TIME weighs in on the FUBAR situation in Iraq, and it ain't pretty.
Important parts of the country, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers said, are controlled by rebels. Principal cities and major roads west and north of the capital are ruled by Sunni insurgents. Al-Sadr's men launch uprisings at will across the wide Shi'ite belt, and even parts of Baghdad are no-go zones for U.S. troops and the frail forces of the interim Iraqi government. All this has helped make the peace much bloodier than the war: last month anti-U.S. attacks climbed to 87 a day, more than double the rate in 2003 and the first half of 2004. The U.S. death toll since sovereignty was returned to Iraq on June 28 has eclipsed the number killed in the invasion, and the total tally just passed 1,000. The wounded number more than 7,000. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld estimates that coalition forces killed up to 2,500 suspected insurgents in August, but the will of the rebels shows few signs of cracking. Attacks on U.S. troops increasingly come in the form of direct fire from small arms and suicide bombs, the tactics of a more sophisticated and in-your-face foe.I don't know if I can really put into words just how bad it is here some days. Yesterday was horrible -- just horrible. While most reports show Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra as "no-go" areas, practically the entire Western part of the country is controlled by insurgents, with pockets of U.S. power formed by the garrisons outside the towns. Insurgents move freely throughout the country and the violence continues to grow. I wish I could point to a solution, but I don't see one. People continue to email me, telling me to report the "truth" of all the good things that are going on in Iraq. I'm not seeing a one. A buddy of mine is stationed here and they're fixing up a park on a major street. Gen. Chiarelli was very proud of this accomplishment, and he stressed this to me when I interviewed him for the TIME story. But Baghdadis couldn't care less. They don't want city beautification projects; they want electricity, clean water and, most of all, an end to the violence. And in the midst of all this violence, most of the Iraqi Interim Government is out of town. Security Advisors, heads of important ministries and the chief of the new _Mukhabarat_ are all mysteriously absent. The Iraqi security forces are a joke, with the much talked about Fallujah Brigade disbanded for being feckless and -- worse -- riddled with insurgents who were being paid and trained by the U.S. Marines. Thousands of Iraqis are desperate to get a new passport and flee the country. These are often the most educated Iraqis -- the have the money to get new passports and travel -- so the brain-drain will accelerate. The poor and the disenfranchised are finding their leaders in the populist and fundamentalist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr or in the radical Islam of the _jihadis,_ who are casting a long shadow on this formerly secular country. Iraq has its own home-grown Wahhabists now, something it didn't have 18 months ago. In the context of all this, reporting on a half-assed refurbished school or two seems a bit childish and naive, the equivalent of telling a happy story to comfort a scared child. Anyone who asks me to tell the "real" story of Iraq -- implying all the bad things are just media hype -- should refer to this post. I just told you the real story: What was once a hell wrought by Saddam is now one of America's making. [UPDATE Sep 14, 2004 1210 +0300 GMT: I got the below email from an MP who served in Baghdad. He's been back home for some months in American and gave me permission to print his views provided I strip the identification from it.
I saw your comment about not seeing much good being done by the US. I don't know what's going on now, but that sounds about right. From my perspective as a grunt who was on the ground, we wanted to do all sorts of things to help, but we couldn't. No matter what we wanted to do, my squad was not going to restore electricity to Iraq. Every day for several months we had to drive past a blown up power tower with lines dangling about 20 feet off the ground. (You may be able to spot this one: it's new now, on the western side of Tampa around bridge 18 or so). It was disgusting to see it sit there on its side for so long. So, all we got to do were hand out crayons and soccer balls to school kids. What else could we do? We wanted to help, but we were in the middle of a war and stuck in a behemoth of a bureaucracy. Our little efforts were indeed puny on a national scale, but it's what we could do. I don't disagree with what you said or how you said it. I had the same frustration. However, if all those particular people can do is open a park, well, that's all they can do, and I can see how they would be proud of it within their own little sphere of possibility.I should expand on some of my thoughts. I'm not blaming the soldiers or think of them as evil bastards. I feel sorry for them, being put in a horrible position, and my anonymous soldier is right: If all they can do is open a park, then I will not begrudge them that. It doesn't hurt, and if it makes it easier for the soldiers to get through the day, more power to them. It's better than waiting around for the next attack. And they desperately need to feel they're doing _something._ Otherwise, I would think they'd go mad. At least I get to feel that I'm bearing witness or something. And I'm here voluntarily. I can't begin to imagine how it would feel if you were sent here against your will and then told what you were doing was a big fat waste of time and lives. I feel for the soldiers as deeply as I feel for the Iraqi people. As I said once before, "we are all prisoners here.":http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000778.php] [UPDATE 2:Oops! My apologies to _Newsweek_ for ripping off their headline. I didn't realize it at the time.]
