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Thread: Iraq CF Thread - Page 11







Post#251 at 09-27-2007 10:11 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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For non-commercial use, etc.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...092601024.html

Bush thought Saddam was prepared to flee: report

By Jason Webb
Reuters
Wednesday, September 26, 2007; 12:07 PM

MADRID (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, according to a transcript of talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and an ally, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday.


The closer Bush gets to 2009, the more love is shown for him..







Post#252 at 09-27-2007 10:20 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Quote Originally Posted by The Pervert View Post
It looks like someone has been watching "Mad Max" for ideas on tactics.
This is an old one. Our opposition has been baiting traps with wounded civilians, Iraqi police, Army, etc.

Gotta love RattenKrieg.







Post#253 at 09-27-2007 11:33 PM by sean '90 [at joined Jul 2007 #posts 1,625]
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If they did such a thing, their leaders should be beheaded for treason.







Post#254 at 09-28-2007 09:38 AM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/...ter/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq, the House Oversight Committee said Thursday in a report.







Post#255 at 09-28-2007 12:19 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Post#256 at 10-01-2007 09:32 AM by Virgil K. Saari [at '49er, north of the Mesabi Mountains joined Jun 2001 #posts 7,835]
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In the Vale of the Flat Earth

Whitherward the Hamiltonians? in which Michigander Mr. Juan Cole examines the tears of Mr. F-Units himself.
Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Juan Cole
Friedman's main arguments are that the Bush administration's approach to dealing with al-Qaeda has so damaged the US image abroad, has so inconvenienced foreign travelers and visiting business investors, and has so diverted spending from essential US infrastructure such as bridges and airports, that it risks making the US economically backward in a globalizing world.

The column is significant because it argues that Bushism- Cheneyism is bad for business. The United States is the world's foremost business society, and virtually everything in the society (low taxes on the wealthy, no health care for the middle classes and poor, no protections for labor organizers, favoring of certain kinds of international trade over lower middle class job security, etc.) is arranged for the convenience of the business classes. If Friedman's conviction becomes widespread in that community, the pressures to abandon the 'War on Terror' will be irresistible.

Bushism-Cheneyism has aspects of Bonapartism, whereby the state rules in an authoritarian way and disregards the people, representing itself as the true representative of the business classes. In fact, it serves only a small spectrum of corporate cronies of the ruling elite, disadvantaging almost everyone else. It expands government, but not into provision of useful infrastructure (bridges, airports), but toward the provision of "security" (often just a label for make-work unnecessary jobs, such as extra al-Qaeda-fighting police in Wyoming) or of artificial "investment opportunities" such as an Iraq under US military occupation.
Note also that the Present Administration is styled as "Bonapartic" which was recognized by Mr. Brian Rush and Yo. Ob. Sv. years ago.

If the Wilsonians are the only ones holding to the crackpot romantic idealism of the Reform of Eurasia will "Big Business" call in the paper on C>A>R>R>H>A>E> CORP.?

Quote Originally Posted by J. Cole
For the 'globalized business' crowd, the Iraq war was not a sacred mission, as it was for the Neoconservatives, but rather just another lowering of barriers to investment and business (which might also have opened the Arab world up, which would have been all to the good). The Iraq War worked in part precisely because both the Bonapartist and the global-capital fractions within the business classes could agree that it might end Arab socialism and end the barriers to doing business among the 300 million people of the Middle East.
The $heridanized "The only good customer is a dead customer!" didn't quite work out in the rather more rounded world.







Post#257 at 10-01-2007 04:36 PM by herbal tee [at joined Dec 2005 #posts 7,116]
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Long wars are bad for bidness?

Whoda thunk it!







Post#258 at 10-01-2007 04:46 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Interesting grunt's eye view of Iraq:

http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/2007/09/real-deal.html







Post#259 at 10-01-2007 07:35 PM by Matt1989 [at joined Sep 2005 #posts 3,018]
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Tolstoy and Bush








Post#260 at 10-05-2007 09:10 AM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Things going swimmingly. I loved the cholera part. Can you get cholera from purple fingers?

For non-commercial use, etc.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military said 25 insurgents were killed in an airstrike Friday morning on a village near Baquba, but Iraqi authorities said civilians, including women and children, were among those killed.

