The Iraq thread 3

[EiZei 0]

Maybe this is why Bush never attended a single funeral of a soldier who died as a result of his actions and attitude.

I wonder, did any other presidents during Kosovo/GW1/Vietnam/Korea do that too?

[Balschoiw 0]

U.S. plans to limit sovereignty of Iraq's caretaker government

Haha, this way they will make a lot of new friends with AK´s and RPG´s in Iraq.

US at it´s best...

Quote[/b] ]WASHINGTON - U.S. plans for a new caretaker government in Iraq would place severe limits on its sovereignty, including only partial command over its armed forces and no authority to enact new laws, American officials said Thursday.

These restrictions to the plan negotiated with Lakhdar Brahimi, the special U.N. envoy, were presented in detail for the first time by top officials of President George W. Bush's administration at congressional hearings this week. This resulted in long and intense questioning at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday during a hearing on the goal of returning Iraq to self-rule on June 30.

Only 10 weeks from the transfer of sovereignty, the administration is still not sure exactly who will govern in Baghdad, or how officials will be selected. A week ago, Bush agreed to a recommendation by Brahimi to dismantle the existing Iraqi Governing Council, which was picked by the United States, and replace it with a caretaker government.

That government would stay in power until elections are held next year.

The administration's plans seem likely to face objections on several fronts. Several European and U.N. diplomats said they did not think the United Nations would go along with a Security Council resolution sought by Washington that handcuffs the new Iraqi government in its authority over its own armed forces, let alone foreign forces on its soil.

The diplomats said it might be unrealistic to expect the new Iraqi government not to demand the right to change Iraqi laws put in place by the American occupation, including provisions limiting the influence of Islamic religious law.

I don´t know what to say about it, it´s the american way maybe

The US wants help from the UN ?

Not with this agenda.

[miles teg 1]

Nah... Sadr's time isn't up yet. He pretty much has the US forces there by the balls. The only hope of arresting him is to convince other Shi'ite factions to capture and arrest him.

If US forces invaded Najaf, that would be it...probably every Shi'ite cleric would declare Jihad against the US and coalition forces which pretty much would create a full-fledged uprising across the country except for perhaps the Kurds who will probably patiently await the outcome and take sides with the victorious faction.

...that is of coarse unless it got so bad that the United States decided to put a nuke on Iraq and put an end to the whole matter by wiping out a few million people. 1 million+ have died in "ethnic cleansing" operations in past conflicts.

Using a nuke is real easy to do when you try not to think of Iraqis as human beings. That's how so many Germans were able to slaughter so many Jews, its how the Japanese were able to slaughter so many Chinese... its all about feeling that we are superior and the enemy are all animals and barbarians and that the world would be a better place without them.

Its really easy for even the most liberal, peace loving person feel that way when they have exhausted efforts towards peace.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Koolkid101 0]

How come according to big media its ok to show the coffins yet when Bush runs ads with 9/11 he's being called insensitive by the media.

[miles teg 1]

Because he's using the deaths of the 9/11 victims to rally political support.

There's a big difference between that and the media simply showing returning bodies in a non-political context.

Of coarse war is political by its very nature, but if Kerry were to use pics of those coffins in his political campaign adds I'd be just as outraged.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Koolkid101 0]

Because he's using the deaths of the 9/11 victims to rally political support.  

There's a big difference between that and the media simply showing returning bodies in a non-political context.  

Of coarse war is political by its very nature, but if Kerry were to use pics of those coffins in his political campaign adds I'd be just as outraged.  

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

Sure some people are using it as a non political context but alot of the people arguing for the release of the photos where anti war and anti bush. Their intentions probably wanted to release to lower support for Bush.

[EiZei 0]

How come according to big media its ok to show the coffins yet when Bush runs ads with 9/11 he's being called insensitive by the media.

At least the coffin pics did not have a "approved by the DNC"-stamp on them.

[NavyEEL 0]

Maybe this is why Bush never attended a single funeral of a soldier who died as a result of his actions and attitude.

I suppose it wasn't enough that he visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital?

[Akira 0]

Maybe this is why Bush never attended a single funeral of a soldier who died as a result of his actions and attitude.

I suppose it wasn't enough that he visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital?

Wlater Reed

And was that before or after the press come out with reports of wounded soldiers in VA hospitals getting substandard care or being forgotten all together?

Was that before or after the media and soldiers families began to raise a stink because Bush had never visited any wounded soldier?

[Akira 0]

Quote[/b] ]Sure some people are using it as a non political context but alot of the people arguing for the release of the photos where anti war and anti bush. Their intentions probably wanted to release to lower support for Bush.