Just read of the engagement of #2 in the Iraqi Government, Al-Yawer, to Berwari, a Minister of Public Works from the Kurdish area. She, a Harvard graduate, would be wife #3. The other two wives are in Saudi Arabia. Will this hurt his future political aspirations? Is this the image of a liberated woman that the U.S. touts in Iraq? Can you see AL-Yawer coming to Washington, D.C. and the Bush family having him and the three wives as guests to dinner?
Chris,
Many thanks for your reports, your bravery and your honesty.
The news yesterday (from the Beeb, in the UK) mentioned an attack on a bradely vehicle that the US fired multiple missles at (over an hour after the insurgents had attacked it and left) that killed an Arab reporter, civilians and wounded the Reuters cameraman, - I don’t understand why the US would want to do this, unless there was some very sensitive information in the vehicle.
A US spokesperson (didn’t catch the name) - talked about wanting to destroy the vehicle, but it seems stupid doing this over an hour after in was initially attacked, and killing civilians & reporters who were over 50m away from the vehicle.
No wonder the Iraqi’s are really pissed off with the occupation if this is what it entails!!!!
I can see this incident really winning “Hearts and Minds”……
I would rather hear about ALL the things going on in Iraq, sure there may be the odd story of some good, but of course this is offset by the terrible things that are happening.
I just can’t beleive that Bush still has a chance of getting voted in for another term, it appalls myself and many here in the UK that people actually believe the lies and hypocrisy coming from that man.
Chris, please keep your head down & stay safe - I much appreciate your reporting, but please be careful out there.
Many thanks
It defies explanation that Shrub & Co are even still free to walk the streets; to think they might steal another election makes me feel physically ill. I speak almost daily with some cheetos-n-beer sportsguy who has no good reason for supporting the Shrubbage, and their uncaring ignorance makes me want to shake them til their teeth chatter. The dumbing down of America is on display in bold relief. It was ridiculous to think a sock puppet and an invisible team of Evil Wizards could lead the free world, and sure ‘nuff, they cannot.
On the flip side, everyone I personally know and work with is HUGELY determined to be rid of the Imposters on Nov. 2, so there is truly a glimmer of hope. If Colorado can swing progressively, there’s a fighting chance anywhere else that matters. And we’re going to, or perish trying.
Many people appreciate truthful reporting, Chris. It’s just that the the complainers are louder and more obnoxious. Hang in there and keep yourself in one piece!
Hello, Chris, just wanted to say stay safe and keep up the good work! I just found your blog via another site, and I’m really enjoying reading it. Always good to get independent news “on the ground”. Take care.
What was once a hell wrought by Saddam is now one of Americas making.
Chris: Sounds almost like a replay of Vietnam or the fall of Cambodia. (The Vietnamese have again rung in with a rousing chorus of, “We told you so!”) Or should I just say that Baghdad seems to be rapidly becoming Kabul-ized? (Of course, Kabul itself is likely more secure right now.)
Meanwhile, the news here has it that US forces are being deliberately held back from confrontations in order to “protect the elections” — the US ones, that is! Take care of your self, chum. There’s no telling with this lunatic administration what come up with next.
Dell.
I ‘d say it’s non of our business to decide which type of society is best for iraqis.
Those who think otherwise sent us in this disaster.
Guess what! it take a least a generation and not 1 hour like in our favorite Discovery channel reports.
“We killed folks. There’s no doubt we did,” says Chiarelli. He knew the fighting would soon resume, but he sent his men back into the same neighborhood to distribute food supplies and materials such as cement, nails and boards to repair homes. It was part of the military’s mixed mission: to defeat the insurgents while trying to win the backing of Iraq’s resentful citizens.
