A 15-year-old girl was allegedly forced to wear an ankle tracking monitor for volleyball practice at Eatonville High School in Washington state as a condition of participating in team sports. This was required of both vaccinated and unvaccinated students.
According to her mother who spoke anonymously to The Post Millennial, her daughter was at a practice for the public school’s volleyball team and texted her that she was being asked to put on an ankle monitor.
[….]
The mother spoke to an employee in the school office, as well as a coach and was informed there was a meeting last week discussing the ankle monitoring program for unvaccinated teens. The program was allegedly designed for contact tracing in the event of a positive COVID test of a student.
The TraceTag device used by the school was made by a company called Triax. According to their website, the device was created for the purpose of “maintaining social distancing guidelines” and to provide “real-time insight into whether these guidelines are being observed” for construction and other manufacturing businesses, but makes no mention of school use on the website.
The devices provide “…a visual and audible alarm, so individuals know when to adjust their current distance to a proper social distance.”
Additionally, the monitors provide “Passive collection of worker interactions for contact tracing should an individual test positive.”
According to Triax, the device “…is affixed to any hardhat or worn on the body for proximity detection and contact tracing.”
The mother identified the coach as Gavin Kralik, who told her that the device would inform the players when they were too close together and was only used for indoor sports. She was also informed that the device would be used for contract tracing so that in the event of a positive test, non-vaccinated students would have to quarantine for up to 14 days. Vaccinated students would not have to quarantine.
The devices were not mentioned in the district’s back-to-school policies for fall 2021.
[….]
However, Eatonville School District Superintendent Gary Neal disputed that the purpose of the monitors was segregation: “We received grant funding (known as ESSER III) that specifically included provisions to support higher-risk athletic programs, and we used some of those funds to pay for athletic proximity monitors. We are using these monitors for high contact and moderate indoor contact sports. The monitors are for both staff (coaches) and students on the field, regardless if they are vaccinated or unvaccinated. If a student or coach tests positive, we will have immediate information regarding athletes’ and coaches’ contacts, so we can more tightly determine who might need to quarantine.”
And the CDC joined the fray of vaccine madness by saying that 1st thing one should do to prepare for a hurricane is to…. well… you should read it as it would be unbelievable coming from the likes of me (click to see key part):
And a few people are drawing a red-line in the sand and expressing their autonomy/freedoms in a world restricting them more and more (links to story):
Georgia (the ex-Soviet Republic, not the U.S. state) is now ahead of the United States in economic freedom! How did that happen? My producer Maxim Lott has spent two months investigating
In #Italy, citizens are burning their vaccine passports to protest the government’s authoritarian health mandates. Protests have erupted in 12 cities as people chant slogans such as “Born free and we’ll die free”.pic.twitter.com/INx8KQQ4x2
I must first say that I differ very little with Dr. Jonathan Sarfati on most of our views on the world, science, and the Bible. I have purchased most of his books he has authored and co-authored. So this is not coming from a place of disrespect — at all. Disagreement is healthy and good, dictatorial mandates, however, are not. And some governments are basing their decisions on the same mistakes I see made in an article about Dr. Sarfati’s position on THESE vaccines, titled, “Leading Creationist Endorses Vaccine: COVID Is ‘1,000 Times More Dangerous’ Than the Vaccine.”
What I do differ with however, is the idea that the death “because of” Covid is just accepted as “golden” by Dr. Sarfati. Let me explain, and this is in response to both the title of the article as well as ideas expressed within it. This is via a conversation a few weeks back on my Facebook, noted in a post of mine, after detailing the struggles of many hospitals to deal with expanding emergency areas due to increased patients (tents to expand sick wards, and the like) I noted the idea of comparing “emergencies” properly:
(OP – Original Post) Good presentation. This rant is not related to the video, but I was thinking about this today. Whenever there is a bad flu year, we always deal with the variants in years to come, and, typically they aren’t as deadly. Like Delta. So deaths, and hospitalization are typically lower than the Alpha strain. So tent triages and the like were set up for the 2017-2018 flu season — (the CDC estimates that between 46,000 and 95,000 Americans died due to influenza during the 2017-18 flu season. This resulted in an estimated 959,000 hospitalizations and a middle-ground of 61,099 deaths) and the subsequent variants were less deadly, but they are still floating around. But this seasons Delta Variant is less of a bugger than 2017-18, maybe even the 2012-2013 flu season — (56,000 deaths is the CDC estimate. 571,000 influenza-related hospitalizations). But people still want to live in fear, rather than live. Its sad.
