Washington Post :
President Obama's decision to detour from his planned trip home from Turkey today to make a brief stop in Iraq comes amid a series of polls that suggest the conflict has faded as a priority in the minds of most Americans.
In a mid-March CNN poll, just six percent named the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the nation's most pressing priority -- roughly one tenth the percentage of people who chose the economy (63 percent).
it is hard not to wonder about the "coincidence" of Obama's visit being confined to the airport and coming in the midst of a rising tide in violence in Iraq over the past several days.
Harut Sassounian: Obama Undermines His Credibility by Not Saying "Genocide" in Ankara
It is not clear if Pres. Obama was deceived by the Turks' warnings to third parties not to interfere in the Armenian-Turkish negotiations.
Michael Schwartz: The Obama Administration is Actually Increasing the US Presence in Iraq
When U.S. troops are "withdrawn" from Iraq, their jobs are taken over by mercenaries -- the notorious "contractors," who are hired for fabulous sums of money to sustain the huge U.S. presence there.
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Over 2 Million Iraqi dead because of the USA Iraqi occupation and war crime.
http://www
For the military personnel serving in the "big sand box" known as Iraq, the war remains in the forefront. Regardless of what you read in the media, Iraq is still a very dang*erous place for everyone, particularily American military personnel.
Do not allow yourselves to be lulled into a false sense of success or victory, the reductions we have seen in American casualties could soon be replaced by reports of serious losses. I say this with respect to the recent very troubling uptick in bom*bings in Baghdad. It appears we are once again witnessing the willingness of Iraqis to engage in sectarian violence. The Shiite-led Iraqi Government, urged on by the White House, is demanding the Sunni Awakening Councils disarm their militias. This does not bode well for security in not only Baghdad, but in places like Ramadi, Tikrit, and trhe rest of the Sunni Triangle. The Awakening Councils or the "Sons Of Iraq", largely made up of ex-insurgents may well feel threatened and decide to revert to their devas*tating insurgent tactics. That could deter U.S. plans to remove all combat troops from Baghdad and other cities by the end of June 2009 and end the U.S. combat role in Iraq by September 2010. It could also lead to ever increasing US casualties.
If the war in Iraq is illegal-Barack must get out tomorrow. It's time for us to demand an immediate pull out. Don't dissapoint us Barack!
Iraq? You mean there's still a war in Iraq? This is probably a good thing because the military is going to become the only viable employer for a great deal of the population as the economy continues to tank.
I was watching FOX NEWS this morning and about 10 minutes after 6:00AM they reported that President Obama might make a surprise stop in Iraq. This was several hours before he arrived and personally, I believe it was very irresponsible and reckless of them. Anyway, I recorded it and uploaded it to YouTube. Just thought people should know about this.
here's the link:
http://www
thank you
http://www
"Vice President Dick Cheney opened a new U.S. push for political unity in Iraq on an unannounced visit Monday,"
For wingnuts who are not keeping up: It is illegal to unilaterally attack a soveriegn nation that poses no threat to us. Iraq was not a threat to attack us.
I feel you on that but, if that is truly a law, it's meaningless, because no one enforced it.
Absolutely true. And it compounds the crimi.nali
- Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 ceasefire, including interference with w.eapons inspectors.
- Iraq's alleged wea.pons of m.ass destruction, and programs to develop such we.apons, posed a thre.att to the national sec.urity of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region."
- Iraq's "capability and willingness to use we.apons of mass destr.ucti
- Members of al-Qa.eda were "known to be in Ira.q."
- Iraq's "continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terr.ori.s
I'm going to offer up a different idea.
I believe that Shrub was easily duped into starting this conflict (the Nigerian yellow cake was after all a phony paper trail) by friend or foe, remains to be seen.
Given the opportunity however, the misadministration began to espouse its own propaganda in order to facilitate George II looking "bigger" than George I and entering into this theater once again (Shrub has Daddy issues)
There were other options in dealing with Iraq (selective as..ss asi nation being one of them). Or if the Dubya thing had really wanted to win this, we would have entered into this with numbers sufficient to take and hold this nation.
And the "Surge" was nothing more than an admission that the CIC (and I use that term very loosely with regard to 43) that he should have listened to his Joint Chiefs in the first place.
Absolutely true. And it compounds the crimi.nali
- Iraq's nonc.ompli
- Ira.q's alleged wea.pons of m.ass dest.ruc.t
- Ira.q's "capability and willingness to use we.apons of ma.ss destr.ucti
- Members of a.l-Qa.eda were "known to be in Ira.q."
