Outlook Bleak In Iraq

[Eadora]

Hello Again My Friends

It has been a long time and things are very busy. I have had little time to turn the computer on, let alone engage in dialoque.

I see that there has been relatively little action on this Forum for the last few months.

Certainly not because we have a lack of action in so called war on terrorism in Iraq.

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US generals say IRAQ OUTLOOK 'BLEAK'

Growing insurgency, sectarian violence, force military to reexamine US situation in Iraq.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

US military commanders from both Iraq and Afganistan, in a series of briefings and interviews over the past week, gave downbeat assessments of the situations in both countries. The New York Times reports that the generals "pulled back" from predictions made earlier this year that the US would be able to substantially reduce its troop level by early 2006.

One general said that the US would be in Iraq and Afghanistan for "many years to come."

Another senior officer in Baghdad, speaking to the Times on condition of anonymity, said unless the new Iraq government gives Iraqis something to believe in, the US mission in Iraq could collapse.

'I think that this could still fail,' the officer said at the background briefing, referring to the US effort in Iraq. 'It's much more likely to succeed, but it could still fail.' He said much depended on the new government's success in increasing public confidence among Iraqis.

The officer said recent polls conducted by Baghdad University had shown confidence flagging sharply, down from an 85 percent rating immediately after the elections. 'For the insurgency to be successful, people have to believe the government can't survive,' he said. 'When you're in the middle of a conflict, you're trying to find pillars of strength to lean on.'

The Boston Globe reported Thursday that Gen. John Abizaid, chief of US Central Command, said one of the main reasons for the deterioration of the situation was the "slow progress of Iraqi police is delaying improvements in the country's overall security, forcing Iraqi military units to perform internal security functions."

In an analysis piece for the The Washington Times, Martin Seiff, United Press International senior news analyst, says that it was a "bad week" for US policy in Iraq. Not only did you have the US military saying that troops would be in the region for years, but the new government of Iraq gave a warm welcome to the Iranian foreign minister.

... the strongest sign yet that Iraq won't stay in Washington's pocket. This also signals the danger of a huge Iraqi Shiite reaction against US forces if the United States ever clashes with Iran over its nuclear program.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the visit by the Iranian foreign minister "underscored a US policy dilemma in Iraq."

'You've got two different trajectories, and I don't think the Americans have come to this realization,' says Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, contacted in Tehran. 'The Americans have hard power in Iraq, but the Iranians have soft power, and they are able to do things. It is a much more subtle influence than the Americans.'

The Washington Times also notes that the "somber public acknowledgement by senior Army officers this week is likely to come as a cold shock to the US public and to hawkish media commentators" who had assumed that the recent election of an Iraqi government would declaw the insurency.

Meanwhile, Agence-France Presse reports that a "series of tit-for-tat" killings has raised sectarian tensions "to the boiling point" in Iraq.

The Committee of Muslim Scholars, Iraq's main Sunni religious authority, on Wednesday accused a Shi'ite militia of killing Sunnis after dozens of bodies turned up in Baghdad. Some of the dead had been tortured ... The Sunni committee said security forces 'formed mostly by militias of certain parties taking part in the government' were responsible for killing 14 Sunnis, including three imams, in western Baghdad recently.

The Shiite interior minister and the Sunni defense minister have both denied the religious group's claims.

Radio Free Europe notes that the rise in tensions comes on the heels of this week's pronouncement by Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, that the country's Shiite population "has betrayed the Muslim cause," and that killing innocent Muslims was justified if it happens when attacking "collaborators."

The Los Angeles Times reports that the situation in Iraq had now forced the Bush administration to do something it says it didn't want to do: "deepen its involvement in the process of running Iraq."

The new American approach came clearly into focus this week. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, visiting Iraq on Thursday, called for 'an inclusive process' in governing the country and urged action on a new constitution. His trip came days after a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice's visit, which carried a signal of American support for the fledgling government, was 'very welcome,' [Karim Khutar Almusawi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq] said.

Finally, in a move designed to inflame tensions with US forces in Iraq, the Associated Press reports radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on mosques to paint US and Israeli flags outside their entrances, so that worshippers could step on them. He said the move was a protest against "US occupation" and for the alleged desecration of a Koran by US interrogators in Guantanamo, Cuba

[Eadora]

Perhaps the lack of interest in the war is due to a state of denial?

