WSJ...wow!
I don't see America abandoning Georgia even if they did some stupid things. The immediate reaction of neighboring countries is telling. Western Europe was eqivocal in typical fashion while Eastern Europe supported Georgia. Poland signed a deal with the US. Russia overstepped and they do have something to lose economically in spite of their oil wealth.
Ah-yup, it's a trap alright. We need to look close enough to see the hook before chompin down on that sucker.
I'm sure State will take it all, hook, line and sinker. I see another stupid treaty coming.
The Department of State needs to take a year or so off. They have started enough wars the last few years to keep the rest of us busy for a while.
When you think about how out of control the State Department is, remember Sen. Biden has spent the last few years keeping an eye on them, or at least that is what he was supposed to be doing. Some eye.
Good article Omar, it fits right in with what many have said here for years. . . . that much of the root of terrorism is because the US supported thugs like Saddam in order to keep the Soviets confined. Allowing and aiding thugs to suppress their own people has been a selling point for terrorist recruiters for decades.
We must stand on the side of democracy now. Supporting Georgia will have costs. The Russians will manipulate their oil and gas exports in an effort to pressure the west.
But higher energy costs, along with its associated inflationary affects, will be easier to tolerate than aiding terrorist recruiters by appeasing the Russians and turning our back on the Georgians.
And if we give in to the Russian lust for power, we will weaken democracies all around the world, especially in the Baltic and mid-Asian countries. It will also do great harm to democratic movements currently in Russia and other countries, including Iraq and the Mid-East.
Besides, higher energy costs now will only acclerate the developement of our own resources, encourage conservation, and lead to more research into alternative energies. In the long term, this will be better for our economy and the planet.
A very good and timely article, Mohammed! What you say is exactly right. I believe that McCain will be the next president and without doubt he will follow this sort of policy, one which is compatible with our current actions in Georgia.
Essentially, when we sent in humanitarian aid via C-17s, a potential annexation by Russia was, I think, avoided. Also, the additional pronouncements by America and many other countries, that this Russian action WILL NOT GO UNANSWERED set the stage for a more active stance to punish adventurism while not precipitating combat.
Putin would be well-advised to watch his back, as this Russia is NOT the USSR of old. Not only is it less powerful, militarily, politically, and ideologically than is predecessor, but since it actually still has some non-state economic powers in-country that stand to lose money from Western economic reprisals, it is not out of the question that they would seek to depose his rule to avoid future unpleasantness. I think Putin screwed up. We will see.
one day i'll get paid for this..
http://thadlucken.blogspot.com
think about it.
"And even though the Cold War is long over, winning Russia's cooperation (or stopping Russian support for Iran) may sound tempting."
The Cold War went into hibernation, and is back with a vengeance in Georgia, i.e., where there is a democracy, there is a Russian enemy.
"The Russians will manipulate their oil and gas exports in an effort to pressure the west."
Wiz, during this whole morass with Georgia, were you looking at oil prices? It brought them up, and as some Russian spokesman recently said, they are not interested in any fuel source except carbon-based energy. If they corner that market, before we become energy independent, we're up the proverbial creek without a paddle...and they know it!
The way for the United States to influence Russia,Iran,China,and Central and South American Countries, is through it's Economics.
The United States can reduce the Income of those Countries by reducing it's demand for Oil and for other Imports.
If China was denied access to the American Markets, they would suffer a Revolution.
It the price of oil dropped to $10 or $20 a barrel, Russia,Iran,and the others would suffer tremendous economic reversals and hardships.
There would be no money for Russia to buy Military Hardware.
All America has to do is create a Federal Voucher Program to replace 10 or 20 Million "Gas Hog" type vehicles, which could be financed by a minor unit tax on each gallon of gasoline (America consumes 390 Million Gallons a Day)and the value and price of Gasoline would decrease over-night.
Its called, "Bring them to their knees"
DagneyT | Homepage | 08.23.08 - 5:51 pm |
The USA could become energy independent with te stroke of a pen.
ANY President can re-install Nixon's executive order rationing gasoline. They won't get re-elected, but that is a different issue. Limit gasoline sales to 10 gallons based on odd-even days and gasoline consumption will be but WAAAAAAAY down. People will get really pissed off about it and the OIL business will spend millions lobbying against the President. The economy will take a big hit, but we will be energy independent. Gas coupons are another wy to go, but that would take time to set up. IIRC ir took a few months to set up the ration system used in WW2, which wasn't that good a system. I stilll have some of the WW2 gas coupons, I wonder if they would still be good?
If a coupon system was adotped, the coupons become a form of money, which would require Congressional approval, I think.
Some sort of credit card might work better.
They left yet? 15 days and counting.
The Russkies have several trump cards they could play. The most likely is that they will wait til the dead of winter and cut off Europe from its oil and gas lines. This would be a disaster for Europe as they get a vast majority of oil and gas from Russia and the pipelines it controls.
Also, Russia has a lot of money from its oil sales. It could start dumping dollars to start a currency war.
It also has substantial holdings of US debt, another weapon in an economic war.
It could also give much more military aid to Iran and Syria, greatly complicating the ME.
Of course, any economic attacks by Russia would also have internal ramifications for them. But remember the Russian leaders aren't encumbered by sympathies for starving countrymen or feelings of guilt and remorse. And Putin can fix an election better than Joe Kennedy ever dreamed.
Nor do they care about "passing a sort of world test."
Me: don't undertake vast projects with half-vast plans. Can Putin keep his super-bluff going? It needs to be called.
Brian H | Homepage | 08.23.08 - 11:40 pm | #
Brian, bluffing is a great strategy if you know your opponents well. And Putin has seen what the Euro weenies will do. . . . nothing.
And he has seen what the fifth column in the US can do. He knows the enemies of freedom within the US are powerful enogh that they will stop any attempt by US leaders to stand up to him, if any should dare try.
He has seen a great military victory in Iraq and the WoT be denied its due by the left wing press.
He has seen a US ally in Musharrif be brought down by political opportunists in the US.
If you had his cards and saw how your opponents have played, wouldn't you be willing to bluff?
Typos,
In order to switch to nuclear, wind, solar, coal, etc. we need a strong economy to guarantee startup capital
"Limit gasoline sales to 10 gallons" will be more than painful, any restriction on energy will grind us to a halt.
With the stroke of a pen we could be on our way to energy security. The first step would have been for the President to tighten the screws and call congress back into session.
Thoughtful, but far too complacent:
They can only go so far.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8082202395.html
Every one of these rogue nations will go as far as they can: that is, until they are stopped.
I, too, think that our strategic interest lies with Georgia rather than with Russia, because the Russian government has yet to figure out how to run its own country, much less someone else’s. It’s been a long time since the end of WWII and then the end of the USSR, and Russia is still a failed state. All an expanded Russia would become is a bigger failed state.
If you have a garden, and you have pigs nearby, you put a fence around both the garden and the pigs. Otherwise, you’ll never get any vegetables.
the way it was splained to me in yute was that mercantalism wasnt capitalism because theycame home and blew their wad and had to start all over every trip, capitalists had to share accounability with others and were therefore not as sexy and free as "merchants".
russia is not a capitalist country:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/s...tory/
49962.html
they are on an emotional 'high' like someone trying to leave the casino after winning big thinking then to themselves that if they won once why not do it again and again. VPutin knows that he has scared away most foriegn capital that could seriously change their paradignm and the dogs at his ankles wont go for it anyway so he has to ride the lightning.
hence his brutality in georgia, it scratchs many an itch.
ot but anyone see this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport...r-
Olympics.html
rock-n-roll is so dead if jpage is changing lyrics for murderers just for some pounds...
Valerie | 08.24.08 - 7:20 am |
Putting lipstick on the pigs doesn't change them into non-pigs.
I think we totally confuse the Russians and always have. They tend to respect military strength and only military strength. That is reasonable for a state based on brute force. To a state based on consensus, strength isn't the same thing.
The Russians see economic strength only as a base for military strength. The don't see economic strength as strength in it's own right.
The Russians think that they lost the cold war because their economy was unable to match the American economy, so they lost the arms race because of that.
There is a certain logic to their POV, seen from the Kremlin. Now they have all this OIL money to spend on their military, so they think they are strong again.
They also see the West as lacking the will to use their advantages in military strength. That combined with the Russian ( and some westerner's) opinion that the Soviet Union should have attacked in the mid 70's, while the USA was recovering from Vietnam and the Soviets had a rough parity with the West in Nuclear weapons makes this generation of Russian leaders VERY dangerous.
The Russians don't do to Europe what they did to Georgia because they don't feel strong enough to get away with it. As soon as they feel strong enough, they will.
Did you ever think about why muggers don't rob cops, but go after old ladies?
It's not majic, even if the left thinks it is.
Speaking of pigs and lipstick, For the first time in modern history, the Democrats have put up a ticket were nobody has ever put on the uniform. Period.
Obama bin Biden has never spent a minute serving their country. Senators serve themselves and special interest groups NOT their country.
I think that will cost them in a few months.
Here's a great idea. Drill here in the US, create US jobs, free US from foreign influence or blackmail. Prove to Russia that we don't need their help with Iran. Remember the video of the Russians fleeing when we invaded Iraq? Kick Russia out of the G8 and NATO. They have no VETO power so we can squeeze their government like a tick. The Russian elite will not like to go back to government control.
p2,
I know how ya feel...lets see
and listen
I is willing to at least give the
last of the 2008 "HERO"'S......
A do repspect...
All of them....
US interests in Georgia are not worth any more US resources. We have done our moral duty by returning Georgian troops from Iraq to Georgia.
I'm sorry this war broke out, but it is a conflict between Georgia and Russia. Let them figure it out or turn it over to the do-gooders in the UN. I say concentrate on winning the wars we already have and let others fight their own.
America should pick Georgia over Russia. Good idea. Unfortunately, no American would pick up the gun and die for Georgian Democracy. I am sure when needed, lot of Iraqis will enlist in US Army to fight in Georgia killing their fellow coreligionists (muslims) in Abakhazia and Ossentia; hey, US is running short of boys to enlist in US Army; Iraqi boys could provide the needed cannon-fodder.
I have a better idea. America should pick Israel over Arabs. After all, Israel is a Democracy and even Arabs recognize Israel as a fairly good and well-functioning (though definitely flawed) democracy.
US does have lot of interests in Israel and the Middle East. Now, what are US national interests in Georgia? Sorry, I can't find any; could somebody tell me what interests US have in Georgia?.
If the author of the article favours democracy in Georgia, then why does he not favour democracy in their fellow Arab (and muslim) countries like Syria, Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia? Is he trying to tell me that Islam and Democracy are incompatible, but Georgian Christian-Communism is compatible with Democracy?
Romesh Chander
Bellingham, WA, USA
I say concentrate on winning the wars we already have and let others fight their own.
ricg | 08.24.08 - 5:17 pm | #
You poor thing. You just don't understand, do ya?
Good analysis, Typos. All the more reason why the US needs to remove all restrictions and start exploiting its own massive oil & gas reserves as soon as possible. It truly is a matter of national security.
ricg | 08.24.08 - 5:17 pm |
Very short-sighted and almost ignorant.
If you have someone that wants to fight you, there will be a fight. Your choice is limited to taking a beating or fighting back. If you chose to fight back, then you try to pick the place to fight.
We will either fight there, or fight here.
The moonbats are always going on about how the world is one. Global warming doesn't stop at a national, border or so they say. If that is true for global warming, it is true for war. ALL wars as global now. Just as pollution spewed in China affects us here in the states, so does war in Georgia.
That is just a fact. It may be an uncomfortable fact, but there it is.
It's like living in a dorm. The guy down the hall throws a party and it will keep you awake too.
Dear Mohammed and Omar
This is a timely article and well expressed. Very well done.
Now we should look at this situation from the Ossetians and Abkhazian Point of views.
They deserve governments that respect their human rights and governments that focus on their needs- education, healthcare, full employement, none discrimination, and Law and Order etc-
Has Geargia given that to them?
I do not know. I cannot say.
It would seem that the Free world should deal directly with the Societies in these regions and help them into thinking Freedom and Democracy with moral clarity is much better than ethnically inspired narrow and can be impoverished thinking.
Independence is good but when you cannot get credit and feed the population, and create prosperty, its value is diminished.
It is like having a beatiful red apple with a rotten core.
We should forget about retaliations and continue the Engagment with Russia to work on making Russia a true democracy.
Already Investors have pulled out of Russia amid this crises and there is a big fall for markets.
We say in Arabic 'Ra's almal Gabban', meaning Capital is a Coward.
I do not know , but the impact of the golbal crdiet crises will eventually reach Russai.
The invasion of Georgia could be viewed as a serious miscalculation and a big gamble. Could it a bluff? It could backfire.
Yes! Russia is awash with Oil and Gas money, but these have come at the behest of the West. When the tap is turned off as has been happening over the past few days, it will not be in the long term interests of the Russian people.
What is needed is for the Russian people and the busineemaen and women, and the Capitalists amongst them and Industrialist to put enough pressure on their government to reverse this adventurist policy and stay the Course on the Path of Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law- in this case Internationl Law.
To back Iran and Syria, and the other rogue States , Russia will have backed the wrong horses. These are totalitarian Regimes on their way out, sooner rather than later.
It is war between Freedom and Democracy and Tyrrany and Terror.
Deocracies always win in the End. It might take some time, efforts and few heartbreaks, but they will win.
Georgia should be helped and be supported by the free world in proportion to its human rights records, especially for its minorities.
Kind regards
http://www.aafaq.org/news.aspx?i...px?
id_news=6752
Dear O and M
Look at this fantastic picture, the first in Five years. Al Shaab Stand is full of about 50,000 soccer spectators watching a football game.
They have all sang, 'Sunnies and Shias we are all brothers and we would not sell our country'
This is the first signifiecnt sign of Law and Order and defiance of the terrorists i Baghdad, by ordinary regualar people of Baghdad and Kurdistan- the game was between a kurdish team from Arbil and the Zowra'a team of Baghdad. The kurdish team won 1-0.
Well done good people.
Let freedom reign in Iraq.
Kind regards
" typos_R_us | 08.23.08 - 9:46 pm | #"
You're kidding, right? Gas coupons? We have enough oil in shale in Colorado, Utah & Wyoming to equal what the Saudis have, and that doesn't even count off shore and ANWR! Why coupons when we have OUR OWN OIL? Clean coal technology is out there too, and a couple of nuclear plants would supply the bulk of our electricity needs. Why would we ever need rationing if we went after our own supplies?
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 08/25/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
Typos: If you have someone that wants to fight you, there will be a fight.
ricg: I haven't seen evidence Russia wants to fight the US. Best evidence seems to indicate it's just bullying a neighbor. "Wrong" to be sure, but that doesn't mean we have to get involved. Even if it conquers Georgia, (1) not much has been lost on balance, and (2) there are others much more affected (those in closer dorm rooms, to borrow your analogy) who can take the lead. The best use of our resources is to let them tend to it for a change. It doesn't make sense for us to get involved in defending every pile of rocks, no matter how remote. This is not a matter of Cold War containment, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or even of resources that significantly affect us.
Typos: Your choice is limited to taking a beating or fighting back.
ricg: Again, I don't see where "we've" taken a beating.
Typos: If you chose to fight back, then you try to pick the place to fight.
ricg: Even if anything you've said were correct up to this point, Georgia would not be the place I would choose to fight.
Typos: We will either fight there, or fight here.
ricg: I find that an extraordinary false dilemma. Even taking into account the classic historic example that you seem to be hinting at, Munich, we never fought the Germans here.
Thank you for that Hameed Abid, looks like REAL progress on the ground as security is good enough to go to a sold out soccer stadium and there be no problems between the Kurds and Shia/Sunni of Baghdad. Keep posting!
We have enough oil in shale in Colorado, Utah & Wyoming to equal what the Saudis have
DagneyT | Homepage | 08.25.08 - 8:28 am |
From what I have read our shale oil is greater than that of all of the Middle East countries combined. However, we have light crude deposits that have never been fully explored due to government restrictions.
If the USA were to open up all areas to exploration, the price per barrel for oil would drop like a rock. Oil producing nations would try to sell all the oil that they could before new fields start producing and drive prices down. Increased supply will drive the prices down long before our new fields are really productive.
However, there is a fly in the ointment. We also need new refineries to process the oil. Environmentalists don't want oil wells or refineries even if 85% of Americans do. The "Silent Majority" needs to act on what they want instead of leaving a few nut cases to influence Congress.
