more bad news from Iraq

[charrison]

linkage

''By God, I guarantee you we've made tremendous progress,'' Sanchez said at a news conference. ''We are way ahead of schedule.''

...

Also yesterday, US forces took the first significant step toward establishing a new 40,000-member Iraqi army. About 3,000 people, including some who fought against the Americans, lined up at Baghdad's airport to interview for places in the military. Coalition officials have said that the army will be vital to stabilizing the country.

...

He said US soldiers had helped to reopen shattered schools, police stations, and courthouses since the government fell on April 9.

...

Asked by reporters why his assessment was so positive amid a persistent guerrilla war and a restive population, Sanchez said, ''Look -- I spent a year in Kosovo in the aftermath of a war. We were nowhere near the level of progress that has been made in this entire country in 100 days.''

 

[BarneyFife]

Is that you Alistar?

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
Is that you Alistar?

Is that you morph?

CkG

 

[drewshin]

although i dont fully disagree with the guy, what do you expect him to say. he could have an rpg launched at him every day and he would still give the same assessment.

 

[Moonbeam]

Wonderful as it would be that we could fix the mess Saddam made in Iraq, I'm not sure we can afford the price.

 

[etech]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Wonderful as it would be that we could fix the mess Saddam made in Iraq, I'm not sure we can afford the price.

Can we afford not to pay the price to bring security,peace and prosperity into that region of the world.

Fixing Iraq will do far more than just improving the lives of Iraqis.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: etech

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Wonderful as it would be that we could fix the mess Saddam made in Iraq, I'm not sure we can afford the price.

Can we afford not to pay the price to bring security,peace and prosperity into that region of the world.

Fixing Iraq will do far more than just improving the lives of Iraqis.

Like what?

 

[etech]

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: etech

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Wonderful as it would be that we could fix the mess Saddam made in Iraq, I'm not sure we can afford the price.

Can we afford not to pay the price to bring security,peace and prosperity into that region of the world.

Fixing Iraq will do far more than just improving the lives of Iraqis.

Like what?

Damn, I thought that would be obvious to anyone that knew anything about the region or economics.

Do you really need the improvements to the entire regions economy spelled out for you if Iraq develope a thriving economy and improves trade with the rest of the region?

Iraq used to be a strong economic force in the region before Saddam destroyed so much with his wars and repression. It can return to that strength if certain forces do not derail it.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: etech

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Wonderful as it would be that we could fix the mess Saddam made in Iraq, I'm not sure we can afford the price.

Can we afford not to pay the price to bring security,peace and prosperity into that region of the world.

Fixing Iraq will do far more than just improving the lives of Iraqis.

Like what?

a) The UN won't make ~12yrs worth of worthless and ultimately unenforced resolutions again.
b) Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, S.A., and other bordering nations won't have to worry about Saddam and his weapons.
c) enrich travel in and around the M.E.
d) allow for unrestricted imports/exports
e) etc etc etc

But those don't count as content do they.

CkG

 

[DealMonkey]

Don't forget, it will also allow us to pull our troops out of Saudi Arabia. Shifting to other bases in the region will remove one of the big reasons Islamic Militants were so pissed off @ us. Although, I'm sure they'll just find an alternate reason to hate us. But at least we won't have such a large military presence in the "holy land."

Don't get me wrong, I still don't agree with invading Iraq, but it was one of the few things I could think of that could be considered a good thing (tm).

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Don't forget, it will also allow us to pull our troops out of Saudi Arabia. Shifting to other bases in the region will remove one of the big reasons Islamic Militants were so pissed off @ us. Although, I'm sure they'll just find an alternate reason to hate us. But at least we won't have such a large military presence in the "holy land."

Don't get me wrong, I still don't agree with invading Iraq, but it was one of the few things I could think of that could be considered a good thing (tm).

We have already shut down our operations in Turkey where we operated northern watch from.

 

[kl001]

Iraq used to be a strong economic force in the region before Saddam destroyed so much with his wars and repression. It can return to that strength if certain forces do not derail it.

Did he, really? How do you know? Were you there? Or were you watching CNN? Or did CIA tell you so?
Iraq used to be a strong economic force in the region before BEFORE UN banned them from selling O-I-L !
Now, when we all can see that the reason for the invasion and occupation was a fake one, provided by CIA at the White House request, don't you think it's time to pull out of the region and let Israel deal with it's problems by itself?
This war did not help our economy one bit, we are losing our soldiers, the whole world hates us, what else should we do to dig it deeper?

And one more - can anybody explain to me WHY after travelling in Europe for a month where I barely heard about Israel, now that I am back home in US every TV and radio station broadcasts news about Israel every half an hour. Am I in the USA or am I in Israel? What is going on? I'd rather hear about events in England and Ireland, not in the holy land.