posted on April 12, 2006 06:37:51 PM new
U.S. Death Toll in Iraq This Month Hits 35
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 8:05 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By VANESSA ARRINGTON
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Four more American soldiers were killed in Iraq, the U.S. military said as the U.S. death toll for the month surpassed the total for all of March. More than 40 Iraqis also died, including at least 22 in a car bombing near a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad.
Meanwhile Wednesday, key Shiite politicians cast doubt on a plan to convene parliament next week, saying they still have not decided whether to replace their candidate for prime minister to break a deadlock over forming a new government.
4 U.S.GENERALS NOW SAY THE IRAQ WAR WAS RUN POORLY FROM THE BEGINNING.
"I DON'T GIVE THEM HELL I JUST TELL THE TRUTH AND THEY THINK ITS HELL." HARRY TRUMAN
posted on April 14, 2006 08:22:35 PM new
Update 4/14/06
Marines Come Under Attack in Iraq
By VANESSA ARRINGTON, AP
BAGHDAD, Iraq (April 14) - Two U.S. Marines were killed and 22 wounded - two of them critically - in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday. It was the biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in weeks.
A U.S. statement said the casualties were suffered Thursday as a result of "enemy action" in Anbar province but gave no specific location or details of the fighting.
One Marine was killed "at the scene of the attack," the statement said. Another Marine died at a medical facility in Taqqadum, it added.
Eight of the wounded were flown to the main U.S. hospital in Balad. Two were listed in critical condition and six were reported as stable, the statement said. The others were taken to a U.S. clinic at Camp Fallujah, where four were hospitalized for observation.
"I DON'T GIVE THEM HELL I JUST TELL THEM THE TRUTH AND THEY THINK ITS HELL." HARRY TRUMAN
posted on April 15, 2006 06:59:14 AM new
update 4/15/06
Military slow to spend money to train Iraqis
Report by congressional researchers runs counter to Rumsfeld’s take
Updated: 1:39 p.m. ET April 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military has spent just 40 percent of the $7 billion appropriated in 2005 for the training of Iraqi and Afghanistan security forces, a top Pentagon priority that is lynchpin for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The slow pace of spending was outlined in a congressional report that also raised questions about whether the Pentagon needs the full $5.9 billion it has requested for training this year in an emergency spending bill that is pending in Congress.
The report comes as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration have complained about cuts in the funding for Iraqi forces that is included in the House-passed version of the bill.
posted on April 16, 2006 01:43:02 PM new
update 4/16/06
Political Impasse Delays Iraq Parliament
Sunday, April 16, 2006 1:17 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By VANESSA ARRINGTON
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraq's parliamentary speaker on Sunday postponed a planned legislative session "for a few days," signaling that talks among political leaders had achieved no breakthrough on finding someone to head the next government.
Also Sunday, the U.S. military said four Marines were killed during combat the day before in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad.
posted on April 16, 2006 04:08:28 PM new
Excuse me. Didn't the Leader of the Free World™ stand on an aircraft carrier deck and say that the war was over? Why haven't the troops been bought home?
Disclaimer: we never sent any troops to Iraq so there are none to come home. (They were all too busy in Afghanistan.)
posted on April 19, 2006 05:20:24 PM new
I checked it out Bigpeepa, Linda was not on that aircraft carrier. Pres Bush was
In his speech to the troops Thursday night Bush will thank the U.S. military for their efforts in Iraq. "Your courage -- your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other -- made this day possible," according to excerpts of the Bush speech released in advance. "The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done."
Hours after making an historic landing aboard a moving aircraft carrier, President Bush told sailors manning the USS Abraham Lincoln Thursday that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
"Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision, speed and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before," Bush told a sea of blue and khaki standing on the flight deck. "Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history. You have shown the world the skill and might of the American armed forces."
Bush said the coalition that had liberated Iraq from dictator Saddam Hussein is now working to secure and reconstruct the country. The coalition aims to build schools and hospitals, prosecute Iraqi leaders and find weapons of mass destruction.
"The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless," Bush said. "We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide."
