidacy. At least 500 have died under fire from security forces in the movement, now in its fifth month. MIDEAST Taliban deal very close, Trump says MIDEAST Iraq green-lights NATO to replace US-led coalition © 2016 Turkuvaz Communication and Publication Corp.
    9 points
  3. Tomorrow or Monday will work just fine with my schedule!
    9 points
  4. The only good Sadr is a dead one! As many of you know, my Shia friend hates him and says that most Iraqi Shia hate him because of his flip flopping on issues. One of the latest examples of his switching sides is That his “blue hats” were first ordered to protect the protestors, then they were ordered to remove the protestors and kill them, now they were ordered to leave the rallies and disperse. The protestors, according to my friend, are waiting for the blue hats to return and start firing on them yet again.. all thanks to the flip flopping idiot Sadr..
    9 points
  5. Sadr is a bad hombre and could care less about elevating the people of Iraq. He is just another one who needs to be GONE. His health is failing so maybe that will take care of him.
    9 points
  6. Bloomberg is a Dead man Walking with Hillarious as his VP.....Only a matter of time and he will commit suicide and she becomes president. Karsten
    8 points
  7. https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/45937/Iran-trains-Shia-militia-proxies-in-Iraq-to-wage-war-on-US Iran trains Shia militia proxies in Iraq to wage war on US Iranian proxies in Iraq are training for war against the US and will continue to fire rockets at US forces in Iraq until the US leaves, a new report says. Iranian-backed militias such as Asaib Ah al-Haq, Kataib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization have also been using “extreme measures to quell protesters, including opening fire on demonstrators,” the US said in a new report. The quarterly Lead Inspector General report for Operation Inherent Resolve pivoted in the last months to focus on Iran as the US is increasingly concerned about Iran’s threats to US forces in Iraq. The unusual focus on Iran’s role in Iraq has been building over the last two years in these reports. The report draws on information from US Central Command, the Defense Intelligence Agency, State Department and other reports. The new report is unprecedented in focusing on Iran’s role. A special diagram shows the main aspects of Iran’s network of influence in Iraq through Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was the IRGC Quds Force leader killed in a US airstrike on January 3. The US says that an Iraqi named Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi was also killed by US forces travelling with Soleimani in the same strike that killed Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Who was Ibrahimi? He was a member of the Badr Corps which fought against Saddam Hussein alongside Iran in the 1980s. He returned to Iraq in 2005, was elected to parliament and advised prime ministers. He became a Kataib Hezbollah commander. Then he was killed by the US. Who else is on the list of Soleimani’s cohorts in Iraq? Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the BAdr Organization and Fatah Alliance party. The US sees the Fatah Alliance as a union of pro-Iran supporters. It is also home to militia members from the pro-Iranian Shi’ite militias or Popular Mobilization Units. Akram al-Kabi, leader of the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba group. He broke off from Asab Ahl al-haq in 2012 to form the group and has said he would overthrow Iraq’s government if Iran gives him the order. He is a designated terrorist and has threatened US forces. Qais Khazali, leader of Asaib, is another part of the Iranian nexus. He visited Lebanon in 2017 and threatened Israel. The US designated him a terrorist in December. Mohammed Al-Hashemi, also known as Abu Jihad, is another man the US points to. A member of the Fatah Alliance party, which is led by Badr’s Hadi al-Amiri, he is a “key leader in the pro-Iran Bina Alliance,” the US says. The Us says he was linked to bringing former Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi to power in 2018. “He was a key ally of al-Muhandis and a conduit for the PMU influence in the prime minister’s office [in Baghdad].” Lastly there is Shibli al-Zayddi, a friend of Muqtada al-Sadr. He worked with Muhandis and the IRGC to form the Kataib Imam Ali units. The US has sanctioned him. The US says Iran’s activity has hindered the US ability to fight Islamic State in Iraq. US forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to fight ISIS. The recent US-Iran tensions were not envisioned as part of this mission. There was controversy in December 2018 when US President Donald Trump said the US might usIraq to “watch” Iran. Iraqi politicians linked to pro-Iran groups opposed the comments and have threatened to order the US to leave Iraq. The picture the US report paints is one in which Iranian-backed groups have gunned down hundreds of protesters and are loyal to Tehran more than Baghdad. They worked with Soleimani and swear allegiance to Ayatollah Khamenei. They are willing to overthrow the Iraqi government or hijack it for their needs, as they have increasingly done. They target US forces and demand only those they choose can become Prime Minister. The US says that from October to December “Iraqi militias aligned with Iran carried out multiple attacks onUS forces in Iraq.” This included the killing of a US contractor on December 27. According to the report CENTCOM thought the strike on Soleimani and Muhandis had weakened Iran’s