-
I say concentrate on winning the wars we already have and let others fight their own.
ricg | 08.24.08 - 5:17 pm //
========
It's interesting that the isolationist left has no clue about the power and crucial role of national reputation and trust. Feeding the predator so it will be too full to continue killing and eating seems perfectly logical to them. Or at least more comfortable. Until.
I say concentrate on winning the wars we already have and let others fight their own.
ricg | 08.24.08 - 5:17 pm //
========
It's interesting that the isolationist left has no clue about the power and crucial role of national reputation and trust. Feeding the predator so it will be too full to continue killing and eating seems perfectly logical to them. Or at least more comfortable. Until.
Mohammed;
great article, that puts on the table some very interesting issues. In particular, whether Russia can overtly defy the international community an pitch all pretense of playing by any rules overboard.
In any case, the quote, “Russia can have at its borders only enemies or vassals.” — George F. Kennan, applies. Which demonstrates that Russia has no comprehension of any form of "normal relations" between equals. There can only be superiority or inferiority; the former implies and justifies control, and the latter implies danger, justifying paranoia and aggression.
Dagney;
Try a couple, or many, dozens of plants. I have hopes for a particular small-model version of fusion, sometime in the next 5-8 years. Check out LawrencevillePlasmaPhysics.com . If it succeeds, power will be available world-wide to anyone who wants to license the generator design at about ¼¢/kwh. Which will crash the price of oil to pre-1970 levels. Forever.
"Why would we ever need rationing if we went after our own supplies?
DagneyT | Homepage | 08.25.08 - 8:28 am | "
Those supplies will take years to get into production. I was talking today, or next week. We will need some sort of system to smooth out the rough spots until we can get our domestic supplies processed and into the gas tank.
ricg;
http://www.orange-papers.org/
ora...propaganda.html
What you are trying here is a mix of "Moving the goal posts" and Petitio Principii.
ALL of which you use to try and hide the fact, which is you are a coward;
Main Entry:
cow·ard Listen to the pronunciation of coward
Pronunciation:
ˈkau̇(-ə
rd
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French cuard, from cue, coe tail, from Latin cauda
Date:
13th century
: one who shows disgraceful fear or timidity
— coward adjective
Spin that!
"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
Mark Twain
US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)
we never fought the Germans here.
ricg | 08.25.08 - 10:22 am //
======
False.
German U-boats sank many ships in and near East Coast harbors.
The existence of connections and global interests between states of like mind is altogether beyond you, clearly, so I won't re-iterate Mohammed's arguments.
Oil is plentiful, alternative energy is plentiful
(well once it's fully developed), ie: nuclear..
what the world needs to do is to SOLVE the
HUNGER problem & let the oil crap dissipate..
FEED THE WORLD, FEED THE PEACE!!
==
"If you're running Gazprom (a Russian natural-gas producer) but you don't really own it, then your interest is maximizing short-term profits, not long-term development,"
P2, this is why it astounds me that Putin still has not figured out the way to success is capitalism! They were smart enough to figure out that a flat tax would spur business development (unlike our morons in DC), so why is it they still haven't figured it out?
Easy answer, POWER
New School In Iraq
http://www.liveleak.com/view?
i=b...=bc1_1219685407
The pictures of the children say it all.
-
via GP
how the loony left supports the troops.. 
==
OT.. Clooney is doing a hell of a job for the
UN, not that they're doing a damn thing..
Dozens feared killed in Darfur camp
excerpt:
[Witnesses said government forces massed at dawn outside Kalma, a highly charged camp in South Darfur that houses around 80,000 people displaced by the conflict and which the authorities have previously wanted to empty.
[snip]
Shafie accused the government of wanting to disband IDP camps near main towns to push the conflict under the carpet after the International Criminal Court prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Beshir.
Another rebel commander lashed out at African Union and UN peacekeepers, who are struggling to provide security in a region broadly the size of Turkmenistan with just over a third of the 26,000 troops they have been promised.
[snip]
The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since the conflict in Darfur erupted in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.
The war began when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.]
years of hearing the UN say "restraint", "lasting solution", etc..
empty words & BS.. oh i'm just too angry for words, aahghh!!
==
could somebody tell me what interests US have in Georgia?.
Romesh Chander | 08.24.08 - 8:28 pm |
Umm, to prevent reconstitution of the USSR and start another four-decade cold war?
That's certainly at the top of my list of reasons we need to support Georgia, and Ukraine, and Poland, etc.
Those supplies will take years to get into production. I was talking today, or next week. We will need some sort of system to smooth out the rough spots until we can get our domestic supplies processed and into the gas tank.
...
typos_R_us | 08.25.08 - 2:08 pm//
=======
Surprisingly, false. And irrelevant. Aside from the fact that oil is "fungible" (it doesn't matter where it is found or pumped, since the instant it is purchased by anyone anywhere all other supply sources become exactly that much more open for the remaining buyers), the time it takes to open up new supplies varies from months to decades, depending. Refining is a separate issue, as mentioned, and exists regardless of the level of crude supply.
IAC, much of the oil being extracted from the Bakken is lighter than Saudi oil, and requires (comparatively) little processing. Extraction costs run around $16/bbl.
Also, there is no "shortage", just high prices caused by anticipated shortage. If the anticipation is removed, prices will plummet (and are already moving down fairly fast). This may actually be somewhat unfortunate, insofar as the American consumer may -- and already has, to some extent -- revert to type and go back to buying Expeditions for solo commuting.
New School In Iraq
http://www.liveleak.com/view? i=b...=bc1_1219685407
The pictures of the children say it all.
-
C. Jordan | 08.25.08 - 6:34 pm //
======
And four identical schools elsewhere in Kirkuk province, at $80,000/ea. What a bargoon! About 1/8, total, of what it costs to buy a back lot for Obama's mansion.
OT;
Oblahblah's rot is accelerating:
Rasmussen's projected electoral college count shows his lead dropping from 45 to 10 (193/183 vs. 210/165) among 'likely' projections.
dags, i thinks that you are overestimating the Putin, he may just be a good old dumbass (ht: Don that 70's show) and trying to find his logic and that of the nouveau riche in rusland is just too much help thrown their way.
OT but very very good stuff:
http://books.google.com/books?
hl...result#PPA15,M1
check comparisons to war/ def RnD expenses. Guy knows his stuff.
I have lost twenty of my favorite pounds and all that angina. its a freeakin Godsend and yes, I know I live in fatsoville. La Shish didnt help.
My favorite foods I cant eat anymore:
Brand new lil Arab bread from the stone oven with garlic butter (stupid good with insane flavor!)
That Iraqi beef stew amde by my chaldean buddy's aunt out in the garage. Long story..
The lamb shwarma arab burritos with the pickles and stuff in there. could eat four.
the lamb chops and the mediterranean chicken.
get some tofu to taste like that and you wont need no oil pumpin'...
If the author of the article favours democracy in Georgia, then why does he not favour democracy in their fellow Arab (and muslim) countries like Syria, Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia? Is he trying to tell me that Islam and Democracy are incompatible, but Georgian Christian-Communism is compatible with Democracy?
Romesh Chander
Bellingham, WA, USA
Romesh Chander | 08.24.08 - 8:28 pm | #
I'm going to assume the author you are refering to is Omar. If so, you have not been here very long. Omar is strongly in favor of democracy for the entire ME and the world.
And, as a Muslim, he fervently believes that Muslim beliefs and democracy can not only coincide but prosper together. He has written often of the many benefits that democracy can bring to both Arab and Muslim peoples.
In fact, the very title of this blog, Iraq the MODEL, is testament to his and his brothers' beliefs in democracy. It is his wish and dream that Iraq becomes a democratic model that the rest of th Araba nd Muslim world will folow.
Hamid "It is like having a beatiful red apple with a rotten core.
Beg to differ with your comparision, my friend. It is more like an apple that has many blemishes and scars but is very good at the core. One must be willing to cut away the bad outer layers and get to the sweet fruit at the center.
And once one gets to the core, there are seeds that can be spread about so others may one day share in that sweet fruit as long as they plant the seed and care for the tree properly.
(Chauncey Gardner would be so proud! lol)
The U.S.'s choice should be to do what is right; standing by Georgia is right. Playing nice with Russia will only end with the U.S. getting a bullet in the back.
OT.. Brian H | Homepage | 08.25.08 - 9:32 pm |
i'm still not into polls, but here ya go anyways..
Battleground Poll, Question D3
teaser.. :D
["Sixty percent of Americans considered themselves conservative.
Does this mean that most Americans do
not know what 'conservative' means?
No: The question specifically provides an out to people who are
not sure about their ideology; it provides an out to people who
want to be considered 'moderate.'"]
==
Hameed Abid | 08.25.08 - 5:52 am | 
C. Jordan | 08.25.08 - 6:34 pm |
thanks for sharing!!
you too playertwo | 08.25.08 - 10:03 pm |
==
Rasmussen's projected electoral college count shows his lead dropping from 45 to 10 (193/183 vs. 210/165) among 'likely' projections.
Brian H
That is optimistic. For some reason Missouri is going into the Blue column. I have lots of friends and relatives in Missouri and not only are none of them voting the Obama bin Biden ticket, but they say they don't even know anybody who is. It is to early to tell by polls anyway. Another 6 weeks before the polls start to matter.
bg | 08.25.08 - 2:18 pm |
I love you BG, but you are wrong here. Food does not suffer from attention to energy production. It is a basic law, if anyone carefully considers it, that more energy at cheaper prices translates into more goods, including food. If you have enough energy, which means unrestricted or unregulated energy production, you can do virtually anything. Just consider. With enough cheap energy you can 1) Desalinate water, 2) pump it to the desert, 3) mine or create fertilizer, 3) Even use sunlamps in bad climates, 4) package and ship a lot of food anywhere.
What those Dhimmicrat clowns either do not understand or choose to ignore, is that plentiful energy is wealth and health. However the root of Progressive ideology is an ancient ideal that says the universe or the planet is an organism and man is unimportant in the scheme of things. Progressives intend to bring that about by forced poverty, "conservation", regulation, discouragement of material production, anti-Americanism, anti-individualism, and just about anything else that debases man. They are essentially anti-human. This explains virtually everything in their ideology. They pretend to have respect for people and freedom, usurping the name "liberal' from the true liberals in the early 20th century: the pro-individualist, pro-free enterprise advocates of liberty and limited government. Progressives are a throwback to a benighted ancient past and all that they bring is poverty and despair. Someday all humanity will recognize this.
Brian H | Homepage | 08.25.08 - 9:07 pm |
I think I an being misunderstood here. My apology, since I'm the one trying to communicate an Idea, it is my responsibility to get it across.
10 gallons EVERY OTHER DAY. That is 150 galons per month, or 1500 miles for an SUV that gets bad milage. 3000 miles for a normal car.
Not exactly a handicap for the average citizen. I might be out of touch here through. I am retired and don't HAVE to go anywhere. Most of my running around is by motorcycle which gets about 60mpg. I don't run 20 gallons a month thru my cras or truck. My grocery getter is a 96 Ford Taurus with almost 40,000 miles on it that I bought used (lease car) in 97 with 24,000 miles on it. So I don't drive as much as most Americans.
ALl the 10 gallons per trip does is make people aware of those little errands that add up. Plus if you really want to, you can get 10 gallons here and 10 gallons there, so it won't affect any lifestyles. If worst comes to worst, you can always find some old guy like me that doesn't use his 5 gallons per day and cut a deal.
I understand fungible, do you understand that this is a case where being seen to do something is almost as important as doing something.
It beats the 'ell out of that 55 MPH nonsense, which IIRC was in violation of the trade clause of the Constitution. I don't remember exactly why the USSC struck down the first 55MPH speed limit laws, but they did.
JR Garner | 08.26.08 - 1:41 am |
thanks, love you too!!
let me try & articulate (doubt it though lol)..
DRILL HERE DRILL NOW would go a long ways in taming the constant kerfuffle over oil.. meantime, alternative energy consumption is contributing to the rising food prices (as far as
i understand it anyways).. it's a vicious cycle, oil is linked to everything, yet people don't eat oil to live, their inanimate objects do..
so i guess my question is.. by the time there's enough "peaceful" oil & alternative energy to feed the worlds needs, will there be enough food left to feed it's people, no to mention people??
look, i know oil is a necessity nowadays, but man somehow managed to survive w/o oil before it was discovered. however,
it was food that kept them alive long enough to discover it,
it's a catch 22..
too many people around the globe are dying from malnutrition or outright starvation, and i'm sorry, but i see absolutely zero excuse for that, it just seems to me that oil is at the top of the "excuse" list for just about everything that ails man & planet these days.. and imho there's no reason for it to be that way.. most likely, in a theoretical sort of end way, oil will outlast mankind anyways, so why not feed the peace & make all our lives better while we're still here to enjoy it..
disclaimer: i'm tired and have no idea if what i just wrote makes
sense, and if need be i can try to expand on it, but at least i gave
it a go.. 
==
thewiz | 08.25.08 - 10:25 pm |
I stand corrected. Thanks.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25004
Dear O and M
The reason Most Iraqis emigrate from Iraq is because of lack of basic services, Electricity, water, draniage, telephones public transport, and Law and order.
Fix that and those Iraqis will flock back to Iraq in a flash.
Kind regards
Heh. Been traveling. Saw only part of the Democratic Convention.
Barack Obama is being sold as having fabulous judgment, and the policies of Hillary Clinton. .....
So a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for an unknown man instead of Hillary Clinton? I don't get this as a rational strategy for guiding the country during perilous times (especially because some of the peril might be averted.)
JR Garner | 08.26.08 - 1:41 am |
A couple of points:
When the government mandates higher levels of Corn Ethanol be put into gasoline, then food goes into an energy supply that is not, in turn, used to make more food. We have already seen the effects of this with increased corn prices. The most ridiculous part of this is that you use more energy to produce ethanol than you get out of it. That is bad energy policy.
If progressives think man is an unimportant part of the scheme of things, then why are they freaking out about anthropogenic global warming? The truth is that "progressive" is just the 21st century euphemism for "Marxist." Marxists believe that mankind was better off when he was living in small tribal units in which there was no concept of private ownership and everyone's efforts were directed toward the success of the tribe and not their own selves. While I can somewhat see the logic of that position, I think the genie of self-interest has been out of the bottle so long that you'll never get it back in nor would you want to.
Brian H: It's interesting that the isolationist left has no clue about the power and crucial role of national reputation and trust. Feeding the predator so it will be too full to continue killing and eating seems perfectly logical to them. Or at least more comfortable. Until.
ricg: First, I'm not part of the "isolationist left." I supported and support both the Afgan and Iraqi actions. I only think it important to distinguish genuine American interests from remote ethnic feuds that do not concern us. I understand national reputation, which is precisely why I would be happy if people would quit calling Georgia our ally, implying we have some responsibility to it, especially since there's very little we can do about it in any event. Our best course of action is to leverage concern over the invasion to encourage the Europeans to bolster their defenses. The Europeans are our buffer, not Georgia.
disclaimer: i'm tired and have no idea if what i just wrote makes
sense, and if need be i can try to expand on it, but at least i gave
it a go..
==
bg | 08.26.08 - 3:54 am //
========
Not lots of sense; pre-oil / abundant energy, the population of the planet was a small fraction of current levels.
I am hoping (and expecting) that this project will succeed in 5-8 yrs., in which case power will be available w/w for a small fraction of a cent per kwh, and oil will be used for feedstock and lubrication at a small fraction of current cost. Abundant energy will slash costs of virtually every commodity and most services.
KSA, Russia, Iran, Iraq et al. will have to find another cash cow.
Typos: you are a coward.
ricg: I am a USMA graduate who honorably served my time in the Army, including Kuwait. Instead of offering arguments, you offer insults and disrespect. If you're such a hero, go volunteer for the Georgian army or Chechan rebels and kill all the Russians you want. Don't volunteer the lives of others for your stupid adventures.
Closing the gates of Hell in Iraq, one girl at a time.
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/a...ves/
030736.html
US interests in Georgia are not worth any more US resources. We have done our moral duty by returning Georgian troops from Iraq to Georgia.
I'm sorry this war broke out, but it is a conflict between Georgia and Russia. Let them figure it out or turn it over to the do-gooders in the UN. I say concentrate on winning the wars we already have and let others fight their own.
ricg | 08.24.08 - 5:17 pm
ricg: I am a USMA graduate who honorably served my time in the Army, including Kuwait. Instead of offering arguments, you offer insults and disrespect. If you're such a hero, go volunteer for the Georgian army or Chechan rebels and kill all the Russians you want. Don't volunteer the lives of others for your stupid adventures.
ricg | 08.26.08 - 10:38 am
****************
Not an isolationist? Coulda fooled me.
