When is it going to get better?
I hate to - well, I should rather say I dislike to - go on about the same boring subjects every so often, but yes, it is back to Iraq for this post, apologies to those not interested. Yes, you can feel free to switch off now.
A total curfew on all pedestrian and motor traffic has been announced for most of the weekend, running from Friday evening, Iraq time, through to Sunday morning. Obviously intelligence is about expecting some big attack on Saturday.
Over six and a half thousand Baghdadis died violent deaths in July and August, with more bodies turning up with evidence of torture than 'clean' deaths. The UN's chief anti-torture expert, Manfred Nowak, apparently suggested torture in Iraq now is worse than it was during Saddam's reign.
A new book out by investigative journalist Bob Woodward asserts that the Bush administration has misled the American public over the chaos in Iraq - the Administration has countered by saying that the death toll is public knowledge. That may be so, but Woodward has said that there is an attack on US forces once every fifteen minutes, 800 attacks a week - we all hear about the Iraqi on Iraqi violence, but the attacks on US forces have gone under the radar a bit.
There was a secret report from the US intelligence community back in April, asserting that Iraq had become the cause celebre of the jihad movement, and forecast a worsening in violence going into 2007. In the run up to the September 11 commemorations earlier in the month, Bush said things were getting better in Iraq - the report got leaked about ten days ago, and the White House testily released extra pages this week. Hopefully that blunts any momentum the 'good news Republicans' were getting heading into the mid terms.
'Not only does this American finding have the ring of truth about it, but millions of ordinary people in Britain, Europe, the US and far beyond have reached the same bleak conclusion from a daily torrent of news, analysis and information that is freely available to all. It needs neither spy satellites, informers, nor highly trained analysts to observe the rage and fury that has been generated by Iraq...'
Oh, and going back to earlier in the month, there was a plan to lessen the insurgency in Baghdad by building walls all around the city, sand berms mostly, and lessen the amount of exit and entry roads in. A city of five million people, seemingly busy enough killing each other, and they think that building a wall around the place will calm things down?
Another 4000 American troops got their tour of duty extended, and the head of the US Army didn't submit a budget request to Rumsfeld, protesting that the army didn't have enough money to continue the operation in Iraq and also
Not to mention Afghanistan, another war in the process of hotting up - another Canadian soldier killed today, the total death toll for Canada there up to 37 since 2002, but the tenth death this month. The Brits are going through more ammunition than they have since WW2, this after one of the defence ministers in London said they would probably not have to fire a shot. Reminds of of the Americans thinking they would be greeting with flowers in Iraq in 2003. Iran and North Korea are still out there, researching on nukes as well.
WMDs, the 45 minute lead time for Saddam to use them, and Mission Accomplished on the USS Lincoln seems so long ago now. Was this what it was like towards the latter part of US involvement in Vietnam? Although back then, at least there was a North Vietnamese government to have peace talks with - this time around, it is only the insurgents and militias you can talk to, in the middle of a civil war, 'Baathists and dead-enders' I believe was the term.
Where is the good news? Is it ever going to get better there? What will the long term effect be - you could make an argument that Al Qaeda is partly tied up in the CIA's response to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, nearly thirty years ago now, or the current Iraqi fiasco could be traced back to the 1991 Gulf War or the Iran Iraq war, or the Iranian revolution even. Iran of course supporting Hizbullah, opposed to Israel, going back at least to 1948, or 1917 and the Balfour Declaration.
Mao Zedong apparently said of his reaction to the French Revolution, by saying it's too early to tell. I wonder what people in 200 years time will think - with global warming, perhaps living on the Himalaya tropical islands...
Being flippant, hockey season is about to start, and the Mets are into the playoffs - that's good news.
Paul
I hate to - well, I should rather say I dislike to - go on about the same boring subjects every so often, but yes, it is back to Iraq for this post, apologies to those not interested. Yes, you can feel free to switch off now.
A total curfew on all pedestrian and motor traffic has been announced for most of the weekend, running from Friday evening, Iraq time, through to Sunday morning. Obviously intelligence is about expecting some big attack on Saturday.
Over six and a half thousand Baghdadis died violent deaths in July and August, with more bodies turning up with evidence of torture than 'clean' deaths. The UN's chief anti-torture expert, Manfred Nowak, apparently suggested torture in Iraq now is worse than it was during Saddam's reign.
A new book out by investigative journalist Bob Woodward asserts that the Bush administration has misled the American public over the chaos in Iraq - the Administration has countered by saying that the death toll is public knowledge. That may be so, but Woodward has said that there is an attack on US forces once every fifteen minutes, 800 attacks a week - we all hear about the Iraqi on Iraqi violence, but the attacks on US forces have gone under the radar a bit.
There was a secret report from the US intelligence community back in April, asserting that Iraq had become the cause celebre of the jihad movement, and forecast a worsening in violence going into 2007. In the run up to the September 11 commemorations earlier in the month, Bush said things were getting better in Iraq - the report got leaked about ten days ago, and the White House testily released extra pages this week. Hopefully that blunts any momentum the 'good news Republicans' were getting heading into the mid terms.
'Not only does this American finding have the ring of truth about it, but millions of ordinary people in Britain, Europe, the US and far beyond have reached the same bleak conclusion from a daily torrent of news, analysis and information that is freely available to all. It needs neither spy satellites, informers, nor highly trained analysts to observe the rage and fury that has been generated by Iraq...'
Oh, and going back to earlier in the month, there was a plan to lessen the insurgency in Baghdad by building walls all around the city, sand berms mostly, and lessen the amount of exit and entry roads in. A city of five million people, seemingly busy enough killing each other, and they think that building a wall around the place will calm things down?
Another 4000 American troops got their tour of duty extended, and the head of the US Army didn't submit a budget request to Rumsfeld, protesting that the army didn't have enough money to continue the operation in Iraq and also
Not to mention Afghanistan, another war in the process of hotting up - another Canadian soldier killed today, the total death toll for Canada there up to 37 since 2002, but the tenth death this month. The Brits are going through more ammunition than they have since WW2, this after one of the defence ministers in London said they would probably not have to fire a shot. Reminds of of the Americans thinking they would be greeting with flowers in Iraq in 2003. Iran and North Korea are still out there, researching on nukes as well.
WMDs, the 45 minute lead time for Saddam to use them, and Mission Accomplished on the USS Lincoln seems so long ago now. Was this what it was like towards the latter part of US involvement in Vietnam? Although back then, at least there was a North Vietnamese government to have peace talks with - this time around, it is only the insurgents and militias you can talk to, in the middle of a civil war, 'Baathists and dead-enders' I believe was the term.
Where is the good news? Is it ever going to get better there? What will the long term effect be - you could make an argument that Al Qaeda is partly tied up in the CIA's response to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, nearly thirty years ago now, or the current Iraqi fiasco could be traced back to the 1991 Gulf War or the Iran Iraq war, or the Iranian revolution even. Iran of course supporting Hizbullah, opposed to Israel, going back at least to 1948, or 1917 and the Balfour Declaration.
Mao Zedong apparently said of his reaction to the French Revolution, by saying it's too early to tell. I wonder what people in 200 years time will think - with global warming, perhaps living on the Himalaya tropical islands...
Being flippant, hockey season is about to start, and the Mets are into the playoffs - that's good news.
Paul
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