Are you serious ? Is that the american Journalism ? Did the journalist who write this crap believe in what he/she said ?
You kill people and you think they will forgive you ?
I don’t how the propaganda keep on being distillated like that.
I read many blogs and almost all of them agree with your assessment of the situation,we’ve been spoon fed pablum long enough,its time for hard truths,we are losing the peace and God help us we seem about to re-elect the the men who led us into this quagmire,please take care
Nana
Gee Chris, it’s a post like that which will get you called “anti-american” by all the right-wing headcases that run the US at present.
Thanks for your reporting and thoughts, I look forward to your posts.
Though it seems enormously trite to say..do be careful.
Safe so far, we think, in SF.
sounds like you need to get laid, scud stud. how are the iraqi women? bet you miss getting your swerve on in the east village. when are you returning to nyc to use your iraq stories to pick up the hipster chicks?
Thank you for your efforts, your words support what I am hearing from friends in Iraq. You don´t need a passport, perhaps the time has come to consider coming home. Take care.
As always, from the gut reporting. Honest, clear, no punches pulled. Take Care, Chris…
Well, here we are again. FUBAR and with our troops hung up in that old familiar position - damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Officers bathing in Brasso, polishing up their goddamned resumes looking for trouble to put their men into, but only to the point that it begins to look bad. When the rumors of civilian dead filter past the barricades, pull back, and leave the land and the people twisting in the wind. Pass the body counts secretly up the chain of command, attribute every ghost to al Qaeda, with congratulations and medals all around. Dead Iraqis piled up to the rafters of the Shrine of Ali, but The Rules say, don’t touch the Shrine. No closure in Najaf, so it’s back to Fallujah to spread HE and misery and death. As failure in Fallujah led inexorably to Najaf. Afterwards, we’ll back off Fallujah again and move on to the next hot spot. A neverending parade in honor of 11 September 2001, a neverending revenge. 100 of theirs for every one of ours. We’ll be busy for years. Four years, says John Kerry. Who knows how long? says George Bush.
Back off, Iran. Put that genie back in the bottle, or you’re next.
chris,
I really enjoyed your posts so far. You are a proven professional! But this last one I don’t understand! This is not reporting. This is a comment by a whining man who is close to a nervous break down. This is an emotional comment on what you have seen in the media! Something most journalist do thousands of miles away from the scene. Please get back to reporting. Try to remain objective and just be on the ground and ask people what they think of the situation and what are their motives. Please don’t let your emotions take over!
I personally believe that the US vent to Iraq to open a new front to fight Muslim zealots. The battle filed is shifted from lower Manhattan to Iraq. You can question the morality of this act but my point is that no one should expect a smooth transition for the Iraqi society. If there is anything that can help the US win this, it is the money that comes from the oil and poured back to the Iraqi society.
You cry the Iraqis want clear water and electricity. Why don’t you go and check the situation on that? Why don’t you ask the officials and companies involved in it? The guy who is actually working on the constraction? You might say clear water doesn’t matter when civilians die in a fight in Fallujah. But then go and report on that. Just don’t give us your opinion on what you have seen on TV.
Contrary to the people whose emails triggered your post I don’t think you should report the ‘good news’. Just report what you have actually witnessed. And since you are a pro you should witness the most important things. Most of us read blogs because it gives us a first hand, in depth and close view on the situation, unlike the mainstream media that tends to generalize. Watching local fox new here in Kansas City makes me believe I am living in the most dangerous place on Earth. :)
Well, after all, from you latest posts I think you are really on the edge, and you should find a way to relax and get yourself together. Panic is your enemy. Please take care of yourself!
r.
Rob— yup. Sometimes you get opinion here. That’s why this post is labeled “Commentary” in the categories.
But I will be taking a break in a little while. A beach somewhere is calling.
chris,
I am sorry. I realized a bit later this post is under commentary. That gives you an excuse. But still I think commentary is the last thing we need from Iraq. There are thousands of journalists out there some even call themselves expert who comment on Iraq. And they make the same mistake you do! Read articles like the one you quoted from Time and comment on that.
Blog is an amazing way of publishing. There is no editor, there is no politics involved, it comes straight from the source the quickest way possible. And you are so good at it!