*ahem*
No less than the Russian foreign minister has already very publicly placed this invasion of Georgia by Russia as an action that requires the United States to choose between Russia and Georgia.
Choosing Russia would be a strategic blunder, because Russia is a country with imperialist ambitions and a pi$$-poor government that can't even manage its own territory and population. There is no reason to let this ugly, stupid, vastly unwanted government have any more territory, and every good reason to put a stop to its nonsense sooner rather than later.
And we can do it. By "we" I mean not just the US, but the US and all of Russia's understandably nervous close neighbors.
First we send in aid, and back those Russian slobs away from all those civilians they have been terrifying. Then we call them, publicly, on their lies about pulling back, etc.
Poland's got a new treaty. Ukraine has asked for one. The neighboring countries have sent their ministers to very publicly visit Georgia.
It's G7 now, not G8.
And what if America develops every bit of alternative energy available while Russia spends all its oil money on its military? Those technologies will leak to the rest of the world. The price of oil will go down. The full value of Russia's oil will not materialize, and Russia will be poor because it spent all its money trying to conquer people it should have befriended.
Russia has chosen poverty and misery because its government is too un-adaptable to recognize that friendship and trade are better means of securing the welfare of its people than conquest.
Russia needs a new weltanschauung.
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0826-
52577.html
Dear O and M
Amanat Baghdad is planning to build the highest wheel ever over 200m high.
The Baghdad Eye.
Good luck good people.
Baghdad should always aim to fill its streets with tourists and not terrorists.
It should attract the first lot and kill the second lot.
It should immediately open Tourists Offices in the BRIC countries- That is;- Brazil,Russia, India and China.
Kind regards
Brian H | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 10:31 am |
actually Brian, i mostly agree with JG..
short summary: get the damn oil crap business that's been feeding global instability settled & lets get on with the business of feeding the people, hence, the peace..
fortunately i believe that move is already in motion..
unfortunately i believe the "new excuse" for feeding global instability is "global warming", which is also in motion..
like i said, it's a vicious cycle..
we alone are spending 700 billion a year to import oil..
DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, FEED THE PEOPLE, FEED THE PEACE..
==
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look...e=1&
NrSection=1
Dear O and M
This is by far one of the best Laws Iraq has ever done so far to combat adminstrative abuse and corruption.
Paying money and rewards to Informers on those who abuse their positions in the government departments and solicit bribes and currupt practices which will lead to their arrests and prosecution. Also on those who stole Government and public assets. And to those who will help the return of these valuable Iraqi artifacts and treassures that were stolen from the Iraqi Museum and other places of historical interests.
If it could be translated to English it would be great.
bg, can I ask you to do so please? Thanks in advance.
Kind regards
ricg | 08.26.08 - 10:28 am |
sorry, but Europe is our buffer made me laugh.. but seriously, if Europe is our buffer, then why not build on Europe via additional pro West & Democracy state members??
i also understand fortifying Europe, but in turn,
Europe fortifies adverse states vs their own..
albeit i'm not the brightest bulb (more like the dimmest) when
it comes to the true knowledge of the inner workings of world
affairs, but one thing i'm pretty sure about is that is you have
it a tad bass ackwards.. the US is Europe's buffer..
==
bg, can I ask you to do so please? Thanks in advance.
hameed abid | 08.26.08 - 1:35 pm |
my pleasure..
Presidential Council endorse the law reward informants
BAGHDAD - Iraq votes
26 / 08 / 2008 at 17:32:17
Sadik of the Presidency of the Republic, Tuesday, the law reward informants, to encourage those who provide information leading
to the recovery of assets and funds owned by the state and the public sector, and to take legal action against violators, according to a presidential statement.
The statement said, who received the Independent News Agency (Voices of Iraq) a copy of it, that "the Council presidency sincerely today (Tuesday) to reward informers law based on what was adopted by Parliament in accordance with the provisions of Article (61 / I) of the Constitution and before the legal limit constitutionally enshrined Article (138 / V / F)."
The Presidency Council consisting of three members are President Jalal Talabani (leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan one of the biggest parties Althaf Kurdistan Alliance, which occupies 53 seats out of 275 seats is the sum of parliament), and his two deputies Adel Abdul Mahdi (the United Iraqi Alliance major parliamentary blocs and occupies 83 Seats), and Tariq Hashimi (Secretary - General of the Iraqi Islamic Party, one of the main components
of the Iraqi Accord Front and occupies 38 seats in the House of Representatives).
The statement explained that the law proceeded "to encourage those who make news or information leading to the recovery of assets and funds owned by the State and the public sector and the arrest of the perpetrator and take legal action against him, as well as the promotion of information on cases make financial and administrative corruption."
The House of Representatives has approved a reward informants in the law on July 21 last, and referred it to the Presidency of Massagah it.
The statement, "The provisions of this Act apply to state employees and the public sector and informants on movable and immovable property of persons confiscated after the ninth of April 2003, funds or other Iraqis." He continued that the law also applied to make the information "leading to the restoration of Iraqi antiquities stolen, and informers on cases of financial and administrative corruption, and crimes of theft or embezzlement or forgery of official notes, his news leads to the arrest of the perpetrator."
The text of the presidential statement as well, that the law "eliminated the Revolution Command Council resolutions (dissolved), numbered 265 at 30/12/1999 and 133 in 12/9/2000 and 15/2/2001 at 53 and a note Coalition Provisional Authority (dissolved) No. 10 on 5 / 4 / 2004 amended the ninth paragraph of Section VI of the Coalition Provisional Authority Order (dissolved) No. 59 for in 2004."
The law, article states "not to work with any text inconsistent with its materials."
you're welcome..
==
Good points, Mohammed.
The Russian actions should have been anticipated after Kosovo's independence was created earlier this year. The Russians made it very clear that they would react strongly to any change in the current international borders. I am not defending by any means what the Russians did. I am perplexed by the lack of preparation by NATO contries for the inevitable response.
The Baltic nations, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Poland and similiar nations had better start an internal defense arragement and budgeting more for their own defense. Poland took the only strong step (signing the missle defense treaty with the U.S.) in respose to the Russian attack. The Europeans couldn't even handle the Bosnian/Kosovo situation in their own backyard--and they are even less of a military power now. They are easily blackmailed by dependence on Russian energy sources and will be no help to the nations targeted in Russia's "near abroad."
The U.S. under the current administration will not accept Russia's quid pro quo for formally abandoning the Caucasus in order to gain Russian help with Iran. (All bets are off under an Obama presidency.) The inability and lack of will to project power into the region serves the same purpose from Russia's standpoint. The affected region most needs strong backing from Europe, but that won't happen...
Good points Valerie. Thanks for teaching me a new word (weltanschauung). And yes, the Russians need one...
Dan
Valerie,
I don't disagree with most of what you suggested other than sending US aid. If you want to send token humanitarian aid, fine, but the German chancellor is already talking about the EU "rebuilding" Georgia. I agree: the EU should do the rebuilding, not the US. It's time for others with more at stake to take the lead.
I've been lurking on German sites on which some posters complain that German taxpayers are (once again!) paying for US foreign policy. Sorry, I'm sick of that crap. This is one the US can afford to let others work out, take ownership of and pay the tab for, with our quiet encouragement.
We have allowed the Europeans to use us to make NATO a tragedy of the commons. They sit back and nitpick the US while it protects the interests we share: prevention of terrorism and nuclear proliferation, because we are the only ones (with a few honorable exceptions) who act.
To sum it up, Valerie, we have a free-rider problem. The more we do for Georgia, the more the Europeans will sit back and criticize us for provoking the Russians, and the less they'll do themselves. It's time to wean these babies of the US dole. Let the EU take responsibility for this. They can rebuild, and they can guaranty Georgia's security -- alone.
bg,
I'm having trouble determining how to respond to you, because I don't understand what you're saying. We may be talking past each other. When I said that Europe is our buffer, I was responding to the comment that we either have to fight the Russians either in Georgia or here. Even if you accept the notion that a US-Russian war is inevitable, or that it will be a ground war even if it occurs, there's plenty of battle space between the Russian border with the Ukraine and the west coast of France. That's what I meant by "buffer," and Georgia is irrelevant to that analysis. I'm not sure what you meant.
eh, no surprise here..
ht Talisman Gate
Biden: Distrusted and Dismissed by Iraqis
excerpt:
[It’s funny how Iraqis seem to be reacting to Obama’s pick of Senator Joe ‘Hair-Plug’ Biden for the VP slot: the unanimous tone, as voiced by Iraqi politicians and analysts on Iraqi TV stations and on Al-Hurra-Iraq, is that Biden is not so knowledgeable on Iraq, or foreign policy in general.
Wasn’t Biden’s ‘intellectual’ heft supposed to be the whole point
of adding him to the Obama ticket to balance out the greenhorn factor?
Iraq’s political class doesn’t seem to be buying it, though. They
are not reassured by the Biden pick, whose name is forever associated, in Iraqi eyes, with a hastily-thought plan to divide Iraq that he publicly announced at Dr. Bernard Lewis’ 90th birthday celebration in Philadelphia on May 1, 2006.]
==
Daggers Drawn in Maliki’s Office
==
I'm having trouble determining how to respond to you, because I don't understand what you're saying. We may be talking past each other. When I said that Europe is our buffer, I was responding to the comment that we either have to fight the Russians either in Georgia or here. Even if you accept the notion that a US-Russian war is inevitable, or that it will be a ground war even if it occurs, there's plenty of battle space between the Russian border with the Ukraine and the west coast of France. That's what I meant by "buffer," and Georgia is irrelevant to that analysis. I'm not sure what you meant.
ricg | 08.26.08 - 6:00 pm |
sorry for the confusion, i was
talking in "general" terms..
and thank you for clarifying your position.. outside of your analytical buffer positioning, i disagree with your stance on Georgia being irrelevant.. other than that i agree with most
of what you say..
==
I would be happy if people would quit calling Georgia our ally,
...
ricg | 08.26.08 - 10:28 am //
========
It sent the bulk of its military elite to directly participate in OIF. Name another country that did so. An ally is as an ally does.
Speaking of buffers and Georgia, you might like to read Totten's latest on Russia's pre-positioning and anti-glasnost.
It's an eyebrow-lifter, believe me.
Thanks, bg and Kafir for addressing my argument. Let me first say I have never believed that ethanol from food crops made any sense whatsoever. It typically takes more energy to produce food than something flammable and inedible like straw.
However, none of this is to the point. Free economics which allows competition between the different forms of energy and different organizations will have a strong tendency produce the enery people want at the lowest cost of production and no more than a competitive market will allow.
There are many promising alternatives including traditional enery production that can be pursued if only it were not illegal in some way. If any government program subsidizes a given form, by definition in the short run that form is less practical or efficient than some other alternative or alternatives. Conversely, every time a tax, (which might be called an anti-subsidy) is against a given form, it not only penalizes producers or distributors in changing market conditions (can you say "Windfall profits tax"?), this anti-subsidy makes it harder to develope additional production capacity, thereby making us all poorer.
Forget all that Progressive/Marxist malarky including that regurgitated by the Dhimmicrats. The history of free enterprise is actually quite honorable if the rule of law, which is to say the banning of the use of force in production prevails.
Many of the hoary anti-capitalist "horror" stories arise from corrupt government which actually forbid open markets at the point of a gun. The others amount to illogical emotions like a sort of envy or are outright lies against free economics.
The bottom line of all this is that a free economy in energy will also drive down the cost of everything manufactured with it, grown with fertilizer and water provided by it, and generally create well being. It is instructive to note that after WWII, the US probably had the lowest price per kilowatt/hour per capita in both money and the laber time it took to purchase it of any country in the world. What a coincidence! The US also had the highest standard of living of almost any county. I think that this "was not an accident".
Enought economic dissertation for now. Thank you if you had the patience to read it!
Thanks again.
"When I said that Europe is our buffer, I was responding to the comment that we either have to fight the Russians either in Georgia or here."
Europeans are our ALLIES, NOT a buffer.
The whole idea of the USA needing a buffer when we have 90%+ of the world naval combat power is a joke, isn't it? Ever hear of this thing called an Ocean?
I think I have figured it out. American English is NOT your native tongue and we are indeed talking past each other.
You are taking literally things that are written to be seen in a general sense.
When I wrote that it's better to fight there then here I wasn't speaking to the crisis de`jure. You thought I was, which is why you mentioned Russia. No, I was speaking of the America's general strategy for the last 150 years or so. Going back to the 2nd Canadian and Mexican wars in the mid 19th century.
The last war America fought on it's own soil was the so called Civil war. Before that it was what we call the War of 1812 against the British.
As far as the current dust-up, this administration has decided to punish Russia using tools other then military action.I think that is a bad idea, not because I'm bloodthirsty, but because I think the Russians are to stoooooopid to understand they are being punished.
If the ones being punished, don't understand they are being punished, then it isn't punishment, it's cruelty.
It won't make the Russians change their ways, it will make them mad. Then you will have mad Russians on your hands. That is even more stooooooopid then the Russians.
No, Georgia is an ideal place to bleed Russia. Use our overwhelming Air Superiority to cut their logistics train, then use our better troops to engage them in a series of small unit actions. Hit and run tactics based around our better leadership training and superior electronics.
The US Army OWNS the night. Period.
You can't hide and you can't run, so when the sun goes down, the Russians will start to pray. That is because they know there is nothing they can do to protect themselves, it's all up to the American and God. They pray to God for mercy because they know the Americans have none.
They still there? 18 days and counting.
OT..
Curfew imposed in NW Pakistan after militant attack
oh it's a conspiracy alright, Qazi's..
==
Brian H | Homepage | 08.26.08 - 10:54 pm |
those poor people.. there are so many things i can't imagine
happening all around the globe.. it's so heartwrenching..
God how lucky are we (Americans) to be afforded the
comfort of living in a Democracy based on liberty!!
THANK YOU TROOPS!!
and/but how long will it last under a President Obama (i believe
the fix is in, so i'm trying to keep my anxiety level down) *sigh*
==
30 suspected Taliban killed in Afghanistan
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
via The Mudville Gazette
Reds (Part One)
[This post is about 2008. More importantly it's also about 2009 and all the years thereafter. But we're going to drop back in time just a bit first - please bear with me.
We're heading for Baghdad, late 2003 and early 2004. Steven Vincent is our tour guide - there is no better. He is dead, of course, but because of that he's frozen in time via his writing. Our vehicle for this trip is In The Red Zone: A Journey Into The Soul Of Iraq, his chronicle of his journeys in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. To read it now is to be reminded of things forgotten - or nearly so.
[snip]
To win the war against the US military and Badr, Colonel Jassam advises the Omariyun to follow two short-term goals - to cement mujahideen control over the Ramadi area, and to stage operations that will increase pressure on US opinion to withdraw troops.
To achieve their second goal, turning Americans against the war, the mujahideen need to shape their operations "to support anti- war sentiment in the west", he says.]
Reds (Part Two)
excerpt:
[''We had to include him in every lesson plan or we'd be in trouble with the Baath Party,'' said Nada alJalili, an elementaryschool teacher at the Tigris School for Girls in Baghdad. ''When we taught about bacteria in biology class, we explained that Saddam brought antibacterial soap and drugs into Iraq. Whenever his name was mentioned, it had be followed with 'God protect him and keep him our president.' ''
Whenever an adult entered the classroom, the students would stand up and recite in unison, ''Long live the leader Saddam Hussein.'' Then they would sit down while reciting, ''Long live the heroic Baath Party.''
In music classes, they learned new lyrics for traditional melodies. The beginning of one popular children's song was changed from ''The daughter of the merchant has almond eyes'' to ''We are the Baathists. We have heavy weapons.''
During a flag-raising ceremony every Thursday morning, students would chant ''Saddam Hussein!'', ''One Arab nation with an eternal message!'' and ''Unity! Freedom! Socialism!'' Then a teacher or an older student would fire a round of blanks from an AK-47 rifle.
[snip]
These days Jodie Evans has taken a break from defending the boot eternally smashing the human face and encouraging terrorists to slaughter women and children and has turned her energies to fundraising for Barak Obama (an effort at which she has enjoyed significant success). But as he explained in his book, in 2003 Steven Vincent met her at a party in Iraq.
More to follow...]
==
Russia is not satisfied with the news.
So, they took out an advertising section in the Washington Post, telling us what we are supposed to believe happened in Georgia.
I’m not going to bother to link.
Russia needs to learn that the way to secure the welfare of their country is through giving up control of their people and their neighbors. No doubt this seems paradoxical to those people who regard themselves as the masters of that country, but its true.