The military said the airstrike followed a heavy firefight with insurgents using assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

An Interior Ministry official told CNN on Friday that the strike on a Shiite village called Jizan Imam, 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Baquba, killed 20 and wounded 27. Eight other people were reported missing.

The U.S. statement said the operation targeted a commander, suspected of having links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, who was "involved in the movement of various weapons from Iran to Baghdad."

The situation quickly escalated after a group of men fired on the troops, the military said.

"Enemy fire intensified and supporting aircraft were called in an attempt to suppress the threat," the military said. Two buildings were destroyed.

The coalition said no troops were injured or killed.

Baquba is the capital of Diyala province, a sprawling, diverse territory that extends north and east of Baghdad and borders Iran. Baquba is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad.

In its statement, the U.S. military said it would not show restraint against "criminals who dishonor" a pledge by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Last month, the anti-American cleric ordered a suspension of his Mehdi Army militia for up to six months for restructuring after hostilities between Shiite groups.

But observers suspect many Mehdi Army fighters are more radical than al-Sadr. The U.S. military, when announcing arrests of Mehdi Army fighters, has often referred to them as rogue members.

"We continue to support the government of Iraq in welcoming the commitment by Muqtada al-Sadr to stop attacks and we will continue to show restraint in dealing with those who honor his pledge," Maj. Anton Alston, a U.S. military spokesman, said in the statement.

"We will not show the same restraint against those criminals who dishonor this pledge by attacking security forces and Iraqi citizens."

Anti-al Qaeda leader dies

A senior member of an anti-al Qaeda Sunni alliance in northern Iraq has been assassinated, dying of his wounds Thursday after a roadside bomb went off, a government official said.

The bomb targeted Muawiya Jebara, a senior member of the Salaheddin Awakening Council, and immediately killed three of his guards outside Samarra in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad.

Jebara died later Thursday in a U.S. military facility and was buried in Baiji on Friday, according to the provincial deputy governor, Abdullah Jebara.

He was on a mission with Iraqi security forces when the bomb exploded.

The Salaheddin Awakening Council, formed in May, is the latest alliance of Sunni tribes against al Qaeda to be set up in Sunni regions.

Shortly after its formation, bombers attacked the home of one of the council's local leaders in Baiji, Sheikh Khalil Ibrahim Salem al-Jubouri, and kidnapped four of his sons.

The attack comes less than a month after Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha -- head of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as Anbar Awakening -- was assassinated in Ramadi. Al Qaeda in Iraq later claimed responsibility.

On Thursday, a roadside bomb killed Iskandariya Mayor Abbas Hamza Asal al-Khafaji and four of his escorts in a targeted attack in the city, located in Babil province south of Baghdad, a provincial official said.

Other developments:

# The World Health Organization says cholera has reached half of Iraq's 18 provinces since first being detected in the north two months ago. W.H.O. said 14 people have died from cholera, and 3,315 cases have been confirmed.

# The U.S. military on Friday was investigating the deaths of three Iraqi civilians who were shot by coalition troops on Thursday near a checkpoint in the Babil province village of Abu Lukah.

# A U.S. soldier was killed Thursday in a small arms attack in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, 3,803 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. Seven civilian contractors with the Pentagon also have died. To date in 2007, 807 U.S. service members have died in Iraq.







Post#261 at 10-06-2007 01:24 PM by herbal tee [at joined Dec 2005 #posts 7,116]
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Fiscal conservatism at work

Tell me this is a coincedence.

The 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard recently ended a 22-month tour of duty in Iraq, the longest deployment of any ground-combat unit in the Armed Forces. Many of its members returned home, looking forward to using education benefits under the GI bill.

For example, John Hobot, a platoon leader, said, "I would assume, and I would hope, that when I get back from a deployment of 22 months, my senior leadership in Washington, the leadership that extended us in the first place, would take care of us once we got home."

It's not working that way. The Guard troops have been told that in order to be eligible for the education benefits they expect, they had to serve 730 days in Iraq. They served 729.
Way to support the troops.:







Post#262 at 10-06-2007 11:31 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Quote Originally Posted by herbal tee View Post
Tell me this is a coincedence.



