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Twokitties
Citizen
Username: Twokitties
Post Number: 469
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 7:50 pm: | 
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more than 100 civilians a day are dying in sectarian violence. The U.S. now has to pull troops from Anbar province (hardly Shangri-la itself) to bolster forces that are "standing up" in Baghdad in an effort to quell sectarian violence. I ask again, what "course" are we staying on here? Is this a new "Strategy for Victory" or the last gasp of a failed policy and war plan?
We are three years into this effort and we need to change course to secure Baghdad? Heck of a job Rummy. |
Strawberry
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7593
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 7:57 pm: |
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I guess you missed the Iraqi PM speech today in front of Congress..
Heck of a job not paying attention to current events.. |
Twokitties
Citizen
Username: Twokitties
Post Number: 470
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 8:18 pm: |
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Actually I did miss it. So perhaps you can tell me what he said that changed the situation for the better for the long term. In reality. |
Strawberry
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7595
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 8:31 pm: |
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"Let me be very clear,” he said. “This is a battle between true Islam, for which a person's liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism, which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak, in reality, wages a war on Islam and Muslims and values and spreads hatred between humanity.”
Terrorism has no religion and is contrary to Islamic teachings, he said.
The Iraqi prime minister said the ongoing violence in his country has overshadowed significant progress that has been achieved since the fall of Saddam Hussein. He said a new Iraq is “emerging from the ashes of dictatorship.”
“We have gone from a one-party state ruled by a small elite to a multiparty system where politics is the domain of every citizen and parties compete at all levels,” al-Maliki said.
“We have gone from mass graves and torture chambers and chemical weapons … to the rule of law and human rights,” he said. “And the human rights and freedoms embodied in the new Iraq and consolidated in the constitution have provided a fertile environment for the ever-growing number of civil society institutions, which are increasing in scope and complexity and provide a healthy reflection of what is developing beneath the violence.”
He pointed to the democratic process that led to the drafting and adoption of a new constitution and the formation of a national unity government representing all ethnic and sectarian groups as examples of political progress. He also pointed to the free press, the growing free-market economy and rising living standards as examples of social and economic progress.
The Iraqi prime minister added that it is imperative to move ahead with the economic reconstruction of the country and proposed that the reconstruction begin in the relatively peaceful provinces.
“We need to make an example out of these stable areas as models for the rest of the country,” he said. “Undoubtedly, reconstruction in these areas will fuel economic growth and show what a prosperous, stable, democratic and federal Iraq would look like.”
He urged the Congress to earmark a greater portion of the reconstruction funds for Iraqis and Iraqi companies, saying that foreign companies often have high operating and security costs.
Al-Maliki identified the two greatest threats to his country as terrorism and armed militias. He said terrorists seek to destroy Iraq’s political system and social order while militias infringe on the rightful role of the state to ensure its citizens’ security.
The prime minister pledged that the Iraqi people would remain steadfast in defending their newfound freedom.
“The journey has been perilous, and the future is not guaranteed. Yet many around the world … underestimated the resolve of Iraq's people and were sure that we would never reach this stage,” al-Maliki said. “Few believed in us. But you, the American people, did, and we are grateful for this.” |
Twokitties
Citizen
Username: Twokitties
Post Number: 472
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 8:46 pm: |
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Great. Nice speech. Really. Well done.
Now please explain how, exactly, this changed the situation in Baghdad?
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Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 5654
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 8:49 pm: |
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We're basically in the middle of a civil war, in Iraq. The President and his advisors have essentially admitted that.
So, that's the question: Is that where the U.S. should be? |
Strawberry
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7596
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:08 pm: |
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It's more than a civil war. It's the central front on the war against terrorism. Should we be there? Well, that's a decision that Congress has just overwelmingly decided. |
Twokitties
Citizen
Username: Twokitties
Post Number: 474
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:29 pm: |
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Straw: Sorry ... I'm still waiting to see how this speech changed the situation on the ground ... |
Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 5655
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:31 pm: |
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"It's the central front on the war against terrorism."
I keep reading that, but nobody ever provides facts to back that up. All they point to is the fact that there is fighting in Iraq. But, that doesn't prove that Iraq is the "central front" that is protecting the U.S. from anything. |
John Davies
Citizen
Username: 07079
Post Number: 16
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 9:39 pm: |
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"Al-Maliki identified the two greatest threats to his country as terrorism and armed militias. He said terrorists seek to destroy Iraq’s political system and social order while militias infringe on the rightful role of the state to ensure its citizens’ security. "
Though apparently he wasn't too sympathetic to Lebanon and Israel's plight
"Mr. Maliki did not mention issues that have divided him and Washington,notably his condemnation of Israel for its incursion into Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah militants and his refusal to condemn Hezbollah, which the United States regards as a terrorist organization."} |
Montagnard
Citizen
Username: Montagnard
Post Number: 1975
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 10:07 pm: |
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Puppets give great speeches to their puppet masters. No surprises here. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5338
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 10:27 pm: |
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Quote:It's the central front on the war against terrorism.
You know, it just gets funnier every time I hear it. Now Maliki is decrying the terrorists attacking his government, but supporting Hezbollah. Iraq is the central front on the war against terrorism like Stalingrad was the central front on the war against totalitarianism. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 2167
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 10:32 pm: |
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Maliki gave a great speech all right, nicely written and orchestrated by his puppet masters.
How, by the way, does one mandate a "central front" in a "war" against an enemy that claims no territory, that can easily regroup somewhere else and place its focus on another country or region?
It's the central front in one way only: it's where we are funneling more than $300 Bn and counting, without a measurable result.
"Fiasco," the title of Tom Ricks' latest book, is the quite-on-target description to apply to this muddled affair which is the responsibility of a directionless administration and a group of Powerpoint-obsessed general officers.
What a farce. What a travesty. Shame on those leaders of this country who tolerate it because they have put their brains and their judgement in sleep mode since March of 2003. |
Strawberry
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7597
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 11:42 pm: |
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man some of you libs are complete morons.. (Not Nohero) |
mwsilva
Citizen
Username: Mwsilva
Post Number: 511
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - 11:58 pm: |
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It will all be over soon. As soon as George Bush is replaced the new President will stop this nonsense.
Pull our troops out and let them have at it without us.
Bush blew this one. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5339
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 12:17 am: |
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Slogans and happy talk don't win wars. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 12252
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 4:12 am: |
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The sad part about the now admitted civil war in Iraq is that both sides are terrorists, at least as the term is now used.
The Shite militias and a good portion of the Iraq's heavily Shite Army are kidnapping and killing Sunnis without rhyme or reason, while the Sunnis and AlQaeda are killing Shites by the hundreds with car bombs and Iuds.
Interestingly, the violence in Bagdad has gotten worse since the "initiative" to pacify the city, mainly because the troops appear to be acting more like a sectarian militia than an national army.
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dave23
Citizen
Username: Dave23
Post Number: 1925
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 8:47 am: |
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Straw,
You need to learn to distinguish words from actions. |
Strawberry
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 7598
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 9:58 am: |
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holy ignorance.. |
John Davies
Citizen
Username: 07079
Post Number: 17
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 10:08 am: |
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lead us out of our ignorance then. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 5340
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 10:20 am: |
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Ignorance would be forgetting that talk is cheap. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 3105
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 10:55 am: |
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This is interesting:
http://www.slate.com/id/2146539/?nav=tap3 |
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