role and the PMU. But the report says that rockets continue to be launched atUS forces and the US embassy, including a January 26 attack. Iran wants to use Iraq as part of its “land bridge” to Syria and Lebanon. The US doesn’t have much options to reduce the Iranian-backed militia presence. The report says that the PMU partners with Iraqi armed forces on operations, “despite concerns about Iran’s influence over Iranian-aligned militias.” The US begrudgingly admits the PMU presence is a “net positive” in fighting ISIS. The US concluded that, according to CENTCOM, “Iran funds, arms, trains and directs Shia militia groups in Iraq to wage a proxy war against the United States.” Iran sends rockets and other munitions to the militias and the US DIA says that these are meant to achieve an objective of disrupting and harassing US forces and to pressure the US to leave Iraq. “Iran sought to solidify Iranian influence within Iraq’s security infrastructure as a way to pressure the US to withdraw.” CENTCOM now believes that as long as the US maintains a presence in Iraq, Iran will seek to carry out harassing attacks againstUS forces. Not only that, Iran will use the militias, who are also official paramilitaries of the government, to suppress protests. There are so many US concerns about Iran’s role in Iraq and Syria that the number of mentions of Iran run to almost 150 and an entire classified appendix is devoted to “Iranian activity in Iraq.” Iran’s role in Syria is not highlighted as much by the new report but the US says it is protecting oil fields in Syria to prevent oil proceeds going to Iran or the Syrian regime. The US is seeking the “removal of all Iranian-led forces and proxies in Syria.”
    7 points
  8. Al-Nassiri: Government support to the private sector is the savior for achieving economic reform Financial and banking advisor, Samir Al-Nassery Economy News - Baghdad The Economic and Banking Adviser to the Association of Iraqi Private Banks, Samir al-Nasiri, stressed on Saturday that government support and special care for the national private sector is the savior and solution to all problems of the economy and achieving the national economy. He said in an interview with "Al-Eqtisad News", that "through discussion, analysis and study of the economic reality that Iraq is going through, it is necessary to stand logical, scientific and economic analysis on the most important axes that require finding solutions for them in the next stage in order to build the proper premises for the transition to the proper building of the economy Giving a role to the private sector in making economic decisions and for the purpose of implementing the strategy of developing the private sector until the year 2030 requires the government and the private sector in all its banking, industrial, agricultural and service fields to participate and cooperate in implementing the development strategy in the directions that achieve For intermediate, medium and long term goals. " He pointed out that "this means engaging the private sector in a greater role in managing the economy and forming the private sector development council," pointing to the need for a "representative of the private sector in the cabinet and for the private sector to be represented in opinion bodies in ministries and in special follow-up committees to follow up the implementation of council decisions." Ministers. " Al-Nossairi added that there is a need to secure the governmental program for the interim or ordinary government with a clear vision of the role of the private sector for the new stage and to involve non-governmental experts and specialists in the implementation of the desired comprehensive economic, financial and banking reform program. http://economy-news.net/content.php?id=19037
    6 points
  9. Iraq PM-designate says country close to forming independent cabinet FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsApp Iraq is close to announcing an independent and impartial cabinet made up of competent and impartial individuals, the country’s caretakerPrime Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi said on Saturday. "We're nearing a historic achievement: completing an independent cabinet of competent and impartial people, without the intervention of any political party," Allawi said on Twitter. He pledged to "submit the names of these ministers within the current week", which begins on Sunday in Iraq. Allawi said he hoped that members of Iraq’s parliament will respond and vote on the newgovernment so the demands of the people can be implemented. Allawi, a two-time communications minister, has until March 2 to propose ministers to parliament, which must grant them a vote of confidence. Iraqi officials have quietly expressed scepticism he would be able to complete it in time butAllawi surprisingly announced he would submit the lineup early. Parliament is due to be in recess until mid-March and the speaker, Mohammed Al-Halbousi, has not scheduled an extraordinary session. Allawi was nominated on Feb. 1 as a consensus candidate among Iraq's fractured political parties but has only been publicly endorsed by Moqtada Al-Sadr, who has a cult-like following across the country. The cleric first backed the rallies but split with the main protest movement after endorsing Allawi, whom demonstrators consider too close to the political elite that has governed Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. Since then, cabinets have been formed through sectarian power-sharing, which lends itself to widespread horsetrading among various sects and parties. The country's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions are likely to hold on tight to their shares of the current cabinet and hope to carry them over into the next cabinet. The country's capital and Shiite-majority south have been rocked by demonstrations since October demanding an end to corruption and a total overhaul of the ruling class. https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/46084/Iraq-PM-designate-says-country-close-to-forming-independent-cabinet