Way to support the troops.:
This is the way troops get treated after fighting an unpopular war. The Administration can get away with this because the public are essentially hypocrites, all bumperstickers and magnets aside.

This is also a way of destroying an non-politicized military. The AVF, though well-intended, has forced the citizen-soldier further into the background. This is also a way of breaking down all sorts of social contracts with the troops.

Not to mention breaking the military, period.







Post#263 at 10-06-2007 11:57 PM by herbal tee [at joined Dec 2005 #posts 7,116]
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Quote Originally Posted by Pink Splice View Post
This is the way troops get treated after fighting an unpopular war. The Administration can get away with this because the public are essentially hypocrites, all bumperstickers and magnets aside.

This is also a way of destroying an non-politicized military. The AVF, though well-intended, has forced the citizen-soldier further into the background. This is also a way of breaking down all sorts of social contracts with the troops.

Not to mention breaking the military, period.
I've seen this happen too many times to people that I know presonally in the civilian world. Some company hires a bunch of workers through a temp. agency and promises them permanent jobs with full benefits provided that they preform satisfactorally in an extended probationary period. Then, just a few days or a week before the workers fullfill thier probationary period, everyone gets laid off at the end of the shift one day without any warning.
There is something reprehensible about this happening to anyone, much less treating the veterans in this way.







Post#264 at 10-07-2007 12:11 AM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Quote Originally Posted by herbal tee View Post
I've seen this happen too many times to people that I know presonally in the civilian world. Some company hires a bunch of workers through a temp. agency and promises them permanent jobs with full benefits provided that they preform satisfactorally in an extended probationary period. Then, just a few days or a week before the workers fullfill thier probationary period, everyone gets laid off at the end of the shift one day without any warning.
There is something reprehensible about this happening to anyone, much less treating the veterans in this way.
Destruction of social contracts, man. 4T triggers. The remarkable part is how long Gen X has sat there and taken it, while bitching and moaning all the way. I think the key is when they can't run and hide anymore, or game the system to their personal advantadge. This forces them into a fiercely resented particpation in the outer world.

In other words, they become Millie Meat. You're first through the door (on point) from now on, you antisocial, sociopathic jackasses, and some of you are gonna have to die for the collective good along with the Millies.

This Joneser is looking forward to this







Post#265 at 10-07-2007 12:41 PM by herbal tee [at joined Dec 2005 #posts 7,116]
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Quote Originally Posted by Pink Splice View Post
Destruction of social contracts, man. 4T triggers. The remarkable part is how long Gen X has sat there and taken it, while bitching and moaning all the way. I think the key is when they can't run and hide anymore, or game the system to their personal advantadge. This forces them into a fiercely resented particpation in the outer world.

In other words, they become Millie Meat.
No culture will last based on a 3T value system. It's just amazing how about 30% or so of America still thinks that there's a Faustian deal to be had without the fire. Those 24 years (turning?) go by fast and Mestophilies always shows up to claim his price.

Welcome to the 4T.
Last edited by herbal tee; 10-07-2007 at 12:48 PM.







Post#266 at 10-08-2007 01:16 PM by Roadbldr '59 [at Vancouver, Washington joined Jul 2001 #posts 8,275]
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Quote Originally Posted by herbal tee View Post
I've seen this happen too many times to people that I know presonally in the civilian world. Some company hires a bunch of workers through a temp. agency and promises them permanent jobs with full benefits provided that they preform satisfactorally in an extended probationary period. Then, just a few days or a week before the workers fullfill thier probationary period, everyone gets laid off at the end of the shift one day without any warning.
There is something reprehensible about this happening to anyone, much less treating the veterans in this way.
That's not terribly different from my experience working for civil engineering consulting firms in Ohio a few years back. Except they didn't even have the balls to call my positions "temporary".
"Better hurry. There's a storm coming. His storm!!!" :-O -Abigail Freemantle, "The Stand" by Stephen King







Post#267 at 10-08-2007 02:47 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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Post#268 at 10-08-2007 02:52 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...7/wiran307.xml

"Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, has taken charge of the forces in the American government opposed to a US military attack on Iran, writes Tim Shipman.

Pentagon and State Department officials say Mr Gates has set himself up as chief rival to Dick Cheney in a bid to thwart the vice-president's desire to bomb the Islamic state."