Were those "some people" belonging to a group that starts with "R" and ends with "epublicans"?

Nothing is more anti-war or anti-Bush than the truth. Do you not want the truth? Do you not want to see the evidence of lives shattered?

The soldiers and the Iraqi's are not just numbers scrolling on the news ticker.

[Akira 0]

Iraqi Captive

Jesus war is wierd....

[Akira 0]

War Dead

Quote[/b] ]April 23, 2004

Bob Jacobs

Headquarters, Washington

(Phone: 202/358-1600)

NOTE TO EDITORS: n04-059

COLUMBIA CREW MISTAKENLY IDENTIFIED AS IRAQI WAR CASUALTIES

Many news organizations across the country are mistakenly identifying the flag-draped caskets of the

Space Shuttle Columbia's crew as those of war casualties from Iraq.

Editors are being asked to confirm that the images used in news reports are in fact those of

American casualties and not those of the NASA astronauts who were killed Feb.1, 2003, in the

Columbia tragedy.

An initial review of the images featured on the Internet site www.thememoryhole.org shows that more

than 18 rows of images from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware are actually photographs of honors

rendered to Columbia's seven astronauts.

News organizations across the world have been publishing and distributing images featured on the web

site.

-end-

[Akira 0]

Quote[/b] ]NAPLES, Florida (CNN) -- President Bush has seen the photographs of caskets of slain U.S. military personnel returning from Iraq and was "moved" by them, according to a White House spokesman, who defended the policy against making such pictures public.

This forum needs a "rolling eyes" emoticon. Makes me want to take him by his two elephant ears and shake his empty skull...

[denoir 0]

Danish defence minister resigns

Quote[/b] ]

Denmark's defence minister has resigned amid criticism of government reports about alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Days earlier, lawmakers questioned whether Denmark's military intelligence agency gave accurate reports on Saddam Hussein's possession of WMDs.

"I don't want to burden the government and my family with the smear campaign," Svend Aage Jensby said in a statement.

The Danish government backed the US-led war on Iraq.

It recently declassified intelligence reports compiled before the Iraq war which show officials thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

The extracts appear to contradict claims leaked to a newspaper that there was no evidence to back up the theory.

Former intelligence officer, Major Frank Soeholm Grevil, has since been charged with breaching the official information act. The major told reporters at the Berlingske Tidende newspaper he had sent 10 reports to the prime minister which concluded that the coalition was unlikely to find weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Jensby is to be replaced by former army officer Soeren Gade from Denmark's ruling Liberal Party.

Oh mr Rumsfeld: HINT! HINT!  

[The Frenchman 0]

The other country...

The buck stops where?

[quicksand 0]

Iraqi Captive

Jesus war is wierd....

Quote[/b] ]Far from being badly treated, she said her kidnappers looked after the group well and even gave them tea, food and blankets.

Then I made a couple of balloon animals including a giraffe for his children."

The kidnappers warmed to the group and the campaigners were told they would be released after the morning prayers the following day.

"To be honest they had begun to realise we were not scary people after we started singing songs and talking to them. They told us we would not be hurt and that we would be released," Wilding said.

Nah..That couldn`t be.Insurgents have souls and famillies too?

But I thought they are evil foreign fighters hand picked by Al-Zarqawi himself in a desperate effort to plundge Iraq into chaos and start a civil war between the "sleepy sunnis" and shias.

On a more serious note you got to idmit this Al-Zarqawi guy is a regular Hudini.Gets pinned down in a Pakistany army incursion against Al-Queda at the border with Afghanistan, travells all the way to Iraq,passes all the US checkpoints, arriving in Fallujah,manages to slip somehow and coordonate the Basra attacks.Who cares the captured suspects are Iraqis angry because of the siege in Fallujah,its got to be Zarqawi!

[miles teg 1]

Because he's using the deaths of the 9/11 victims to rally political support.  

There's a big difference between that and the media simply showing returning bodies in a non-political context.  

Of coarse war is political by its very nature, but if Kerry were to use pics of those coffins in his political campaign adds I'd be just as outraged.  

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

Sure some people are using it as a non political context but alot of the people arguing for the release of the photos where anti war and anti bush. Their intentions probably wanted to release to lower support for Bush.

Well if the truth lowers support for Bush, then that's Bush's fault not the media's.

If you still think showing those pictures are wrong, then so were pics of Clinton hugging Monica Lewdinsky.

You can't pic and choose these things. That's not what a democratic government is based upon. Yes bad press can cause us to lose wars, but often that's for a reason. The Vietnam War was WRONG. History has proven that.

