[QUOTE=kladner;534120][URL]http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52791.htm[/URL]
By Caitlin Johnstone
[quote]Crazy, stupid conspiracy theorists believe a mature worldview requires skepticism toward power.

Smart upstanding citizens believe the government is your friend, and the media are its helpers.

Crazy, stupid conspiracy theorists believe that powerful people sometimes make immoral plans in secret.

Smart upstanding citizens believe the TV always tells the truth and the CIA exists for no reason.

Crazy, stupid conspiracy theorists believe that extreme government secrecy makes it necessary to discuss possible theories about what might be going on behind that veil of opacity.

Smart upstanding citizens believe that just because a world-dominating government with the most powerful military in the history of civilization has no transparency and zero accountability to the public, that doesn’t mean you’ve got to get all paranoid about it.

Crazy, stupid conspiracy theorists believe it’s okay to ask questions about important events that happen in the world, even if their government tells them they shouldn’t.

Smart upstanding citizens believe everything they need to know about reality comes out of Mike Pompeo’s angelic mouth.

Crazy, stupid conspiracy theorists believe the very rich sometimes engage in nefarious behavior to expand their wealth and power.

Smart upstanding citizens believe billionaires always conduct themselves with the same values that got them their billions in the first place: honesty, morality, and generosity.[/quote]
And so it goes and goes and goes.[/QUOTE]

As an alternative I offer the lyrics from [i]What did you learn in School Today?[/i] which I heard long, long ago on the 1963 Pete Seeger album [b]We Shall Overcome[/b].
[indent]What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that Washington never told a lie
I learned that soldiers seldom die
I learned that everybody's free
And that's what the teacher said to me

That's what I learned in school today
That's what I learned in school

What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that policemen are my friends
I learned that justice never ends
I learned that murderers die for their crimes
Even if we make a mistake sometimes

And that's what I learned in school today
That's what I learned in school

What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?

I learned our country must be strong
It's always right and never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men
And we elect them again and again

And that's what I learned in school today
That's what I learned in school

What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that war is not so bad
I learned about the great ones we have had
We fought in Germany and in France
And someday I might get my chance[/indent]

Thanks for the wonderful Tom Paxton quote. That song drives in lots of nails....err..hits them on the head. I've heard one line as "We fought in Vietnam (just like/and in) France....."
[INDENT]Jimmy Newman
(Tom Paxton)


Get up Jimmy Newman the morning is come
The engine's are rumbling the coffee's all brewed
Get up Jimmy Newman there's work to be done
And why do you lie there still sleeping

There's a waiting line forming to use the latrine
And the sun is just opening the sky
The breakfast they're serving just has to be seen
And you've only to open your eyes

Get up Jimmy Newman my radio's on
The news is all bad but it's good for a laugh
The tent flap is loose and the peg must be gone
Why do you lie there still sleeping

The night nurse is gone and the sexy one's here
And she tells us such beautiful lies
Her uniform's tight on her marvellous rear
And you've only to open your eyes

Get up Jimmy Newman you're missing the fun
We're loading the plane Jim it's time to go home
It's over for us there's no more to be done
And why do you lie there still sleeping

It's stateside for us Jim the folks may not know
We'll let it be such a surprise
They're loading us next Jim we're ready to go
And you've only to open your eyes

Get up Jimmy Newman they won't take my word
I said you sleep hard but they're shaking their heads
Get up Jimmy Newman and show them you heard
Jimmy just show them you're sleeping

A joke is a joke but there's nothing to gain
Jim I'd slap you but I'm too weak to rise
Get up damn it Jimmy you're missing the plane
And you've only to open your eyes.