U.S. Contractor in Iraq Admits Paying $2 Million in Bribes
WASHINGTON — A contractor in Iraq has pleaded guilty to providing money, sex and designer watches to U.S. officials in exchange for more than $8 million in reconstruction contracts, federal officials announced Tuesday.
Philip H. Bloom faces as much as 40 years in prison after admitting to paying more than $2 million in bribes to U.S. officials with the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq after the American invasion in 2003.
posted on April 19, 2006 08:01:28 PM new
Libra63,
DUMBO BUSH SAID "MAJOR COMBAT" IS OVER.
As agitprop and Kiara point out even after DUMBO BUSH declared "MAJOR COMBAT" over in Iraq. We continue to spend Billions of dollars and lose lives in Iraq. Billions still being spent while we are counting but DUMBO says "MAJOR COMBAT" is over.
Don't worry Libra63 I will continue to bring you Iraq War updates as they happen.
I was hoping I could say American Troops are being withdrawn from Iraq soon. But then I heard DUMBO BUSH say Troop withdrawal would be a job for another President. Now we can all keep counting our dead troops and spent money until DUMBO is gone.
"I DON'T GIVE THEM HELL I JUST TELL THEM THE TRUTH AND THEY THINK ITS HELL." HARRY TRUMAN
posted on April 19, 2006 09:49:28 PM new
Don't bother bigpeepa. My eyes are new, I graduated from high school. I can turn on and off a TV and can even use a selector to find a station. I think I am good to go...
_________________
posted on April 20, 2006 07:47:30 AM new
There is a growing concern about the health problems in Iraq because after the invasion they did not maintain basic sanitation or provide safe drinking water. So much for the myth of 'nation-building' when basic requirements are ignored.
America's billions fall short in Iraq
Mothballed projects leave U.S. wondering if money was wasted
By John Ward Anderson and Bassam Sebti
The Washington Post
Published April 20, 2006
BAGHDAD -- On the southern outskirts of Baghdad, a sewage-treatment plant that was repaired with $13.5 million in U.S. funds sits idle while all the raw waste from the western half of Baghdad is dumped into the Tigris River, where many of the capital's 7 million residents get their drinking water.
Adjacent to the Karkh sewage plant is Iraq's most advanced sanitary landfill, a new 20-acre, $32 million dump--also paid for by the United States--with a liner to prevent groundwater contamination. It has not had a load of garbage dropped off since the manager of the sewage-treatment plant was killed four months ago. Iraqis consider the access roads too dangerous, and Iraqi police rarely venture into the area, a haven for insurgents who regularly launch mortar shells across the city into the Green Zone less than 6 miles away.
The mothballed projects highlight a growing concern among U.S. officials here: whether Iraqis have the capacity to maintain, operate and protect the more than 8,000 reconstruction projects, costing $18.4 billion, that the United States has completed or plans to finish in the next few years, which include digging roadside drainage ditches, refurbishing hospitals and schools, and constructing electric power plants.
Little known fact department: Maintenance and repair of US military vehicles in Iraq is far more expensive than replacing the vehicles blown up by the guerrillas. Whatcha wanna bet the spare parts are very expensive, on purpose? The military industrial complex has families to feed, too.
Thanks for the kind words to Sam Freedman. Money quote: "As for FOX, it's a fascinating political movement, but it's not a news organization in any way I recognize. If that's scolding, then I'm guilty as charged."
My condolences to Mohammed and his brothers at Iraq the Model on the tragic loss of their brother-in-law. Even just losing friends to war, as I have, is deeply traumatizing, and losing a family member is much worse. We haven't always agreed politically (though I think our views have converged over time), but I admire their fighting spirit. Reporting these awful statistics every day is almost numbing, but when it affects someone you feel you know (even just by reading them), it brings home the reality.
As I watch the news coming out of Baghdad, I am constantly confronted with what seems to be an endless stream of violence and bad news as more innocent citizens are senselessly losing their lives to the terrorists.
As I watch, I think to myself, "What would the average Iraqi think if he or she could see the news coming from our major cities like we see his or hers?"