That dismal field, economics, has taught us that no amount of wisdom in planning by extra-smart people in the government will yield the kind of fruitful returns for a nation obtained by allowing ordinary people to make small, on-the-spot decisions about what needs to be done now.
It’s the difference between using calculus and geometry to try to control a continuous chemical process. Instead of having someone give instructions that are always out-of-date and forcing people to do something they know to be stupid, you have somebody on hand take samples and find out what is really happening over the last hour, and make adjustments accordingly. The person on-the-spot makes a better decision than some minister asleep in some distant city.
The other thing that Russia needs to learn is that giving up control of their neighbors and making friends with them is a better way to secure the borders of their nation.
If Russia were friendly and helpful toward their neighbors, their neighbors would trade with them, would travel back and forth frequently, would spend less of their precious resources on arms, and would rely on them when threatened. Everybody would be richer and happier. Instead, all of Russia’s neighbors fear immediate physical assault because Russia has a history of making such assaults.
Russia’s government knows this, if somewhat dimly. That’s why the advertising section is in the Washington Post. They do try to make a legitimate case for intervention. However, anybody who bothers to do a little cross-checking will find that those articles yield an abundance of outright lies. Further, Russia's actions during and after the invasion of Georgia cannot be characterized as either "peacekeeping" or "humanitarian."
Russia is out for conquest, in its usual, brutal, inexcusable style.
ricg | 08.26.08 - 6:00 pm |
I believe it is high time we removed every single US military personnel from European soil. They should be redeployed to the former Soviet republics who are now democracies.
The cost of the move would be huge, but the year-to-year cost thereafter would be less. It would also force the Europeans to start providing for their own defense (goodbye, nanny state). This would also give them something to do besides sneering at us.
bg | 08.26.08 - 4:07 pm |
Thank you for the translation.
Kind regards
JR, thank you. You made the point I have been struggling with for months now.
Our economy is OIL based because that is the most efficient fuel. Nuclear could be IF it was deregulated, as it is in France.
I get the impression from arguing this out on many web sites that most people think there is some sort of majic involved. They get mad at me when I point out that there is no majic, that the electricity for an electric car has to be produced by a process that uses OIL(hydrocarbons) in one form or another. Ditto for Hydrogen.
http://www.shaqlawa.com/smf/inde...p?
topic=37404.0
Dear O and M
This is a very informative study in which the majority of Iraqi Electors have decided not to vote the religious parties in, in the future elections.
The will vote for the nationalists, independant technocrates and the secular parties.
Good luck to them all.
Kind regards
JR Garner | 08.26.08 - 11:07 pm
Agreed. I would add, however, that our government is capable of encouraging the development of technologies that are, at the moment, unecononomic. They can do this at least two ways, by providing "seed money" for basic research, and by providing some sort of incentive for development.
We already have one major incentive for development in place. It's called a patent. Any new and useful improvement over old technology can be written up, send in to the US Patent Office and examined. If the Examiner makes a determination that the invention as described is indeed new, useful and an obvious variation of the old technology, a patent will be granted.
The patent allows a company to protect its market by keeping others from making, using and selling their most innovative products. A patent is temporary: it only lasts 20 years.
It is the policy of the US government to encourage any and all technological improvements in this manner.
This feature of our government is financed entirely the people who apply for patents, and the US Congress allows the Patent Office to charge fees that cover both examination and future improvements to the Patent Office. A lot of people apply, and the US Congress is in the chronic habit of raiding the Patent Office funds and applying them to other projects, so both the Patent Office and other things are funded by big and small businesses, not the public.
When politicians talk about new things we need, inventors start thinking, and producing new ideas. They persuade investors to help them, and soon we have new products. It works like a charm.
It works like a charm, provided the government hasn't made the marketing of a new technology impractical. For example, if there is a ban on drilling in water, there will be no, or greatly slowed, improvement in the technologies related to safer under-water drilling. Similarly, if the government allows companies to either get away with activities that harm others (such as pollution) or punish them beyond the economic harm they cause (the Exxon-Valdez spill) so that the company is destroyed, improvements in safer techniques will be slowed.
Our country has done, or come close to doing, all of these things.
Another thing the government can do is encourage, or fund, large public works. Some projects are just too expensive to start up without help.
In my opinion, the best thing our politicians could do at this juncture is decide 1) to encourage all forms of energy production and transfer; 2) examine our laws and regulations for perverse effects and impediments: and remove them; and 3) arrange the legal environment so that investors, not the government, decide which projects are most likely to work, and fund them.
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Sports/4...orts/
4949.shtml
Dear O and M
Look what you are missing.
In Fallujah, the first ever car rally for the cars enthusiats in Baghdad.
It will have 100 cars competing, they will be sizes four , six and eight cylinders.
Good luck boys. Enjoy the peace.
We should organise a Bikatheon to raise money through sponsors for Cancer research/victims especially the iraqi children affected by the spent Uranium bombs of the last mad wars.
We are doing this in UK every year for the last 11 years. We raised $1.050,000.00 in one day last year 2007, with over 4000 Cyclists.
This year's event was attended by approximately 4500 cyclists, families, boys and girls and men and women of all ages on their Bicycles, from all sectors of the British Society. Riding 13 miles, 26 miles and fifty two miles. We expect to raise $1.2m on the day from sponsors.
Sir Trevor Macdonald set some of them off on Sunday 13th July 2008 at Ham Common, Richmond, Surrey, England. UK.
I should like to introduce this idea to Iraq. I need help from Volunteers NGO' and the Iraqi US/ UK and other well meaning Governments.
It is organised by the Leukamia( -www.lrf.org.?) Research Fund- at great Ormond St. London.
Any Offers?
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25058
Dear O and M
Some members of the current Iraqi parliament prefer to wait until the new American Adminstration is installed before finalising the new agreement with the USA.
From an earlier post this morning- GMT- I would recommend that it should be delayed until after the next Iraqi Election and a new Iraq elected adminstration is put in place.
We, the secularists Iraqis believe that the form of the future Iraqi Governments will be less religious, and more secular, as the majority of the people of Iraq are fed up with the current rulers. who cannot understand that science, technology and proper and upto date management methods make for good and successful countries like Japan, Germany, and South Korea and now China and India and Brazil.
At the mean time Iraq should ask the UN for one more year extension to host the Coalition Forces.
We still have plenty of time to negotiate for the benefit of both USA and IRAQ.
To expect that the USA's forces be commanded jointly with the Iraqi Government is a joke. How can they?
Kind regards
bg,
A hundred years ago my great grandfather and his sons ran a farm. It took about 128 men and 256 head of horses to do the work on that farm. Now it takes one man and his son to perform the work on that farm. Energy from petroleum makes it possible for two to do the work of 128 men. 256 head of horses are replaced with tractors, and trucks.
In many cases where people are starving, the food is still grown by manpower alone. Horses or mules could increase food production in those countries but cheap fuel could change food production far more.
It does little good to feed the world's poor. If they eat better, they reproduce more so there are more people to be fed. It is far better to help them get the means to feed themselves. For them to become self sufficient requires more than just cheap energy. Education must also be included so that the poor can understand how to best utilize the cheap energy.
Some very poor people live on the sides of mountains along fast flowing streams. Imagine that some group feeds one village while another group not only feeds another village but provides them with the means to turn the energy of falling water into electricity. They are also taught how the cheap electricity can be used to multiply the effect of human energy. The first village will need to be fed forever. The second village will be able to utilize human and electrical energy to feed themselves.
Abundant human energy is the key to success. Without properly applied human energy, mankind will not succeed. Other forms of energy can be used to multiply the effect of human energy but can never replace human energy. Put a person, village, or country on welfare and you remove the incentive to work hard and succeed. However, hard work alone is not able to lift mankind. Only when that hard work frees others to think and plan can real change occur. If an entire family must work hard just to survive, there is no free time for developing better ways. A man hoeing weeds in his field may get a brilliant idea but he must have the free time to do something with that idea. Cheap energy and education could be the key to allowing that man's idea to become reality. His idea may allow him to feed hundreds with less energy than he used to feed just his family.
Brilliant ideas do not usually come from minds that are under nourished. So feeding the poor can bring improvements but helping the poor to feed themselves will almost always yield better results and raise them out of poverty.
-
Unbe-f*cking-lievable.
http://inyourface.freedombloggin...-year-old-face/
THIS IS WHY THE PUMAs EXIST.
Hillary Clinton is one hell of a woman, but her entire political life has made her subject to catty, frivolous, vicious comment about her appearance simply because she is a woman.
And now Democratic voters are being served up a "pig in a poke" who supposedly will deliver on her policies. And we are supposed to simply take it on faith that, once they wrestle the lipstick on to him, he'll be beautiful.
Not the same story as contained in the Russian advertisement in the Washinton Post.
http://www.michaeltotten.com/arc...uth-about-
1.php
Richard B. | 08.27.08 - 10:53 am |
bg | 08.25.08 - 2:18 pm |
bg | 08.26.08 - 3:54 am |
bg | 08.26.08 - 1:31 pm |
i hope you're not assuming i don't agree with you.. however,
i think you're assuming i'm not cognizant of all that (and a lot
more)..
albeit & aside from the fact that due to the false oil issues feeding
HUNGER in many lands around the globe, feeding the HUNGRY is
a necessity.. i am not advocating a handout (so to speak).. but a
hand up via getting down to the business of drilling here, drilling now in order to disipate the "excuse" of oil being the PROBLEM not the ANSWER..
bottom line is: DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW;
FEED THE PEOPLE, FEED THE PEACE..
==
Kafir | 08.27.08 - 7:17 am |
i second that with a caveat/ disclaimer:
the only forseeable problem i envision is that those countries
would then become more vulnerable & need US even more!!
==
via GP
Anbar Province Will Be Transferred on Monday
[Anbar a province once reported as lost will be the 11th
Iraqi Province turned over to the central government.]
==
2 Iraqi officials accused of aiding al-Qaida
excerpt:
[A university president and a top local official in a restive province north of Baghdad are suspected of giving weapons and government cars to al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents, according to arrest reports obtained Wednesday.
[snip]
Nazar al-Khafaji, University of Diyala president, and Hussein al-Zubaidi, head of the provincial council's security committee, were arrested last week. Al-Khafaji was led from his home with a hood over his head and security forces seized three computers.
According to excerpts from the arrest reports by the anti-terrorism squad involved in the case, the two are suspected of aiding al-Qaida insurgents involved in sectarian killings. The reports say more than 20 Diyala residents complained about al-Khafaji and al-Zubaidi.
The high-profile arrests prompted angry complaints by Sunni leaders, and the 41-member provincial council suspended operations last week. The council chief, Ibrahim Bajilan, said Wednesday that the council members would not return to work until the detainees are released.]
==
Baghdad Transitions 1,000+ Sons of Iraq Into Iraqi Police
excerpt:
[Four Multi-National Division – Baghdad districts began the transitioning Sons of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq) into Iraqi police,
Aug. 21, 2008, by conducting several recruiting drives in
the Taji, Tarmiyah, Zahour and Abu Ghraib districts.
[snip]
“The local Sheiks took an active role in getting the SoIs ready for the drive,” said Huber, who conducts Police Transition Team operations in the Sab al Bour community of Taji. “The Sheiks had the SoIs show up looking professional like as if it were a job interview. They took a lot of pride in being prepared for the drive.”
[snip]
“We have come a long way in Taji,” said Huber. “Now citizens are reporting criminal intelligence to the IP, telling them where improvised explosive devices are being placed by criminals. The difference now is that the citizens see the IP are truly out there to help them.”
[snip]
“New recruits will increase security in the area,” said James, whose company conducts PTT operations in 19 stations across the four districts. “The new potential IP will enable the IA to move into more military based operations along the country’s borders to deter criminals coming in from other countries.”
[snip]
“We are turning SoI into legitimate Iraqi security force members, who can now become proud representatives of the Iraqi government,” said James.]
Godspeed Iraq/is!!
==
via TLWJ (DJ Elliot)
Earth to Obama Dems et al..
US draws down forces as Iraqis stand up security forces
excerpt:
[The plan for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to take over Iraq security is directly linked to the US plan to draw down forces and as briefed by General Petraeus in September 2007. For military planners, there are natural decision points for when to reduce forces based on the rotation schedule of US forces. These semi-annual decision points are September for drawdowns to be completed by January, and March for drawdowns to be completed by July. The drawdown schedule is not a hard and fast schedule. At each of these points the option to delay exists if the situation on the ground warrants it.]
==
==
via TLWJ (Roggio)
Three senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders captured in Baghdad
excerpt:
[Coalition and Iraq forces captured three senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders behind some of the deadliest violence over the past several years. Two of the men were detained during the past two weeks in raids by Task Force 88, the hunter-killer special operations teams assigned to dismantle al Qaeda's networks in Iraq.
The special operations teams captured Salim 'Abdallah Ashur al Shujayri during an operation on Aug. 11. Six days later, Ali Rash Nasir Jiyad al Shammari was captured. The locations of the raids were not disclosed by Multinational Forces-Iraq. Today, Iraqi forces announced the capture of Mahdi Mosleh al Djeheishi.
Shujayri and Shammari are senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders and have been "assessed to be longtime members" of the group. Both men are Iraqi citizens, a senior US military intelligence official who wishes to remain anonymous told The Long War Journal.]
much more @ link..
==
OT.. Obama's Temple
Audacious Absurdity
==
Loving Arms
MNF (reports)
FJI (videos)
==
hameed abid | 08.27.08 - 10:09 am |
Easy enough. The Iraqi parliament passes a bill extending the UN mandate for 1 more year. In the US Congress it's called kicking the can down the road. Congress critters do it to issues that might cost them votes or money.
That gives the diplos another year to work things out.
hameed abid | 08.27.08 - 9:13 am |
Hameed,
Maybe Google's translator did not get it right, but later in the article it says that people are going to stay away from the polls and not vote because they are so disgusted with the government.
Voting secular over religious = good.
Not voting = bad.
Russia is out for conquest, in its usual, brutal, inexcusable style.
Valerie | 08.27.08 - 7:12 am |
Absolutely. Their entire rational is based on 19th century politics. Border states that Russia controlled were important in the days when Armies traveled by foot and needed months to get anywhere.
In the 21st century the entire idea is stoooooooopid! An ICBM doesn't care how many border states you have. Not when it flies over them. Same for aircraft.
That is how I knew that Soviet, er.....Russian provacatuer was a fake.
Ask 100 American what a buffer is and you will get answers involving polishing something. Floors, cars, jesles, etc.
What you won't get is a state that exists to act as a shock asorber between two other states. America shares the worlds longest undefended border with Canada. Mexico is undefended also. Russians freak out over this. They get antsy at the thought of Canadians and Americans crossing everyday without either government giving a rats arse.
Canadians invade America Every winter in huge numbers. Millions. As long as they pay their bills, nobody really cares. Can't say as to how I blame them. The mere thought of a Canadian winter has me itching to head for Costa Rico.
Valerie 
why i've never seen you cuss before!!
via GP
Hillary Supporters Phone Bank For McCain
[video/ad]
==
OT.. re: bg | 08.27.08 - 4:33 pm |
Obamessiah's Temple..
==
in over 100 posts I have not seen one mention of the South Ossetians or the people of Abkhazia
not for nothing, but they do not want to live under Georgian rule and haven't for some time
i support our US interests in Iraq but if you support the people of Kosovo, (i do), if you support the kurds (i do), it is not right to view the people of these regions as pawns in our game, if they don't want to be part of Georgia, i think the west should respect that and work within that context
the other unspoken issue here (in over 100 posts) is the Baku oil pipeline...certainly not in the our interest to have the Russian army (in South Ossetia) less than 30 miles from...but can or will we make a stand over this pipeline?...tough call...Russians aren't usually the best chess players for nothing
BT in new york | 08.27.08 - 11:30 pm |
i believe stories about both were linked..
sorry if they weren't exactly what you were looking for..
but i have a suggestion, why don't you fill us
in by providing a few links of your own heh??
==
OT.. meanwhile (as the Dems sleep):
Too Hot For NBC
===
BT in new york | 08.27.08 - 11:30 pm |
BT,
There are people living in America that don't want to be part of America. There are a whole lot of people living in Canada that don't want to be part of Canada. What do you want us to do, carve out the pieces of land where they live and say, OK, this is your new country?
The wonderful thing about the dissolution of the USSR is now its former citizens have freedom of movement. If you prefer Russia to Georgia, MOVE!
Kosovo was different. Serbia was conducting a genocide there. We also have consistently urged the Kurds to work within the Iraqi system.
Allowing groups of people to just up and decide to declare their independence (without having to fight for it) would devolve us into a world of city-states like we had thousands of years ago. It would be chaos.
