News from the Colonies - America's War in Iraq

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6086064.stm

Scores of civilians have been killed during Nato operations against Taleban fighters in southern Afghanistan, local officials and civilians say.
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In September Nato said it had routed the Taleban in the area.
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Reports from Panjwayi district say the Nato raids began on Tuesday and continued into the night in Kandahar province.

They said that several houses were hit, and civilians killed.

Villagers told the BBC Pashto service that the bodies of many locals had been pulled from the rubble of their homes after the raids and buried.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zmarai Bashiry told the BBC that local police and officials had confirmed more than 40 villagers killed in the Nato raids.

Other officials put the death toll higher.
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"The government and the coalition told the families that there are no Taleban in the area any more," he told the Associated Press news agency.

"If there are no Taleban, then why are they bombing the area?
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President Hamid Karzai has been under mounting pressure over the civilian death in the south and east, and has urged foreign forces to exercise more caution.

Last week, up to 21 civilians were killed in two Nato operations in Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province.
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Is all well in Afghanistan? The rift between the population and the foreign forces is steadily growing. The taliban has been beaten, but for some reason they are where they are not supposed to be. And the targetting of civilians doesn't do much good for the reputation of the foreign forces putting extra pressure on the afghan government.
 
Destroyer said:
800px-Bush_belfast.jpg
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Wow..where is that located?
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6232889.stm

President George W Bush is to make a number of key changes in the US military leadership as part of his fresh strategy for Iraq, officials say.

There will be a new head of US Central Command and a new ground commander.

Mr Bush is expected to deliver a speech next week unveiling a strategy that could include thousands more US troops.
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Were the previous people so inflexible that they cannot cope with a change of strategy?
 
It seems that they were not sufficiently enthusiastic about an amplification of failed strategy.
 
Apparently the new strategy consists of sending 20,000 extra troops (82nd airborne division, some of which are already in Kuwait) and changing the rules of engagement.

(source: dutch news site).

Apparently he still hasn't realized that this is not a war. And he is just sending more of the same. I wonder how this is going to change anything.

The parallels with Vietnam are interesting:
  • First there is the realisation in Washington that it is not winning. Mr Bush has admitted this himself
  • Second, there is a policy of trying to hand over responsibility to the local government in the midst of battle, not after it - this happened in Vietnam with the policy of Vietnamisation
  • Third, there is the belief by the US administration that more troops are an important part of the answer
  • Fourth, there is an opposite belief by others that the enterprise cannot work and that disengagement must be sought - US public doubt is a theme common to both conflicts
  • Fifth, in Vietnam too the president consulted an outside group - they were called the Wise Men and, like the Iraq Study group, they too urged a policy designed to lead to withdrawal
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6245851.stm
 
All is well in Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6270957.stm

One of Iraq's most powerful Shia politicians has condemned the arrest of Iranians by US forces in Iraq as an attack on the country's sovereignty.
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"Regardless of the Iranian position we consider these actions as incorrect," Mr Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, told the BBC.

"They represent a kind of attack on Iraq's sovereignty and we hope such things are not repeated."

On Sunday, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that Iraq needed a constructive relationship with Iran.

"We can't change the geographical reality that Iran is our neighbour. This is a delicate balance and we are treading a very thin line."

We fully respect the views, policies and strategy of the United States, which is the strongest ally to Iraq, but the Iraqi government has national interests of its own," Mr Zebari said.
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well well...aren't the Iraqis ungrateful! Or are they just getting a bit worried about being the sockpuppet of the US?
 
You say that Iraq is a "sockpuppet." And yet the world is a large and, obviously complecated, we can't sum up this situation as big as these social entanglements are in the middle east with a single phrase such as "sockpuppet."

The whole land in the Middle East is filled with conflict and has been for a long time, I'd assume that you might have to learn Arabic if you really wanted to look into the substance of the Middle East and but you cant just start calling this or that a sockpuppet...

I'm not saying anyone is right, or that anyone is wrong, but we western minded people have quite a different way of thinking, thats why we have leaders, translators, diplomats, these are the people that are the "sex-organs" of international communication. Perhaps we should invite such people into sci-forums? (out of pure curiousity)

That reminds me, do we have any "sci-forums people" who have credentials such as a PhD or any Doctorate degrees, more especially, in the social science fields... I'm just curious.
 
I guess no one is updating this thread.

Fine then, I will.

