The 6 month truce between the US military and the Mahdi Army expires this month, and Muqtada Sadr is suggesting that he will not renew it.
If these folks go back to war, it will get ugly fast, and the so-called success of the surge will be demonstrated to be a failure.
Well, it appears that the US and Iraq are in the process of renegociating their security agreements, and the Iraqis consider the removal of immunity for contractors to be non-negotiable.
I think that this is the first time that the representatives of the Iraqi government are behaving in a way that is both beneficial to, and supported by its citizens regardless of ethnicity.
Good for them. As for the mercenaries, the rules in a foreign country are that if you do the crime, you do the time, in that country’s jails.
Remember when I claimed that Bush’s statement of “No Permanent Bases in Iraq” was a lie?
Well, now we get the parsing, because Bush and His Evil Minions™ are now saying that the US has no permanent bases anywhere in the world.
We don’t have them in Japan, or Korea, or Germany, because at some point, the host government could ask us to leave, or, in a few billion years, the sun could go nova.
I knew that his “no permanent bases” statement was a lie, but now he’s parsing it on the basis of what the word “is” is.
Steve Clemons notes that there are very few anti-war Republicans, and now there are one fewer with Gilchrist out.
He’s disappointed. Me, I think that hte more ‘Phants who weld themselves to the Avignon President, Mr. 30% popularity, C+ Augustus, the better.
The Bush administration, after much prodding, will be tightening up the standards for fraud, waste, and abuse in government contracting, but only in the US.
If you are contracting outside of the US, say like Halliburton in Iraq, you do not have to report, “internal fraud or overpayment on government-funded projects” in excess of $5 million.
My guess is that it would sweep up too many of their campaign contributors and Dick Cheney’s Golfing Buddies.
At least that is how I read a statement that says that he would , seek a military presence in Iraq for “years” but pledged in an interview aired Sunday that he would not establish permanent bases.“
He wants Iraq forever, but he does not want it to be an issue in the general.
Robert Gates is surprised and alarmed by this attitude. I say, “Well, Duh!!!”
It’s painfully clear that Afghanistan was shortchanged for the invasion of Iraq, and that the US is unable to support both efforts fully, so this means that European aid with operations in Iraq actually does free up US resources for operations in Afghanistan.
The European public has realized this for some time, as have the governments.
However, those in power realize that saying, “You’re on your own, Jack,” will shatter an alliance that they see as valuable.
The support of the European public American military operations anywhere is a rapidly wasting asset, and the stupid, disasterous war in Iraq is at its core.
Slam dunk my ass!!!!
Tenet goes to the Hague too.
Well, it appears that Bush and His Evil Minions™ are abandoning it’s senate confirmation free “Iraq Forever” plan. (see earlier details here)
Someone threw a spanner into the works, and I’m wondering who and how.
Attaturk reminds us that five years ago today, we had A Day which will live in Wankery, when Colin “The Most Overrated Man in America” Powell lied through his teeth to the world.
A convoy comes under fire, and as opposed to clearing the area with troops, an air strike is called in, killing 9 innocent Iraqi civilians.
This is a mark of a failing counterinsurgency effort.
You just killed 9 innocents, and you created a few more insurgents.
Casualties are on the rise again, and
the Iraqi presidential council appears to be ready the new debaathification law, with Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi saying, “We cannot regard this law as a step in the national reconciliation process. The spirit of revenge is so clear in many articles of the law.”
Iraq has gotten me quoting Elvis Costello, you know, “I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused”.
The Iraqi insurgency is releasing a new movie, a surge of their own.
We are back on the down slope.
The words of a soldier on the Stryker mobile gun system deployed to Iraq.
The reviews from the soldiers are in, and they hate it.
Your military industrial complex at work.
Remember Bush’s comments about troop cuts in Iraq?
He’s “recondidering troop cuts“.
To Bush and His Evil Minions™, winning is staying in, whatever the consequences, because it makes them feel like they did not dodge the draft in the 1960s.
Four months after announcing troop reductions in Iraq, President Bush is now sending signals that the cuts may not continue past this summer, a development likely to infuriate Democrats and renew concerns among military planners about strains on the force.
Mr. Bush has made no decisions on troop reductions to follow those he announced last September. But White House officials said Mr. Bush had been taking the opportunity, as he did in Monday’s State of the Union address, to prepare Americans for the possibility that, when he leaves office a year from now, the military presence in Iraq will be just as large as it was a year ago, or even slightly larger.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Bush wanted to tamp down criticism that a large, sustained presence in Iraq would harm the overall health of the military — a view held not only by Democrats, but by some members of his own Joint Chiefs of Staff.
We have no resources there, because we are tied down in Iraq.
Bush’s intent to make permanent and binding security arrangements with Iraq without congressional approval do appear to be unprecedented.
There were formal treaties for Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and NATO, and when Reagan entered into security arrangements with Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, this was submitted to the congress for approval.
You know it’s out there when Dana Freaking Rohrabacher is saying that this is “arrogant”.
The US Army has missed its recruiting benchmarks by an alarming margin:
Heck of a job there, Rummie.
Yes, it appears that the new de-Baathification law that the Iraqi parliament passed, the one that Bush and His Evil Minions™ have been crowing about, isn’t a de-Baathification law, it’s actually an even more aggressive purge of Baath party members, and Sunnis, than the previous law.
And it gets even better, because everyone’s favorite double crossing thief, Achmed Chalabi, is heading the de-Baathification commission.
Bush and His Evil Minions™ are lying sacks of sh$@!
Lying about the Iraq, here, and here.
NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE LIES
Bush comes in number two on the lie parade, but number two is a bit of a surprise:
The study says Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein’s possessing weapons of mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq’s links to al Qaeda.
…
The study, released Tuesday, says Powell had the second-highest number of false statements, with 244 about weapons and 10 about Iraq and al Qaeda.
Yep, the most overrated man in America lied to us more than anyone except for Bush himself.
Can we please stop calling “respected”.