- Ir.aq's "continu[ing] to aid and harb.or other intern.ati
BoTox - we went over this last night, remember?
My policy hasn't changed... i don't engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
sorry.
Wingers have nothing but they won the surge but their war still sucks big time. We lost men and women and innocent civilians for a war that was illegal, immoral, and unnecessary while the people who planned the attacke on the WTC are still running free. But, but, but the surge!
Don't get me started on the surge.
So many other things happened at the same time. Those things had far more to do with the drop in violence than the surge. The surge was a PR game the W won. Pity, but we must move on.
BoSoxFanNC3's posts have gotten sillier, angrier, and less factual as the day has gone on.
He/she is definitely drinking.
The problem with the more coherent conservatives like AliMB (BTW if you're still here, i always enjoy reading your posts!) is simply a stubborn insistence on ignoring an indisputable fact: the rationale for the Iraq w.ar is based on li.es.
No matter how successful (or not - by Bush's own benchmark standards, it's been a failure) the Surge(TM) is (or isn't) the fact that it had to be implemented at all underlines the utter lack of competent planning the entire misadventure has been.
I'm still waiting for someone to point out how a foreign policy dis.aster of this magnitude, planned and e.xecuted by incompetents, is somehow going to be deemed a "success".
It'll never be more than a fo.olish adve.nture that's cost thousands of lives and vast amounts of tr.easure.
Coherent conservatives?
Really? Okay.
hey, his posts are usually pretty accurate and he makes good points... gotta give him props for that...
The conviction Tuesday of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on human rights charges – including authorizing murder and kidnapping – has been hailed by some as a milestone for justice in Latin America.
Mr. Fujimori, who ruled Peru throughout the 1990s, is the first democratically elected leader in the region found guilty, in his own country, of human rights abuses.
President Obama - If Peru can be held accountable, how about our country
and the bush administration.
Apparently O did great on his March Madness brackets, Repubs.
I guess he can do no wrong. You lose again.
Republicans make their case against President Obama by aligning him with Bush, their icon.
Heh. I guess they were for Obama before they were against him.
He's not their icon any more, only to us. They seek to devalue Obama by making him out to be as bad as Bush.
This tactic can't work without them acknowledging Bush as a failure.
He's their brand icon. Make no mistake about it. The fact that they won't acknowledge his failure means they still view him as a representation of their brand image.
Obama’s Approval Tops Recent Presidents Bush, Clinton (Update1)
By Kristin Jensen
April 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is winning higher marks from Americans than the last three presidents early in their terms as he takes on a global recession, two wars and domestic fights over government spending, health care and taxes.
Obama’s approval rating climbed to a high of 66 percent in an April 1-5 New York Times/CBS News poll released today. The poll follows recent surveys by the Gallup Poll, Quinnipiac University and the Pew Research Center showing that about six out of 10 Americans approve of the job the president is doing.
A Gallup Poll taken in March gave Obama, a Democrat, a 64 percent approval rating. That compares with 56 percent for Republican George H.W. Bush, 52 percent for Democrat Bill Clinton and 53 percent for Republican George W. Bush at similar points in their presidencies. The last Bush left office with an approval rating of 34 percent, according to a Jan. 9 - 1 1 Gallup Poll.
http://www
AliMB
you still haven't explained how the biggest foreign policy blunder in a generation, based on li.e.s that led to an ille.gal inv.asion and occupation, is somehow going to be a "success".
Still no answer?
Lies?? Congress GAVE the President the AUTHORITY to ENFORCE ALL RELEVANT UNSC resolutions!!!
Read the JR-- read what was AUTHORIZED--NOT what the media wrote/spoke about--or ANYNE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER---READ THE LANGUAGE OF THE JR-- that's all that counts!!! Its like a contract !! It doesnt [didnt] matter what ANYONE said outside of the SPECIFICS of the JR [and, by the way, in the JR any mention of "stockpiles" of WMD were in the PAST TENSE-- the CONCERN WAS ABOUT PROGRAMS AND CAPACITIES FOR DEVELOPING WMD!!
Oh--and lets not forget...i
Prior to our invasion, if you were emailing anyone in Iraq--as I was doing on a regular basis once email communication became available [from 1992-2001 it was snail mail]. all emails went through a person whose title was the "Internet Minder" [I kid you not!!!]-- the Huffpo's "internet minder" does not seem to like my postings--esp those that cite relevant public documents--or quote Iraqi scientists. I wonder why???
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First Posted: 04- 7-09 02:05 PM | Updated: 05- 8-09 05:12 AM