Like a patient with a terminal disease denying that he is sick Or a Newbie crack cocaine user denying that he is ADDICTED.

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Is The USA Is Addicted To War?

First Consider The Evidence, Then Draw Your Own Conclusions

By: Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D.

0/20/05 "ICH" - - Let us consider the possibility that the USA has become addicted, in an economic sense, to war. While the evidence offered below is by no means exhaustive, it is directly relevant and highly probative. Therefore, the reader should consider ALL of the evidence in Exhibits A through D before judging whether or not a prima facie case has been made that America is economically addicted t o war.

EXHIBIT A: US Military Budget Will Equal Rest Of World's Combined "Within 12 Months."

A new study by the Price Waterhouse Cooper corporate-finance group concluded that the USA's military "defense" budget:

(A) reached $417.4 billion in 2003;

(B) equaled nearly half - 46% - of the rest of world's ("ROW") combined

military expenditures in 2003; and

Edited May 25, 2005 by Dr. Luke

[ted]

Perhaps you would like to balance your "reporting" with some of the good that comes from there, as well?

Anyway, some of this stuff is true. It will turn nastier if things don't speed along.

We need to come home, but not before it's a bit more stable.

t.

PS- Evan Augustine Peterson sounds a bit miffed. Perhaps he was turned down a position in the DOD?

[hmh]

The media is only telling half-truths and anything else that they can blow up to make us look bad. How about telling the whole truth and all the good that has been done there? Oh, that would go against the grain of making us and the president look bad.

[Leonard]

It will get MUCH nastier if we don't fight to win.

This is not a time for the half-measures we have thusfar employed.

[dgolvach]

It will get MUCH nastier if we don't fight to win.

This is not a time for the half-measures we have thusfar employed.

I couldn't agree more but I get the feeling that the Bush-Haters don't really want us to win. They don't understand that every time they start going off with all of their cheery picked gloom and doom news, they help the enemy which actually makes it more dangerous for our soldiers. In that respect this war does resemble Viet Nam. We will possibly be defeated by ourselves because we fail to be resolute AFTER we entered the war. Now is not the time to be singing "should I stay or should I go". The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can bring our soldiers home and the less people will die. To cut and run now would have very deadly ramifications far beyond what we currently see. But who cares?...as long as you can bash Bush.

Dan

[hmh]

It will get MUCH nastier if we don't fight to win.

This is not a time for the half-measures we have thusfar employed.

I couldn't agree more but I get the feeling that the Bush-Haters don't really want us to win. They don't understand that every time they start going off with all of their cheery picked gloom and doom news, they help the enemy which actually makes it more dangerous for our soldiers. In that respect this war does resemble Viet Nam. We will possibly be defeated by ourselves because we fail to be resolute AFTER we entered the war. Now is not the time to be singing "should I stay or should I go". The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can bring our soldiers home and the less people will die. To cut and run now would have very deadly ramifications far beyond what we currently see. But who cares?...as long as you can bash Bush.

Dan

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How true. It's really sad. We can and I think will finish the job. Remember it took almost 10 years to pacify Germany and Japan. We had troops in those countries that lost their lives after hositlities ended. Why should this be any different?

[followerofjesus]

The liberal media always uses selective memory & reasoning.

[Leonard]

Of course! The Communist-controlled, America-haters including the press, the Demoncrat party, and all liberals, will do everything in their power to turn this war to failure, by means of non-stop lying press stories, pro-communist protests, etc. And we know how pliable Bush can be when put under pressure by the Left.

Speaking of the wickedness of the Communist-controlled press, just look at the article about Newsweek magazine's foreign marketing on World Net Daily today. Even I was stunned at how evil Newsweek is.....

[Eadora]

Of course! The Communist-controlled, America-haters including the press, the Demoncrat party, and all liberals, will do everything in their power to turn this war to failure, by means of non-stop lying press stories, pro-communist protests, etc. "

Hello Leonard! Knock Knock is anybody home!

The story quotes U.S. Military Commanders. Are they also