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butterfly   Head of UN Iraq mission tells Security Council no evidence of election fraud

In her briefing to the UN Security Council, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert confirmed that there is no evidence for election fraud as claimed by some of the political parties that lost the parliamentary elections and warned of dire consequences if crucial reforms are not implemented. November 26, 2021

The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, assured Security Council members and Iraqi voters Nov. 23 that parliamentary elections were conducted in a fair and free manner.

"The October elections were evaluated as being sound in general," Hennis-Plasschaert said in the briefing, indicating there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

However, she warned of dire consequences if the post-election political deadlock remains and essential reforms are not implemented by the upcoming government.

The political deadlock started when the defeated parties refused to accept the preliminary results of the elections. As a result, the defeated party leaders formed the Coordination Framework to jointly object to the election results.

The framework consists of the political wings of Shiite militias and Ammar al-Hakim’s Hikmat movement, Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition as well as Haider al-Abadi’s Al-Nasr Alliance.

The political wings of the militias are divided into two main groups: the Fatah Alliance led by Hadi al-Amiri and including several military factions, most predominately Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada’s Abu Ala al-Waeli and Asaib Ahl al-Haq’s Qais Khazali, and Kataib Hezbollah's Huqooq.

butterfly   The militias have been protesting in front of two main gates of the Green Zone since the announcement of the results Oct. 12. The protests got violent a few times, resulting in two dead and hundreds of wounded among the security forces and protesters.

An anonymous official told Al-Monitor that the investigation into the incident shows that the first shot was fired by the protesting militias, killing two people and injuring hundreds from both sides.

Immediately after the incident, Muqtada al-Sadr, who at the time was in Baghdad to negotiate with political parties to form the government, immediately returned to Najaf and slammed the militias asking them to hand over their weapons to the state.

A day after the incident, the prime minister's house was attacked by two drones. The initial investigation showed the drones were similar to the ones used by militias who had previously attacked Al-Furat news channel, Sadr himself and Erbil airport.

Moreover, the militias are continuously stating that they will rebel against the government if they are not included in the negotiations.

Kataib Hezbollah media reported that the head of the militia had told Hennis-Plasschaert in her meeting with the Coordination Framework, “We all will benefit or no one will.”

On Nov. 19, Hennis-Plasschaert had met with the members of the Coordination Framework at Hakim’s home to hear their objections and to give them a chance to present their evidence in order to back their claims of election fraud.

butterfly   The militias' media claimed that Hennis-Plasschaert vowed to voice their complaints before the UN and the Security Council. However, what she has reported in her recent briefing shows nothing supporting such claims. She instead reaffirmed "as stated by the Iraqi judiciary, there is no evidence of systemic fraud."

In a hint to the framework members, she also noted, “While losing seats can be difficult to digest, it is important for any party in any democracy to examine the reasons and to learn for future elections.”

The above statements indicate that the evidence presented by the framework was insufficient to prove widespread fraud.

In a statement released by the Independent High Electoral commission, it announced that after manual recounting of the Baghdad and Ninevah ballot boxes, the results were identical and no change in the results was required.

It is expected that the federal court approves the results next week, and no changes are expected to happen.

This will put the militias between a rock and a hard place, as they either should accept the results and remain outside of the government or escalate the protests to confront Sadr who has a military faction as well.

As Hennis-Plasschaert predicted in her briefing, if the militias and Sadr choose to confront each other using military force, this would spiral Iraq into an “intolerable” situation. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/11/head-un-iraq-mission-tells-security-council-no-evidence-election-fraud

butterfly  US gives $19m to Vulnerable Families in Iraq 24th November 2021 The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a timely and generous contribution of US$19.24 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID-BHA).

The funding will help provide life-saving assistance to 181,000 displaced Iraqis and 72,000 Syrian refugees in the form of cash transfers that support their immediate food needs.

The U.S. support is helping ensure that people can meet basic food and nutrition needs during and in the aftermath of crises - including post-conflict and through the COVID-19 pandemic.

This will also enable them to withdraw the money they are entitled to at their convenience without being limited to one location, encouraging a streamlined and efficient process of humanitarian assistance delivery and social distancing.

"With an estimated 1.2 million people in Iraq who remain displaced and 90,000 Syrian refugees in camps, the United States continues its support to WFP's life-saving efforts to address acute humanitarian needs," said USAID/Iraq Mission Director John Cardenas.

"This contribution will also aim to further digitalize the Public Distribution System (PDS), which is a critical step to strengthening the Government of Iraq's social protection system to address citizens' needs."

butterfly  In addition to helping WFP provide vital food assistance to displaced Iraqi families and Syrian refugees, this new contribution will allow WFP to better support millions of Iraqis all over the country through the digitalization of the PDS system with the Ministry of Trade, which allows for more accurate and timely assistance of actual people in need with monthly food rations provided by the Government of Iraq.

"We are thankful for the steadfast support of the US government and people of the United States in providing assistance to vulnerable displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees as well as in enhancing social protection, through the reform of the PDS and strengthening the capacities of the Iraqi government," said WFP Representative in Iraq Ally-Raza Qureshi.

"The contribution will ensure that progress made in improving the food security of displaced families and refugees is maintained, and that essential technical support to the Government of Iraq for digitalizing the largest public distribution system which supports millions of Iraqis, continues."

Since 2010, USAID has been a consistent partner to WFP's emergency operation in Iraq. This collaboration expanded to support social protection initiatives in 2019. WFP and the Ministry of Trade continue to roll out the 'Tamwini' ('My Food Ration') smartphone application to families in Najaf governorate and are in the process of scaling up to include people in 15 other governorates.

The app enables households to easily and quickly update their data on their phone, such as a birth or a marriage, saving time and enhancing accuracy.   (Source: UN)

Sparky   ... should be 100 Billion ...... or three times that ... non sence war leaving the ordinary folks starving

butterfly  Sparky the ones in charge in Iraq are doing their part in that also.

Sparky   ... just another in a long line of War, Boom, Bust economy ...

butterfly  Sparky We should have NEVER gone there.

Sparky  ... Colin Powell was played ...... Five Star General ... creator of modern war tactics .... WMD ... he had to play out the fools game ... Rutherford ...... what a super human being Collen Powell was/is ...

Sparky   ... Retired admiral James Stavridis, speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Powell’s sense of civility and grace. Our impression of generals is too often that of bold, brash and take charge. Powell did the latter well, but he did it with a worldview shaped by his background and his service as a frontline combat soldier.

No one hates war more than soldiers do, Stravridis said, quoting William Tecumseh Sherman and applying it to Powell. Having seen the cost of war up close and personally in Vietnam, he sought to avoid it. But, if it were inevitable, as seen in the first Gulf War, it must be waged vigorously and with the end in sight.

Sadly, no exit strategy was in sight, as Secretary of State in 2003 made a case for war in Iraq because it was believed that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, at least by the Bush administration. None were found. Powell advised President Bush against the war and later came to regret his role in it and admitted it publicly. “I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world,” Powell told Barbara Walters on ABC News, acknowledging that his presentation “will always be a part of my record.” ...

Sparky   ... an honorable man ...... played by jackals for power and greed ...

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