John Howard Hopes For Fifth Term In Australian Election |Sky News|World News
Thank Goodness the Aussies have rid themselves of this Bush acolyte.
Blogged with Flock
Saturday, November 24, 2007
John Howard Hopes For Fifth Term In Australian Election |Sky News|World News
Thank Goodness the Aussies have rid themselves of this Bush acolyte.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Iraq -- Land of Eternal Misery
Iraq faces cholera health catastropheFriday, November 23, 2007 11:24 GMTBaghdad is facing a health catastrophe, with reports of cholera rising over the past weeks to more than 80 new cases, Iraq’s Health Ministry said. Most of the new cases have been reported in poor areas deprived of water and other basic services, an official at the Health Ministry said. The official added that six government hospitals suffer from unsanitary water supplies among which Yirmuk Hospital.Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network | Iraq News | Iraq faces cholera health catastrophe
How many Cholera outbreaks happened in Iraq prior to Bush's most awful adventure in creating Democracy through the barrel of an M-16? But wingnuts cry out that Bush didn't invent Cholera, so what's the problem. And anyway The SURGE IS WORKING defeatocrats, didn't you read Krauthammer in the Post this morning.
Well how can you argue with the Grand Poopah neocon himself, whose been wrong about everything he's said about Iraq from goddamn day one. Message to wingnuts, surge this -- clean water and lots of medicine yesterday, or Cholera and other diseases raging in the sewage soaked streets of Mesopotamia will play hell with Teh Surge success. And if you can't manage that, send lots of lumber for the about to soar demand for caskets. Yea, I know it will play hell with the budget deficit THAT YOU FUCKING CREATED. But isn't that why God created Chinese loan sharks. And don't fret too much., the kid's will pay for it.
Blogged with Flock
DE-NILE ---- A River In Egypt ?
11/23/07 Reuters: Car bomb kills two worshippers in Jurf Al Sakhar
A parked car bomb near the Atta Allah mosque killed two worshippers and wounded two others in Jurf Al Sakhar, 85 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
11/22/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb wounds 2 Iraqi soldiers
11/22/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills policeman in Mosul
11/23/07 AP: Bomb Kills 13 at Baghdad Pet Market
11/22/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb wounds 2 Iraqi soldiers
11/22/07 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills policeman in Mosul
A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded another in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
And Charles Krauthammer claims Nancy Pelosi and anti-war dems are in denial. The partial list of carnage for the last 2 days in Iraq would suggest maybe Mr. Kraut is the one in denial.
And Charles Krauthammer claims Nancy Pelosi and anti-war dems are in denial. The partial list of carnage for the last 2 days in Iraq would suggest maybe Mr. Kraut is the one in denial.
Blogged with Flock
Bomb Strikes Baghdad, Killing 13 | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited
Bomb Strikes Baghdad, Killing 13 | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited: "The explosives were hidden in a box that is commonly used to carry small animals, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information."
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Romper Room
This is what we're fighting for in Iraq. Yes ,I know, but the surge is working and George W. Bush is a friekin' genious. Well then, Ok!, bring the troops home and we'll have a confetti parade down Main Street USA with GWB and The God General Petraeus waving to the impressed American masses.
And we'll turn the whole Iraq nightmare we made over to these guys.
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And we'll turn the whole Iraq nightmare we made over to these guys.
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| MPs: Lack of quorum affects Iraq security |
| Wednesday, November 21, 2007 09:45 GMT |
| |
| "A number of lawmakers have confirmed that security deterioration is due in the first place to the lack of parliamentarian quorum which is taken advantage of by some parties, therefore surpassing the mechanism of accountability hat was supposed to control the lack of quorum. In fact, security problematic is hardening the legislative process and impeding the ratification of proposed laws. On the other hand, as the Justice and Accountability Law will be discussed soon, a number of parliamentarians have submitted a series of proposals over whether this law includes sufficient guarantees to preserve civil rights of families included therein." ----------------------------------------------------------- See, It's just Hard work. |
| |
| © 2007 Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network |
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Iraq Through the Looking Glass
My first post on this little blog will take a look at where we are in Iraq today. Like many of you, what exactly is happening in Iraq seems a mish -mash of lessoning violence and non-stop propaganda from the Neocons and the Bush Administration. Is the Surge working? Well there is a non-deniable reduction in daily violence in some key areas such as Baghdad. But how much and why?
I'm certainly no expert on insurgency wars but one thing I'm pretty confident about and that is they usually go through periods where lessoning violence gives way to hope for the end of hostilities. Another thing I feel fairly sure of is that unless there is a political reconciliation between the combatants they will surely start fighting again. They may change strategies or allegiances or both, but a continuation of fighting will almost certainly occur.
There is also the perennial question of who is our enemy in Iraq?
The following is an excellent article by Robert Dreyfuss that gives some illumination as to who we are fighting in Iraq.