(KRIS W. — a thoughtfully minded conservative) This doctor was great! I hope you are right about the numbers. I refuse to live in fear.
(ME)Kris W., So, the Alpha Covid strain was here in September of 2019. So the Covid season “A” was 2019-2020. We are now in a 2020-2021 season. The numbers from this season need to be separated from the previous. I bet we are closer to bad seasons from previous years. And next year will be better. But like other flu strains, we will have Covid with us forever. (Flu shots are a hodgepodge mixture of various strains, and people who get it hope one of the many strains in the shot get close to the actual, and so lessons the symptoms if they get the flu. Same here. These Covid strains may be in a cocktail mix in the future.)
Likewise, I have yet to see a good study of applying the CDC changing how hospitals and physicians were told to write up deaths associated with Covid-19 to other “outbreaks.” So — for instance — if you catalogued the 2017-2018 flu season with the new definitions per the CDC (April of 2020), that flu season would have tripled to quadrupled in deaths attributed to it [I believe].
In 1969 the population was 207,659,263, and 100,000 Americans died from the Hong Kong Flu (H3N2)… but what if the changed definitions of attribution to Covid (dying WITHthe Hong Kong Flu or FROMthe Hong Kong Flu) were applied then? Similarly, in 1957 the U.S. population was 177,751,476, and 116,000 people died from that outbreak.
To me, this is partially a shell game where many who have died would have died from their ailments.
And the whole “Hospitals will be overrun with Covid patients” thing was largely myth, for example:
After unprecedented preparations—including filling the Long Beach Arena with cots and welcoming a 1,000-bed floating medical center off the coast—Long Beach hospitals have yet to experience the patient surge anticipated in the early days of the COVID-19 health crisis.
In fact, local hospital officials say they are now making every effort to avoid laying off or furloughing staff, and hospitals statewide are estimating losses of up to $14 billion after they delayed elective surgeries to make room for an expected crush of emergency patients….
So when Doc Sarfati says “[t]he virus is at least 1,000 times more dangerous than the vaccine,” I look at that as an unfounded statement. In reality at least.
Why? Because his “known” factors are not REALLY KNOWN.
Now, do I think this is a bad outbreak?
Yes I do.
Worse than most in our history?
Yep.
This virus is highly tuned to attack [especially] weak respiratory systems.
Do I think this demands forced masking and vaccinations?
The fact is no conservative American politician is a likely dictator because one of the fundamental goals of American conservatives is to shrink the power of the government. A dictatorship in America is far more likely to come from the left, which seeks to massively increase government power. For example, as reported in Politico on Aug. 21, 2020, Biden has already pledged, “I would shut it down,” referring to the American economy and Americans’ freedom of movement to combat the COVID-19 virus.
…ring true. Leftists are using this BAD or INCOMPLETE DATA to control the masses in a way that destroys private wealth, and increases the governments power over handing out “manufactured” wealth [i.e., control].
Australia and France are among those already feeling the burn of government overreach. But the excuse of Covid to lock people [and I believe to use it as an excuse to hit the underground church] down in many countries such a China and places as obscure as Burma is an excuse to kill or jail rival political party leaders and Christians.
Many governments “weaponized” the coronavirus pandemic during the last year to further repress citizens’ rights, global rights group Amnesty International said in its annual report, released Wednesday. The report also says the virus disproportionately hit ethnic minorities, refugees and women. (AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL)
David Curry, the CEO of the Christian charity Open Doors, warned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of China is arresting Christians using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to intensify its persecution of the Christian community, even punishing believers who attend online church ceremonies. (VISION TIMES)
There are reports that authorities used the COVID-19 pandemic to keep churches closed, even after it was no longer necessary for health reasons. (OPEN DOORS)
Examples from Canada as well can be found HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Etc.
What fuels this? Lies, ignorance, elitism, or plain ignorance about the above challenges regarding the deadliness of the 2019-2020 Covid outbreak, or the later [predominately] Delta Variant. Even NPR thinks comparing it to Chicken Pox was an overreach. So does Doc Victory:
CONTINUING….
When Doc Sarfati says
“So the virus is far more fearful than the vaccine could possibly be,” he added. “Otherwise, we’re living in a magic universe if somehow a vaccine is more dangerous than a fast-multiplying virus.”