There is only one info I get from your commentary: you are tired. So again take care of yourself! Don’t go over the edge!
r.
Chris I can relate to what you are saying, I really can. My dad always crtisizes the media for not showing the good news,if any, but in my opinion the bad news has overweighed the good by far.I for one wouldnt want to read about a wedding taking place in Iraq over lets say a bombing that killed 35 people,just like the one that took place today infront of a police station in Baghdad.
I am not sure if this violence will ever stop, as I have always said, the only solution is for the Iraqi government and the Americans to take a firm stance on the so called insurgency and get rid of them. How can they do that I wish I knew. But I hate it when they issue an arrest warrant for Muqtada then they back off. You either arrest that loony man with all his followers and put a stop to all this or suffer the consequences.
One major problem that can be solved is the unemployment. As long as there are jobs, then you wont find Iraqis joining the mehdi militia. Cuz I can assure you that that Muqtada is paying these people, where does he get his money from???hmm where else but Iran.
The government has done nothing, nothing for the ordinary Iraqis in terms of providing them with better living standards. Electricity is still on and off in such blistering heat, even ordinary people around the world,in summer get aggitated by the heat, what do you expect from people not having electricity all year long except for a few hours?????
There are solutions, but I think they should have been implemented long long time ago, for now its too late.
Take care Chris…..
It’s Worse Than You Think…
Made this little month by month comparison with the figures from Iraq Coallition Casualities:
Month, dead 2003, dead 2004, increase
April 79 – 140 = + 77.2 %
May 41 – 84 = + 104,8 %
June 36 – 50 = + 88,8 %
July 48 – 58 = + 20,8 %
Aug. 43 – 75 = + 74,4 %
Sept. 32 – 37 in just 14 days!
I agree with rob - the situation, bad as it is right now, can lead to a panic that understandably makes one want to run and hide. But it’s crucial to remember that some sort of “normalcy” continues, even here in Baghdad, and that America hasn’t lost all of its credibility, even if many Iraqis are loathe to say anything nice about us. The fact is, Iraqis can’t just throw their hands up. And further, accustomed to the quarter-century nightmare that was Saddam, they don’t expect easy victories.
At this point, no matter how you felt about the war, we have to (I believe) reassess our strategy and agressively move ahead. The struggle to stabilize Iraq hasn’t been lost. It’s at a dangerous impasse. But it’s still a small number of people that are taking up arms against the US and Iraqi government, in terms of the country’s overall population, which clearly is desperately hoping for stability.
My Iraqi friends in Baghdad, young artists and poets, support the US’ goals. They’re unimpressed with calls for pan-arab solidarity, with accusations of colonialism. They want a country that’s more progressive than its Arab neighbors, and to see the insurgents routed and they know it won’t be easy. Of course they’re quite worried - they’re pro-Bush because they think that Kerry might lessen his support for the war in Iraq. They respect Sistani, not Muqtada. They recognise that Sadr has a constituency that must be respected in the political arena, but not allowed to bully its way to power. Bombs go off, but their daily life continues. Some are even optimistic that, this too, shall pass. in other words, they’re keeping level-headed. My honest impression is that this typifies many Iraqis, but that it’s hard to sense from the news headlines.
I recently spent 2 months in Baqubah, often refered to as a trouble-spot in the Sunni area. I can say that, there at least, I saw some signs of things getting better, in terms of better equipped and trained Iraqi security forces, a relative stability, and people getting ready for the elections. Like in Baghdad, the local economy continues apace.
Bush made some terrible mistakes probably due to his arrogance and ignorance, but this battle’s far from over. And yes, it is possible to inflict damage on a neighborhood while fighting insurgents and then deliver aid for rebuilding it, all the while retaining local allies. After all of Saddam’s wars, Iraqis are hardened to the awful consequences of war. They have to balance carefully the consequences of who they support, particularly if they want a stable, non-fundamantalist country in the end.
Chris,
Harpers September has a very good article - Iraq Year Zero - that helped me to understand why what is happening in Iraq is happening. It is worth the read.
I too am worried about your safety. Be careful.
Susan
I thought bombing power lines and power plants was against the Geneva Convention. Certainly there’s a “we broke it therefore we own it” responsibility to fix the infrastructure as quickly as possible, IMHO.