They would see a crazed gunman clutching a shotgun and a pistol, with bandoleers strapped across his chest carrying extra ammo, ruthlessly shooting seven innocent victims at a party in Seattle. Maybe they would have heard about the wife and mother who shot her husband to death in cold blood and then fled in the family car with children in tow. Or the story of an innocent young college student's body being found after she was brutally raped, murdered and dumped like a bag of garbage. How about the mentally-ill mother drowning her five children or the drive-by shooting in downtown Phoenix that left two dead, including an innocent child?
In 2004 alone, there were 16,137 murders in America – not counting the attempted murders or conspiracies to commit murder. Would the thoughts of the Iraqis be the same as ours?
The nature of news is always to report the worst of the human condition and not the best. Occasionally a good news story will emerge, but not often. The adage of "If it bleeds, it leads" is really the nexus behind the network news. The reason? Because it sells.
Very few people if any watch the news to find out the good that is occurring in their world. They want to know the bad. More people want to watch a good car chase vs. watching how your local mailman won employee of the month. One of the largest media events of last century was the slow speed white Bronco car chase of who? You know. You were watching, just like I was.
With all the recent criticism of the media's reporting in Iraq (mine included) I had to ask myself a serious question: Is the criticism fair or not? I have to suggest the criticism may be a bit unfair given the fact the news folks are required to report the bad. The car wreck. The murder. The rape. The high gasoline prices. These stories are what we want – more than we'd care to admit.
We want to be informed with the issues that affect us and the world in which we live. So it should come as no surprise to us that what we are seeing out of Iraq is what is to be expected. I really wonder what would happen to ratings if all you saw every night were the good and not the bad. Equally important, would we really be informed as to what was really occurring if we did? Probably no more so than we do given all the bad we see.
The news is not supposed to document the current state of the human experience with all its nuances. It is to report the events without comment or editorial and on that account the media fails. They should report the story – not their interpretation of the story – and that is hard to do. We all have a bias. We just don't want to admit it.
The fact is, the news could and should be more balanced. For that to occur, however, the media would need a net end-user. Being the free-market thinker I am, if there isn't a market for any product, the product changes or it dies. There must be a huge market for the gore you see every night or it would change.
So tonight, when you watch your evening news and see all the violence and devastation in Iraq, ask yourself: "What does the rest of the world think about America as they watch our news?" Do they see the streets of America filled with roaming gangs of thugs committing murder in South Central Los Angeles? Do they watch good, solid, innocent folks being hurt by ruthless killers? Does a shudder ring through their bodies as they hear about the pedophilia that is polluting our land, while judges offer a slap on the wrist instead of meaningful punishment?
Take the stories you watch tonight and swap the names of the countries. You will find a very interesting phenomenon – news is universally negative. It is the nature of the beast, and really looks about the same everywhere the "news" is being made.
I can only imagine what went through the minds of the world's citizens during World War II when, day after day, the "news" recounted the dead bodies and the Nazi atrocities that were occurring. I would think the world felt much like we feel today. That there was no end in sight and that the killing would continue and the war would last forever. A thousand this day and a thousand that day – and it got worse and worse. But then, the tide started to turn and the victories started shining through the gray clouds of war. Soon the headlines started heralding the 'Victory is at Hand' and, soon after, the killing stopped.
My only hope is the modern media embraces that day, and doesn't allow the voice of victory to be silenced.
Craig R. Smith is an author, commentator and popular media guest because he instantly engages audiences with his common-sense analyses of local, national and global trends. Serving as CEO of Swiss America for nearly 25 years, Craig understands that Americans want solid answers to the tough questions and that real leadership begins with servanthood.
"“More Iraqis think things are going well in Iraq than Americans do. I guess they don’t get the New York Times over there.”—Jay Leno".
posted on April 20, 2006 12:42:21 PM new
Thanks for all the links, Helen. It's sad to read about the orphans who are forced onto the street and it's also sad to read what 'democracy' has done for women.
Women wear veils more so after the U.S-led invasion than during Hussein’s reign, she said. There is also greater lawlessness against females and less security as violence and poverty plague the streets.