If the vaccine was “as bad” as conspiratorial websites say it is, he said, “we should be seeing millions of people dropping like flies, but we don’t even see the thousands of people.”
I am not a “conspiratorial website,” to be clear. And in fact, I often rant against conspiracies. And I agree, I do not think they are as bad as some say… however, I also do not think they are as safe as Doc Sarfati makes them out to be either. (For reasons already stated and to be stated, below.)
The people who have died from blood clots, heart attacks, and the like, after a 1st or 2nd dose have not had the proper medical evaluations to justify such “matter of fact” statements.
In reality, we do not know the REAL RATES of deadly side-effects so to examine the topic fully.
AGAIN,
In short, Dr. Schirmacher performed autopsies on 40 people who had died within two weeks of receiving a Covid jab. Of those, 30%-40% could be directly attributed to the “vaccines.” He is calling for more autopsies of those who die shortly after getting injected to see if his numbers pan out. But Germany has thus far been reluctant to act. Meanwhile, the report of this highly respected pathologist and pro-vaccine doctor is being suppressed. (NOQ REPORT)
I don’t think this is a big conspiracy. In fact, the reasons why autopsies are not done that often is a combination of (a) the acceptance en masse of the change in death certificates by the CDC in April of last year as well as (b) a financial interest:
Unfortunately, autopsy rates have fallen from 25% to less than 5% over the past four decades. It never was a revenue producer for anyone except malpractice attorneys (WND).
Related as well to the already noted article about hospitals postponing elective surgeries via the Long Beach Business Journal is this detailed article by way of Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (Penn LDI)
Hospitals lost more than $20 billion in revenue when the pandemic led to an unprecedented nationwide shutdown in elective surgical procedures from March to May 2020.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, statements about the health of the vaccines compared to other categories in any meaningful way is still out of reach of “firm statements.” One anecdotal example seems to be a good fit here:
A Minnesota woman who contracted COVID-19 after getting vaccinated had to have both of her legs amputated, and will soon have her hands amputated as well.
Jummai Nache, a medical assistant from Minneapolis, received the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on February 1.
A few days later on February 6, her husband, Philip, took her to urgent care after she felt chest pains.
A day later, she tested positive for COVID-19, and her condition quickly deteriorated, leading to hospitalization and eventual amputation.
[….]
He said that his wife suffered from an arterial blood clot, respiratory disease, cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease), anemia, ischemia and multiple inflammatory syndrome (MIS) – a condition where multiple organs in the body become inflamed….
Again, these blood clots have been an issue for many of these vaccines. The “experts” say it is rare, but as I have pointed out, they cannot make statements like “4 in 1 million people experience cerebral venous thrombosis after getting the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, versus 5 in 1 million people for the AstraZeneca vaccine” (source) — because people who have died have not been properly examined. Again, when properly examined….
Dr. Schirmacher performed autopsies on 40 people who had died within two weeks of receiving a Covid jab. Of those, 30%-40% could be directly attributed to the “vaccines.”
… the rates may be higher.
A site doing a decent job in cataloging the detrimental impact of these vaccines on people’s lives can be found at 1000 COVID STORIES. Here is one example from the site:
These will not make it into Doc Sarfati’s “hopper,” because like that Daily Mail story noted: “The agency [the CDC] could not determine whether the vaccine played a role in her condition.” And so… many cases are rejected or not even determined/found. So when people state as “fact” the following:
“And the death toll for fully vaccinated people is only one in a million, compared to ~20,000 deaths per million C19 cases,”
OR,
If the vaccine was “as bad” as conspiratorial websites say it is, he said, “we should be seeing millions of people dropping like flies, but we don’t even see the thousands of people.”
OR,
“The virus is at least 1,000 times more dangerous than the vaccine,”
These statements [in my estimation] cannot be said with the built in ASSURITYthat they seem to posses.
Another example from the article is when he states: “When individuals are fully vaccinated, he wrote, ‘people are 94% less likely’ to have COVID-19.” Early in July Israel dropped the effectiveness of the Pfzier Vaccine from the mid-ninety-percent effectiveness to 64%. Then 2-weeks later they dropped it to 40%…
Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine is just 39% effective in Israel where the delta variant is the dominant strain, according to a new report from the country’s Health Ministry.(CNBC)
All this may or may not be true… what I do know is that since March of 2020, I have noticed an acceptance without question of numbers and stats that I find incredible. Or if questioned, relegated to conspiracies or wackiness, connecting those who question THESE vaccines as “anti-vaxxers,” whichImost assuredly am not!