So is this war in Iraq, or at least the way in which it has been conducted by the Bush administration destroying most of the good will and solidarity that we enjoyed from the world after 9/11. Bush squandered this and has led us into a Vietnam style quagmire because of his administration's own stupidity and greed... and now our country is paying the consequences, especially the young men and women of our armed forces who are paying with their lives, their health, and often with the loss of their sanity.

Soon undoubtably American civilians will be paying with our lives in the next terrorist attack inside the US that is almost certainly going to be carried out before the end of the election. I guess if the Islamic extremists attack from Canada then we'll have to invade Canada aye? Those Candian liberals were asking for it anyways.

;)

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[miles teg 1]

Quote[/b] ]Sure some people are using it as a non political context but alot of the people arguing for the release of the photos where anti war and anti bush. Their intentions probably wanted to release to lower support for Bush.

Were those "some people" belonging to a group that starts with "R" and ends with "epublicans"?

Nothing is more anti-war or anti-Bush than the truth. Do you not want the truth? Do you not want to see the evidence of lives shattered?

The soldiers and the Iraqi's are not just numbers scrolling on the news ticker.

Yes they are numbers Akira. Keep your eye on the prize Akira. It's about oil and $$ and the troops just numbers in an equation for investment and profit from Iraqi oil revenue and oil field development contracts.

It's all economics and we are all just numbers to the government....numbers in polls, numbers in votes, numbers in economic figures, numbers in taxes, and numbers in deaths.

It's all very logical. Why can't you see it Akira?

LOL!.

I'm being sarcastic of coarse but that is often how politicians, businesses, beaurocrats, and economists see humanity.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Quote[/b] ]NAPLES, Florida (CNN) -- President Bush has seen the photographs of caskets of slain U.S. military personnel returning from Iraq and was "moved" by them, according to a White House spokesman, who defended the policy against making such pictures public.

This forum needs a "rolling eyes" emoticon. Makes me want to take him by his two elephant ears and shake his empty skull...

ask and you shall receive:

[ralphwiggum 6]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/23/bush.caskets/index.html

Quote[/b] ]NAPLES, Florida (CNN) -- President Bush was "moved" by recently published photos of caskets containing U.S. military personnel slain in Iraq but stands by his policy barring their publication, a White House spokesman said Friday.

so what is going on? it is ok to view photo to be "moved" but not to show it for public? if this is such a "moving" photo, why is TBA not realeasing it to show how "moving" the war is?

[ralphwiggum 6]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/23/iraq.main/index.html

Quote[/b] ]BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi police confirmed Friday that five Iraqis have been arrested in connection with this week's suicide attacks in the Basra region, and said the five are suspected of having links to the al Qaeda terror network.

The bombings, at police stations in Basra and a police training facility in Az Zubayr, killed 74 people and wounded 160 others.

Col. Ali Abdullah, a Basra policeman, could not say why the five were thought to have links to al Qaeda and could not say where in Iraq they came from.

They were arrested Thursday in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Basra. Large explosives were also confiscated.

The men are in custody and are being interrogated, Abdullah said.

Wael Abdel Latif, Basra's provincial governor, said Thursday that another man was arrested near the Az Zubayr training center.

[billybob2002 0]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=7&u=/ap/20040423/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_re_enlistments_5

Quote[/b] ]

U.S. Soldiers Re-Enlist in Strong Numbers

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Despite the shrapnel wounds Staff Sgt. William Pinkley suffered during his tour in Iraq (news - web sites), the 26-year-old is joining other soldiers who are re-enlisting at rates that exceed the retention goals set by the Pentagon (news - web sites).

Quote[/b] ]

As of March 31 — halfway through the Army's fiscal year — 28,406 soldiers had signed on for another tour of duty, topping the six-month goal of 28,377. The Army's goal is to re-enlist 56,100 soldiers by the end of September.

Quote[/b] ]

It's a very positive retention picture at this point," said Lt. Col. Franklin Childress, an Army public affairs officer. The Army had nearly a half-million active-duty soldiers.

However, Childress cautioned that factors such as an improved economy and the Pentagon's decision to keep about 20,000 troops in Iraq for longer than a year to help quell the violence could change the picture.

The Marines, which along with the Army have borne the brunt of combat in Iraq, said they have already fulfilled 90 percent of their retention goal for the fiscal year for getting Marines to re-up after their initial commitment. The Air Force and the Navy said they, too, are exceeding goals for getting airmen and sailors to re-enlist.

 

[ralphwiggum 6]

nice to see that most soldiers are willing to fix what they were breaking.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Anyone had a look into this book yet?

[ozanzac 0]

nice to see that most soldiers are willing to fix what they were breaking.

Or a little over-eager to break it just a little bit more?