More than 2,000 women have been illegally trafficked and 150 tortured and raped since the U.S- led invasion, she said, explaining the wartime abuse is at the hands of both Iraqis and Americans.
The money-grabbing is obscene.
A year ago, an audit by the inspector general found no evidence of work done or goods delivered on 154 of 198 contracts. Sixty cases of potential swindles are under investigation.
You can't handle the truth
Bear, I'm not so sure about you but I can handle the truth very well. It's called reality. Trying to disguise how bad conditions are in Iraq by comparing them to bad things that happen in America doesn't make it go away, nor does it improve it.
posted on April 20, 2006 02:15:55 PM newBear, I'm not so sure about you but I can handle the truth very well. It's called reality. Trying to disguise how bad conditions are in Iraq by comparing them to bad things that happen in America doesn't make it go away, nor does it improve it.
For someone that claims to be an American, all you ever express is anti-American sentiment.
"“More Iraqis think things are going well in Iraq than Americans do. I guess they don’t get the New York Times over there.”—Jay Leno".
posted on April 20, 2006 02:40:41 PM new
A few points you on the left FAIL (or refuse) to recognize:
First, ending the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.
* Since Saddam was overthrown, investigators have found dozens of mass graves, in which more than 300,000 Iraqis were buried.
* Ending the theft of billions of dollars from the Iraqi people. Saddam stole more than $11 billion from the U.N.'s oil-for-food program.
* Ending the threat that weapons of mass destruction will be developed and used. Saddam's regime manufactured chemical and biological weapons and, at one point, actively pursued nuclear weapons.
Second, quality of life.
* So far, 2,500 schools have been renovated, with another 800 to be finished soon.
* Almost 9 million new math and science textbooks have been printed and distributed.
* The health care system is now open to all Iraqis, with 30 percent more people now using the facilities. Doctors, who used to get $20 a month, now earn up to $180. Modern medication such as cancer drugs are now available, something unheard of during the Saddam years.
Third, human rights.
* Since the end of Saddam, a fully functioning legal and judicial system has been developed. More than 600 judges are working in courtrooms across the country. Iraqis charged with crimes now have rights that would have been laughed at under the old regime: the right to remain silent when they're arrested; the right to a fair, speedy and open trial; the right to a defense lawyer at all stages of the process.
* Iraqis now enjoy freedom of speech. Now, 120 papers are being published, some of them critical of the U.S. The coalition has shut down only two papers, which it said were inciting violence.
* Internet cafes.
* Satellite dishes.
Finally, the economy and infrastructure.
* There's a new currency in Iraq.
* Iraq's most important resource, oil, is showing a strong revival. Production now exceeds pre-war levels, averaging half a million barrels a day more than when Saddam was forced from power.
* By this summer, the average Iraqi will have electricity for 16 hours a day, 40 percent above pre-war levels. Under Saddam, only half of the country had access to clean drinking water. Now extensive renovations of water plants have brought cleaner water to more people, almost 15 million, on a more reliable basis.
* Baghdad airport now has 43 passenger flights a day, including regular commercial service to Jordan.
* Now, more than 340,000 Iraqis have cell phones. When Iraqis make a call now, they say no one is listening in.
* the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty.
* over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
* nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
* the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
* all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.
* teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
* all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
* pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.
* the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to Iraq's children.
* a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals which now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.
* we have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services.
* there are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 by year-end.
* the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns.
* 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily.
* Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
* the central bank is fully independent.
* Iraq has one of the worlds most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.
* Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.
* foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other government spies , they (and everyone else) are free to come and go
* there is no Ministry of Information.
* a nation that had not one single element - legislative, judicial or executive - of a representative government, now does.
* in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.
* today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
* 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.
* the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.
* Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
* for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
* the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.
* Uday and Queasy are dead - and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to the zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.
* children and political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam or the government .
* millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror.
* Saudis will hold municipal elections.
* Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.
* Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.
* the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian -- a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy and for peace.
* Saddam has been captured and his infamous sons are dead.
* Iraq is free
.