Post#269 at 10-08-2007 03:10 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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KaiserD2 has some neat observations on just how accurate the Administration cheerleaders have been:

http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/

Money quote:

"We liberal Democrats have been kidding ourselves for seven years if we really think we have anything to do with the debate over our foreign policy. We are nothing but whipping boys and girls, trotted out as defeatists eager to stab our troops in the back to rally the public behind a policy that has so far delivered nothing but failure. The real battle has been a family fight (literally) among Republicans, pitting the surviving GIs and Silents (Scowcroft, Baker, Colin Powell and the first President Bush), against the Boomers, including Cheney (temperamentally a Boomer although technically a Silent), Wolfowitz, Perle, Kristol, and George W. Bush. A secondary player has been the entire bureaucracy, including most of the military and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which always had doubts about the war in Iraq and has wanted to wind it up as quickly as possible for at least three years."







Post#270 at 10-09-2007 10:26 PM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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For non-commercial use, etc..

Turkey Day warming up:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21207379/

Turkey considers foray into Iraq
Financial Times

By Vincent Boland in Ankara
Updated: 5:41 p.m. ET Oct 9, 2007

Turkey moved a step closer on Tuesday to sending its army into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish separatist rebels after a series of bloody attacks on Turkish civilians and security forces in the past two weeks that have caused a public outcry.

The government said after a meeting of senior anti-terrorism officials that "every kind of measure", including a possible foray into Iraq, would be used to end a spate of terrorist attacks, including one on Sunday in Sirnak, a province bordering Iraq, in which 13 soldiers were killed.

That incident has led to a wave of public and political outrage at the PKK, an armed Kurdish separatist movement that frequently launches deadly attacks against Turkish targets. Ankara claims the PKK is using northern Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks inside Turkey, and has argued bitterly with Baghdad and Washington over measures to counter the rebels.

In a statement on Tuesday, the office of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, did not specifically mention either the PKK or Iraq. But it said: "To put an end to the terrorist organisation operating in the neighbouring country, the order has been given to take every kind of measure, legal, economic, political, including a cross-border operation if necessary."

In the past few months Turkey has amassed up to 100,000 troops along its border with Iraq, and special units are understood to have undertaken several raids across the border to carry out specific strikes against the PKK. A large-scale invasion, however, would require parliamentary approval, and there is no sign that the government is ready to seek this yet.

Sunday's was the worst single incident for many years in Turkey's fight with the PKK, which launched an armed rebellion in 1984 that has continued more or less ever since. Mr Erdogan is under intense pressure from military chiefs for more leeway in their fight against the rebels. But he is also under pressure from Kurdish political leaders to address their continuing social, cultural and political grievances after his government won wide support in Kurdish areas in July's general election.
Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved.







Post#271 at 10-10-2007 10:26 AM by zilch [at joined Nov 2001 #posts 3,491]
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Cool No "family fight (literally) among," Democrats?

Quote Originally Posted by Pink Splice View Post
KaiserD2 has some neat observations on just how accurate the Administration cheerleaders have been: Money quote:

"We liberal Democrats have been kidding ourselves for seven years if we really think we have anything to do with the debate over our foreign policy. The real battle has been a family fight (literally) among Republicans."
Uh, yeah, sure...
Smile, Though Your Head Is Aching
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, October 10, 2007; A02

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in a determinedly good mood when she sat down to lunch with reporters yesterday. She entered the room beaming and, over the course of an hour, smiled no fewer than 31 times and got off at least 23 laughs.

But her spirits soured instantly when somebody asked about the anger of the Democratic "base" over her failure to end the war in Iraq.

"Look," she said, the chicken breast on her plate untouched. "I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things -- Buddhas? I don't know what they were -- couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk."

Unsmilingly, she continued: "If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."

Though opposed to the war herself, Pelosi has for months been a target of an antiwar movement that believes she hasn't done enough. Cindy Sheehan has announced a symbolic challenge to Pelosi in California's 8th Congressional District. And the speaker is seething.