    6 points
  10. Seems this has been raised as a revenge tactic. Alabama has banned abortion clinics so if a woman doesn't have the right to do with her body as she desires then man should be castrated so he should not be able to get a woman pregnant. This is pitting female against male and vice-versa. We as a nation have literally lost our minds and hate rages now even between sexes. It seems the leaders in every nook and corner are doing everything they can to cause hate and discontentment between every human being, ethnic, race, religion and now man and woman. The divide is already so deep that I feel it will never heal. This is just another way to find and fill ones heart with revenge and hate. The suggestion of this ridiculous proposal is another way to control and bring about full blown socialism and a world that allows no love. Hey, if we can't get a war started with hate between black and white, let's just stir up some hate and revenge between man and woman. Yeah, that's the ticket, maybe that will work.
    6 points
  11. The World Bank informs Iraq that its financial situation is in danger, especially with regard to the salaries of state employees by EditorIraq News , Economy2 Hours ago Baghdad: The World Bank has informed Iraq that its financial situation is in danger, especially with regard to salaries of state employees. The World Bank, in its latest report on Iraq late last year, indicated that “in the absence of clear structural reforms and the slow process of re-lending, the recovery of growth in Iraq may be short-lived. This situation seems especially present if we take into account the expectations of oil markets, as prices and exports are likely to decline given the decline in global demand and doubts related to the renewal of the OPEC agreement. The report added, "The risks persist over the medium term. As the absence of economic diversification and the lack of budget flexibility associated with the wage bill in the public sector reduces financial surpluses in Iraq, as it increases the vulnerability of the economy to external shocks. These factors also threaten to further delay lending and undermine recent positive government efforts, especially in the electricity and agricultural sectors. Creating appropriate fiscal space for programs that promote growth will be a prerequisite for diversification and job creation, without which the large increase in oil production would mean little for most Iraqis. The report pointed out that with the return of the displaced to their areas, there will be an increasing need to provide economic opportunities and maintain flexible social assistance in these parts of the country. Fragility of the current socio-economic system He stressed that “job shortages, corruption and poor service delivery remain among the most important risks to growth and financial sustainability. Iraqi youth demonstrated in demonstrations in October 2019 to demonstrate these concerns and concerns. These demonstrations revealed the fragility of the current socio-economic system. It is expected that these social unrest will be dealt with through more short-term financial incentives - such as cash transfers, public sector employment, housing programs and others - in order to calm the anger of the protesters. However, the results may not be satisfactory because creating jobs, genuinely fighting corruption and structural reforms will require a longer time frame. http://altahreernews.com/12299/
    6 points
  12. LINK Kosert Messenger of Allawi: The Kurds will participate in the talks to form the new government with one team 14th February, 2020 The Prime Minister-designate, Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, today, Friday, telephoned the President of the Supreme Political Council of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Kosarat Rasul, to discuss talks on forming the new government and the role and demands of the Kurds in it, while Rasul confirmed that the Kurdish forces will discuss their demands uniformly. During the call, Allawi congratulated the success of the Fourth Conference of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, wishing the National Union to play an effective role on the Iraqi political scene. For his part, thanked Kosert Rasul, the Prime Minister-designate, and affirmed his support and the support of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan for the efforts to form a new government, and wished him success in his tasks. The two sides also discussed the details of forming the new government. The President of the Supreme Council of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan confirmed the support of an effective national government that guarantees the constitutional and financial rights of the Kurds and the formation of a government based on achieving a balance between all components and nationalities and implementing the demands of the demonstrators. He added that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan desires the participation of the Kurds in the talks to form the new government with one team and to install all the rights and demands of the Kurds.