"“More Iraqis think things are going well in Iraq than Americans do. I guess they don’t get the New York Times over there.”—Jay Leno".
posted on April 20, 2006 03:12:12 PM new
Bear, that's the typical and standard neocon response, that if someone mentions that things aren't going well in Iraq that they must be anti-American and that can't be further from the truth.
Is it that difficult to admit that there was no planning at the time of invasion and contractors looted much of the funding and the basic infrastructure needs to be taken care of before the country can improve?
That same list you posted has been posted here before and it is doubtful.
Variations of these items chronicling U.S. accomplishments in rebuilding Iraq have been circulating since mid-2003 and have been forwarded under so many different names (most of them U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq) that it's difficult to determine who the original author was.
These types of items are generally impossible to categorize with a single truth value because they typically contain a mixture of fact, opinion, subjective statements, inaccuracies, and literally true but often misleading claims.
posted on April 20, 2006 04:09:57 PM new
Kiara, you have done nothing to dispel the image you are anti-American, why should I think otherwise at this point?
From your Snopes article:
Status: Undetermined.
Thus it does not disprove the statements.
Dispelling Myths About Iraq
REALITY: Over the past 18 months, the U.S.-led coalition and the Iraqi government have made substantial progress in eliminating insurgent strongholds in Fallujah, Mosul, Najaf, Samara, and Tal Afar and in many smaller towns in western Anbar province along the Syrian border. Most of Iraq is secure from major guerrilla attacks, particularly the predominantly Shiite south and the predominantly Kurdish north, which actively support the Iraqi government. Most insurgent attacks are mounted in the heavily Sunni Arab central and western portions of Iraq, although small numbers of insurgents continue to launch terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings at soft targets, throughout the country. Outside of Iraq’s Sunni heartland, which benefited the most from Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime, the insurgents lack popular support. Their terrorist strategy has failed to intimidate Iraqi Shiites, Kurds, Turcomans, and Assyrians, who altogether comprise more than 80 percent of Iraq’s population.
The Iraqi army and police forces are growing larger, better trained, and more effective. The Iraqi army and security forces have grown from just one operational battalion in July 2004 to more than 120 today. Over 200,000 trained and equipped Iraqis are now playing an increasingly active role in rooting out insurgents. While only one battalion is rated at the U.S. Army category “Level One,” about 40 are at “Level Two.” Level Two battalions are capable of fighting “with some support”—usually just logistics and air/artillery support—from American forces. These units patrol their own areas of operations, relieving U.S. troops to perform other duties. The cities of Najaf and Mosul are now exclusively patrolled by Iraqi security forces, as are large portions of Baghdad.
There are now six police academies in Iraq and one in Jordan, training 3,500 Iraqi police every 10 weeks. Today the vast majority of Iraqi police and army recruits are trained by Iraqis, not Americans—the result of systematic efforts to “train the trainers.” Since the January 30, 2005, elections, no Iraqi police stations have been abandoned under attack, as used to happen frequently, because police have fiercely resisted attacks even when outnumbered and outgunned, confident that help would come from 20 provincial SWAT teams and coalition forces.
Unlike during several military offensives in 2004, Iraqi security forces now are strong enough to garrison and control the cleared areas, making the Bush Administration’s recent adoption of a “clear, hold, and build” security strategy possible. Iraqi forces were able to take a leading role in the successful September 2005 offensive at Tal Afar, which involved 11 Iraqi and five coalition battalions.
The increasing effectiveness of the Iraqi security forces has inspired optimism among the Iraqi people. This is reflected in the growing number of intelligence tips from Iraqi civilians. In March 2005, Iraqi and coalition forces received 483 intelligence tips from Iraqi citizens. This figure rose to 3,300 in August and more than 4,700 in September. According to a poll from early November, 71 percent of respondents believed that the Iraqi security forces are winning the war against the insurgents, while only 9 percent believed they are losing. The data were gathered from Iraqi callers who were passing intelligence tips to the Iraqi National Tips Line, which was created to provide Iraqis with a safe and anonymous means of passing on information about insurgent activity to their own government.
Iraqi disunity. Factional differences are real, but overblown in the reporting. Few Iraqis support calls for religious violence. After the Samarra bombing, only rogue militias and criminals responded to the demagogues' calls for vengeance. Iraqis refused to play along, staging an unrecognized triumph of passive resistance.