"We have to make responsible decisions in the Congress that are not driven by the dissatisfaction of anybody who wants the war to end tomorrow," Pelosi told the gathering at the Sofitel, arranged by the Christian Science Monitor. Though crediting activists for their "passion," Pelosi called it "a waste of time" for them to target Democrats. "They are advocates," she said. "We are leaders."
Well, I can't see any "family fight (literally) among," er, Democrats in that Pelosi story. Why, they all are just gettin' along peachy with their "base."

But, forget these "advocates," I could've swore I've heard nothing but how the polls clearly showed mainstream Americans were demanding we got the troops out of Iraq? In fact, they felt so strongly they kicked the Republicans out of Congress last year. And haven't these responsible "leaders" of the Democrat Party said time and time again that we're losing in Iraq? Has that suddenly changed? Is America so pleased we're losing that we ought to keep the troops in Iraq now?

I don't get it, folks. It appears to me you Democrats can't figure out if you're coming or going.

All you know for sure is that you hate Bush.







Post#272 at 10-11-2007 10:05 AM by Pink Splice [at St. Louis MO (They Built An Entire Country Around Us) joined Apr 2005 #posts 5,439]
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Marine Corps would like to reduce its forces in Iraq and move them to Afghanistan, a senior U.S. military official said.
art.conway.afp.gi.jpg

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway, speaking in July, reportedly hasn't put forth a formal plan.

Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, has proposed that the Marines become the prime U.S. combat force in Afghanistan while the Army takes the lead in Iraq, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Troops from each service would remain in each country, the official said.

The development was first reported in Thursday's New York Times.

If implemented, the plan would bring a dramatic change to U.S. troop alignments.

As of Thursday, about 26,000 Marines are among the 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. About 400 Marines are among the 25,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the two countries.

Two senior Marine officers who spoke to CNN said the nature of the war in Afghanistan -- spread out with small-unit fighting -- makes it more the type of conflict in which the Marines typically engage.

Citing recent security improvements in Iraq's Anbar province, the Marines maybe able to drawdown there, the officers said, making it more feasible for them to deploy to Afghanistan.

"Iraq has become a prolonged ground conflict that is more an Army mission," one of the officers said.

Conway made the suggestion last week at a meeting of senior combat commanders and the heads of the military services, but the Marine commandant has not put forth a formal proposal, the official said.

Such a shift in policy would require approval of Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Asked about the report Thursday, Gates called it "extremely preliminary thinking on the part of perhaps some staff people in the Marine Corps."

If the idea gained approval, it could simplify troop rotations and deployments.

Marines generally serve seven months on the ground, while Army troops are on a 15-month rotation.







Post#273 at 10-25-2007 03:36 PM by playwrite [at NYC joined Jul 2005 #posts 10,443]
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Pass the Kool-Aid

Juan keeps at it while the rest of us seem to have been lulled to sleep -

http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/us-t...-2006-air.html


Edward Luce of FT argues that Iraq has faded as a campaign issue in the 08 presidential election. He attributes this lower profile for the issue to a drop in US military deaths in Iraq and to the rise of Iran as an issue instead.

I may have been the first to point to the new salience of Iran to the race, in my Salon column last week, so I do not disagree with that assertion.

But I think it is way too early to write Iraq off as an issue. In fact, given the current crisis at the northern border with Turkey, it is a little bit bizarre to suggest that things have all calmed down, either over there or domestically.

First of all, the assertion that US troop deaths have fallen is extremely misleading. In fact, It is only late October and already more US troops were killed in Iraq in 2007 than in all of 2006. Indeed, 2007 will almost certainly hold the record for the year of the most US military deaths since the war began.

According to the Iraq Casualties Site, these are the yearly numbers of death of US military personnel in Iraq:

Year US Deaths
2003 486
2004 849
2005 846
2006 822
2007 832

It is true that October is on track to be the least deadly for US troops since March of 2006.

It is, however, not clear why exactly US troop deaths have fallen so much in October. It is possible that they are being given few military missions and spending more time on base.

Indeed, the sort of ground missions that might involve hand to hand fighting and high US casualties may have been replaced by air strikes against suspected insurgent targets. US air strikes on Iraq are up by a factor of four in 2007 over 2006, according to Newsay. The US launched 1,140 bombing missions in 2007 through the end of September, as opposed to 229 in all of 2006. The US has flown as many as 70 such air missions a day this October, more than at any time since the November, 2004, assault on the Sunni Arab city of Fallujah.

