Progress Being Made in Iraq (NY Times)

[citygirlsmom]

<p>tommybill, don’t back down, I have been where you are, so are correct in your assessment, btw…</p>

<p>and yes sokkermom was being deliberately deceptive</p>

[mini]

<p>Meanwhile:</p>

<p>““Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively,” the 10-page document, a declassified summary of a more detailed National Intelligence Estimate, concludes. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Thursday.”</p>

<p>Funny - that’s what I would have written about the U.S. GOVERNMENT and political leaders, and, it seems, most Americans, of all political stripes, agree with me. :)</p>

<p>Stay the course.</p>

[sjmom2329]

<p>

@citygirlsmom

and yes sokkermom was being deliberately deceptive

How can you possibly know what sokkermom’s motives were?</p>

[tommybill]

<p>Real information on Clinton vs. Giuliani </p>

<p><a href=“http://pewresearch.org/pubs/575/clinton-giuliani[/url]”>http://pewresearch.org/pubs/575/clinton-giuliani&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[mini]

<p>Didn’t see any “real information” there. </p>

<p>The reality is that both candidates will keep hostile, aggressive occupying forces in Iraq indefinitely (with neither relying on the coalition of the very small - what did happen to that fighting force from Botswana?), both favor health care approaches that will reward major health insurers and lobbyists who are their campaign contributors while yakking about “incentives”, both will try to shy away from involvement in social issues as best they can, both will continue trade policies to pollute the earth, both will likely create large task forces to “tackle immigration” (so as to keep it away from themselves as long as possible), both will build up a larger military-industrial establishment (with more money for their campaign coffers), both will carry water for Israel’s political agenda, and neither will tackle Social Security. </p>

<p>One will have bad hair days; one will have more no hair days.</p>

[tommybill]

<p>“WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half…”</p>

<p><a href=“General, spy report raise Iraq stakes”>General, spy report raise Iraq stakes;

[drb]

<p>

Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Multi-National Division-Center, was asked to comment on Republican Sen. John Warner’s recommendation that President Bush start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by Christmas.</p>

<p>Speaking to Pentagon reporters Friday via teleconference from Iraq, Lynch said, “Only when the Iraqi security forces come forward and say, ‘OK, here I am, I’m trained and equipped, I’m ready, I’m the Iraqi army or I’m the Iraqi police,’ can I turn those sanctuaries over, and that’s not going to happen between now and Christmas.”

If this is what he is waiting for, it will be a long occupation.</p>

[mini]

<p>"WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war.</p>

<p>Administration and military officials say Marine Gen. Peter Pace is likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the military. This assessment could collide with one being prepared by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, calling for the U.S. to maintain higher troop levels for 2008 and beyond."</p>

<p>Yep. Gotta listen to those generals.</p>

[conyat]

<p><a href=“http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/24/ap4052736.html[/url]”>http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/24/ap4052736.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You have to read this to believe it. $8 billion dollars of government money is completely unaccounted for in the rebuilding, and whistleblowers are severely punished by our own government. </p>

<p>One Navy sailor who gave the FBI documents about illegal arms sales to insurgents by a private contractor was held as a security detainee for over three months and subjected to harsh interrogation techniques by our own government–the government he was trying to help.</p>

<p>The advisor to a national coalition of secruity whistleblowers is now advising people who ask him NOT to come forward with information about corruption in Iraq because the damage that will be done to them and their families simply isn’t worth it.</p>

[Allmusic]

<p>I don’t think the full extent of the unbelievable graft and corruption, as well as waste and corporate benefit, from this war will ever be known. That $8B may well be a drop in the bucket.</p>

[conyat]

<p>We’ll definitely never know about it if we keep imprisoning the GIs and veterans who talk to the FBI about it.</p>

[drb]

<p>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Aug. 26, 2007 (AP)

A call by Puerto Rico’s governor for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq earned a standing ovation from a conference of more than 4,000 National Guardsmen.
…
The nonpartisan National Guard Association represents nearly 45,000 current and former Air and Army National Guard officers and petitions Congress for resources.