    6 points
  13. https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/45973/Khoei-s-assassination-Sadr-s-most-heinous-crime-reports Khoei’s assassination, Sadr’s most ‘heinous’ crime: reports The assassination of Abdul Majeed al-Khoei in 2003 was carried out by Muqtada al-Sadr. The crime was described by some people as the "mother of crimes" due to its vicious nature along his “bloody history,” according to media reports. Sayyid Abdul Majeed Al-Khoei went to Iraq as a solemn master, carrying a civilized religious project at the front of its clauses, internationalizing Najaf along the lines of the Vatican and abandoning the principle of “Welayet Al-Faqih.” However, the “mercenary killer” Muqtada al-Sadr monitored him and instruct his followers to kill him in the mosque. Khoei’s corpse was mutilated while Sadr is watching. The details of the assassination of Abdul Majeed Al-Khoei are terrifying The beginning comes when the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council said it does not have any legal evidence that would allow it to interrogate Muqtada al-Sadr about his responsibility for the assassination of Abdul Majeed Al-Khoei and his companions in Imam Ali Shrine. But the truth is that the assassination of Khoei was the heinous crime from which the name of Muqtada Al-Sadr flourished. The announcement of the Supreme Iraqi Judicial Council, at the time, was miserable and futile, and did not respond to the minimum requirements of justice. Abdul Majeed al-Khoei had been staying in London since 1991 and then returned to Najaf in 2003, but the killer al-Sadr did not leave him to live until ne
    6 points
  14. I like it CL. I’ll throw up a few posts of news on Sadr in the last week or so to help get this thread started. He’s just another Iranian puppet.
    6 points
  15. His second choice is Big Mike Obama....LOL Well I think it is funny.
    5 points
  16. This is good news. I like the word “Historic” This is very Interesting.
    5 points
  17. I wanna see them enforce this!!! I had a vasectomy (after my 5th child) but that was voluntary!!! I truly would love to see HOW this will be enforced...just try and force a man to get deez nuts cut...he gonna exercise his 2A rights!! 👍🇺🇸
    5 points
  18. Sanctuary Cities is designed to crowd the illegals into the biggest cities where they can be put on Government Services and Programs. All they have to do in return for free everything is vote Democrat. Sanctuary Cities Is a huge part of the Illegal Immigration problem imo. Stop it, and stop the Free Programs and people will be forced to enter America the legal way. SC is also against our Federal Laws and illegal voting is unConsititutional.
    5 points
  19. This ought to get a rise out of the men in Alabama. It’s another stupid bill and another reason to not vote Democrat.
    5 points
  20. Nice, I hate when it takes 15 minus to read, Short and Sweet.
    5 points
  21. Exactly. This article screams, “CHANGE YOUR CURRENCY!” Wow! This could be a nice green light. Great find Mary!
    5 points
  22. LOCUSTS HAVE ENTERED SAUDIA ARABIA AND IRAN Go Buy Some ‘Raid’ - AND BUILD THAT WALMART !
    5 points
  23. Here is what I think of him.
    5 points
  24. Soooo, lemme get this straight - if Y'ALL ( I wuz raised in Southern California so I gets ta use Y'ALL ), wanna protest & demonstrate . . . You have to segregate yourselves; no rubbing elbows with the guys when your demanding an END to corruption and so & so forth ???? WTF ? ! ? ! ? !