25 US military personnel dead on January 20th.

Just when January seemed like it was only going to average 1.6 or less US deaths daily, it just jumps up to 2.57.
 
25 US military personnel dead on January 20th.
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it seems bleak in comparison to the casualties and wounded sufferd by the local pop

Killed and wounder 22 of jan:
Killed .: 60
Wounded .: 100
 
Blackmail:
Recently, a quote from bush in which he tries to force a political issue:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6367335.stm
GW Bush said:
"Our men and women in uniform are counting on their elected leaders to provide them with the support they need to accomplish their mission,"
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The men and women in uniform in Iraq are not on a mission of their own devices. They are not there to accomplish THEIR mission. They are there to accomplish Bush' mission. By diverting the ownership of the mission he is clearly blackmailing the politicians that need to vote on the matter. I don't really care about that. But who is dumb enough to believe that kind of rhetoric?
 
Iraq invasion plan 'delusional'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6364507.stm

The US invasion plan for Iraq envisaged that only 5,000 US troops would remain in Iraq by December 2006, declassified Central Command documents show.

The US currently has some 132,000 troops in the violence-torn state.

The commanders predicted that after the fighting was over there would be a two- to three-month "stabilisation" phase, followed by an 18- to 24-month "recovery" stage.

They projected that the US forces would be almost completely "re-deployed" out of Iraq at the end of the "transition" phase - within 45 months of invasion.
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Jinkies!

Disconnected: As I catch up on the news ....
... Really?

Just a note to fellow liberal-minded folks that things are not as hopeless as they seem:

The military's effort to punish Lt. Ehren Watada for refusing to deploy to Iraq fell apart in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, with the judge for the court-martial declaring a mistrial and Watada's attorney calling the case a "hopeless mess" that could not legally be restarted ....

.... The relevant fact, prosecutors argued, was that Watada had missed the deployment and signed a stipulation saying as much.

The judge saw things differently. After halting the court-martial to question Watada himself, he said that what Watada had signed was in fact a "confessional stipulation"—a stipulation sufficient for conviction on the charge of not deploying—while Watada apparently believed he had signed only a "stipulation of fact" and still retained a legitimate defense against the charge of failing to deploy.

With military prosecutor Capt. Scott Van Sweringen looking frustrated and defeated, Judge Head then declared the stipulation inoperative, announced that he would be telling the jury to disregard it, and asked the prosecutors if they would like to ask for a mistrial. The prosecutors, who had rested their case the previous day and would have faced a daunting task in opening it back up and trying to rescue the proceedings, immediately took him up on the offer. (The Stranger)​

Well, if I'm not just a bit internally embarrassed. I had written Watada off as a sacrificial lamb, and here comes the apparatus to breathe life into his case.

Of course, I don't seem to be as embarrassed as the Army's prosecutors. An Army spokesman called the dramatic turn "further evidence" that the process is fair. Who knows, maybe Watada is their sacrificial lamb, the one who will get away so that we can all feel in some small way better about our own selves and what we've let our nation get into "over there".

____________________

Notes:

Sanders, Eli. "Tactical Failure". TheStranger.com, February 8, 2007. See http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=154916
​
 
I'll bet you that on any given day more Americans die in America than die in Iraq. Even proportionally based on fatalities per 100,000.

Okay. Everyone out of America. Run, run away. Save yourself from the dangers of American life.

Go to Iraq where it's safer!
 
Or we could send the elderly and infirm to fight the war. It would be a great health coverage plan, too. Doctors to take care of shrapnel wounds and third-degree burns. Do you know how much one of those amputations costs a civilian stateside?
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6370847.stm

The US Senate has decided not to debate a resolution criticising President George W Bush's troop surge in Iraq.

Democrats needed the support of 60 of the 100 senators to advance the same motion in the Senate, but they only managed to gain 56 votes in favour.
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Needless to say the democratic process is safeguarded by the attitude of the whitehouse.

The White House has dismissed the vote, and warned Congress against trying to cut off funding.
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Blair announces troop cut:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6380933.stm

Prime Minister Tony Blair has told MPs that 1,600 British troops will return from Iraq within the next few months.

He said the 7,100 serving troops would be cut to 5,500 soon, with hopes that 500 more will leave by late summer.
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Of course this MUST be good news according to:
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Bush views Britain’s troop cutbacks as “a sign of success” in Iraq, he said.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17246357/from/RS.2/



Surge = good. Withdrawal = good. Win-win situation kids!
 
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