April 23, 2007

Al-Maliki Says No Wall, No Way

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I blogged on Friday that the U.S. military was beginning construction of a 3-mile long wall to separate the Sunni neighborhood Azamiyah from the Shiite neighborhoods that border it. The story gained traction over the weekend (the New York Times and McClatchy, among others, covered it). A protest scheduled for today also turned up the heat, and Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki put his foot down.

Al-Maliki is touring Sunni countries in hopes of shoring up some regional support for his ailing Shiite government, and, in a joint press conference with the secretary-general of the Arab League, said authoritatively, “I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop.” American military officials wouldn’t confirm that construction would stop, TIME reports, “saying only that all security measures were constantly under discussion.” However, the U.S. military did cede to the PM’s wishes in October, when al-Maliki—sensibly—objected that barricading off Muqtada al-Sadr’s stronghold, Sadr City, would be a recipe for disaster. Al-Maliki’s suggestion this time also seems like a winner, since both Shiites and Sunnis oppose construction of the wall.

The Prime Minister, loyal to his American king makers, showed great restraint in alluding only vaguely to the obviously catastrophic history such barriers have had.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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