To those of you who believe we can ‘still’ win in Iraq:
Wake up, shake off the drowzy ignorance or nostalgia that is floating about in your heads, and go about living in reality. What are we fighting for? Its obviously not the following:
1) Protecting the homeland (especially since we get an Red-Orange alert every month from the Dept. of Homeland Security)
2)Weapons of Mass Destruction (yeah…no really, Colin Powell said yesterday that we might find them if we just close our eyes and imagine them…try it)
3) Iraqis (well, nobody said we went in there for them anywa…what? Its called Operation Iraqi Freedom? Who was the nutcase who came up with that? Damn, now that means the US would have to stop clusterbombing innocents, actually do shit about the electricity and sewage catastrophes and violence and poverty and disease and hospitals, and pretend like it cares about anything but the oil pipelines (Seems like they have more security along the pipelines than they have police in Baghdad to me) and the puppet government (with all due respect…not)
It just seems to me (call me crazy) that ‘winning’ implies that one is in a better situation than before or that one has accomplished something great (like MJ’s buzzerbeater over Jazz). The US military seems to be on the opposite track, in other words ‘losing’ (like the Yankees over the Red Sox or the USA Basketball in the Olympics). Is that a simple enough analogy? Can I make any more simpler? Are you sure you want to go on believing that throwing more coal into the fire will make the fire die down?
Victory only Victory (sort of)
Thanks for saying what you think along with what you see. It adds to my understanding of what is happening in my name in Iraq. As a Vietnam vet i know pointless war and how it feels. Your thoughts feelings are right on. It’s tough being in a dangerous place and Iraq is now far more dangerous than it was before America invaded. Listen to that beach calling, man. Everybody needs R&R.
As an ex-special force officer not from the u.s, i can understand the problem that the americans are facing .
It’s simply impossible to win such a situation where ;you kill numerous civilians, you do not speak their langages and you have to get help from some collaborators who have everything to loose if you loose or quite their country. Algeria is a good example of this situation where the french army could not win even with 1 million french citizens living in. Every time you kill or injure a rebel (or a patriot )depend where you stand , you do create many more of thoses. It seems the pentagone has no intelligence in the arab mentality, the clan thinking is far away from our understanding. We live in this post-capitalistic society that separated us from our roots , they don’t ! I recommend particularly to everybody to read Oswald Spengler, it could be interesting for anybody who like to begin a personal quest for understanding a bit of something in this chaos to come. The problem i foresee is one of culture, how could somebody perceive some reality when he do not have the historical and intellectual keys to analyse any given situation.
Some strategy books would be important as well, in this process.
Continue your good work and don’t get kidnap; a journalist without a head is like a donkey without his ass!
Continue your good work its interesting to see a westerner with courage . This is a value that is deflating so fast nowadays, it’s always too cold , too hot , too much… Where are we going?
i think what chris is saying is absolutely right. hey of course he’s emotional hes watching the collapse of the whole thing up close and personal. there is no happy ending to this, we are on a one way trip to total chaos. I”M just hoping that our soldiers don’t have to fight their way out of the country when we leave, no coast line just a few roads out, all under attack now. for the guy that said: why are you reporting about all the iraqis want is clean water & security: here it is dude: “People are now basically drinking raw sewage anywhere downstream from Baghdad, which is much of the population” UNICEF/United Nations Development Program. given this wouldn’t clean water be your #1 priority right after not getting blown up? chris is absolutely right on, you and alot of other folks just understandably don’t want to here it.
“…we are losing the peace…”
I’m seeing this meme a lot, and it really bothers me, because it implies there is or has been peace.
The American Hertage Dictionary definition of peace:
“peace n. 1. The absence of war or other hostilities.”
We have not acheived that state at any point since we invaded. There has been continuous escalating violence from day 1.
There is no peace to lose, we are losing the ill-advised, unnecessary war on a country that posed no threat to us and was not about to pose any threat.
Catastrophic success = Phyrric victory
Nothing is more remarkable than the difficulty people seem to have in wrapping their heads around the idea that the US has no right whatever to be in Iraq, and that from that initial crime flows an unending stream of crimes against the Iraqi people, the Arab world and humanity in general. And that underlying this criminality is the dreadful crucifixion of the people of Palestine… So many seem to begin from the premiss that the US government is well intentioned whereas there are mountains of evidence suggesting otherwise.