I watched former President Clinton’s speech last night, which was very good, and this article in today’s Washington Post blew it out of the water:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8082702999.html
excerpts:
Russia's invasion of Georgia has led to a more serious foreign policy discussion in the presidential campaign. As tensions rise in the Caucasus and violence once again erupts in Afghanistan, we should recall the lessons we learned from our response to earlier Russian adventurism. We must recognize now, as we learned years ago, that a strong military alone is not enough to ensure our long-term national security.
In a scene near the end of the movie "Charlie Wilson's War," after the mujaheddin victory over the invading Soviet military, congressional appropriators turn down my request for funds to rebuild Afghanistan's schools, roads and economy. If we had done the right thing in Afghanistan then -- following up our military support with the necessary investments in diplomacy and development assistance -- we would have better secured our own country's future, as well as peace and stability in the region.
****************
The entire thrust of President Clinton’s speech was that we should select Barack Obama instead of John McCain in order to revert to the major failure of the Clinton administration -- its failure to deal with foreign policy seriously.
He characterized John McCain’s foreign policy stance as “extremism.”
This is consistent with the continuing insistence by the current Democratic national leadership -- they want to pull out of Iraq and then they will pull out of Afghanistan, and knock any financial supports for any continued effort anywhere else, and raise taxes in order for fund more welfare programs.
It’s the money, stupid. They don’t want to pay service people, they don’t want to pay for an enhanced State Department, and they don’t want to pay for strategic materials and capabilities research. They do want to spend enormous amounts of money regulating a non-polluting gas, in lieu of paying attention to real pollutants.
If Charlie Wilson were holding public office at this time, the Democrats would be trying to throw him out, just like Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton.
Further, I would remind my Republican friends that, with respect to the economy, the Clinton administration had a pronounced habit of using Republican ideas.
...it is not right to view the people of these regions as pawns in our game, ...
...Russians aren't usually the best chess players for nothing
BT in new york | 08.27.08 - 11:30 pm |
It certainly is not right for Russia to treat the people of Georgia as pawns in their game of empire-building, especially the way they play it, which is a negative-sum, destructive perversion of international relations. We know who started this, and who has been doing the killing, terrorizing and destroying.
If Mother Russia would behave like a mother, instead of a motherf***er, the Russian people would be wealthier, more secure, happier, and better respected.
More Bluster, more fiction
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008...scow.php?
page=1
Russia is playing tic-tac-toe, aka "Global thermonuclear Warfare"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames
Damn! The Democrats AND the Russians want to go back to the '60s. The rest of us already know that tic-tac-toe is a "dumb game."
OT.. Obama's Temple
Audacious Absurdity
==
bg | 08.27.08 - 4:33 pm //
====
Heh. I've heard a few rumors, such as that the actual image He wants to invoke is the Lincoln Memorial. Hilarious. A wider contrast between personality types and goals could hardly be imagined.
The other is that there will be an invisible glass platform under him, and at the appropriate moment he will rise magically into the air and accept the adoration of the Donks.
The Russians should enjoy their short-term romance with their former "glory." Demographically, they are going down the tubes. The population is shrinking drastically due to low birth rates, poor health care and the effects of chronic alcoholism. If they continue to enjoy hydrocarbon riches (they won't forever), they will have to import workers from the "near abroad" to do much of their work for them. That is going to bring a restive population within to go along with the restive populations on their borders. That is why the precedent that they have set in Georgia (using Kosovo for legitimacy) is such a dangerous one for them.
They need the West in the long run more than the West needs them. They are trying to play the hole card of "Back off in Georgia if you want our help with Iran and Syria." The problem is, they haven't helped in those instances or any other. Their entire foreign policy under Putin has been "Nyet!"
The West should target the former KGB "industrialists" who have taken over the Russian economy. They invest their ill-gotten gains in the West and like to travel to their nice homes in western nations. They should be investigated constantly and cracked down upon if there is any remote reason for doing so (and there probably are many good reasons.) Putting a hurt on the pocketbooks of Putin's mafia is one way to fight back.
The other is for the West to synchronize their energy policies with their foreign policies and build a more stable supply chain for energy needs. Conservation and alternate energy sources are great and should be pursued. But in the near future, a solid energy consumer block is needed between Europe, the U.S. and other consuming democracies to create a buffer for Russia's economic blackmail.
Sadly, that is the only way Europe may be encouraged to show some backbone regarding Russia...
BT, what you are missing is that Kosovo hasn't ever been part of Serbia. That is because there has NEVER been a nation called Serbia until the breakup of Yugoslavia. When Yugoslavia broke up, the Serbs grabbed as much land as they could. That sort of thing is illegal since the creation of the UN, even if China has done it more then once.
Your Russian masters screwed the pooch on this one. Kosovo was a bad example, it doesn't match up very well. Chechnya or Tibet are better matches.
"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
Joseph Stalin
Georgian Soviet politician (1879 - 1953)
Putin is clever, but he is also a fool.
Why do the war thingie when it would be so much simpler to just arrange to count the votes? Granted counting votes takes longer, but only fools rush in where angles fear to tread.
AS long as we are channeling Uncle Joe this morning;
"You do not lament the loss of hair of one who has been beheaded."
Joseph Stalin
Georgian Soviet politician (1879 - 1953)
Brian H | Homepage | 08.28.08 - 8:51 am |
i also hear they're preparing the dry ice for the "mystical" aura
affect as he "rises" up, parts the clouds & heals the world - with
his "JUST WORDS" SPEECH..
Obama.. the 12th Imam??
==
Hello All: The audacity of the Democrats is incredible. Last night Bill Clinton was crowing about how great his 8 years in office were, but I think instead if he had done his job and picked up Bin Laden when he had the many chances, the horrendous events of 9/11 might have been averted. The 9/11 Commission didn't have the whole story because he sent his lackey, Sandy Berger, to the National Archives(the "stuff the classified documents in the socks and pants caper") to destroy evidence. Sheesh !! Why doesn't anyone talk about that? And Hillary blaming Pres. Bush for U.S. jobs going overseas when it was her husband Bill who signed us into NAFTA. I am so afraid that Obama is going to become President. In the August issue of Time Magazine they quote him (in an article about NORAD)that if he is elected President, he has vowed to take our U.S. weapons off of launch-ready status. This guy is so scary, it is pathetic. Bill Clinton had previously said he loathed the military and I guess it is true, because during his administration our troops' pay was so bad, a lot of them were on food stamps. And we didn't have enough military weapons, our military had to scavenge parts from weapons, tanks, planes, etc in order to repair other ones. Thanks to President Bush and the Republican party, who believe in a strong military, our military forces get good wages and the best of weapons, which is what we need to stay safe in a very dangerous world. We can't allow Barack Obama to set us back again. I think above all, the President of the United States of American has to love our country. I just don't think Obama does, or he would not have sat in a church pew for 20 yrs and listened to Rev. Jeremiah Wright run down and insult our country in no uncertain terms. Twenty years of hearing that has to have influenced Obama's thinking. Now he says he didn't hear him, but if he didn't hear what he said in 20 years, how did Rev. Wright become his mentor and inspire a book? Bill Clinton might remember his administration as all peaches and cream, but I remember the many times we were attacked all over the world, and the lackluster response he gave. It would be great if we could all sit around and sing Kumbaya, but in a dangerous world, that can't happen. John McCain loves his country, has served his country faithfully for many years in the military and out. His firsthand account of his POW experience can be seen on this website: www.usnews.com/mccainpow Please see it and see what a real hero looks like. Thanks for the forum. Kathy L. Texas USA
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look...e=1&
NrSection=2
Dear O and M
This news item is good.
The Iraqi Ministry of Industry has issued 98 licenses for manufacturing in Iraq.
Well is not that something?
Iraq is indeed on the move.
With this in mind, could it be possible that The Iraqi manufacturers could have Joint Venturs - in textiles, paint, and other needed products with Some Israelis and with American help, to waive the Import Tax on their products when exported to the USA?
Kind regards
Syrian government newspaper hails Obama, Biden.
excerpt:
[Nadia Damiati, a columnist for the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, said Obama’s and Biden’s campaign slogan of “change and experience” indicated that “the Americans aspire for their country to take a moral stance, be an honest broker, act in accordance with the U.S. constitution, not ignite wars, not spill the blood of innocents in the world, and not deceive the [American] people regarding the danger of terrorism [and the need] to fight it.”]
*sigh*
==
Hello again: The Time magazine with the NORAD article that I mention above is the August 4th issue. Kathy L.
i must say that the intellect round these parts far surpasses most anything i run into during the day.
and thanks.
first off I have to commend ricg for his service but also chasten his remarks as a rhetorical set up. we are arguing the point and not your service. while it WOULD TEND to stand for something that youre a west pointer it would also not logically add anything to your argument.
you will not find anyone around here with a brain that will argue against the USMA so dont hide behind your argument behind it. its unfair and makes you look like youre hazing a private with your macaroni.
check this out:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
ne...refer=worldwide
this is what I was talking about when I mentioned the true purpose of the georgian incursion/so or abk liberation. to think strategically the georgian situation doest really have all that much to do with the US or nato. think about it thusly: russia shares a continent called "asia" (pronounced: asia. joke.)with two emerging giants india and china. india and china have actual economies with growing populations that dont really care that russia sees themsleves as white and racially superior to them.
as a matter of fact russia is the only whitey superpower to ever lose a war to an asian country (cf sino japs war).
then realize that russia was in a tailspin while the other two have essentially surpassed them in terms of potential and in terms of NUMBERS.
now throw into the mix the five stans. they are right in the middle of the table and the pipe that their oil (actually LNG if you know your stuff..)runs out of either ends up in turkey through georgia or through afghanistan once and if those clowns can get their shit together.
the only other way for the stans to make any money is for them to send it to russias enemies/rivals directly. If/when this happens Putin will be basically hosed off the gameboard as no one will really need or have to fear his collapsing goon island with all its bluster and (to the other asians) wannabe-euro racism.
the asians that arent russian all know about the swim mao and kruschev had together and its burned into their psyches, so dont get all freaked out about eastern europe and how this effects nato or the US. we are just meals on wheels in this on and if you check out this:
http://www.breitbart.com/article...&
show_article=1 you'll see whats really going on.
russia is using Iran as a partner to beat down the little countries around both of them to set up their armies as viable forces but their backwards ass societies cant do it. They are running out of time as the oter Asians are waking up and seeing just how hollow the russians and iranians are after OIF cut through them like tissue paper. Russia and Iran dont have millions of people willing to die to prove something, India and China do and then some.
Plus they have never gotten to bat , let alone get a hit other than a single 70 years ago that grandpa hit.
All that wealth and land of the 5 stans is just sitting there without anyone to use it. We cant defend it and China and India know all about it.
Every time one of them takes a piece of it the others population loses face and bitchs.
Go PICK Mitt!!
U.S. forces arrest senior Iraqi official
excerpt:
[U.S. forces arrested the deputy head of a committee that purged Iraq's government of members of Saddam Hussein's party, an ally said, but the U.S. military said he was a wanted militia leader behind a deadly Baghdad bombing.
U.S. troops detained Ali al-Lami, general manager of a committee established in 2003 and 2004 by then U.S. governor Paul Bremer to remove members of Saddam's Baath party from the government, on Wednesday, the committee's head said on Thursday.
[snip]
"Coalition forces captured a man suspected of working within the highest echelons of the special groups criminals," spokesman for the U.S. military, Major John Hall, said.
"Intelligence sources have implicated the captured man with multiple criminal acts including bombings and attacks against
Iraqi targets -- specifically the June 24 bombing at the Sadr
City District Advisory Council."]
what will Maliki do??
==
US public finally gets the message::
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Voter confidence in the War on Terror is at the highest level ever recorded since Rasmussen Reports began regular tracking in January 2004. Fifty-four percent (54%) of American voters now think the United States and its allies are winning the war. The previous high-water mark for optimism--52%--was reached a handful of times in September and October 2004.
This is the unintended result of Oblabla's visit, however sham-ful it was. It forced the MSM to finally put out enough info to give the public a clue about how well things have gone, including admissions and transparent waffling by Dem politicians trying to CYA.
p2 | 08.28.08 - 2:01 pm //
======
From your first link, above:
"Russia's five-day drubbing of the U.S.-trained and equipped Georgian military this month ..."
That's rather a misrepresentation. The Georgian forces were basically light infantry, trained for anti-insurgency ops, etc., without anti-air or anti-armor weaponry. A few Stingers and tow missile launchers in their hands would have made a huge difference.
Yon has some new material up. Here's a snippet from a few days ago:
Many people around the world see America in decline. As someone who travels a great deal, I see the opposite. America is just getting started. Yes, we face enormous challenges and dangerous enemies. But the soul of our country, the initiative of our people, and the depth of the collective intelligence are all far stronger than our critics, and even many Americans, imagine. Al Qaeda thought that America would fall to her knees after 9/11. They were wrong. Today we hunt them like jackals.
Of course, the Iraq war has led some to think that the United States has committed a tragic imperial overreach. Saddam Hussein was an evil tyrant, a truth widely accepted by the international community. Yet the international community can do little about evil tyrants. They leave that up to us, complaining when we do nothing and criticizing when we take action.
However history finally judges him, President Bush will be remembered for two decisions. In 2003, he invaded Iraq. And in 2006, he did not surrender.
But there's much more. Enjoy.
typos_R_us | 08.27.08 - 8:34 am
Thank you for the kind words, it encourages me to keep trying to explain.
Valerie | 08.27.08 - 9:48 am
Thanks for your attention and especially your addition of other aspects of the issue.
Richard B. | 08.27.08 - 10:53 am
I think you expand my discussion, whether that was your intent or not. Thanks for making this observation. I would add that in an open market, various organizations of various sizes and complexity would be in the best position to engage with poor residents to function in the most efficient way, rather than relying on massive beaurocratic programs which miss the mark. This necessarily means that the brainpower, as well as muscle must be used, which in turn leads to considerable choice and independence.
Anbar is too boring for the Marines says Conway. Or SLT .
Go PICK Mitt!!
p2 | 08.28.08 - 2:01 pm |
ANYBODY BUT MITT!
Mitt Romney is a nice guy for sure, but he would be a huge mistake as a VP candidate. He adds nothing and turns the ticket into 2 old white men.
That will be enough to make the race close. Obama bin Biden can win a close race with the Diebold machines.
If Big Mac picks a woman or a minority male, the election is all but over.
I'm hoping Meg gets the nod. She is a self made Billionaire ( co-founder and CEO of E-bay, I think) and has one shattered glass ceiling to her credit already. There are several Conservative Republican females that would be a good choice.
Powell would be the best selection of all, IF his wife would let him. Which makes his wife both wise and a potential choice for '12
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See"
English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)
[However history finally judges him, President Bush will be remembered for two decisions. In 2003, he invaded Iraq.
And in 2006, he did not surrender.]
Brian H | Homepage | 08.28.08 - 4:52 pm |
BH.. do you have the title (or url) so i can look that one up??
thanks..
and thanks for your 3:41 pm link as well..
==
BT in new york,
I believe the breakaway provinces were majority Georgian but have been ethnically cleansed of Georgians sometime after 1991. Georgia wants to hold onto them for their natural resources, security, return of their citizens, or all three.
Russia has been arming the rebels for years and recently has granted them Russian citizenship in order to justify Russian military incursions to "protect Russian citizens".
No matter who is at fault, I believe that giving Russia a freebie in Georgia will embolden Russia to go after another "former republic". For example, I think half of Ukraine's citizens are Russians.
This has to remain Georgia's fight, but we can effectively resist Russian aggression by arming and training Georgian insurgents, assuming Russia continues to lie to the world about upholding their end of the agreement to withdraw from Georgia.
Greg from USA
Well,its only hours now to go before
we hear what VP John will choose to run with him.....
They sure are talking about my
Governor..
He is a nice and somewhat fair
and balanced guy(MN NICE )
U have to be to put up with
the 4 seasons we have here...
GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS US ALL...
And I hope the dang protestors
don't damage alot here..
BH.. do you have the title (or url) so i can look that one up??
...
==
bg | 08.28.08 - 10:37 pm //
======
That's on the same Michaelyon page I referred to, scroll down to Aug 19. Here's the permalink.
2 weeks ago Callimachus, of "Done With Mirrors", went dark.
A journalist in fear of 'bambots, I wot.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25185
Dear O and M
This is a very important development in the Iraqi front. Al Maliki has decided to change the Iraqi Negotiating team with the USA for none productive performance.
This is a good decision and must be applauded.