[/INDENT]

Trio of Moon of Alabama posts re. the US assassination of Iranian General Soleimani. (Note MofA comments section is lightly moderated if at all, so some of the comments are quite vile, I value the site for its Middle East insights, not its reader comments sections). The bit about the late-1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland actually being an act of Iranian retaliation for the US downing of an Iranian civilian flight 5 months before, an act which the U.S. blamed on then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, was news to me, I had not heard that particular allegation of false-flaggery before, but I see now that the IRGC publicly claimed responsibility, which is presumably not something it would do lightly. I vividly recall the event - was hosting a small holiday party for some fellow grad students and neighbors in the graduate student housing complex at UM Ann Arbor at the time, one pair of neighbors I'd invited stopped by late to say they would not be able to join the festivities, she was in tears, he explained that their church pastor had been on that flight. Anyhow, see original articles below for embedded links, which are numerous:

2 Dec: [url=https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/what-will-the-trump-administration-do-when-iraq-asks-us-troops-to-leave.html]What Will The Trump Administration Do When Iraq Asks U.S. Troops To Leave?[/url]
[quote]It were [sic] U.S. and Israeli interest that made Iraq [url=https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2019/12/31/wearing-out-a-welcome-in-iraq/]into a battle field[/url] against Iran:
[i]
U.S. military personnel are in Iraq supposedly on an anti-ISIS mission. Under the Trump administration, there appears to have been mission creep, in Iraq as well as Syria, in which somehow confronting Iran has become part of a new mission. That mission has never been justified. No one has explained exactly how the current state of Iraqi-Iranian relations threatens U.S. interests—beyond any threat to the very same U.S. military personnel in Iraq, which brings circular reasoning into play. Seemingly forgotten among all this is how Iran, and the Iraqi elements it supports, also have been performing an anti-ISIS mission.[/i][/quote]

3 Dec: [url=https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/us-will-come-to-regret-its-assassination-of-qassim-soleimani.html]U.S. Will Come To Regret Its Assassination of Qassim Soleimani[/url]
[quote]Today the U.S. declared war on Iran and Iraq.

War is what it will get.

Earlier today a U.S. drone or helicopter killed Major General Qassim Soleimani, the famous commander of the Iranian Quds ('Jerusalem') force, while he left the airport of Baghdad where he had just arrived. He had planned to attend the funeral of the 31 Iraqi soldiers the U.S. had killed on December 29 at the Syrian-Iraqi border near Al-Qaim.

The Quds force is the external arm of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Soleiman was responsible for all relations between Iran and political and militant movements outside of Iran. Hajji Qassim advised the Lebanese Hisbullah during the 2006 war against Israel. His support for Iraqi groups enabled them to kick the U.S. invaders out of Iraq. He was the man responsible for, and successful in, defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In 2015 Soleimani traveled to Moscow and convinced Russia to intervene in Syria. His support for the Houthi in Yemen enabled them to withstand the Saudi attackers.

Soleimani had arrived in Baghdad on a normal flight from Lebanon. He did not travel in secret. He was picked up at the airport by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, the deputy commander of the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, an official Iraqi security force under the command of the Iraqi Prime Minister. The two cars they traveled in were destroyed in the U.S. attack. Both men and their drivers and guards died.

The U.S. created two martyrs who will now become the models and idols for tens of millions of youth in the Middle East.
...
The outright assassination of a commander of Soleimani's weight demands an Iranian reaction of at least a similar size. All U.S. generals or high politicians traveling in the Middle East or elsewhere will now have to watch their back. There will be no safety for them anywhere.

No Iraqi politician will be able to argue for keeping U.S. forces in the country. The Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Mahdi has called for a parliament emergency meeting to ask for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops...[/quote]

4 Dec: [url=https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/the-revenge-for-the-assassination-of-qassem-soleimani.html]The Revenge For The Assassination Of Qassem Soleimani[/url]
[quote]The Trump administration is telling fairytales about its murder of Major General Qassem Soleimani. He was not planing any "imminent attacks" on the U.S. or its interests in Iraq. Reports which claim that while calling Katyusha rockets "sophisticated weapons" can obviously be ignored. In no way was Soleimani a legitimate target for a U.S. attack. No Orwellian State Department briefing can change that.