    5 points
  25. A Cleric’s Rise Is A “Crushing Reminder” For Some Iraq War Veterans Muqtada al-Sadr's militias were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US soldiers. Now he's set to be a deciding factor in Iraq's next government. Vera BergengruenBuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on May 18, 2018, at 4:18 p.m. ET Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP / Getty Images An Iraqi man celebrates with a picture of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. Nathan McClure served in Baghdad at the height of the Iraq War. When he was severely wounded in 2007, ending his military career in the US Army, it was thanks to a weapon called an EFP — or explosively formed penetrator — piercing his Humvee. The lethal roadside bomb killed and wounded hundreds of coalition troops — and was choice for a militia under the control of a man who’s now poised to be kingmaker in Iraq’s new government. For those who were on the front lines battling Muqtada al-Sadr’s forces just over a decade ago, many of whom told BuzzFeed News they had distanced themselves from following developments in Iraq after they left, the return of one of America’s most deadly enemies to headlines is surreal. The surprise victory of the 44-year-old Shiite cleric, whose militias led two uprisings against US troops during the bloodiest years of the occupation, has rattled some US veterans and reopened frustrations for others. While Sadr can’t become prime minister himself, his coalition became the frontrunner in Iraq’s parliamentary election May 12. “It just rips the flooring right from underneath you, makes you feel like everything you did was worthless,” said McClure, who served at the peak of the US military’s “surge” with the 2-16 Infantry Battalion — a unit he drily describes as being “quite familiar with Sadr and his followers.” Haidar Hamdani / AFP / Getty Images Al-Sadr puts his ballot through an electronic counting machine into a ballot box at poll station in the central holy city of Najaf on May 12, 2018 “You cannot take war personally,” he said. “But I know for many this can open old wounds, the questions about what we were doing. What was it all for? What did we accomplish in the next 15 years that we didn’t accomplish in the first 45 days?” For some, it has been hard to reconcile that the same man who at one point was “heavily hunted” by the US, whose face they had memorized, is now on top. “The mission of the US forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr,” Gen. John Abizaid, who headed US Central Command, said in 2004. “That's our mission.” After the US-led invasion in 2003, Sadr, the son of a revered Shiite cleric killed during Saddam Hussein's rule for defying the regime, evolved from a young, little-known preacher to a “militia leader responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and the scourge of American generals,” said Bill Russell Edmonds, who served as a US Army Special Forces officer in Iraq. He was able to capitalize on anger at the US occupation to lead two insurgencies against American forces and incite sectarian violence against the Sunni population. Edmonds pointed out that as recently as 2016, Sadr declared that American troops fighting ISIS in Iraq were “open targets.” “Now, he's reimagined himself once again; but what Americans should imagine were Sadr's bloodied hands on Black Sunday,” he told BuzzFeed News, referring to an ambush in Sadr City in 2004 that killed eight US soldiers and wounded more than 50 others. “When ISIS took Mosul, I felt pain and sorrow. When Iraqis chose Sadr, there were echoes of betrayal.” The Mahdi Army was blamed for mass killings of Sunni civilians in the country’s worst sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. In Sadr City, a Shiite-dominated district of Baghdad named for his father that was the scene of heavy fighting between US forces and his supporters, prominent banners and graffiti written in English taunted US soldiers — “Welcome, America, to the second Vietnam.” “He absolutely has a lot of American and coalition blood on his hands,” said Brian Casey, a US Army veteran who also served in the 2-16. ADVERTISEMENT “He was a person I would have loved to have seen brought to justice,” he told BuzzFeed News, describing several “windows of opportunity where it seemed we could have gotten rid of him,” but it never happened. “Now to see him back, well…it sucks.” Casey was shot by an al-Mahdi sniper in 2007 when he was leading a platoon securing a gas station near a main route into Sadr City, collapsing his lung and fracturing his ribs. “We were there, we tried our best,” he said. “You know, part of what we were attempting to accomplish was to set up a functioning democracy. If what the Iraqi people want now is a hardline Shiite, anti-Western leader, I guess that’s what they cast their votes for. I can’t imagine this moving the country forward, but certainly we don’t want to be back there doing the exact same thing.” For a lot of people who lost friends in the fight, that doesn’t make Sadr’s victory any easier to swallow. ADVERTISEMENT A lot of the disbelief and anger has been directed toward the tone of the news coverage of Sadr’s political win. In recent years the cleric has rebranded his image as a populist champion on a platform of fighting corruption, dropping some of his vehement anti-American rhetoric and distancing himself from Iran. Having to reintroduce Sadr to Americans 15 years later, many prominent news outlets called him a “maverick” and a “firebrand,” which didn’t sit well with some veterans. When White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday joked about not being able to pronounce his name, US service members, family members of soldiers who had died there, journalists, and others who had been in Iraq during the war pointed out that anyone who had spent time there would know not only the name but also the face of the cleric who had loomed as a larger-than-life figure during those years. ADVERTISEMENT Some described soldiers in Baghdad in the early years of the war having photographs of Sadr on the walls of their barracks “so they wouldn’t have to hesitate before shooting him.” Sadr has been more muted in his public anti-American criticism after the US withdrew troops in 2011. He has been running on a platform of ousting Iranian as well as US forces from the country. There are currently roughly 5,000 US troops in Iraq as the fight against the Islamic State has wound down, with most of the mission focused on training and clearing parts of the country retaken from ISIS militants. At the Pentagon, US military officials would only say that they were aware of his history and would support the outcome of the election. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who commanded troops during the US-led invasion in 2003 and some of the most violent years of the conflict, deflected questions about whether he was upset by Sadr’s victory Tuesday. "The Iraqi people had an election. It's a democratic process at a time when people, many people, doubted that Iraq could take charge of themselves,” he said. "So we will wait and see the … final results of the election. And we stand with the Iraqi people's decisions." Iraq’s complicated parliamentary system means that Sadr’s coalition did not win the majority it needed, and negotiations are ongoing. His victory came in an election in which almost 7,000 candidates vied for 329 parliamentary seats. “Well, he's been on a journey, so to speak,” retired Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, who planned military operations against Sadr as a staff officer, said in a radio interview Tuesday. “And at one point, we viewed him as a significant threat to the campaign and the democratization of Iraq, and he was pretty high on our list of people that we wanted to take off the battlefield, so to speak.” Like Mattis, he would not answer whether he was disheartened seeing Sadr rise to the top, only saying that he “would not have been our choice for the No. 1 spot in the recent elections,” and noting that the cleric is “evolving towards a more pragmatic stance in a lot of ways.” Iraq veterans who served in Sadr City told BuzzFeed News that they were not naïve about figures like him reappearing in Iraqi politics. Rather they, like most Americans, had tuned out. It was healthier, they said. “I’m retired now and I don’t watch much TV, nor do I care about what is going on in Iraq,” one of them said in an email declining to be interviewed, echoing the sentiment of many veterans who did speak with BuzzFeed News. The sudden reemergence of Sadr after his surprise victory came as less of a shock that he was still around than a “crushing reminder” of the years and friends lost fighting his supporters. They served, they left, restarted their lives back home, and intentionally tuned out as much as they could, they said. But a byproduct of a conflict that never really ended is that even with the drawdown of major operations, “you would suddenly hear that one of your buddies was back there and you’d get a reminder that this thing keeps dragging on," one Iraq veteran who fought Mahdi forces in Najaf told BuzzFeed News. (He asked to not be named in this article, based on his work with soldiers struggling with PTSD.) “We didn’t get a clear-cut war like World War II. We were fighting over city blocks with [Sadr’s] militias, and then we had to come back and try to explain it,” McClure said. “It’s just…the main feeling is that you do a lot of great work to leave and watch it all fall apart.” Vera Bergengruen is a Pentagon reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC. Contact Vera Bergengruen at vera.bergengruen@buzzfeed.com. Got a confidential tip? Submit it here. View Comments The General Running The War In Afghanistan Wants 3,000 More Troops Congress Is Refusing To Ask Tough Questions About An Airstrike That Killed Hundreds The Deadliest Combat For US Troops Since Trump Became President, And We Still Don't Know What Happened Here's How Lawmakers Are Responding To Trump's Airstrikes In Syria These Are The Americans Killed In The Syria Bombing 7 Months Later, The US Military Lays Out What Actually Happened In The Deadly Niger Ambush This Is How We Got To Trump's Decision On Afghanistan Trump Has Pardoned Two Service Members Accused Of War Crimes And Promoted Another Three US Soldiers Died After A Member Of The Afghan Army Reportedly Attacked Them Somalia Says An August Raid Killed Children. US Insists Only The Enemy Died. Trump Has Pardoned A Former Soldier Convicted Of Murdering An Iraqi Prisoner Iraq Just Declared Victory Over ISIS Four Americans Died In An Attack In Syria, Raising More Questions About Trump's Withdrawal Plan The US Still Isn't Doing Great In Afghanistan Or Iraq, These Numbers Show Two US Troops Died In The Ramped Up Fight Against ISIS In Afghanistan Trump Has Met With US Forces In Iraq — His First Visit To Troops In A Combat Zone Trump Has Handed The Keys To Afghanistan Over To The Pentagon The US Military Can't Say If It's Responsible For Strikes That Killed Hundreds Of Civilians The Pentagon Used To Hide US Troops In Syria. Now It's Posting Videos Of Them On Twitter. Trump Allies Attacked A Decorated Veteran Who Flagged Trump's Call With Ukraine, But Even House Republicans Won't Go There These US Troops Were Killed In Combat During Trump’s First Year In Office In Pictures: The Grim And Absurd Reality Of The First Gulf War This Man Fought To Keep ISIS Out Of Iraq. Now He Wants To Break It Apart. George W. Bush's Former Spokesperson Shaded Trump For His "Mission Accomplished" Tweet On Syria Trump’s Foreign Policy Is All About Looking Tough On The Cheap A Top Iranian Military Commander Was Killed In A US Airstrike In Baghdad Trump Wants To Spend A Ton Reminding You Our Military Is Kickass John McCain Says The Recent Yemen Raid Was A "Failure" Under Trump, The Pentagon Has Been Quietly Escalating Its Presence In Somalia Dennis Kucinich Says He Wants Peace In Syria. The War Crimes Are Details For Later. BuzzFeed Home Sitemap © 2020 BuzzFeed, Inc.