The world has been getting different vibes each time an Iraqi official opens his mouth, only to be contradicted by yet another official, which is quite disturbing and indicates to us poor watching mortals that these guys haven't a clue?
However, from our 'very little' experience and knowledge of negotiations, this is what we recommend to both sides;
1- Do Not be either a Soft negotiator or a Hard one.
2- Nogotiations should take place at two levels;
2-1- one level, negotiation should address the substance.
2-1- On the other level, it should focus 'implicitly' on the procedure for dealing with the substance.
The aim must be to produce wise outcomes, efficiently and amicably to create a win win position.
This is called Principled Negotiations, or Negotiation on the merits.
This can be boiled down to four basic points;-
People; Separate the people from the problem.
Intersts; Focus on Interests, not positions.
Options; Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do.
Criteria: Insist the the result be based on some objective standard.
Humand beings are not computers, they have emotions.
The above article accuses the Kurds to hurry up the signing process.
The participants should see thmeselves as working side by side, but not at each other.
There are more ideas we can give and refer to from such people as The Harvard Negotiating Project, Oxford and Cambridge Univerisities Negotiating teams etc.
Good luck good people.
Kind regards
Russia, accused.
Running off the local inhabitants, or killing them in order to grab another country's land, is not "protecting Russian citizens." It is murder. It is a war crime.
http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com/2...ession-
has.html
Thanks to HOT AIR for posting the video of John McCain's ad from yesterday.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/...ongratulations/
Very well done.
Dear O and M
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...Ar.aspx?
id=6767
This news item is great. Imagine travelling in comfort between Baghdad and Basra or Baghdad and Zakho on the Iraqi Railways? What a Brilliant idea?
Well done Ministry of Transport. Good Luck, and May God's blessings be with you.
Whilst on the subject of communications, Yesterday I tried to send copies of my Iraqi Certifcates to Baghdad from London to prove that I am an Iraqi born originally to get my Iraqi Passport back 'G' issue. One of My Nephews told me he could not open his internet link due to the Phone lines being bad?
I was needless to say very upset.
He told me that the Copper thieves had dug up the telephone copper cables in his area and this had affected the land telephone services. There was none.
Copper wires were invented in the 1870's for carrying Phone calls.
With the newly introduced and the massive growth of the internet, since liberation 2003, these wires are finding it hard to cope even when avaiable in some parts of baghdad/Iraq.
That means these lines are rather slow or sometimes do not work.
There is a great opportunity for Iraq to start from scratch. Privately as well as publically.
Iraq should switch to have Broadband delivered through Fibre Optic Cables.
This is made from strands of glass as thin as human hair and carries information by light, which means it does not slow down the futher you live from the Telephone Exchange and can cope with massess of websites, movies and photos at virtually limitless speeds.
For downloads Speeds can be 2Mb, 10Mb and/or 20Mb. where one can download a music track in 22 second, 4 seconds or 2 seconds respectively.
How about it boys? Any Private sector investors out there?
Be the first and the best in communications in the Middle East.
You can afford it these days, Iraq.
Kind regards
Breathless, breathless coverage of the Democratic Convention and the Obama speech last night in the Washington Post.
The guy’s taking credit for the successes in Iraq. That is indeed audacity.
Meanwhile, Charles Krauthammer seems immune to the glamour.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8082802852.html
moneyshot:
The air of unease at the Democratic convention this week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments -- bearing even fewer witnesses.
***************
Voters rely on our political parties to choose and vet candidates. The Democratic Party at the national level, however, now looks completely unserious about this responsibility to the voters.
I thought the last election yielded the ultimate test for “yellow dog Democrats,” when they actually ran a yellow dog for the office of the presidency. After that election, and after the revelations in the post-election article about John and Teresa Kerry (in Newsweek, I think), I heard several people remark that, although they voted for Kerry, they were glad "we dodged a bullet."
Now they have a person, whose sole argument for this election is that he’s a Democrat, who has the audacity to post a forged citizenship document on his “fight the smears” website, have it be pointed out as questionable, and never be held accountable for it before the Democratic National Convention. There is a certain lack of mental hygiene in their process.
If this guy wins, the next Democratic nominee will not even be a human. It will be a cartoon.
Looks like Sarah Pallin, the Gov. of Alaska, will be McCain's choice. She would be great. She is hell bent on cleaning up the corruption in Alaska. She is an attractive mother of four and hunts and fishes with the best of them. She is not a blue-blood and will appeal to working women and real conservatives. She could really add some spice to the ticket...
http://www.iraqgreen.net/vb/show...read.php?
t=4952
Dear O and M
This is what I wrote - In English - back in June 2003. Two months after the liberation.
How much of this could be implemented and been carried out?
THINK TANKS?
ALL developed and developing countries have them or should have them.
Iraq should have one too.
What do your readers think?
Kind regards
Kind regards
Dear O and M
Last night I stayed up to watch Obama's speech.
I will tell you and your readers what I think after I had a good eight hours sleep.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.29.08 - 7:18 am |http://www.sotaliraq.com/tech.php?id=3182
Dear O and M
Iraq should sign a contract with China to build high speed trains to run on the magnetic field and to achieve a speed of 450 Km/Hour. Using German Technology. But to be down to 200Km per hour when passing through towns.
The Chinese are the first to sign an Oil and Gas Contract with Iraq worth $3 billions dollars and shown courage and far sightedness, as opposed to some western companies, or EU States. They should be rewarded with further Contracts to rebuild Iraq.
Kind regards
John McCain is making a substantial speech as he introduces his pick.
I didn't know her, but if she's indeed a solution-oriented Republican along the lines of Michael Steele, I'm happy.
Valerie | 08.29.08 - 7:41 am |
I think they avoided a roll call vote because Obama bin Biden didn't want America watching over half his party vote against him.
Palin was a good choice. With Palin on the ticket, the Republicans will present 2 PROVEN corruption fighters for the voters appraisal. The Dems are putting up the chosen candidate of the most corrupt political machine in the nation.
This should be fun.
Hair plug vs crime fighting Hockey mom.
War hero vs Slum lord organizer.
This should be fun.
They still there? 21 days and counting.
Palin? I was hoping against hope he'd have the guts to choose her.
Excellent. Superb, actually. Check out her bio and background Val; you'll love her.
Brian H | 08.29.08 - 3:43 am |
[Meanwhile, the press will meander around like a herd of buffalo, occasionally stampeding in unison off a cliff, and taking public perception with them to the jagged rocks below.]
love it, thanks!!
==
OT.. via GP
CONFIRMED: SUPER SARAH PALIN IS McCAIN'S PICK!
SARAH PALIN TAKES THE STAGE IN DAYTON!!
tidbit: her son is serving in Iraq, as is McCain's..
==
danj | 08.29.08 - 8:53 am |
Sarah has 5 children..
==
Valerie | 08.29.08 - 12:36 pm | #
That she is! You will like her mucho. She is cleaning up the corruption mess in Alaska, has 5 kids--including a Downs Syndrome child she took to term four months ago. Her oldest child is 19 and will soon be in Iraq--and is proud to go. She is a fiscal conservative who cut the budget and grew a surplus in Alaska. She hunts, fishes--and will kick Joe Biden's butt in a debate.
At her announcement today she talked about the 18 million cracks that Hillary put in the glass ceiling and said she was going to finish the job. Spunkly lady, indeed.
Dan
I would ask everyone to say a prayer--in whatever religion you practice--for the safety of us here in Louisiana and on the Gulf coast. Three years ago today Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana killing 1800 and ruining the lives of thousands. Now Gustav is poised to hit us again on Tuesday. It will be a cruel blow if it happens...
Dan
I am happy with Sen. McCain's selection for VP. I think God sent us an angel just in time. Gov. Sarah Palin. Hip, Hip, Hooray !!!! Happy week-end everyone. Happy Labor Day on Monday !!!
via Breitbart ht RG
Sarah Palin's VP Speech
==
danj | 08.29.08 - 5:29 pm |
consider it done, stay safe.. (((hugs)))
==
Palin proves you can be a feminist without being a femiNazi.
When the left tries to attack her lack of experience, remember she has more executive experience then Obama bin Biden. Neither of them has EVER held a job requiring the exercise of executive abilities. Executives make decisions. Senators don't. Neither do community organizers. Unless, of course, you consider what color to paint the fire hydrants to be an executive decision.
Or whether to keep the wig or go with the hair plug ( hair plugs won).
OT.. Sarah Palin: facts vs opinions:
Defending Against the First Attacks on Sarah Palin
excerpt:
[First - "Palin has no experience". That's an easy one to dismiss. Sarah Palin has had more executive experience, meaning experience in running either a business or a government, than either Barack Obama or his running mate, Joe Biden. She has more executive experience than even her running mate, John McCain. Governor Palin served as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska from 1999 to 2002. She was elected as President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. She was elected as Governor of Alaska in 2006. And she has quite a few concrete achievements, considering the amount of time she's been in office.]
i think the Dems are a tad jealous, can't says i blame them.. as it appears she'd make a good "principled" candidate regardless of party.. she has that "COUNTRY FIRST" quality of character that is sorely lacking in so many others "we the people" are fed up to our bootstraps with..
you go Sarah, go bust all of their cracked
heads on that stupid glass ceiling!!
==
When I am not boarding up windows and storing water for the hurricane approaching, I will try to list some urls to stories that feature how she attacked her own corrupt Republican Party in Alaska to start cleaning up the place. She beat an incumbent governor in the Republican primary to get nominated. She told the Alaskans that she was sick and tired of corruption and knew they were too. They gave her the nomination and then elected her overwhelmingly. She has an 80% favorability rating.
What Americans will fall in love with is the fact that she is just like the common person--no elitism whatsoever. She is going to become a household word, and one spoken with admiration...
Dan
OT.. via GP
Governor Sarah Palin Responds
to Critics on Experience (Video)
no comment, haven't listened to/watched it yet!!
==
danj | 08.29.08 - 5:23 pm |
I'm an atheist, so I won't pray. I will point out as often as possible that the US Army Corp of Engineers looked at the problem back in the early 90's and said what needed to be done to fix it. The Cost was something like 3 Billion dollars and Congress wouldn't pony up the cash, La. didn't have it, so the job wasn't done.
Post Katrina cleanup has cost many times that 3 billion;
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...3102395_pf.html
{snipped}
"the financial impact has been huge, totaling more than $31 billion in the last dozen years, according to FEMA figures, and forcing government officials and Congress to borrow funds and issue emergency appropriations."
Not sure just what the WaPo was talking about. It might be more then Katrina. It was a poorly written article.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Or in this case 3 billion in prevention would have saved 31 billion in cure.
I say instead of depending on some mythical deity, why not plan ahead and take action to reduce the risk?
Or as my Christian buds say, "The lord helps those that help themselves."
via The Mudville Gazette
Sting of Emeralds
excerpt:
[Plans to set up a string of oases were put on hold by the many conflicts Iraq suffered and provoked over the last generation. The old man I talked to got his agricultural education in Belgium a long time ago. He lamented the lost time and the encroaching desert, but what he felt most acutely was the isolation. Iraqi scientists lost contact with the rest of the world, during the Saddam tyranny and sanctions. They were unable to properly contribute to and benefit from the advance of knowledge in preserving arid lands, so their level of expertise is more than twenty years old. A lot has happened since then.
[snip]
Lots of countries have challenges of dry lands. Many see shortages of clean water as the biggest predicament of the next century. Now that the dark days of the Saddam times are finished, Iraqis can take advantage of what others have learned. And when they share their knowledge with the rest of the world, we all we be better for it.
Our job, more specifically Dennis Neffendorf's job, will be to find contacts and put our Iraqi friends back in touch to the extent we can help. My guess is that tree nerds and conservationists around the world will be excited and want to renew these contacts.]
i hope there are knowledgeable people out there that can help
with or contribute to this wonderful cause.. Godspeed Iraq!!
==
sorry, forgot to link The Mudville Gazette
in previous post (this link is also via TMG)..
Iraqi forces take control of Diala’s disputed town-military
excerpt:
[Iraqi army commander on Thursday said central government troops are wrestling control of most of Diala’s disputed town of Khanqin from Kurdish peshmerga forces.
"Iraqi soldiers are totally controlling the areas of Qara-Tapa, Jalawlaa, and al-Saadiya of Khanqin suburb (155 km northeastern Diala province),"
[snip]
"Senior figures of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK – President Jalal Talabani's party) in those areas received the Iraqi army troops with flowers," he said.
[snip]
"Khanqin is a safe area and it's a wonder that the Iraqi army entered it under the pretext of combating terrorism," Barazani said.
The Kurdish president wondered why the Iraqi army did not coordinate with the regional government.
Following an agreement between Kurdish authorities and the central government in Baghdad, Peshmerga forces withdrew
from the districts of Qurtuba and Jalawlaa, which are affiliated
with Khanqin.
Peshmerga is a term used by the Kurds
to refer to armed Kurdish fighters.]
RTWT (it's not that long)..
all in all, sounds like that went over smooth enough..
==
her son is serving in Iraq, as is McCain's..
==
bg | 08.29.08 - 4:34 pm |
Minor correction: Her son deploys to Iraq, fittingly enough, on 9/11/08.
The best line I read today was;
"I love the smell of Obambots fear in the morning".
Yes, you can smell the fear rolling off the Democrats.
We now know what the tingle running down Chris's leg is. When it starts to pool around his feet, he will too.
This will be a fun election. The 4 years following it will be fun also. I can see Sara lifting rocks on capital hill and squashing the loathsome things that come crawling out.
Congress will get a long overdue experience with the stink of fear.
danj | 08.29.08 - 5:29 pm |
Ramadhan is upon us and I am praying for the safety of the Louisianan people.
Also to the Bihar region of India from the floods and to the Georgians who were cut off from Georgia.
Let us hope peace will reign in Israel and Palestine too to protect the Jewish and the Arab families, in that unhappy region/place.
God ( whatever you conceive him to be) bless you all.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25224
Dear O and M
Great news. The Shiite Criminal leader Ali Sharia is to hang in Karbella.
Go Indepnednt Judiciary show them.
Let it be a lesson for the rest to understand.
The Laws of the land must be respected, otherwise, they will not be any justice, which must be seen to be done.
Kind regards
Dear O and M
Many people in Iraq and the rest of the Arab world do not know how the democratic and the free world operate.
My suggestion for Iraq is to institute a new ACT to be called ' Freedom of Information Act'. It will guarantee to the public a right of access to information held by the Government. In that way, we will give greater power to the individual citizen. We will improve the quality of government and we will strengthen our democray in Iraq.
Good luck Parliamentarians. This is something for your to do.
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0830-
52811.html
Dear O and M
Look at this new and modern Architecture being built in Iraq as we speak.
This one project is in Missan, the first of many.
Iraq will be a construction site for the next few years at least.
Good luck Iraq.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25211
Dear O and M
This to thank our brothers in Kuwait for about to cancel their debts on Iraq, following the good example that was set by The UAE and Saudi Arabia to help the Iraqi people.
Kuwait as well Iraq will benefit from this fine jesture.
Iraq should rewards Kuwait and the Kuwaitis with major contracts to thank them.
They also should fix once and for all the International Borders and divert through man made Canals the Iraqi sweet water from Qurna to make the Kuwaiti desert green, rather than let go the Arabian/ Persian salty Gulf.
Well done the Kuwaiti Government. and thank you.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.30.08 - 2:40 am | #
Thanks, Hameed. All prayers are welcomed. I hope that the Ramadhan holy days are peaceful ones for all of you.
It is obvious that the Republican ticket will now focus their election efforts on corruption that comes from big government practices. Both McCain and Palin are corruption fighters. Obama will continue to promote big government that fuels corruption. Corruption--whether in Washington or Baghdad--robs the citizenry. It will be a close race and an intense battle pitting ever-increasing government against individual self-sufficency and private sector solutions to problems--change that cripples versus change that reforms.
Dan
Russia has now announced that it is annexing S. Ossetia. The Bear is definitely out of hibernation...
http://65.17.227.80/Web/Sports/2...08/8/
361221.htm
The Iraqi Olympic runner Daneh Hussain whose human storey was mentioned in the biggest chinese Newspaper deserves our admirations and her Government should specifically honour her.
She did her running with a second hand pair of shoes.
I am so proud of her, I wish I knew.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.30.08 - 2:40 am |
Hameed,
Did you read the Sting of Emeralds link bg posted at bg | 08.29.08 - 11:58 pm |?
It is all about some Iraqis' efforts to control the desert and convert it to fertile land.
You've talked a lot about how the Iraqis should partner with Israel on things. If there's anything they should talk to the Israelis about, it is this.