Fact is that Trump is following the plan of the Foundation of the Defense of Democracy (FDD) which was originally founded as EMET (Hebrew for "truth"), "to provide education to enhance Israel’s image in North America." Undercover video from Al Jazeerah caught the Israeli ex-intel official Sima Vakhnin-Gil in 2017 saying "We have FDD" when she was asked how Israel lobbies for its interests.
[i]
Dan Cohen @dancohen3000 - 5:23 UTC · Jan 4, 2020
FDD is an Israeli government front group. Trump mega donor Bernard “Iran is the devil” Marcus pays 1/3 of its budget. FDD advisor Richard Goldberg was appointed to National Security Council to push for attacking Iran. [url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-03/u-s-official-central-to-hawkish-iran-policies-departs-nsc]FDD continued to pay his salary[/url].
[/i]
FDD was tasked by Israel to instigate a U.S. war on Iran. Following FDD's plans Trump and his advisors are trying to provoke Iran to retaliate in a way that allows them to launch such a war.

There is a historic example of how Iran reacts to such U.S. provocations.

The U.S. attack:
[i]
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas, that was shot down on 3 July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired from USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, an Airbus A300, was destroyed and all 290 people on board, including 66 children, were killed.
[/i]
The Iranian retribution:
[i]
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. On 21 December 1988, N739PA, the aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing.
[/i]
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) claimed to be responsible for the bombing of the plane. It had used a Palestinian cutout in Lebanon to plant the bomb. But for political reasons the official investigation was manipulated and the blame for the Lockerbie bombing was put on Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi who had absolutely nothing to do with it.

The murder of the passengers and crew of Iran Air Flight 655 and the retribution for it were five and a half month apart. This gives us a hint of how long it might take for Iran to prepare the retribution for the U.S. assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani. There is also the political calender that has to be considered. If an Iranian revenge act is of a kind that could help Trump to get reelected it must wait until after the U.S. election. If the revenge act is of a kind that could hurt Trump's poll numbers it must come during the last few months of the campaign.

We will know that it has happened when this flag comes down:
[snip]
[i]SIFFAT ZAHRA @SiffatZahra - 10:52 UTC · Jan 4, 2020
First Time In The History, Red Flag Unfurled Over The Holy Dome Of Jamkarān Mosque, Qom Iran.
Red Flag: A Symbol Of Severe Battle To Come.
#Qaseemsulaimani[/i][/quote]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;534244]4 Dec: [url=https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/the-revenge-for-the-assassination-of-qassem-soleimani.html]The Revenge For The Assassination Of Qassem Soleimani[/url][quote]First Time In The History, Red Flag Unfurled Over The Holy Dome Of Jamkarān Mosque, Qom Iran.
Red Flag: A Symbol Of Severe Battle To Come.[/quote]
[/QUOTE]

I am truly impressed. Moon of Alabama has the gift of prophecy.

The red flag is often described as symbolizing blood unjustly shed. The inscription on the flag is variously translated as "Those who want to avenge the blood of Hussein" or "Revenge for Hussein."

The reference is to Hussein Ibn Ali (various transliterations) who was a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. From the [url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Husayn-ibn-Ali-Muslim-leader-and-martyr] Encyclopaedia Britannica article[/url] (my emphasis) [quote]After the assassination of their father, ʿAlī, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn acquiesced to the rule of the first Umayyad caliph, Muʿāwiyah, from whom they received pensions. Ḥusayn, however, refused to recognize the legitimacy of Muʿāwiyah’s son and successor, Yazīd (April 680). Ḥusayn was then invited by the townsmen of Kūfah, a city with a Shīʿite majority, to come there and raise the standard of revolt against the Umayyads. After receiving some favourable indications, Ḥusayn set out for Kūfah with a small band of relatives and followers. According to traditional accounts, he met the poet al-Farazdaq on the way and was told that the hearts of the Iraqis were for him, but their swords were for the Umayyads. The governor of Iraq, on behalf of the caliph, sent 4,000 men to arrest Ḥusayn and his small band. They trapped Ḥusayn near the banks of the Euphrates River at a place called Karbalāʾ (October 680). When Ḥusayn refused to surrender, he and his escort were slain, and Ḥusayn’s head was sent to Yazīd in Damascus (now in Syria).