    5 points
  26. https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/45884/Blue-Hats-gangs-shoot-protesters-in-Iraqi-cities Blue Hats gangs shoot protesters in Iraqi cities The members of the "Blue Hats" (who are followers ofSadr movement affiliated to the "Peace Brigades", the military wing of the Sadrist movement started onMonday morning to disperse the protests in Najaf and Hilla cities by firing live bullets and attacking the demonstrators. Activists circulated videos showing the escape of protesters in Najaf city while they were under fire, said to be by members of the "blue hats". In another video in Hilla city, the center of Babel governorate, “blue hats ” members fought with protesters who were chanting slogans against the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr and the Secretary-General of Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri. Al-Sadr has ordered yesterday the "blue hats" in coordination with the security forces to restore official working hours and to open roads that were blocked by protesters in the areas where demonstrations are taking place in Iraq. The protests in Iraq that started since early last October are witnessing a major escalation in protest against the mandate of the Iraqi President, Barham Salih to Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi to form a new government that will pave the way for early legislative elections in the country.
    5 points
  27. That was my thought as well Laid Back. It’s definitely a good sign. Now let’s see some rebuilding!!!! Let’s go Iraq, become your own sovereign Country!!!
    5 points
  28. Make my bank account(s) great again through stability, etc.
    4 points
  29. ….....so I'm (Sadr) sending out my Iranian armed Shia militias to kill Shiite citizen protesters (some of whom voted for my party in the last elections). Make sense !! No finer 2-faced @ss. The 150 Iranian rockets confiscated by the US Navy should be 'air delivered' to Sadr......post haste !! "I hate 2-faced people. I never know which side to slap first!"
    4 points
  30. Kurdish leader reveals political moves to thwart the Baghdad and Erbil agreement https://www.shafaaq.com/ar/سیاسة/قيادي-كوردي-يكشف-عن-تحركات-سياسية-لافشال-اتفاق-بغداد-وأربيل/ 2020/02/15 03:08:21 Shafak News / The leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, Shirowan Shamirani, revealed on Saturday that there are important conditions for the Kurdish forces, in order to give confidence, to the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, and his government, noting that there are political moves to thwart the recent agreement between Baghdad and Erbil. Shamirani said, to Shafaq News, that "there is no Kurdish citizen from the Kurdistan region who accepts a ministry in the federal government, without his support by the Kurdish forces in the Iraqi parliament." He emphasized that "the Kurds give and vote confidence to any government in Baghdad, based on conditions and specifications, the most important of which is the passage of the current budget for 2020, and the adoption of the agreement that occurred recently in last year between Erbil and Baghdad, regarding the oil deal, this is a very basic condition in the case." And the leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Union said, "The implementation of these conditions cannot be implemented or abided by, without the presence of Kurdish ministers, who are trusted by the Kurdish parliamentary forces in Baghdad, and for this, the Kurds must have a presence in the next cabinet." Shamirani warned that "there is an intention for some political parties, to thwart the recent agreement between the resigned Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, and the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani." It is assumed that Allawi, who was named prime minister after a difficult consensus reached by the political blocs, will present his formation to Parliament before the second of next March to vote on it, according to what the constitution provides.
    4 points
  31. As Sadr's influence diminishes, so does his security. The US won't have to take him out. Iraq's own Shiites will take care of it.
    4 points
  32. Certainly do..... they’re all jockeying and maneuvering positions for the best advantage! (Personal in most cases)
    4 points
  33. Sorry B/A I’m going to have to differ in opinion with you , the first three fields he listed were medical, education and construction..... I know people in all those fields and none make $10-$15 an hour ... they’re getting paid more than that ... he sounded like an elitist snob in that video that wants no part of middle class and blu collar workers .