DR. SARFATI RESPONDS:
Not very good, That 1000 times factor was based on the burst size of the virus. Since March and millions of people vaccinated, the data show that it’s in the right ball park. E.g. compare the worst estimates of vacine deaths with the most optimistic for Rona survival, and the factor is several hundred at least.
…and that no one may be able to buy, or to sell, except he who is having [has] the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 19:17)
to buy or to sell. Antichrist’s mark will allow people to engage in daily commerce, including the purchase of food and other necessities. Without the identifying mark, individuals will be cut off from the necessities of life. number of his name. The beast (Antichrist) will have a name inherent in a numbering system. It is not clear from the text exactly what this name and number system will be or what its significance will be. — John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Re 13:17.
Papyrus documents of the first and second centuries were frequently stamped with a seal known as charagma, the very word translated “mark” in this passage. These seals left the name of the ruling Emperor and the date inscribed on the document. Some may have included a likeness of the Emperor’s features as well. They were used as part of the paperwork in buying and selling. There is nothing here about the hand or the forehead. — Lewis Foster, Revelation: Unlocking the Scriptures for You, Standard Bible Studies (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 1989), 195.
The mark of the beast relates to the purchase of food, and possibly employment. God’s people are not protected from this economic privation. — Robert James Utley, Hope in Hard Times – The Final Curtain: Revelation, vol. Volume 12, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2001), 98.
The purpose, (so that; Gk. hina) of the mark is that no-one should engage in trade without it. Could (dynētai) is stronger than ‘hinder’ or the like. It points to a total prohibition, which would make it impossible for people without the mark to buy even necessities like food. It is thus impossible for those who oppose the beast even to live. — Leon Morris, Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 167.
The mark may be, as in the case of the sealing of the saints in the forehead, not a visible mark, but symbolical of allegiance. — Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 584.
Architype
I got a QR code sent to me shortly after getting the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. A QR code is basically a natural extension of the conventional barcode, but can store up to 7089 digits or 4296 characters, including punctuation marks and special characters, the Code can equally encode words and phrases such as internet addresses. One thing to always keep in mind, especially when it comes to designing the Static QR Codes aesthetic is that the more data is added, the more the size increases and its structure becomes more complex.
SEE FOR INSTANCE THIS CODE:
Even when damaged, the QR Code’s structure data keys include duplications. It is thanks to these redundancies that allow up to 30% of the Code structure to take damage without affecting its readability on scanners.
So a “name” can literally be a part of this image. Or some number to support a world-wide edict.
A CBS reporter grilled White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients on vaccine QR codes during a press conference Thursday. This comes as more businesses across the nation began requiring proof of vaccination.
“Now that more entities are requiring more vaccines, is the administration reconsidering something like a QR code or a passport to help verify people’s vaccination status?” the reporter asked. “And if not, what are you doing to stop the proliferation of fake vaccine cards?”
“There are a number of ways people can demonstrate their vaccination status,” Zients replied. “Companies and organizations and the government are taking different approaches. We applaud this innovation.”
However, he was clear that the White House will not get involved in creating vaccination QR codes. “There will be no federal vaccination database,” Zients said. “As with all other vaccines the data gets held at the state and local level.”…..
The media treat Dr. Fauci as a saint. They sneered at Senator Rand Paul. They don’t like his “conspiracy theories,” although many now admit Paul’s arguments were likely correct!
“This is tyranny!” Dallas car wash owner Dale Davenport tells me, choking up. Dallas politicians crushed his life’s work — they blamed his car wash for high crime, citing Dale’s own 911 calls as evidence. They then re-zoned his business to destroy it.
President Biden tells Americans in Afghanistan they’re supposed to rely on the mercy of the Taliban; America’s enemies accelerate their aggressive behavior; and the hard Left signals that conservatives are the real Taliban.
00:00 – Conditions in Afghanistan continue to deteriorate
My thoughts on the Middle-East have been pretty consistent., in that any hope of a stable area over there had the linchpin as Iraq. I think if we had committed to Iraq in a way we had with Japan and Germany, We would have had a country closer to Kuwait in governing, and headed in a faster pace than Kuwait toward more freedom. Once we pulled out of Iraq rather than continuing our presence there, all surrounding foreign policy was moot. Years and years ago I posted a short statement by KEN JOWITT that is still true today, but our chance to change the Middle-East was set on Iraq, in my opinion.