William Blake, witnessing the birth of this imperialism wrote that The Strongest Poison ever known Came from Caesar’s Laurel Crown. So far as America’s mission in Iraq is concerned Frederick Douglass explained how these things work: “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue until they are resisted..” It does the people of Iraq great honour that they resist, as the native americans resisted, as the vietnamese resisted, as the Palestinians are resisting in this rapidly widening war against fascism
Chris —
More and more, from the safe space of New York, this feels like a time warp from yes, 100 years ago (thanks Chrisharries — remember Whitman’s plea about the “disordered musket?”) but most recently from 35 years ago. U.S. forces alternating between burning villages (oops, mobs) to save them, and ever more miniscule aid programs. And young people holding the disordered muskets again.
Thanks for your commentaries, too. And please post clearly when you’re leaving and returning, so we don’t panic.
Take good care.
For an Arab, or a Muslim, the US occupation of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine are nothing but the same problem. Yet, the Americans act as if there is no connection whatsoever between these two issues. Not even Michael Moore talks about it in Fahrenheit 9/11. So far, Israel has been the only beneficiary of the Iraq war and unfortunately, Israel stands to gain the most from a tripartition of Iraq: Drive off the Palestinians to Jordan. Combine Jordan and central Iraq under the Hashemite banner. Create a powerful Kurdistan to scare off Turkey, Iran and Syria. Secure an oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Israel via this newly created puppet kingdom.
A peaceful and democratic future for Iraq has never been planned, because that future has no place for the bloody tactics of Sharon and Bush Co.
Why so much fighting over a nation/place that’s already dead? Depleted uranium has spread the radiation equivalent of 250,000 hiroshima bombs all over Iraq. For all we know, even the oil is radioactive. But it will be sent to California, in a twisted sense of justice.
where not good with making connections Abdullah. We focus on the here and now. It’s symptom of the “w _ _ _ _ _ don’t get it” disease afflicting our country. we just recently got it under control in the states but i guess it’s looking for new hosts overseas. all i can say is learn from the lessons of the colored folk over here. America wasn’t all about equality. We had to kick some serious as through violence and non-violence to get repect.
good job out there chris. after this war’s done, you’ll be combact ready to do some investigative journalism in the streets of inner city america.
take care out there vato.
Does it bother anyone else that the media always refer to the “precision bombs” used in Iraq? The government conjured up that term to imply no innocent victims are killed which we know is seldom the case. Woman and children are in those houses, too. Inaccurate information could also lead to “precision” bombing. Why do the media continue to use that phrase when it is not a fact? Why don’t they go in to interview the Iraqis on the ground to find out who was killed? Which families were wiped out? It appears The U.S. is getting more and more desperate in these actions. No wonder more Iraqis turn against us every day.
I don’t know if it’s kosher to recommend blogs here, but for those of you who are a bit more open-minded I’d suggest visiting iraqthemodel.blogspot.com. It’s written from Iraq by 3 brothers, 2 doctors and a dentist. Some may say, “well, they’re just collaborators”, but their opinions correlate closely with those of my friends in Baghdad. Admittedly not a scientific poll, but just what I’ve heard and experienced personally.
Of course, this isn’t to justify going to war. But it’s an argument that the sky isn’t falling (yet), and that there are some powerful reasons to stay and try to finish what we started. Their views might surprise you.
Dear Chris, I think you are doing a great job, please keep up the good work.
Now a response and digression.
Dearest Abdullah,
Please refrain from this paranoid, misinformed and decidedly tired rhetoric. When one uses Michael Moore as a source to support any argument, that’s where you shoot yourself in the foot by way of your flapping pie hole.
With that being said, you fail to see that one of the largest differences between the Iraq and Israeli situations is that the US has no spiritual or biblo-historical tie whatsoever to Iraq, and has no designs on territorial right of expansion. Most soldiers probably would come home tomorrow if they got the chance to leave having accomplished their missions. In fact, if you yourself volunteered to replace one of them at Garrison X, I am sure they would take you up on it immediately.