In remembrance of the martyrdom of Ḥusayn, Shīʿite Muslims observe the first 10 days of Muḥarram (the date of the battle according to the Islamic calendar) as days of lamentation. [b]Revenge for Ḥusayn’s death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad caliphate and gave impetus to the rise of a powerful Shīʿite movement.[/b][/quote]

It seems the flag-raising ceremony invoked another figure in Shia Islam. According to an article in the [url=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7851515/Iranians-raise-blood-red-flags-revenge-vow-hit-killed-Qassem-Soleimani.html]Daily Mail[/url],

[quote]As the flag was raised in Qom, the mosque speakers called, 'O Allah, hasten your custodian reappearance,' a reference to the end-times reappearance of the Mahdi.

In Shia Islam, the faith of Iran, the Mahdi is a divine figure who will appear to bring a Day of Judgement and rid the world of evil.[/quote]

@DrS: Yes, the symbolism - and we know how big the cultures of that region are on symbolism - doesn't get any deeper for Shia muslims than that of the red flag. Apparently said flag was never raised even during the Iran/Iraq war. Latest from MofA and Consortium News:

o [url=https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/iraqi-parliament-expels-foreign-militaries-from-iraq.html]Iraqi Parliament Expels Foreign Militaries From Iraq[/url] | Moon of Alabama
[quote][Quote frome a news report]:
[i]Parliament voted on a five-point action plan that would require the Iraqi government to end the presence of foreign troops in the country, and withdraw its request for assistance from the anti-ISIS global coalition. This would require new legislation to cancel the existing agreement.

Parliament also called on the government to ban the use of Iraqi airspace by any foreign power.

The Iraqi foreign minister has been directed to head to the UN to lodge an official complaint against the US strike.[/i]

The Iraqi Prime Minister and the whole cabinet supported the resolution.

Before the vote Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi told the parliament that he was scheduled to meet with Soleimani a day after his arrival to receive a letter from Iran to Iraq in response to a de-escalation offer Saudi Arabia had made. The U.S. assassinated Soleimani before the letter could be delivered by him. Abdul-Mahdi also said that Trump had asked him to mediate between the U.S. and Iran. Did he do that to trap Soleimani? It is no wonder then that Abdul-Mahdi is fuming.

The Prime Minister's letter to the General Secretary of the UN and the Secretary of the UNSC is [url=https://twitter.com/AlSuraEnglish/status/1213832862576697345]here[/url].

Foreign troops in Iraq included about 5,000 from the U.S. as well as a number of other NATO countries engaged in training Iraqi troops. There are also Turkish troops in north Iraq who fight against the PKK. Those will also have to leave but may not do so voluntarily.

Without any bases in Iraq the U.S. position in Syria will become untenable.[/quote]

o [url=https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/03/pepe-escobar-us-kick-starts-the-raging-20s-by-declaring-war-on-iran/]US Kick Starts Raging ’20s Declaring War on Iran[/url] | Pepe Escobar, Consortium News: [i]Iraq is the preferred battleground of a proxy war against Iran that may now metastasize into hot war, with devastating consequences.[/i]
[quote]According to my best Southwest Asia intel sources, “Israel gave the U.S. the coordinates for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani as they wanted to avoid the repercussions of taking the assassination upon themselves.”

It does not matter that Trump and the Deep State are at war.

One of the very few geopolitical obsessions that unite them is non-stop confrontation with Iran – qualified by the Pentagon as one of five top threats against the U.S., almost at the level of Russia and China.

And there cannot be a more startling provocation against Iran — in a long list of sanctions and provocations — than what just happened in Baghdad. Iraq is now the preferred battleground of a proxy war against Iran that may now metastasize into hot war, with devastating consequences.