There are a lot of people who think that the Palestinians didn't think much of a Jewish homeland, until the Israelis turned it into a lush paradise while the Palis were still scratching out a living in the sand.
In all seriousness, Hameed, what would it realistically take to get the Iraqis talking to the Israelis about this?
Hameed Abid | 08.30.08 - 8:27 am | #
Every one should be proud of her, Mameed. Her's is truly an amazing story. I hope she is honored in her homeland...
Dan
Hello All: well, I think Sarah Palin was a good choice. Judging from the sour grapes that the MSM is peddling about it, the choice really didn't sit well with them. Yay !! Way to go, Big Team !! I must admit I was not familiar with her, but was impressed with her acceptance speech yesterday. Sounds like she likes to fight corruption, and that can't be bad. She really did steal the thunder away from Obama's "big speech" from the night before. I believe Sarah Palin will continue to impress and win over voters for McCain/Palin. She loves her country,that is plain to see and that is very important to me. I am looking forward to seeing her speak at the Republican convention. By the way, congratulations to the Iraqi athletes who competed in the Olympics. I wish them well, and hope their number multiplies in the years to come. A big hug and congratulations to the taekwondo athlete from Afghanistan who won the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal in Afghanistan's history. Well done !! I am still sponsoring a "sister" in Afghanistan thru Women for Women, International. She wrote to me recently and appreciates my help and says she is doing well and learning useful skills. Have a nice week-end, everyone.
Kathy L. | 08.30.08 - 12:21 pm |
A ten-point primer to Palin
Minor correction: Her son deploys to
Iraq, fittingly enough, on 9/11/08.
Kafir | 08.30.08 - 12:55 am |
thanks K..
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
This should hurt the islamic or shall I say chauvinist pig egos
I hate to be a smart ass about this but here it goes...
Here is that beauty contest… “GRIN!”
Hey Hameed how is it going? Or should I ask? 
Sorry, been a few days since I visited, so I just noticed this, Richard;
"The "Silent Majority" needs to act on what they want instead of leaving a few nut cases to influence Congress.
-
Richard B. | 08.25.08 - 11:26 am | # "
We haven't been "silent" since McCain-Kennedy amnesty attempt, and we shut down the phone lines to D.C.! We have been on the phone daily to Pelosi since she shut down the House, to come back and vote on drilling. She went on about her business like she didn't give a damn about what the people want. What we need to do is to get some conservative leadership in both the house and senate. Sarah Palin is a great start to real change in D.C.!
"Those supplies will take years to get into production. I was talking today, or next week. We will need some sort of system to smooth out the rough spots until we can get our domestic supplies processed and into the gas tank."
Typos, au contrare! As soon as OPEC knows we are serious about going after our own resources, the price will go down. It happened on what Western Coloradoans call "Black Monday" in 1989. I had just hired 12 new people to work at the Exxon oil shale operation near Rifle, CO, when word that oil had dropped drastically to $18 p/barrel, and Exxon closed the doors on the oil shale operation overnight! The difference we need to make this time, is DO NOT STOP! But I guarantee the prices will go down literally overnight, BTDT
PUMAs for Palin
http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=20097
I have to admit that John McCain fired two of the neatest political shots ever within the last few days. The first was that nice 30-second commercial during the Convention (linked above). Now, the selection of the lady as his VP has turned the race around.
These moves betray a certain economy of motion, what a chemist would call elegance - a balance and precision in action that comes from mastery of a field of knowledge. I've known for a long time that John McCain had character, but now I also think he's smart.
Obama got no "bounce"
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/...ech-bounce-nil/
Yes, this polling information, which has to be taken in context. The discussion does put it in context.
After what amounts to a week-long commercial for the Democrats in the form of the Democratic Convention, which ended with an extravaganza around Barack Obama's speech, one would normally see what is called a favorable "bounce" for Obama in the polls.
And, with a 30-second commercial and a VP pick, McCain may well have snuffed the bounce. Certainly, he has diverted the nation's conversation.
The game has changed:
1. Conservative blogs are on fire. Comment threads that normally draw a few dozen responses are running into the hundreds. The conservative base is back.
2. The money is rolling into the McCain/Palin campaign so fast that the servers are having trouble managing the traffic. The MSM will be stunned when the numbers are announced.
...
I guess, re the money, that tomorrow (8/31) is the cutoff for private donations before the campaign accepts its Federal Funding? This could be interesting.
OT.. via GP
well, well, well.. looks like the HONEST ONE not
only employs web-scrubbers, but web-thuggers..
Obamanet
==
OT.. re: Valerie | 08.30.08 - 3:58 pm |
yes, i heard PUMA on the news last night..
they will be voting for McCain/Palin!!
via your link..
Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama
==
"I understand national reputation, which is precisely why I would be happy if people would quit calling Georgia our ally, implying we have some responsibility to it, especially since there's very little we can do about it in any event."
ricg, perhaps you missed the fact that Georgia has been with us militarily in both Iraq & Afghanistan. That is the definition of "ally"!
Here's a very interesting post by a PRT Leader: Foreigners Loving America -- Or Not.
Some very interesting subsequent posts, contrasting, e.g., competent and crappy local leaders, and their effects on the ground. Plus efforts to knock down desertification and dust storms.
Steyn nails it, again, in The hostess with the moosest:
"First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy."
plus 5 more.
It is all about some Iraqis' efforts to control the desert and convert it to fertile land.
You've talked a lot about how the Iraqis should partner with Israel on things. If there's anything they should talk to the Israelis about, it is this.
There are a lot of people who think that the Palestinians didn't think much of a Jewish homeland, until the Israelis turned it into a lush paradise while the Palis were still scratching out a living in the sand.
In all seriousness, Hameed, what would it realistically take to get the Iraqis talking to the Israelis about this?
Kafir | 08.30.08 - 8:36 am | #
The initiative must be made By the Israeli Government, perhaps obliquely at first, asking The Qataris,( Iraq has invited the ruler of Qatar to visit Baghdad. Perhaps even Egypt and Jordan to pave the way for a meeting between the elected decision makers of Israel and the sons or brothers of the Iraqi decision makers.
An open Invitation will end up like Sadat's Fate.
Also activating the Saudi Initiative.2002.
If Mahmoud Abbas could be used as the funnel things will work even better.
The USA has guaranteed Israel millions of Oil barrels per year. The Jordanians import OIl and Gas at present, and will continue to do so in the future. This could be plugged by Iraq through the opening of the Pipeline leading to Haifa Port via Jordan. This will kill two birds with one stone. There will be win-win-win-win. USA, Israel, Jordan and Iraq.
Iraq will help the USA's with its energy guarantees commitments to Israel.
Iraq could use the Med. and Eilat ports of Israel for trans-shipments of Imported Products to Iraq.
A Free Zone could be established between Jordan, Israel and Iraq on the ports areas of Eilat.
A new Railway line could be built to link Israel and Iraq via Jordan with -Lawrence of Arabias- AL Hijaz line Istanbul- Madina to be renovated and made servicable.
A strategic Gas pipeline could be erected via Jordan to reach Israeli's Med. Ports to reduce Europe's reliance on the Russians controlled ones. may be outside Tel Aviv.
There are so many schemes I could think of for collaboration. The security, the agricultrue, the R and D in science and technology and manufacturing.etc etc.
If we take what the PM Al Maliky has said recently seriously- ALL companies of the world are invited to work in Iraq, by inference that Includes the Israelis too. Unless I am mistaken.
I would say, Egypt, Jordan , Mauretania have diplomatic relations with Isrel, why not Iraq?
Kind regards
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...Ar.aspx?
id=6765
Dear O and M
For those people who are wary of investing in Iraq, please read this article- sorry it is in Arabic- about how the Najaf International Airport was created from the desert with outside Investors and the Help of the Amercian Corps of Engineers.
Please read the benefits this Iraqi Investment Law has given to the Investors coming to invest in Iraq.
Good luck.
Kind regards
Brian H | Homepage | 08.30.08 - 5:47 pm |
That Matel guy is a real sak 'o sh1t and a prime example of why the Department of State is so screwed up.
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock."
Will Rogers
US humorist & showman (1879 - 1935)
"Diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means."
Zhou En Lai
Chinese diplomat & Communist politician (1898 - 1976)
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25093
Dear O and M
The percentage of violance has been reduced in Baghdad by 89% over the past three months.
This attributed directly to the Surge.
Well done Bush Sir.
If you are reading this I have written you a farewell message at;-
http://www.farewell43.com/
Thanking you for our freedom, democracy, the rule of law and Human rights in Iraq.
I am urging all ITM readers to do the same.
I have an American lady friend in London who introduced me to her friend in LA who has started this idea, and they asked me to send a farewell message to BUSH, and I was honoured to do so.
Some of the messages are not very complimentary, I am afraid, which is such a pity, as so much ignorance is still present in this world.
OH well, it takes all sorts to make a world.
Kind regards
http://www.farewell43.com/2008/0...-iraqi-freedom/
Dear O and M
This is the published farewell message to Bush from me. It is in English.
Good luck good people show him you care.
Kind regards
I wish people that are so dissatisfied with our country would stay out and the ones her move the hell out!
I sent an atta boy to Bush!
He reads all my email and I don't need to be in a stinking book!
That same bunch writing horrible stuff about Bush! LOONS!
According to Zogby, Palin out-bounces Obama, and that's even before the GOP convention! Oblabla's speech added zero to the convention bounce, and now Sarah has more than reversed even that much!
Timing: McCain announced Palin as VP on his own birthday, just after Oblabla's solo Greek/Russian Temple AintITheGreatest speech. Talk about sucking the wind of of his sails!
http://www.farewell43.com/
Thanking you for our freedom, democracy, the rule of law and Human rights in Iraq.
...
Hameed Abid | 08.30.08 - 8:45 pm //
=====
Hameed, that thing has been stuffed with leftist hate messages. Forget about it. It's worth less than its weight in toilet paper.
Now, dcat, just because all terrorists are Muslims, doesn't mean that all Muslims are terrorists. Or enablers of terrorists. Or friends of terrorists. Or relatives of terrorists. Or funders of terrorists. Or excusers of terrorists.
Does it?
Of course, it's easy to see how one might get that impression ...
Dear O and M
It is people like some of your posters here, who create the negative atmosphere and give a bad name to the USA abroad and from within.
Lumping all muslim and the so 'called muslims'- whom, they have the Cloaks of Muslims and they are by far the very opposites - we call them (Kafirs),- as terrorists is a height of irresponsible and deranged behaviour by some USA and European people I know.
Not all Muslims, not that I am a practicing one at that, as like not all Christians have supported the IRA, or Hitler, and not all Jews agree with and support all the extremists Israelis.
These people who are so narrow minded and arrogant, in their thinking and spew poisionus pens and harmful thoughts to others
and try to steer others to their immature , extremists views, by hidden and open threats, intimidations, and/or abusive emails and letters.
These are the ones who must be stopped if necessary, by legal means.
Iraq has been at the forefront of fighting terrorism, extremism and, stopping by Force, Mooky and his merrymen, Al Qaeda's Taliban who were sent in by Bin Laden to establish a base there.
Most of the Arab News media are being paid to write what they do, as there is no freedom as we know it in the free world, for the editors.
Picking on one article - written by a paid mercenery , and painting all the Arabs/ Muslims by the same brush is not only dangerous calleous and Irresponsible, but also inciting race and relgious, hatred against other human beings who have Human and other Rights.
These writers do not represent all the 'silent majority' who are peace loving and tolerant ordinary people and regular guys.
To equate them all like that could be considered by wiser and older people as a serious mistake and an error of judgement.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25279
Dear O and M
A great opportunity for the American abd Canadian and other inernational companies to particpate in Baghdad in few weeks time.
The exhibition which is supported by the Iraqi government and the Coalition Forces is being staged in Baghdad Internatioonal exhibition Area. It will cover , but not exclusively the following subjects and everyone is welcome to participate.
Contracting
Roads and bridges
technical aspects of house buildings.
general trade
Electricity
Yniversities
Health and Healthcare products and projects
The Telephone technology and ICT
and the mobile
Investment opportunities in Banking and Finance
Cars and vehicles
Manufactures goods and hand made products
Medical equipments and medical instruments
Agriculture and agricultural products
Protection of the environment
Tourism
Hotels and tourism products and equipments
All Participants will be given special treatments an protection and all possible assistant and help by the Iraqi Government.
The Iraqi ordinary guys and girls wil show them how hospitable and friendly they are when in Baghdad.
If you are reading this please take this offer up, you will be welcome and be safe and successful.
Join us in Baghdad. 'DAR Al Salam.' City of Peace.
Kind regards
We haven't been "silent" since McCain-Kennedy amnesty attempt, and we shut down the phone lines to D.C.!
DagneyT | Homepage | 08.30.08 - 3:23 pm |
The phone lines were shut down by a vocal minority. Not even ten million signers on a petition to drill here, drill now would be a majority of voters.
-
Lumping all muslim and the so 'called muslims'- whom, they have the Cloaks of Muslims and they are by far the very opposites - we call them (Kafirs),- as terrorists is a height of irresponsible and deranged behaviour by some USA and European people I know.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 08.31.08 - 6:37 am |
Hameed,
If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck but is silent and doesn't quack like a duck, what should I consider it? You and a very tiny minority speak out but the vast majority of Muslims remain silent. By remaining silent, most Muslims are supporting the radicals.
-
| 08.31.08 - 5:02 am |Brian H |
Dear Brian
I have already. I wanted to show them that not all people are anti Bush and some Iraqis like myself love him.
I suggested that the free Iraqis should design a statue or a sculpture for him at Abu No'awas Street, or near the Liberty monument in Baghdad Tahrir Square.
His two brave decisions to bring freedom and democracy rather than sustain the Dictatorship in Iraq in 2003 and to push forwards with the Surge in 2006 were the two defining moments that saved the victory in Iraq from a descent into anarchy and the risk of the possible killings of young, unemployed , poor , illitrate and desparate Iraqis. Those who supported Al Qaeda and Mooky and the insurgents.
Kind regards
Kind regards
08.30.08 - 5:47 pm |Brian H |
Brain
Thank you for this link. How true.
People - some losers- criticise America for being rich and pwerful yet aim to be rich and powerful themselves.
Kind regards
I still do hope the people start acting more like free people “like Americans” (even the ones living in America)maybe then they will have a chance!
Until that point they will remain nothing more then savages in my eyes!
NOW we are talking!
suggested that the free Iraqis should design a statue or a sculpture for him at Abu No'awas Street, or near the Liberty monument in Baghdad Tahrir Square.
That would be a great honor to Bush.
Some people there in Iraq hate him and wish for Saddam (the ones that benefitted of course "the thugs")just like the morons here that think obaaabaaa is something wonderful NOT!
I hear the arab nation wants obaaabaaa! Can we send him there then!
Brian H | Homepage | 08.31.08 - 5:09 am | #
Oh Brian dear,
Don't forget the male CHAUVINISTS out there having a issue about the VP for McCain!
Arabs and the leftards are really mud slinging!
However, one glaring difference was found between Saudi men and women in the survey. While the men were more worried about Islam and Iraq, the women showed more concern for Palestine.
We don't need that shit here in the USA bozo! Keep that crap in the desert where it belongs!
May the camels spit on islam too!
Cults that degrade women and humanitarian like a FREE life style need to be crushed like a bug!
Keep painting that kettle gold it is still BLACK!
Brian H | Homepage | 08.31.08 - 2:00 am | #
Yeah MON!
via GP
Sadr City Public Pool Reopens After 5 Years
excerpt:
[The District Advisory Council and the residents of the Thawra 1 neighborhood of the Sadr City District of Baghdad celebrated the re-opening of the Mithaq Pool Complex with prizes, competitions and music, Aug. 30, 2008.
Representatives from the DAC, Ministry of Youth and Recreation, Iraqi army and community organized and oversaw the celebration, amid improved security conditions.
The festivities included guest speakers, a swimming and diving competition and swimming-related gifts for the younger Iraqis in attendance.
Iraqi Lt. Col. Yeayah Rosoul Abdallah al Zubadie, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division, was a guest speaker at the re-opening and welcomed the attendees and thanked the many people who were involved in the important event.
“The Iraqi army is here to serve the people of Iraq. The community leaders here today, with the help of the Government, have a chance to make a difference for their people,” said Yeayah. “The re-opening today is an example of all of us together working together for our people.”]
now that's profound!!
==
Kafir 8.30.08 12:40 pm: Thank you for the 10-pt primer on Sarah Palin. To me she is like a breath of fresh air. A while back I heard someone say that McCain needed to pick a VP with a "wow factor". I agreed with that, but didn't have any idea who it could be. But now I say "WOW "!!! I am very enthused about Sarah Palin. I heard that she sold the Alaska governor's plane on Ebay and got rid of the Governor's cooks because she said she could make her own kids' sandwiches. I love it !! Gee, I think the Obama team must be drinking Mylanta by the bottle.