So, what I see Biden doing is both a horrible withdrawal as well as sending a message to our biggest enemies that we are weak. Before I show why I think both China and Russia will make some geo-political land grabs, here is an excellent article via PJ-MEDIA:
I’ve been fatalistic about the future of Afghanistan for so long now that I can barely remember when mission creep made our failure there a certainty.
Afghanistan isn’t a country. It’s a hole in the map where neighboring countries aren’t. Sometimes, a foreign power like Great Britain, the Soviet Union, or the United States will attempt to fill that hole. But as has been proven yet again, the hole labeled “Afghanistan” is essentially bottomless.
Absent occupying foreigners, Afghan localities typically rule themselves (badly) while the strongman-style central government tries to rule from Kabul (even more badly). In this age of renewed Islamic fundamentalism, the strongmen, local and central, were always going to be the meanest and most brutal fundamentalists.
Always.
Routing the Taliban in late 2001 was a necessary and proper response to the 9/11 attacks on this country. But there was never going to be a permanent fix.
Had President George W. Bush pulled us out when he damn well should have, in 2002 or ’03, the result would have been the same as it was on Sunday: a rapid takeover by the Taliban.
Had President Barack Obama pulled us out after killing Osama bin Laden in 2012, same result.
Had President Donald Trump pulled us out last year, yep, same thing.
But it didn’t have to be like this:
Dear God, not like this.
Presidentish Joe Biden told people just like the ones being shed from that cargo plane like so much detritus that he had a plan for getting them out.
He did not.
Biden told the world that we had weeks or even months to bring home those Afghans who had put their lives on the line to help our mission.
We did not.
In fact, the Biden administration gave the order that made the rapidity of this weekend’s Taliban takeover inevitable:
THIS is what people around the world will remember: that the United States left our Afghani friends and their families behind to be tortured and then slaughtered….
And the first to act? China… “China likely to recognize Taliban as Afghan rulers with fall of Kabul” (WASHINGTON EXAMINER). China is emboldened with US weakness in the region, the historic collapse of Afghanistan, and the frail puppet installed in Washington DC.
On Monday Steve Bannon warned that the US economy will implode if Taiwan falls to the Communist Chinese. According to Bannon he entire American economy centers around the chips, and in particular, the advanced chips designed, made, and manufactured in Taiwan. (GATEWAY PUNDIT)
All this said, I doubt Biden and his VERY progressive team would even bother with unenforced red-lines like Obama.
And then there is this:
The Taliban seized a staggering quantity of American military vehicles, equipment, and weapons when it overran Afghanistan in a week.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat obsessed with gun control, ended up giving billions of dollars of American weapons to the Islamist fanatics who helped perpetrate 9/11.
Only a month ago, Biden was bragging about the terrific quality of the modern “tools, training, and equipment” sent to the Afghan military at the expense of U.S. taxpayers over the past two decades.
Biden scoffed at the notion of an easy Taliban victory on July 8:
Together, with our NATO Allies and partners, we have trained and equipped over three hu- — nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military — of the Afghan National Security Force, and many beyond that who are no longer serving. Add to that, hundreds of thousands more Afghan National Defense and Security Forces trained over the last two decades.
We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry. And we’re going to continue to provide funding and equipment. And we’ll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their air force.
“Do I trust the Taliban?” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question. “No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war.”…..
On Friday, the Taliban seized control of Firoz Koh, the provincial capital of Ghor, Afghanistan, marking at least 17 Afghan provincial capitals the Taliban have seized in the span of a week. Videos and photos have surfaced on social media showing the Taliban taking over swaths of U.S.-donated military equipment that the Taliban is using to continue overtaking Afghanistan.
Taliban forces have reportedly captured around 100 U.S.-made Humvees and MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) as well as U.S. ScanEagle drones left behind and the Kunduz Airport.
The Taliban captured Kunduz Airport on Wednesday and on Thursday, German journalist Julian Röpcke tweeted, “The #Taliban not only seized appr. a hundred US humvees and (MaxxPro) MRAPs at Kunduz airport, but also several US ScanEagle drones. Billions of US tax payer $ going to Islamist extremists, thanks to the administration’s hasty withdrawal without a peace deal or follow up mission…..