We knew it was coming. There were plenty of rumbles in Israeli media by former military and Mossad officials. There were explicit threats by the Pentagon. I discussed it in detail in Umbria last week with sterling analyst Alastair Crooke – who was extremely worried. I received worried messages from Iran.

The inevitable escalation by Washington was being discussed until late Thursday night here in Palermo, actually a few hours before the strike. (Sicily, by the way, in the terminology of U.S. generals, is AMGOT: American Government Occupied Territory.)

Once again, the Exceptionalist hands at work show how predictable they are. Trump is cornered by impeachment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted. Nothing like an external “threat” to rally the internal troops.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei knows about these complex variables as much as he knows of his responsibility as the power who issued Iran’s own red lines. Not surprisingly he already announced, on the record, there will be blowback: “a forceful revenge awaits the criminals who have his blood and the blood of other martyrs last night on their hands.” Expect it to be very painful.

[b]Blowback by a Thousand Cuts[/b]

I met al-Muhandis [Iraqi militia commander killed in same air strike] in Baghdad two years ago — as well as many Hashd al-Shaabi members. Here is my full report. The Deep State is absolutely terrified that Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), a grassroots organization, are on the way to becoming a new Hezbollah, and as powerful as Hezbollah. Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the supreme religious authority in Iraq, universally respected by Shia, fully supports them.

So, the American strike also targets Sistani — not to mention the fact that Hash al-Shaabi operates under guidelines issued by the Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Mahdi. That’s a major strategic blunder that can only be pulled off by amateurs.

Major General Soleimani, of course, humiliated the whole of the Deep State over and over again — and could eat all of them for breakfast, lunch and dinner as a military strategist. It was Soleimani who defeated ISIS/Daesh in Iraq — not the Americans bombing Raqqa to rubble. Soleimani is a super-hero of almost mythical status for legions of young Hezbollah supporters, Houthis in Yemen, all strands of resistance fighters in both Iraq and Syria, Islamic Jihad in Palestine, and all across Global South latitudes in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

There’s absolutely no way the U.S. will be able to maintain troops in Iraq, unless the nation is re-occupied en masse via a bloodbath. And forget about “security”: no imperial official or imperial military force is now safe anywhere, from the Levant to Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf.[/quote]
Escobar's "strategic blunder" wording echoes the famous quote by Talleyrand (French statesman who became head of the new government after the fall of Napoleon in 1814), who in reference to another seriously misguided execution, of Louis Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien, on orders of Napoleon, in 1804, said "it was worse than a crime. It was a blunder".

[QUOTE=ewmayer;534324]@DrS: Yes, the symbolism - and we know how big the cultures of that region are on symbolism - doesn't get any deeper for Shia muslims than that of the red flag. Apparently said flag was never raised even during the Iran/Iraq war.
<snip>[/QUOTE]
I wonder who ordered the raising of the red flag over the mosque. Perhaps it was Khamenei. Perhaps the Revolutionary Guards or Quds Force. But I think the raising of the red flag is political theater, stage-managed by the government.

There was no shortage of important Iranian officials who died violent deaths during the early years of the revolutionary government. Some of them were important religious figures, like Ayatollah Mohammed Behesti. He got a big funeral, but no red flag. One of the people Iran held responsible for the bombing that killed him was living under an assumed name in the Netherlands when he was shot twice at close range and killed, in December 2015.

Unlike Behesti, or the martyr Hussein, General Soleimani was not a religious figure. He was the Iranian Hegemon-in-Chief. His methods were disconcertingly similar to those used by the CIA in years gone by -- recruit and organize locals, get them money and weapons, and use them to destabilize or locally usurp the regimes of the countries they live in. Only he had the full backing of his government, and was at it for decades. Iran's proxies, led by Quds Force (Quds means "holy" BTW) hold sway in significant parts of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

The shades of CIA chieftains and operatives from years gone by, must be in awe of his success with their methods, and Soleimani's ghost is no doubt getting on with them like a house on fire -- which would be fitting, since the place where they're meeting surely [i]is[/i] on fire.