    4 points
  34. https://www.dailywire.com/news/to-defeat-trump-virginia-dems-give-states-electoral-votes-away-ted-cruz-gives-them-a-constitutional-lesson To Defeat Trump, Virginia Dems Give State’s Electoral Votes Away. Ted Cruz Gives Them A Constitutional Lesson. In an astonishingly partisan move, the Virginia House of Delegates, which has a majority of Democrats, voted to disenfranchise their voters by deciding to give their entire state’s presidential electoral votes to whomever wins the popular vote. The move was likely prompted by Virginia Democrats’ assumption that just as President Trump lost the popular vote on 2016, he might do so again, and thus their bill, House Bill 177, would hand the state’s votes to his Democratic challenger. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) who is one of the great constitutional scholars of the Senate, fired back at the high-handed tactics of the Virginia Democrats and their blithe rejection of the ideals for which the American Founders stood, tweeting, “VA House votes to give all of Virginia’s votes to California & New York. Because that’s definitely in the interest of Virginians. Jefferson & Madison would be appalled.” The bill passed in the Virginia House 51-46 and is now headed for the Virginia Senate, where Democrats also hold a majority, and then on to Democratic Governor Ralph Northam. As The Hill reported, “Virginia would subsequently be entered into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.” The bill’s summary asserts, “Under the compact, Virginia agrees to award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact … A state may withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring within six months of the end of a President’s term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the next term.” 15 states and Washington, D.C., have joined the compact, National Popular Vote reports. The Hill notes, “A group of states possessing 74 electoral votes would need to join the agreement in order for the compact to take effect.” Article 2, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution reads: As Allan Gulezo wrote in National Affairs in 2018 in a comprehensive piece defending the Electoral College, “This method was slightly altered by the 12th Amendment in 1804, but only slightly, and we have elected presidents in the same way ever since. There is no mention whatsoever of a popular vote, at any level.”
    4 points
  35. Once he sells the property it is not his to say or to do with. You can't have it both ways.
    4 points
  36. Frankly, I'm surprised that the young people doing the protesting haven't gone bank to bank, killing everyone inside and then burning down the bank. After 2-3, I'd bet the banks will cease the auctions
    4 points
  37. Thanks for your input my friend Ron, Let’s hope Allawi backed by the US and the pressure of the protesters on the streets could help to tackle corruption and Iran interventionism. Go RV
    4 points
  38. Well the WB finally weights in on THE Captain 👩‍✈️ Obvious moment. At least it’s out there...not that the career criminal politicians in Iraq give a shooby dooby.
    4 points
  39. The Majority of religious leaders and politicians manipulate the people for their own benefit. Go US Go Drones Go freedom
    3 points
  40. 2020/02/15 00:02:29 A- A A+ Shafaq News / Member of the Parliament of Towards Reforms Alliance , Salam al-Shammari confirmed on Saturday that the Prime Minister-designate Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi has almost completed the nomination of the ministers of the new government. Al-Shammari said in a statement received by Shafaq News that the new cabinet will be independent technocrats without any former minister, in desire for the demands of peaceful demonstrators and the order of the religious Marjiyaa. Al-Shammari added that most political blocs are with this trend, and the new government will vote and grant its confidence within the constitutional period. He stressed the necessity of the parliament's attendance at the session to grant confidence to the new government and its ministerial program, which is in line with popular demands.
    3 points
  41. Yes- almost all of the articles posted are opinion pieces, not news--just to tell the lemmings which way to run...
    3 points
  42. " Though the Iranian regime warned Israel of a devastating retaliatory attack if they strike any more Iranian interests in the region, Israel struck more Iranian targets in Damascus. . ." Israel no doubt has a MIGHTY can of WHOOP AZZ just ready to be unleashed if Iran decides to unleash a devastating retaliatory attack
    3 points
  43. Agree nstoolman1. Don’t care for Illegals being allowed to vote. If Texas goes blue it’s over for America as we know it.
    3 points
  44. But the Democrats did? Yes they did. https://themoscowproject.org/tags/fusiongpssteeledossier/ And yet you have never condemned the ordering and payment to a foreign national for an unverified Steel Dossier (admitted by Steele himself) by the HC campaign, tthe illegal FISA warrants used against a US citizen and the transition team and information leaked to the press for the same wanted effect. Oh wait, it is against Trump and you are OK with that because you disapprove of Trump, a lot.
    3 points
  45. Funny how McCabe land Comey both lie several times to Federal agents and they get nothing. Stone is convicted of lying and they want 7-9 years. If your an Obama or HC hold out you get 0 time. Equal justice under the law.
    3 points


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