"We aren't fighting the Shia. The Shia merchant class and elite, organized into the mostly pro-Iranian Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and the Islamic Dawa party, are part of the Iraqi government that the United States created and supports -- and whose army and police are armed and trained by the United States"
Well, of course this is an obvious point even if not 100 percent true. The Shia from the beginning were smart enough to see the American intervention in Iraq could only benefit them in the long term. Play along with American neocon idealists for forced democratization and the Shia would wind up controlling all the levers of power in Iraq. Even Moqtada Al Sadr wised up and called off his Mehdi army to let this scenario play itself out. So here we are with an intransigent Shiite dominant Iraqi government absolutely unwilling to share resources and power with the Sunni's. No political reconciliation means no peace, even if we're having a current lull in the insurgent civil war.
"And we certainly aren't fighting the Kurds. For decades, the Kurds have been America's (and Israel's) closest allies in Iraq. Since 2003, the three Kurdish-dominated provinces have been relatively peaceful."
The Kurds are our best friends in the Middle East, certainly among Muslim nations, and even rivaling our historic ally Israel. This could change if we allow Turkey to continue threatening Kurdistan with Military incursions.
"We're not exactly fighting Al Qaeda any more either. Despite President Bush's near-frantic efforts to portray the war in Iraq as a last-ditch, Alamo-like stand against Osama bin Laden's army, U.S. commanders on the ground in Iraq are having a hard time finding pockets of Al Qaeda to attack these days, though the group still has the power to conduct deadly attacks now and then. In recent weeks, General David Petraeus, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and other authorities have pretty much declared Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) dead and buried."
Somehow , this has been the most baffling element of the Iraq insurgency and continues to be so. On the one hand, we have General Petraeus and the neocons raving how the surge has all but wiped Iraq clean of Al Quaida. On the other hand, it's obvious that many Sunni's who had welcomed AQ to help fight the American's are turning sour on AQ fanaticism and bloodthirsty ways and seem to be willing to purge them from their territory,
It begs the question is the surge responsible for lessoning attacks from AQ?, or is it the Sunni's who have quashed AQ in their ranks?, or is this a Sunni ruse and AQ in Iraq is just lying low or changing locations and tactics? It's hard to say because the dynamics of AQ in Iraq and the Sunni insurgency as a whole are largely unknown.
A recent AP article seems to indicate that maybe AQ has shifted it's operations to Northern Iraq. Time will tell if AQ in Iraq is really on the ropes, as wingnuts are shouting, or have just taken their bloody bandwagon on the road, like so many times before.
I'm certainly no expert on insurgency wars but one thing I'm pretty confident about and that is they usually go through periods where lessoning violence gives way to hope for the end of hostilities. Another thing I feel fairly sure of is that unless there is a political reconciliation between the combatants they will surely start fighting again. They may change strategies or allegiances or both, but a continuation of fighting will almost certainly occur.
There is also the perennial question of who is our enemy in Iraq?
The following is an excellent article by Robert Dreyfuss that gives some illumination as to who we are fighting in Iraq.
"We aren't fighting the Shia. The Shia merchant class and elite, organized into the mostly pro-Iranian Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and the Islamic Dawa party, are part of the Iraqi government that the United States created and supports -- and whose army and police are armed and trained by the United States"
Well, of course this is an obvious point even if not 100 percent true. The Shia from the beginning were smart enough to see the American intervention in Iraq could only benefit them in the long term. Play along with American neocon idealists for forced democratization and the Shia would wind up controlling all the levers of power in Iraq. Even Moqtada Al Sadr wised up and called off his Mehdi army to let this scenario play itself out. So here we are with an intransigent Shiite dominant Iraqi government absolutely unwilling to share resources and power with the Sunni's. No political reconciliation means no peace, even if we're having a current lull in the insurgent civil war.
"And we certainly aren't fighting the Kurds. For decades, the Kurds have been America's (and Israel's) closest allies in Iraq. Since 2003, the three Kurdish-dominated provinces have been relatively peaceful."
The Kurds are our best friends in the Middle East, certainly among Muslim nations, and even rivaling our historic ally Israel. This could change if we allow Turkey to continue threatening Kurdistan with Military incursions.
"We're not exactly fighting Al Qaeda any more either. Despite President Bush's near-frantic efforts to portray the war in Iraq as a last-ditch, Alamo-like stand against Osama bin Laden's army, U.S. commanders on the ground in Iraq are having a hard time finding pockets of Al Qaeda to attack these days, though the group still has the power to conduct deadly attacks now and then. In recent weeks, General David Petraeus, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and other authorities have pretty much declared Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) dead and buried."
Somehow , this has been the most baffling element of the Iraq insurgency and continues to be so. On the one hand, we have General Petraeus and the neocons raving how the surge has all but wiped Iraq clean of Al Quaida. On the other hand, it's obvious that many Sunni's who had welcomed AQ to help fight the American's are turning sour on AQ fanaticism and bloodthirsty ways and seem to be willing to purge them from their territory,
It begs the question is the surge responsible for lessoning attacks from AQ?, or is it the Sunni's who have quashed AQ in their ranks?, or is this a Sunni ruse and AQ in Iraq is just lying low or changing locations and tactics? It's hard to say because the dynamics of AQ in Iraq and the Sunni insurgency as a whole are largely unknown.
A recent AP article seems to indicate that maybe AQ has shifted it's operations to Northern Iraq. Time will tell if AQ in Iraq is really on the ropes, as wingnuts are shouting, or have just taken their bloody bandwagon on the road, like so many times before.
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