Jump to content
The Corroboree
CLICKHEREx

Iraq falling to Islamic militants: what the media isn't telling you about WHY

Recommended Posts

Tony Abbott Ended Aid To Iraq Months Before Calling For 'Humanitarian' Intervention

Australia's 'humanitarian mission' in Iraq includes troops and Super Hornets. It comes just months after our aid budget to the troubled nation was cut to zero. Max Chalmers reports.

The Abbott government may be prepared to commit half a billion dollars to a military intervention in Iraq, but earlier in the year it decided that even a single cent would be too much direct aid for the beleaguered Middle Eastern nation.

In a move at odds with the Coalition’s newfound concern for the people of Iraq, Australia’s development aid to the country wound down to zero this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed.

“In line with the Australian Government’s refocusing of the aid program to the Indo-Pacific region, Australia has now ended its development aid program in Iraq,” a DFAT spokesperson said.

The Coalition’s fazing out of Australia’s assistance to Iraq followed deep cuts to the aid budget, which included $4.5 billion in savings over four years and were preceded by the then Labor government’s decision to hold off on promised increases to Australia’s foreign aid.

After assuming office, the Coalition took the unusual step of implementing its aid cuts immediately, stripping $650 million from the budget handed down by Labor and reducing the amount assigned to Iraq from $16 million to just $3.7 million.

At this year’s Budget, that amount was reduced to zero.

Independent MP and former intelligence analyst and Iraq war whistleblower Andrew Wilkie described the decision to cut development aid to the country as a “deadly mistake”.

“It is self-evident that one of the foundations for peace in a country is nation building and to help a country establish the basic needs of the community – medical care, education, law and order, economic development – because if you provide a community with all of those needs they are far less likely to become radicalised and far less susceptible to the influence of trouble makers,” he said.

DFAT budget documents show Australia’s commitment to other global programs and money flowing from other departments is estimated to benefit Iraq to the cost of just $300,000 this financial year.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott pointed to the welfare of Iraq’s citizens as justification for Australia’s growing cooperation with American military actions, including the deployment of 600 defence personnel to the Middle East.

“It is right for Australia to do what it prudently and proportionately can to support international efforts to prevent the spread of ISIL, roll back its gains and alleviate suffering in Iraq,” he said.

Attorney-General George Brandis also hosed down suggestions that Australia was at war by describing the situation as a “humanitarian mission with military elements”.

But Wilkie was scathing of the Coalition.

“The government has been breathtakingly dishonest because if they genuinely cared about the humanitarian situation in Iraq they would have piled on the nation building assistance over the last eleven and a half years rather than reducing it to zero,” Wilkie said.

The changes to Australia’s aid to Iraq reflect the Coalition’s broader agenda to find massive savings in the aid budget, refocus spending in Australia’s backyard, and push for aid to be used to increase Australia’s own interests.

As part of the move, aid agency AusAID was rolled into DFAT and aid to Latin American and Caribbean nations was phased out, while assistance to sub-Saharan Africa was wound back.

The government has since offered a series of one-off assistance measures to Iraq.

In June, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop committed $5 million in emergency humanitarian assistance, used to help deliver food, medical assistance, tents, clean water and hygiene kits.

The Coalition also assigned 4,400 places in Australia’s annual refugee intake to Syrians and Iraqis, but the places will not increase Australia’s total refugee intake and thus come at the expense of other asylum seekers.

After coming to power, the Coalition lowered Australia’s annual refugee intake from 20,000 to 13,750.

While Australia has engaged in two humanitarian airdrops in northern Iraq, DFAT did not indicate any immediate plan to resurrect long-term support for the country.

“We continue to monitor developments in Iraq and will consider future funding according to the needs and our priorities,” the spokesperson said.

Aid provided to Iraq has rapidly decreased in recent years, as successive governments have chipped away at contributions.

In its 2008/09 budget, AusAID provided $366.9 million in assistance to Iraq.