Sad to say, the good ol' USA handed him opportunities. Most recently, after Shrub toppled Saddam Hussein, and, after him, Obama propped up Maliki while he tried to turn Iraq into a one-party state run by his loyalists, and wound up turning it into such a failed state that soldiers deserted in droves rather than fight ISIS on his behalf. But I can't say that Iran's proxies have made it a better place.

In the second edit below, I lost the previous part of the comment. Reconstructing....
[QUOTE]But I can't say that Iran's proxies have made it a better place.[/QUOTE]Can you say that the Saudi and Israeli Proxy, the US of A has made it a better place?


[QUOTE]Yes, the symbolism - and we know how big the cultures of that region are on symbolism[/QUOTE]Whilst we, in our not-at-all-benighted region are unswayed by the brandishments [SIC] , er, blandishments, ah, brandishing of symbols, be they visual, verbal, musical, or what have you? :razz:

[QUOTE=kladner;534378]In the second edit below, I lost the previous part of the comment. Reconstructing....
Can you say that the Saudi and Israeli Proxy, the US of A has made it a better place?[/quote]While I disagree with your characterization of the US as a "Saudi and Israeli proxy," my answer to the question of whether our intervention in Iraq has made it a better place is NO. And, what is worse, from a US standpoint, it has not served US interests. Bush the Elder was smart enough to realize it would be foolhardy to topple Saddam (but, alas, [i]not[/i] smart enough to refrain from telling Iraqis to do it themselves, without being willing to back them).

Saddam Hussein was a monster, who learned his methods of repression by studying those of Stalin, but his presence served US interests by checking the regional ambitions of Iran. This is one reason the Reagan Administration supplied Iraq with intelligence to assist it in its war of aggression against Iran. (It is possible that the Reagan Admin reckoned the war would [i]also[/i] check the regional ambitions of Saddam, which it did -- at least until that war ended.)

I note that one of the phony ideas used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq was that Saddam was involved in 9/11, which he wasn't. Now, it seems, Mike Pence is forwarding the unevidenced notion that [url=https://apnews.com/eba793fad25f603b0fbdfa31d59118db]Soleimani was supposedly involved in 9/11[/url]. Gary Trudeau wrote truly in his December 11, 2005 comic strip [i]Doonsbury[/i] when he called 9/11 "The Swiss Army knife of excuses."[quote]Whilst we, in our not-at-all-benighted region are unswayed by the brandishments [SIC] , er, blandishments, ah, brandishing of symbols, be they visual, verbal, musical, or what have you? :razz:[/QUOTE]I think that visual symbols have traditionally, and until relatively recent times, had an importance in Iran which we could be overlooking.

During the days of the Iranian Revolution, I was amazed at the visual symbols being used in the parades. There would be huge banners, with [i]much[/i] larger than life-sized figures. One especially memorable one had Ayatollah Khomeini and the Shah. Ayatollah Khomeini was depicted standing serenely in his robes, and had a [i]halo[/i], while the Shah was depicted cringing in fear and bounding away. And the Shah did not have feet, but, rather, [i]cloven hooves[/i]. Such a depiction may, I think, properly be called [i]iconic[/i]. It seemed reminiscent of religious images from the Middle Ages.

And it could be that the power of visual symbols has decreased somewhat since then, due to one of the real successes of the revolution, laid out in this [url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/educational-attainment-iran]Middle East Institute[/url] page from 2009,

[quote]Statistical analysis of literacy rates in the years 1966, 1976, 1986, 1991, and 2006 indicates that educational attainment improved considerably in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially for women. Over this period, the literacy gap between women and men has narrowed. Before the Islamic Revolution (specifically, in 1978), over 60% of the Iranian female population was illiterate. In the post-revolutionary years, women have shown an increasing willingness and effort to become literate and highly educated. Currently, more than 55% percent of first-year university students are women.

