>>Even so the UNHCR is having difficulty raising $100m (£50m) for relief. The organisation says the two countries caring for the biggest proportion of Iraqi refugees - Syria and Jordan - have still received "next to nothing from the world community".

The only financial aid I've ever heard of any wealthy Arabs (whether countries or individuals) giving to anyone is the money they channel through various 'insurgent' organizations -- and all those stories were in the context of the US trying to put a stop to it. I realize that my almost complete lack of knowledge on this issue could well be due to another 'oversight' on the part of the US's mainstream media. So, do you have any information about, for instance, how much foreign aid and/or UN refugee assistance countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait give each year, and who they give it to? This question isn't intended as judgmental, especially since the relatively small amount of foreign aid that the US gives ends up being little more than another corporate welfare program.

Kat
Kat | 07.30.07 - 5:24 pm | #

Pollack is on the Situation Room atm. He claims that the title of the op-ed wasn't his choice, and refused to state on the record that the war actually is 'winnable'. He admitted under questioning from Blitzer that the 'tour' of Iraq Pollack and O'Hanlon (and Anthony Cordesman of CSIS, who hasn't posted his dispatch yet) went on was arranged/controlled by US military officials.

Pollack also said (in what came across as a backhanded snipe against blogospheric critics) that watching Iraq was "a full time job" for himself and O'Hanlon, and that spending 8 days in Iraq was "better than none".

Take that, you dirty f*cking hippies!
matttbastard | Homepage | 07.30.07 - 5:27 pm | #

The op-ed itself is nothing but a desperately optimistic liberal hawk riff on Fred Kagan and Bill Kristol' desperately optimistic neocon cheerleading (with 'stability' standing in for 'victory'). So grating to have two of the most prominent pro-invasion advocates being presented as 'former war critics'.

Again, I eagerly await Cordesman's take on the tour.
matttbastard | Homepage | 07.30.07 - 5:39 pm | #