That number collapsed in subsequent budgets, as the memory of Australian involvement in the American-led war faded in the mind of the electorate, and both Labor and Liberal governments raided the aid budget to help find savings and cover other costs, including the detention of asylum seekers.

Labor’s final budget saw the amount provided to Iraq level out, before the Coalition’s new round of cuts reduced it to nothing.

read more

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
US Bombed ‘Empty Buildings’ in Raqqa in Airstrike on ISIL in Syria

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-bombed-empty-buildings-in-raqqa-in-airstrike-on-isil-in-syria/5404140

According CNN Middle East correspondent Arwa Damon (photo, above), residents from the town of Raqqa, in northeastern Syria had “mixed reactions to US strikes”. The reason given was a real shocker:

Damon revealed on air early Wednesday that ISIL terrorists who were held up in the town may have been tipped off weeks in advance to the US airstrikes on Tuesday. According to Damon:

“15-20 days before the airstrikes, (ISIL) buildings were evacuated, and fighters then mixed in with the local population”.

Maybe Damon let the truth slip out by accident, or maybe she was trying to do what US journalists so often are not allowed to do by challenging Washington’s prefabricated narrative. Regardless, CNN’s chief war enthusiast Wolf Blitzer did not feel the need to purse the point.

This surprising admission by CNN would mean that the US military may have only destroyed empty buildings in Raqqa, and that Washington’s inflated claims of dead ISIL fighters are probably exaggerated. In other words, it was all a big show, and ISIL’s capabilities were not degraded at all by Obama’s celebrated US blitzkrieg in Syria.

EMPTY BUILDINGS: CNN’s report suggest a hollow victory by US on Tuesday.

CENTCOM Has a Leak

If ISIS/ISIL operatives did indeed have advanced warning of US airstrikes in Syria – as this CNN report definitely suggests, then we also have to ask, where was the leak? The most likely source of a leak would be from US CENTCOM located in Doha, Qatar.

The other possibility is that ISIS/ISIL financial sponsors in Saudi Arabia and Qatar had received word of the coming US operation and were instructed to vacate any potential targets.

No Chance of Transparency

Many military experts have questioned the US airstrikes as ‘ineffective’ because targeting static venues will not deter ISIS/ISIL, and these latest revelations will only reinforce that skepticism.

So how much can the public trust US reports of its own bombing campaigns? As far as gathering and verifying intelligence goes, how can we know if US operatives knew who was where? Usually Washington can say anything and the mainstream press will not question it.

If you are a bona fide intelligence analysts, it can’t be easy – with political busy bodies and State Department geniuses revising their work, and then going back to the intelligence community asking for ‘authentification’ of various Tweets and ‘very chilling’ YouTube videos the White House has scraped-up off the web. As a result, assessments are often conflicting, and patchy – a running mess by anyone’s account.

Given that Washington DC has a diabolical no track record of being highly politicized when it comes to ‘intelligence’, it’s hard swallow anything coming out of Pennsylvania Ave.

At the end of the day, they tell us what they want us to hear.

“When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty.” – Philip Snowden (1916)

or it could be a pretext to justify civilian deaths, of which there are many

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

well i wonder how many zen buddhists would think execution for the "crime" of apostasy is justified

how many zen buddhists would think killing a woman for adultery is ok

how many zen buddhists think honour killing is acceptable

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/06/ben-affleck-and-bill-maher-are-both-wrong-about-islamic-fundamentalism/?tid=trending_strip_4

yes, killing, murder, execution ok,

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

of course i won't mention LGBT rights, because i know for a fact that that is considered as unnatural in certain buddhist thought,

but i wonder why all these western liberal discussions of how awesome and peaceful and accepting islam is inevitably leave out their thoughts on LGBT people?

i know why, do you?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Isis is just perfect for the west...obama's saying it will be a 30 year war...arms stocks rise by 20% overnight....its so perfect you'd almost think they made it themselves........

Edited by Dreamwalker.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

thx for the stock tip Dreamwalker!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

the common people don't get the 20%...it happens when they sleep...after hours trading by the bots.............

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×