Now to address your tired argument, does oil factor into the equation? Of course it does, but—sorry to shatter your paranoid notion here—certainly not enough for the average American to walk around looking like a withered version of Nosferatu mumbling “I vant more Iraqi oil, I vant more Iraqi oil!!”
The average American doesn’t really give it a second thought, to burst your bubble. The reality is that America, Israel and the rest of the world could certainly do without Iraqi oil. But the question is, why is it so bad to think that we might believe that it is within our or the world’s interests to help to stabilize a region that is constantly battered by sh*%storms of epic proportions?
Wouldn’t a stable Iraq and stable Middle East where people could live freely be a positive development for the region? For you?
So here’s my leftfield solution (that’s a baseball term—-BASEBALL). Since the rest of the Middle East tends to sit back, point fingers, cry foul and generally and bitch at one another (and the US), lets have NATO go into Jordan with a UN mandate (so the Israeli’s can’t start crying about it),—recruit, train and equip about 10,000 Palestinian men as peacekeepers (from the myriad of displaced refugees who are in dire need of real heroes that won’t blow themselves up at the drop of a hat because they have no other options). Couple the training with educational and vocational incentives to study at local or NATO aligned universities after their tour was up. After an 8-10 week boot camp, those that are deemed worthy and sufficiently capable, would ship out to Iraq as a special contingent to act as military police, garrison troops and a real spiritual boots on the ground presence to help rebuild the country. The logic completely works: 1. what insurgent is going to shoot a poor Palestinian and be able to justify it? 2. NATO is providing these men with training, a future and steady pay. 3. They become the basis for a new police and security force outside of the grip of Don Corle-Arafat and Fatah or the Gambinhamas crime families when they return home. 4. They would have a chance to affect real change and be heroes to a new generation of Palestinians that are in desperate need of such.
Nuff said. I have to go answer to my own inner Nosferatu and get some oil for my car.
Dearest Vanilla,
Your argument’s pretty tired as well.
I have a question; can someone please explain the logic of “opening a front in Iraq to entice the terrorists” to go fight? I have heard this over and over and I don’t quite understand the logic of how any terrorists would suddenly decide to move to Iraq to fight when they are supposedly trying to figure out ways to create havoc and devastation in a “secure area” which is what terrorism is supposed to be, right? I think it’s idiocy and I would love to hear the complete projected thought of how that is supposed to work, rather than the soundbites of “better fight them over there than over here…” If they are already over here, why would they buy plane tickets to go into Iraq to fight us? ??
Then it obviously isn’t up to the U.S. - it is up to Iraqi’s. If they’re peaceful then they need to stand up and get rid of the bad elements - they’re all armed aren’t they?
Yes, Oso, I am tired. And on that note, Bonsoir..! :)
you rock!
Chris,
Love your stuff. I’m part of the vast right wing conspiracy that most of your other readers love to hate. Not all of us lak da proper inullec-shual skils, I might add.
Chris,
I’m also part of the VRWC, and I love your stuff too.
My opinion of how we’re screwing up in Iraq is that:
“stuck in a behemoth of a bureaucracy” about sums it up. One of the things that gave me heart about June 30th was that we were supposed to turn over the 18 billion in reconstruction funds directly to the Iraqis. I was assuming that they’d be able to do more then we had been able to, since they didn’t have to lumber around with the State Department bureaucracy on their backs. However, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Any idea why?
So the left wing criticism of Iraq was bugging me because I thought we needed to be more cowboy, not less.
Is that true? Or rather, why isn’t the friggin electricity on yet?
I’d love to see that story. The knee-jerk reaction of politicians always seems to be to convene meetings, what I want to know is “where are the cowboys?”?
I think this cartoon says it all: http://www.fatalexception.org/action_item.html
BTW, any opinion on Chernoff?
Hate is never the answer. Perhaps the right wing ‘conspiracy’ can learn a lesson from that.
Peace only Peace
RB, I wish Al Qaeda could learn your “hate is not the answer” lesson too. It takes two parties to have a peace, but only one for a war.
I agree with what you say about the soldiers,But governments are responsible for the invasion of Iraq and if the reconstruction effort had been given the top priority from before the invasion(why blow up water filtration plants)I am sure the insurgency would not have the support it does.