According to national census data, in 1966, only 17.42% of the Iranian female population or 1,628,000 was literate (Table 1). In the same year, the male literacy rate was 39.19% (3,928,000). These figures were 47.49% for men and 35.48% for women in 1976.

The first post-revolutionary national census in 1986 indicated that the women’s literacy rate had climbed to the level of 52.1% and that 9.8 million women had become literate by that year. Based on the second post-revolutionary national census in 1996, 74.2% of the Iranian female population over the age of six (25.7 million) were literate. This figure was 74.7% for men (26.5 million). Finally, the 2006 census showed that 80.3% of the total female population over the age of six was literate. The corresponding figure for the male population was 88.7%.[/quote]

o [url=https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/01/iraq-parliament-calls-for-u-s-troops-to-be-expelled-plus-cavalcade-of-stupid.html]Iraq Parliament Calls for U.S. Troops to Be Expelled (plus Cavalcade of Stupid Tweets)[/url] | naked capitalism

o [url=https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/the-axis-of-resistance-announces-the-project-that-will-avenge-qassem-soleimani.html]The Axis Of Resistance Announces The Project That Will Avenge Qassem Soleimani[/url] | Moon of Alabama
[quote]The media continue to tell fairytales about Qassem Soleimani and about Trumps decision to assassinate him and PMU leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Meanwhile the Resistance Axis announced how it will avenge their deaths.

In their descriptions of Qassem Soleimani U.S. media fail to mention that Soleimani and the U.S. fought on the same side. In 2001 Iran supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. It used its good relations with the Hazara Militia and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, which both the CIA and Iran had supplied for years, to support the U.S. operation. The Wikipedia entry for the 2001 uprising in Herat lists U.S. General Tommy Franks and General Qassem Soleimani as allied commanders.

The collaboration ended in 2002 after George W. Bush named Iran as a member of his "Axis of Evil".

In 2015 the U.S. and Iran again collaborated. This time to defeat ISIS in Iraq. During the battle to liberate Tikrit the U.S. air force flew in support of General Soleimani's ground forces. [i]Newsweek[/i] reported at that time:
[i]
While western nations, including the U.S., were slow to react to ISIS's march across northern Iraq, Soleimani was quick to play a more public role in Tehran's efforts to tackle the terror group. For example, the commander was seen in pictures with militiamen in the northern Iraqi town of Amerli when it was recaptured from ISIS last September.
...
Top U.S. general Martin Dempsey has said that the involvement of Iran in the fight against ISIS in Iraq could be a positive step, as long as the situation does not descend into sectarianism, because of fears surrounding how Shia militias may treat the remaining Sunni population of Tikrit if it is recaptured. The military chief also claimed that almost two thirds of the 30,000 offensive were Iranian-backed militiamen, meaning that [b]without Iranian assistance and Soleimani's guidance, the offensive on Tikrit may not have been possible[/b].
[/i]
It is deplorable that U.S. media and politicians blame Soleimani for U.S. casualties during the invasion of Iraq. Shia groups caused only 17% of all U.S. casualties and fought, like the Sadr Brigades, without support from Iran. There are also revived claims that Iran provided the Iraqi resistance with Explosive Formed Penetrators used in roadside bombs. But that claim had been proven to be was false more than 12 years ago. The "EFP from Iran" story was part of a U.S. PSYOPS campaign to explain away the real reason why it was losing the war. There were dozens of reports which proved that the EFPs were manufactured in Iraq and there never was any evidence that Iran delivered weapons or anything else to the Iraqi resistance:
[i]
Britain, whose forces have had responsibility for security in southeastern Iraq since the war began, has found nothing to support the Americans' contention that Iran is providing weapons and training in Iraq, several senior military officials said.