</p>

[tommybill]

<p>Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report…</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082902434_pf.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082902434_pf.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[mini]

<p>The more interesting part is that they felt obligated to leak it before the liars and sycophants (oops, I mean Administration and the Generals; no, I’ll stay with liars and sycophants) had time to clean it up.</p>

[Allmusic]

<p>Congresswomen Jan Schakowsky’s very sober radio address:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>“Good morning. This is Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.</p>

<p>“The President’s surge has failed and there is no end in sight for the war in Iraq. This is what I learned on my summer visit to that ravaged country.</p>

<p>“After arriving in Iraq in August, it didn’t take long to see that the surge failed to achieve its main goal – reducing the violence so that progress could be made on key political benchmarks. At a meeting with Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Barham Saleh, our six-member Congressional delegation was informed that the night before, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi had left the government. The week before, the Sunnis had pulled out their Cabinet members. What was left of the Parliament was on vacation, and Dr. Barham said that a political settlement ‘won’t be done this September and it won’t be done next September.’ But he never did say how many Septembers it would take.</p>

<p>“Later, while dining on lobster tortellini in the air-conditioned elegance of Ambassador Ryan Crocker’s home in the Green Zone, General David Petraeus, commander of our forces in Iraq, made the case with charts and pointer that the security situation had improved somewhat during the surge. And yet while we were choosing between coffee, tea, or espresso to go with our dessert, outside in the 120 degree heat on that very day, August 6, four U.S. soldiers were killed by an IED blast in Diyala, one British soldier was shot in Basra, six street cleaners were blown up, 33 Iraqis were killed in a residential neighborhood in Tal Afar, and 17 bodies killed by death squads were discovered.</p>

<p>“Outside in the scorching air, our young men and woman in uniform were sweating under their body armor during, what is in fact, the bloodiest summer of the war, driving on roads that our delegation flew over in Blackhawk helicopters because the driving was too dangerous for us. There they were, doing their valiant best to carry out a misguided mission, risking and too often losing their lives, while we looked at a chart telling us that in one place, in one month, after four and a half years, there had been a slight drop in violence. There was no chart showing that overall sectarian attacks around the country had nearly doubled from last year. And there was no chart that measured the more than 3,700 of our troops that have been killed and the more than 27,660 wounded, many profoundly and for life.</p>

<p>“Neither was there a chart showing the enormous cost of the war, now up to $3 billion a week, $12 million every hour – enough to fix all the broken bridges in our country, expand health care coverage for our children, help our students afford college, develop renewable sources of energy, and make our streets safer.</p>

<p>“And as we finished our strawberry cake, our troops were out in the real world and not there to hear General Petraeus tell us that the United States would be in Iraq for another nine to 10 years. That means children who are now 8 years old, who were 4 years old when the war started, could yet serve in Iraq, according to General Petraeus.</p>

<p>“Nine to ten years. That was not the timetable I nor most Americans had in mind, but General Petraeus acknowledged that as a military man, at the end of the day, he takes his direction from the civilian leadership. If the civilian leadership in this country determines that the war is to end and the troops come home, then that is what will happen.</p>

<p>“I took his statement as a challenge. The Congress of the United States is reconvening on Tuesday. Most Democrats and a growing number of Republicans have come to the same conclusion – the best way to protect our troops is to end this war in Iraq.</p>

<p>“With the President stubbornly continuing to stay the course in Iraq, I urge my Republican colleagues to join with Democrats and the vast majority of Americans who are demanding a new direction in Iraq and refocusing America’s efforts on fighting the real threats of terrorism around the world.</p>

<p>“This is Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. Thank you for listening.”

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.janschakowsky.org/SchaBLOGsky/tabid/36/ctl/ArticleView/mid/512/articleId/463/Text-of-Jans-Democratic-Radio-Response.aspx[/url]”>http://www.janschakowsky.org/SchaBLOGsky/tabid/36/ctl/ArticleView/mid/512/articleId/463/Text-of-Jans-Democratic-Radio-Response.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[mini]

<p>Yup. The President touched down today to praise the success of the surge in Anbar.</p>

<p>Only one problem: there ISN’T any surge in Anbar. What they’ve done is arm tribal leaders and given them permission to hijack medical caravans to sell the meds and supplies on the black market so as to purchase more American-made weapons. Meanwhile, at the same time, we are arming Al-Qaeda.</p>

<p>I hope the Pres has lobster tortellini too, with Maliki - better than more pork in the Pork Zone. </p>

<p>Nine to ten years…</p>