Expanding terrorism. On the contrary, foreign terrorists, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have lost ground. They've alienated Iraqis of every stripe. Iraqis regard the foreigners as murderers, wreckers and blasphemers, and they want them gone. The Samarra attack may, indeed, have been a tipping point--against the terrorists.
Hatred of the U.S. military. If anything surprised me in the streets of Baghdad, it was the surge in the popularity of U.S. troops among both Shias and Sunnis. In one slum, amid friendly adult waves, children and teenagers cheered a U.S. Army patrol as we passed. Instead of being viewed as occupiers, we're increasingly seen as impartial and well-intentioned.
The appeal of the religious militias. They're viewed as mafias. Iraqis want them disarmed and disbanded. Just ask the average citizen.
The failure of the Iraqi army. Instead, the past month saw a major milestone in the maturation of Iraq's military. During the mini-crisis that followed the Samarra bombing, the Iraqi army put over 100,000 soldiers into the country's streets. They defused budding confrontations and calmed the situation without killing a single civilian. And Iraqis were proud to have their own army protecting them. The Iraqi army's morale soared as a result of its success.
Reconstruction efforts have failed. Just not true. The American goal was never to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure in its entirety. Iraqis have to do that. Meanwhile, slum-dwellers utterly neglected by Saddam Hussein's regime are getting running water and sewage systems for the first time. The Baathist regime left the country in a desolate state while Saddam built palaces. The squalor has to be seen to be believed. But the hopeless now have hope.
The electricity system is worse than before the war. Untrue again. The condition of the electric grid under the old regime was appalling. Yet, despite insurgent attacks, the newly revamped system produced 5,300 megawatts last summer--a full thousand megawatts more than the peak under Saddam Hussein. Shortages continue because demand soared--newly free Iraqis went on a buying spree, filling their homes with air conditioners, appliances and the new national symbol, the satellite dish. Nonetheless, satellite photos taken during the hours of darkness show Baghdad as bright as Damascus.
Here’s an example from Franklin Raff, who reported in his article, “Media Treachery in Iraq Exposed!” for WorldNetDaily, about the Iraqi officer of significant rank who asked:
“Why do you people not tell our story? Why do you not say what is going on? Why do you come to our country and see what is happening, you see the schools and the hospitals and you see the markets and you eat with Sunni and Shia soldiers--everybody eats together, everybody works together--you see that Saddam is gone forever and we are free to speak and complain. You see we are working and eating together and fighting together--Sunni and Shia--you see what we are building here, you see the votes we make as one people. Then you say to the world about a great war and horrible things and how we are all killing each other? We are not animals! We are Iraqis. Look around you! Look!”
posted on April 20, 2006 04:52:45 PM new
The real Anti-Americans are DUMBO BUSH SUPPORTERS. Its Bush and his failed policies that have KILLED SO MANY AMERICAN TROOPS.
Bush,Bear and I have something in common. None of us can count as high as our National Debt.
DUMBO BUSH putting this country into this HUGH NATIONAL DEBT because of tax breaks to the wealthy and the poorly managed Iraq War along with poor foreign policy is truly Anti-American.
JOIN THE GREAT AMERICAN PROTEST DAY ON NOVEMBER 7th 2006.
posted on April 20, 2006 04:55:43 PM new
Bear, I already made the point that your list is undetermined as there is no proof of anything you copied or who wrote it.
Kiara, you have done nothing to dispel the image you are anti-American, why should I think otherwise at this point?
Because I wrote that I care about the children and women in Iraq that makes me anti-American, Bear?
Because I wrote about some of the contractors looting all the funds that makes me anti-American?
Strange, but most of the people I know in America feel the same as I do and don't like to see the suffering. None want to see continued violence and more death, either for the Iraqis or the troops. None want to see their tax dollar lining the pockets of the corrupt. The majority of Americans think as I do and aren't supporting the Bush regime.
All that talk of cheering on and following the leader no matter what, never seeing any wrong and rooting for more war seems very anti-American to me.
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