"I have not myself seen any evidence -- and I don't think any evidence exists -- of government-supported or instigated" armed support on Iran's part in Iraq, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said in an interview in Baghdad in late August.
[/i]
Iran is not responsible for the U.S. casualties in Iraq. George W. Bush is. What made Soleimani "bad" in the eyes of the U.S. was his support for the resistance against the Zionist occupation of Palestine. It was Israel that wanted him 'removed'. The media explanations for Trump's decision fail to explain that point.[/quote]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;534427]o [URL="https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/01/iraq-parliament-calls-for-u-s-troops-to-be-expelled-plus-cavalcade-of-stupid.html"]Iraq Parliament Calls for U.S. Troops to Be Expelled (plus Cavalcade of Stupid Tweets)[/URL] | naked capitalism

[B][U]o [URL="https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/the-axis-of-resistance-announces-the-project-that-will-avenge-qassem-soleimani.html"]The Axis Of Resistance Announces The Project That Will Avenge Qassem Soleimani[/URL] | Moon of Alabama[/QUOTE]
[/U][/B][B][/B][QUOTE]Iran is not responsible for the U.S. casualties in Iraq. George W. Bush is. What made Soleimani "bad" in the eyes of the U.S. was his support for the resistance against the Zionist occupation of Palestine.[U] [B]It was Israel that wanted him 'removed'[/B].[/U] The media explanations for Trump's decision fail to explain that point. [/QUOTE]
Hence my designation of the US as a proxy of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Both of those players want to take down Iran.

Regarding Iran not being "responsible" for the deaths of US soldiers, you may find the case [i]Karcher v. Islamic Republic of Iran[/i] of interest. [url=https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.176973.1.0.pdf]The original complaint, filed 02/12/16[/url] describes the case as follows:

[quote][b]I. [u]NATURE OF THE ACTION [/u][/b]

1. This is a civil action pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1605A (hereinafter "FSIA") for wrongful death, personal injury and related torts, by the estates and families of United States nationals and/or members of the U.S. armed forces (as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 101) who were killed or injured by Iran and/or its agents in Iraq from 2004 to 2011.

2. Iran's aforementioned agents included the U.S. - designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (as that term is defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1189 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA")) Hezbollah; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC"), whose subdivision known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force ("IRGC-QF") is a U.S. - designated Specially Designated Global Terrorist; and other terrorist agents that included a litany of Iraqi Shi'a terror groups referred to herein collectively as "Special Groups."

3. The United States officially designated Iran a State Sponsor of Terrorism on January 19, 1984, pursuant to § 6(j) of the Export Administration Act, § 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and § 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act.

4. The United States designated Hezbollah a Specially Designated Terrorist on January 25, 1995. Hezbollah was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States on October 8, 1997, and it has retained that designation since that time. Hezbollah was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States on October 31, 2001, pursuant to E.O. 13224.[/quote]

The designation of the Revolutionary Guards and Qods Force was done [url=https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/pages/hp644.aspx]in October 2007[/url].

A Memorandum Opinion ([url=https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4656167/karcher-v-islamic-republic-of-iran/]text here[/url], [url=https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2016cv00232/176973/95/0.pdf?ts=1566897947]image here[/url]) issued in August indicates the case is moving along -- thanks in no small part to Iran's refusal to recognize the court's jurisdiction, it has suffered default judgement in preliminary "bellwether" cases.

So Iran may be held [i]financially[/i] responsible (liable) for the deaths and injuries of hundreds of US soldiers through its supplying of its proxies with "explosively formed penetrators."

I'm not sure whether Soleimani had a hand in the 1983 Marine barracks bombing, but it seems likely enough.

As to any sort of real legal justification for killing him with a military operation, I'm not holding my breath. The Admin belatedly "notified" Congress, but the notification was [i]classified[/i], so the public isn't allowed to read it. Hmm, what's the Admin trying to hide? Oh, I know -- [i]Everything![/i]

At the same time, [i]Il Duce[/i] is insisting that Iranian cultural institutions are legitimate targets, despite this being a war crime. I wonder what would happen if he gave the order to destroy such a place, and the order was refused on the grounds that it was not lawful. Oh please, oh please, oh please please please please [i]please![/i]