Situation in.................................. Iraq

[FM]

and these elections have to happen...any delays or worse, cancellations, means that it's only going to take a hell of a lot longer to try and do what needs to be done.

[digitalghostx]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

The worst is yet to come with the Iraqi elections, and so far the US administration is committed to having the planned elections in Jan.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/weather/9646295.htm

The insurgency like any other before needs to be suppressed and stability
has to be the number one priority above infrastructure for the next few months if there is any hope that the situation can be turned around. Bush or Kerry understand at least this much, but don't think either one of them has a better chance at doing a better job, it's roughly equal.

Trained Iraqi forces have been il-equiped and unprepared for the violent insurgents, the US and Coalition have to take the brunt of this work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3684690.stm

As it stands the US and the world should come together and get Iraq on it's feet. It is absolutely amazing how little the UN and the other non-participating countries realize what is at stake here. When the UN has a true chance to make a difference, they stand by and do nothing. It has to come to resolution before anyone will move their ass.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/unassembly_09-23-03.html

[Yao]

I still stand by what I've said about Iraq before: if the democracy doesn't come from within, it's not gonna last.
Even in Latin-America and Africa it has always been the same sequence: military rule (authoritarianism) before transition to democracy (in combination with Neo-Liberalism). Latin America is already ahead of most African countries in that respect. It wouldn't surprise me if large part of the middle east is just running behind, but actually following the same path, with the neccesary differences of course.

[kyyoon]

Iraq and Afghanistan are messes right now. America may have screwed up by going into these countries but we will be hated forever if we abandon the Afghans and Iraqis once again.

[LobsterClan]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

Robert Novak. The "Douchebag of Liberty" as he is known on the Daily Show.

Don't believe it for a second. No matter what the rhetoric is about "bringing freedom to the Iraqi people", the Iraq situation has been all about creating another Saudi Arabia. If Bush has his way, no way we leave there until this has happened. Could be decades.

[Balanc3]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

Quick exit from Iraq is likely

Robert Novak reporting bush may pullout after the election. This would go against everything we hae said.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak20.html

[asdf_admin]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

once again, that is an opinion. and you know what they say about opinions ... "opinions are like assholes, everybody has one"

[LobsterClan]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

Interesting choice. Right, data is merely data-- no facts there at all.

In 10-20 years, we will see that George W Bush was probably the worst president in the history of the United States, and people will really wonder how we even let this guy stay in office for 4 years.

[asdf_admin]

predictions, assumptions and calculations are all just flaccid data. the truth will come in 10-20 years, and history will tell it.

[toasty]

Your all right we should just pull the hell out and quit losing soldiers.

Wish it were that simple. Bush has created this mess, though, and like it or not, we've got to see it through. Allowing the country to plunge into civil war would leave the region unsuitably unstable, and neither Bush nor Kerry would let that happen. Plus, if we pull out and civil war breaks out and the end result is that someone like Saddam is back in power, I think we have to chalk this war up as a loss, which is not an acceptable option.

[LobsterClan]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

Kinda funny how the picture the White House paints of Iraq is all sunshine and roses, with Donald Rumsfeld rating the overall effort a B+.

"He [Rumsfeld] gave the administration and the coalition a "B-plus" for managing Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein in terms of interaction between the new government and U.S. forces.
"If I had to grade it so far, I'd probably give it a B-plus, pretty good, and maybe an A in interaction and maybe a B in outcome," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "But it's a tough business."
from http://washingtontimes.com/national/...3001-6570r.htm


Certainly it isn't quite a Vietnam situation yet, after all it's only been a year and a half so far-- but at this point there's little reason to believe things would not escalate to a Vietnam or worse level.

[sebas_guti82]

no more unfair war

[Balanc3]

I wanna see what happens June 30 when they turn over power...

13 people died.

Your all right we should just pull the hell out and quit losing soldiers. Just let them all fight, its what they want... civil war. Shiite vs. Kurd vs. Sunni, already been done. They're just waiting for the big fight, out on the streets. If it were all that easy. Somebody has to govern them through their first independant ellection. Iraq must be rebuilt, people must be defended, and oil protected. And spread the wealth around. Unfornately it comes at the cost of lives... american and iraqi. And fuck how can you continue to play out the bs Vietnam reference, were not even close to those numbers. Why not compare to another failure such as the Korean War. It just doesnt happen.

Militants behead three Iraqi kurds:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040919/D856VE883.html

[LobsterClan]

Re: Situation in.................................. Iraq

Surprising that besides the wasted post at the end, no one here has any thoughts about Iraq.

With recent information claiming the situation is only getting worse, and saying the possibility of civil war being likely-- I would think more people would be discussing it. It's really a shame that such a huge war has practically faded from view-- over 1,000 of our boys are dead, and little to no progress has been made lately. Think it's time to do something differently there.

[brakada]

Half right. There is no chance Saddam will ever return to power. He is too old
and their are too many people who want to rule Iraq.

However, the Baathists are far from eliminated. There are none in Iraq now
but it is believed that many vanished by escaping to the surrounding regions
before the war.

Well, there are a lot of Baathists still in Iraq. Although we have heard in the past that the entire Baath party supports Iraq, this was not the case. I read in an interview with a guy from Iraq (I think he was a Kurd, thus his opinion is probably not that biased), thar most of the Baathists still in Iraq were not Sadam supporters and are trying to make the Baath party legal again and do not watn to be associated Sadam. He also mentioned that if that would happen, the problem would arise, how to tell apart Sadam's followers from those who defied him. So, I think that Sadam's followers are without any chance of getting back to power. The thing I am worried about though is placing of Sadam's people in charge of newly founded Iraq security forces, which is a lot more worrying IMHO.