What if people have the war in Iraq backwards? What if George W. Bush and the U.S. military won it, and Barack Obama and the Democrats gave it away? Well, we don’t have to wonder what if, because Pete Hegseth, who served in Iraq, explains what happened.
Iraq and the failed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), FLASHBACK (August 2016)
Smack Down Galore!
(Above Video) The caller notes that the narrative is that the Islamic State would have still come to power even if we kept troops in Iraq. Which is true, they would have still come to existence, in Syria. But Iraq would not have lost any cities or territories if we still had a presence in Iraq. The caller mentioned a force of 10,000 troops, it would have been closer to 30,000 troops. And having a base of operations in country would have allowed the administration to deal more effectively with the Islamic State in Syria (flying sorties, and supporting quick reaction [spec-ops] units activity), and the like.
(Above Video) Megyn Kelly Destroys Jen Psaki who can’t get off talking points.
(Above Video) Larry Elder (and Paul Bremer) dismantle older as well as new mantras flying around via our friends on the left. In the interview that is the centerpiece of the segment[s] here via Larry Elder, Erin “Monkey” Burnett gets all of her talking points smacked down. The only thing Miss Burnett accomplished was showing her bias/sarcasm well.
Here Bremer educates Erin with facts she knew, but refuses to deploy in her logic because it would ruin her defense of her Master Obama, “The planning in 2011, leaked very heavily from the Pentagon and the White House was to keep 20 to 30 thousand troops after 2011, the White House leaked that it wanted to only keep 3,000 troops, then they said to al-Maliki not only do we want a Status of Forces Agreement but you have to get it through your Parliament. So for the first time, to my knowledge, since 1945, we have 84 SOFA agreements around the world, we were telling the host government how to they proceed in approving that Status of Forces Agreement. That put al-Maliki in an impossible situation.”
….A dandy little edit here by the Free Beacon, via Ace. I know I’ve linked it before but the piece you want to read as accompaniment is Iraq hawk turned dove Peter Beinart lamenting all the ways Obama screwed up post-Bush American policy in the country. O wants you to believe at the end of the video here that he pushed hard to keep a residual American force inside Iraq for counterterrorism (i.e. counter-ISIS) operations but it’s simply not true. He didn’t push hard for it; when Maliki initially resisted his demand that U.S. troops be granted immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, O took that as his cue to pull everyone out. And that wasn’t the only time he indulged Maliki’s dumbest impulses. The story of the U.S. vis-a-vis Iraq after 2009, writes Beinart, is a story of disinterest and disengagement:
The decline of U.S. leverage in Iraq simply reinforced the attitude Obama had held since 2009: Let Maliki do whatever he wants so long as he keeps Iraq off the front page.
On December 12, 2011, just days before the final U.S. troops departed Iraq, Maliki visited the White House. According to Nasr, he told Obama that Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, an Iraqiya leader and the highest-ranking Sunni in his government, supported terrorism. Maliki, argues Nasr, was testing Obama, probing to see how the U.S. would react if he began cleansing his government of Sunnis. Obama replied that it was a domestic Iraqi affair. After the meeting, Nasr claims, Maliki told aides, “See! The Americans don’t care.”
In public remarks after the meeting, Obama praised Maliki for leading “Iraq’s most inclusive government yet.” Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq, another Sunni, told CNN he was “shocked” by the president’s comments. “There will be a day,” he predicted, “whereby the Americans will realize that they were deceived by al-Maliki … and they will regret that.”
And now the day has come. Remember that the next time O walks out to the podium and acts indignant about Maliki clinging to power.
One more bit, this from Dexter Filkins, on just how much of a fight O put up in demanding a residual troop presence:
President Obama, too, was ambivalent about retaining even a small force in Iraq. For several months, American officials told me, they were unable to answer basic questions in meetings with Iraqis—like how many troops they wanted to leave behind—because the Administration had not decided. “We got no guidance from the White House,” Jeffrey told me. “We didn’t know where the President was. Maliki kept saying, ‘I don’t know what I have to sell.’ ” At one meeting, Maliki said that he was willing to sign an executive agreement granting the soldiers permission to stay, if he didn’t have to persuade the parliament to accept immunity. The Obama Administration quickly rejected the idea. “The American attitude was: Let’s get out of here as quickly as possible,” Sami al-Askari, the Iraqi member of parliament, said…