Obviously, for an Occupation military to bomb a densely-populated city that it already largely controls is a violation of human rights law. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq has just condemned the US for using this tactic, which inevitably kills children, women and other non-combatants. You can't drop a bomb on an urban apartment building without killing lots of people, not only inside the building but also all around it. The bomb turns bits of the building into deadly projectiles. I am told that the US Air Force takes no responsibility for these aerial strikes when they are called in by army troops on the ground, and makes no assessment as to whether proportional force was deployed or excessive civilian casualties were incurred. So you have a convoy of soldiers in humvees driving through deeply hostile Sadr City, and someone starts sniping at them from a building. Obviously, running into the building is dangerous; it could be booby-trapped, or snipers could have set up there. I wouldn't want to do it. So the tendency would obviously be to take out the snipers by taking out the building they are using. That makes military sense. It doesn't make sense in the international law of occupations.

The US military spokesmen are always going on about precision strikes and reducing civilian casualties. I know they are sincere in thinking they can do that, but they just aren't dealing with a simple reality. They are bombing apartment buildings in densely populated cities!

The US military, then, may be artificially keeping US military deaths down this fall by resorting to many more aerial bombings. These bombings have repeatedly drawn forth powerful condemnations from the elected Iraqi political authorities and are unlikely to be viable much longer.

Evidence that US troops are being extremely careful also comes from the new policy on checkpoints. All vehicles are going to be stopped from now on except those of a high-ranking Iraqi politician such as the prime minister. One reader observed to me in an email of this story, that apparently the US in Iraq has fallen on such hard times that it can't trust anyone below the rank of prime minister.

The use of curfews and bans on vehicle traffic also seems to have expanded. The large northern city of Mosul (pop. 1.5 million) was put under curfew after bombings in late September. Several neighborhoods of Diwaniya are under curfew after clashes between the Mahdi Army and local police.

The entire city of Falluja appears to continue to labor under a ban on the operation of private vehicles (i.e. you cannot drive your car there). This policy has produced 80% unemployment. Basically keeping an entire city under lockdown has allowed the drawdown of US Marines from the city, with only 250 left. But it is crazy to think that this policy can be kept in place forever, and when the cars start circulating again, won't there be trouble?

That US reporters put such a positive spin on stories like the vast increase in aerial bombardment or the lockdown in Falluja just boggles my mind. Have they all drunk the Kool-Aid?
"The Devil enters the prompter's box and the play is ready to start" - R. Service

“It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed … so, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed. It’s much more akin to printing money.” - B.Bernanke


"Keep your filthy hands off my guns while I decide what you can & can't do with your uterus" - Sarah Silverman

If you meet a magic pony on the road, kill it. - Playwrite







Post#274 at 10-25-2007 03:41 PM by playwrite [at NYC joined Jul 2005 #posts 10,443]
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10-25-2007, 03:41 PM #274
Join Date
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Quote Originally Posted by zilch View Post
All you know for sure is that you hate Bush.
And along with our hate of stupidity, it will be enough to unite us in Nov 08, along with all Independents and a good share of former Republicans.

Have fun standing in front of the on-coming train.
"The Devil enters the prompter's box and the play is ready to start" - R. Service

“It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed … so, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed. It’s much more akin to printing money.” - B.Bernanke


"Keep your filthy hands off my guns while I decide what you can & can't do with your uterus" - Sarah Silverman

If you meet a magic pony on the road, kill it. - Playwrite







Post#275 at 10-25-2007 04:00 PM by Zarathustra [at Where the Northwest meets the Southwest joined Mar 2003 #posts 9,198]
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10-25-2007, 04:00 PM #275
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Location
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Quote Originally Posted by playwrite View Post
And along with our hate of stupidity, it will be enough to unite us in Nov 08, along with all Independents and a good share of former Republicans.

Have fun standing in front of the on-coming train.
This ex-Republican hopped on the bus a few years ago.
Americans have had enough of glitz and roar . . Foreboding has deepened, and spiritual currents have darkened . . .
THE FOURTH TURNING IS AT HAND.
See T4T, p. 253.
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