Will they have a swim up bar bg?
via TLWJ
Coalition forces target Hezbollah Brigades in Baghdad
excerpt:
[The Hezbollah Brigades operatives were captured in New Baghdad after Coalition forces received "sensitive intelligence" from other members of the group currently in custody. The information identified the location of a cell leader who "conspires with several known Khata'ib Hezbollah criminals" and was behind the deadly June 4 improvised rocket-assisted mortar, or IRAM, attack in the Sha'ab neighborhood in the Baghdad district of Adhamiyah. The attack, which was thought to be directed at a US forward operating base, killed 18 Iraqis and wounded 29 after the rockets detonated prematurely and fell short. The cell leader was among those captured.]
imho, there are appropriate times ya gotta even love rats..
==
Kathy L. | 08.31.08 - 2:49 pm |
I've heard they're calling the campaign POW/WOW '08. I like it. As for the Obama campaign, their local Walgreens is reportedly sold out of Depends.
We just keep finding more and more CRAP don't we!
LOL kafir and Kathy
Heh they will be easy to spot then.
Wet asses and coughing up blood
Hameed Abid,
I live in the state of Colorado with it's high mountains and lots of snowfall in the winter. I live in the city of Montrose, which is known as the gateway to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The Gunnison is a moderately large river that flows into the Colorado river which is about fifty miles from where I live.
If you will google the Colorado river, you will see how it supplies water and power to multiple millions of people and many, many more millions of acres of land. This is the lifeblood of our western farmers who produce super abundant crops from land that would be desert without that water.
Here in the valley where Montrose is located, there is a huge irrigation system which supplies water to many towns and multple millions of acres along this valley. The water is taken from the Gunnison river before it reaches the Colorado river.
I know that there are at least two great rivers in Iraq. One runs through Baghdad. You sir, are an architecht. I know architechts are not engineers, but it is a kindred profession. If you could put together a study and a plan, then contact the Iraqi government and the US Army Corps of Engineers, I feel certain there would be a way to irrigate Iraq and make the desert blossom like a rose.
I, wonder how a dog boutique would do in Iraq?
Just like the one by my place that sells homemade bakery goods for dogs. It's doing quite well!
Oh and you should see the beds they have!
I got one for my little darling from there and oh what a nice bed!
Oh and they let her come into the store “doesn’t have to put booties on either”.
She gets free treats and is treated like first class!
Let me know any updates on the boutique in Iraq for dogs K!
Along with that swim up bar!
I would ask everyone to say a prayer--in whatever religion you practice--for the safety of us here in Louisiana and on the Gulf coast. Three years ago today Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana killing 1800 and ruining the lives of thousands. Now Gustav is poised to hit us again on Tuesday. It will be a cruel blow if it happens...
Dan
danj | 08.29.08 - 5:29 pm | #
Danj
yes it will be that. I hope for the best for everyone it touches,
For what it is worth at least the Local and State authorities did what shouda been done 3 years ago....
how different history may have been
take care and get out if you can!
Oh yeah baby it takes all kinds to make a world! :P
Dan will do!
Tornadoes will will hit the ones that think God is on their side for saying what they did!
Prayers to the people in Louisiana.
Oh yeah it takes all kinds to make a world! :p
I found this to be a true well done good video
There is also a nut job talking about the cult in another video in which I gave it a 
Talk about your brain wash tech job!
This is your brain (0)
This is your brain on islam (.)
About Gustav;
Although intense, it has nowhere near the breadth and total power that Katrina had. That was a big storm from birth, while Gustav started as a pipsqueak and grew. Windspeed is not the whole story, by any means.
Ron G | 08.31.08 - 9:07 pm |
Dear Ron
Thank you for your ideas and constructive suggestion.
We will need time to propose what you recommended.
We will discuss it in the Office and tell you.
Can we please communicate privately. I am interested in seeing your area in person and discussing the river's use with the Local Planners and Engineers.
May be ITM will provide you with my Email address or some other friends at ITM could provide you with my Telephone numbers. perhaps Louise or Dagney.
Please try Omar or Mohammed first.
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0901-
52905.html
Dear O and M
This video shows how the process of selecting live fish from the tank and preparing it for cooking the Iraqi way- Al Masqouf', on an open fire.
Also talks about the Poorer classes of Iraqis and how they are suffering because of the lack of the Social Security System.
This Holy month of Ramadhan concentrate minds about the plight of the Poor in the Oil Rich Arab world.
Let us hope our Iraqi rulers will heed the call of duty and take urgent steps to illiminate poverty in our rich Country.
We have the resources to provide the Four M's and all we need is the fifth M -Management and organisation.
- the four M's are:- manpower, money, materials and machines.
Good luck Iraq.
Kind regards
That 5th one is O & M, or M & O as we say here at ITM.
It's hurricane season here in the States. It, like Ramadhan, involves fasting. Although Hurricane fasting is somewhat less voluntary. We also take our fish live, only not from a tank, but from the living room.
Speaking of organization and management, does anyone out there think Obama bin Biden could organize lunch in a watermelon patch?
"Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes."
Henry J. Kaiser
US industrialist (1882 - 1967)
Bobk | 08.31.08 - 10:51 pm | #
Gustav is inland directly South of us. The wind is blowing fairly string here in Batob Rouge and the rain is falling, but, fortunately, it didn't make landfall with as much strength as predicted 36 hours ago. The big question is whether or not the storm surge in the New Orleans area will breach defenses. I hope not...
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25340
Dear O and M
Glad to report that the Iraqi Embassy in Amman has started to provide free transport for Iraqis who want to go home. 500 have allegedly signed, but still the efforts of the Government is lukewarm. They should get their fingures out and organise a mass evacuation soonest.
The Iraqis immigrants should not be left to deal with things by themselves and the Iraqi government had a duty to repatriate them free of charge and look after them when they arrive home.
Why do they have to suffer the indignity meted out to them by Syria, Jordan, Egypt, The Gulf States, Turkey, Yemen, Lebanon and Libya?
They have been treated, in some cases, like criminals,by their fellow arab countries. Why are they allowed to be treated like that?
It is great to see the Prime Minister's Plane is being used - 4times so far- to transport some of them from Egypt rather it being sitting on the Tarmac doing nothing and rusting.
The Iraqi Airways ( if there is such a thing) and other Airlines such as Royal Jordanian or Qatar Airways or Arabian Air or Emirate Air ' or Gulf Air or Singapore Airlines's A380 should be hired to transport them en mass fast.
Iraq has the money why is it sitting there in the banks when it could be spent on the Iraqis in need who had to go outside Iraq from fear of death?
Trains should be booked and busses too.
Kind regards
Brian H | Homepage | 09.01.08 - 12:44 am |
i clearly recall the "NO ducks the big one" (& similar)
TV talking head announcements & MSM headlines..
Katrina didn't hit NO directly, and was
classified as a category 2 re: LA..
the dyke broke a day or two after, but no-one heeded
the obvious alarm the slow but sure flooding sounded..
buses & trains were available at the time, but no-one
ordered them mobile or to take on passengers, there's
lots more, but i digress..
ps: other areas were hit much harder, and albeit they had
severe damage & loss of life, they had their ducks in a row
& citizens cleared out pre-Katrina touch down..
==
Kafir | 08.31.08 - 7:01 pm |
paraphrasing Jon Stewart on
the Barackopolis spectacle..
"second to the great wall of china,
it could be see from outer space"
sorry i can't recall the exact quote, but you can imagine!!
==
OT.. via GP
Three Teen Girls Buried Alive in Honor Killing..
==
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0901-
52910.html
Dear O and M
This is a conveient advice from the Iranian Foreign Minister to the Iraqis.
There is no need for Iraq to remain under Clause 7 of the UN.
This advice has hidden meanings and is actually very dangerous and the Iraqis should listen politely and ignore it.
It tells them , get rid of the Americans and we will fill the vacuum thus created.
It will be a big mistake for the Iraqis to let the Americans go.
Who will guard the borders and the skies and seas of Iraq?
Who will sucure the Oil exports and the food supplies to Iraq?
Who will help the financial sector and fight the Militias and Al Qaeda or the Insurgents who want to ruel Iraq by fear and by force.?
Who will spend billions helping Iraq recover?
This advice, although it is simple, it has a lot of hidden meanings.
The Iraqis should guard against taking it.
Good luck Iraq.
O and M please note; the reason Iraq is not attracting investments in the speed expected is that Money wants to be when there is security or perceived security. For this reason people are waiting for the signing or not as the case may be of the mutual security treaty with USA.
The investments depend on it.
So if the Iraqis want the cash to come into Iraq then they should work very hard to create the conditions to attrart it. Failure to do so , spells difficulty, flights of money and financial ruins in the long run.
Great Britain is an Independent Country, but has American bases and American troops on its soil.
What is Iraq frightened of?
Kind regards
OT.. via Gateway Pundit
20,000 Turn Out to See Palin &
McCain In Missouri ..(Video)..
sure looks to be as large a crowd, if not larger, as Obama's
Germany crowd [most of whom probably came for the free
entertainment & beer, etc.. maybe even a key chain ]..
==
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Close-up...e-up/
7438.shtml
Dear O and M
This article is about Babylon, my birthpalce. The prophet Armia described it as ' Like a Golden Glass of wine in the hands of God which made the whole earth drunk'
Now unfortunately, it was stolen by the thieves and damaged by the tanks and other vehicles.
It is the seventh wonders on Earth. The government should give the Architect and Historian Dr. Dan Cruickshank who will be in Iraq with the BBC all help and assistants to tell the world about it and some of the other munuments of Iraq heritage and history.
Tourists should be guided to go there to visit it and be made welcome.
Kind regards
On this day LABOR DAY!
A happy labor day for our troops fighting and working their butts off for others freedoms!!!
GOD, BLESS OUR TROOPS!
Brian: "McCain Rides out the storm gracefully"
Have failed miserably
And it will continue to fail!
Saltherring:
We need to learn from the lesson of Europe close our borders to islamic immigrants. We do not need them or their medieval, satanic culture.
Sep 1, 2008 - 9:04 am
And I agree! I call it a CULT!
Can we please communicate privately. I am interested in seeing your area in person and discussing the river's use with the Local Planners and Engineers.
May be ITM will provide you with my Email address or some other friends at ITM could provide you with my Telephone numbers. perhaps Louise or Dagney.
Please try Omar or Mohammed first.
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 09.01.08 - 4:27 am
Hameed,
Although I have been following ITM, and making occasional posts for over three years, I have not yet made personal contacts with O and M or any of the other regular posters. I am a very private person and don't give out any information that would locate me as I consider that to be dangerous.
I have followed your postings carefully, and have come to trust the fact that you are a very patriotic Iraqi who is a businessman, and that you love America and appreciate what we have done in your homeland.
If you are completely serious about what you have said in the above post, then answer this post and I will set up an e-mail address that I will post publicly here. I will be awaiting your reply and I will set up the e-mail account today.
Ron G
A lot of these probes can be traced back to the usual sources (China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East),
Surprise, surprise Gomer!
To Hameed Abid: Thank you for all of your worthwhile comments, suggestions, etc. to this website. I appreciate it. Kathy L. Texas USA
Testing, 1 _ 2 _ 3.
http://
www.realclearpolitics.com...cain_up_to.html
Jay is correct. I'll bet the crooks in D,C, are sweating bullets. No matter which ticket wins, there will be trouble in River City. At least for the crooks.
Although I think Ohhhh.....BAMA can be bought. I know Biden and MaCain can't. McCain because he already has more money then time to spend it. Biden has been in Politics for over 3 decades and he is broke. So he is either real stooopid or honest. My money is on honest.
Don't know about Palin. She turned down enough money in Alaska to make her very rich, so either she is honest or has an etremely high price.
"Son, always tell the truth. Then you'll never have to remember what you said the last time."
Sam Rayburn, quoted Washingtonian, November 1978
US politician (1882 - 1961)
TLWJ
US detains 7 League of the Righteous operatives in Iraq
excerpt:
[Coalition forces captured seven members of a little-known Shia terror group during raids in Baghdad and Muthanna over the past two days. The League of the Righteous (Asaib al Haq) is an Iranian-backed group that broke off from the Mahdi Army after Sadr declared a partial cease-fire and ordered most of the militia to transform into a civic organization.
Two members of the League of the Righteous were captured today in Ar Rumaythah in Muthanna province. Coalition special operations forces received intelligence on the location of the two operatives. A Dragunov sniper rifle was found at the scene.
Today's raid follows a successful operation against the League of the Righteous in the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad on Aug. 31. Coalition forces captured five suspected operatives, including a senior leader described by Multinational Forces-Iraq as a "logistician and financial manager" as well as a smuggler. The man is thought to be associated with group's senior commander.
Nine members of the League of the Righteous have been captured since the US military identified the group on Aug. 19. Coalition forces captured a senior leader in Diyala province who was working to reactivate terror cells in the region.]
woohoo, keep em comin'!!
==
OT.. typos_R_us | 09.01.08 - 7:48 pm |
re: Biden can't be bought..
think again
==
GOD, BLESS OUR TROOPS!
dcat | 09.01.08 - 2:45 pm |
DITTO..
==
OT..
As the West Sleeps, Islamists Work on
Establishing a Worldwide Islamic State
==
Are We Paralyzed? I agree with you, Mohammed. I still hate the Soviets, and I never believed the Cold War was over. It just took a different direction. Better dead than Red.
Heh. Sarah brings her lunch to work:
"I'll just pop it in the microwave ..."
Kathy L. | 09.01.08 - 6:33 pm |
Thank you very much and your kind contribution to this blog.
Ron G | 09.01.08 - 4:19 pm |
Please do and I will come over in ten days time if you can find me a hotel near you to stay in for five days.
I will need the first two days to get over the Jetlag flying in from London.UK.
Kind regards
Ron G | 09.01.08 - 4:19 pm |
Ron
I have just examined on Google earth your town and found it lay on highway 50 along a small airport and saw how green the areas around the river are.
I can also see W. Tomich Ave. and Frontage Road and W. Fronatge Ave. and Railway Ave.
I can see what you mean about the irregation system between the mountains in the Valley.
Which is the nearest International Airport to you please?
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0902-
52953.html
Dear O and M
This is another article on How The Libyan Leader Al Gathafi has resolved to get rid of the Corruption in His Country and I think Iraq should, at least, consider his experiment and perhaps employ a version of it..
Thinking outside the box.
He will desolve the Ministries and all Government beurucratic systems and give the Oil money directly to the people to do with what they please.
Iraq, howver, should also consider this idea of allocating some cash form the Oil money to be given to all Iraqis everywhere in the world directly.
There are certain limitations to this form of Government, in which a system must be devised to deal with the visitors the diplomats and defence and security- internal and external. The Banking system where there are third parties or banks are involved.
Clearly there is plenty to do to make this one work.
Kind regards
bg | 09.01.08 - 9:56 pm |
bg, that article is bogus. There is next to no chance at all of that bill passing and a lot of problems with if it's even Constitutional. Accuracy in Media is using fear tactics, prolly to raise funds.
And there is no evidence there that Biden has been bought.
Grnted, It's a stooooopid idea and one that won't get thru the house or be signed into law if it does. And if some miracle happened and Obama bin Biden gets elected, and the bill does become law, then it can and will be challenged in court by any taxpayer, of which there are millions out there that would be willing to toss 10 in the pot for attorney's fees. The Constitution doesn't allow for Congress to give away their power to tax and spend.
There would have to be a Constitutional Amendment to do that.
Meanwhile, Biden signed on because he thinks it would be a good idea. Biben is almost as far left as Ohhhhh......BAAMA is. He is quite capable of seeing a global tax as a good thing without any money changing hands.
Socialism, like Islamism, only looks bad when compared to something else. If there is nothing to compare it to, then it looks pretty good. So both "isms" want to absorb the West, so they will then look good, there being no other choice.
typos_R_us | 09.01.08 - 7:48 pm |
What makes the crooks in DC sweat about Obama is that he is bringing in a new set of crooks and these aren't your tea-sipping, pass money under the table crooks, they're from Chicago. They're the bang-bang, put on your cement galoshes type of crooks. I hope there are some deep bodies of water near DC, they're going to need them.
Biden? Definitely stupid.
The handover of ANBAR PROVINCE to IRAQI CONTROL did make it into the interior of the paper on Monnday, with suitable caveats and trembling for the future.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8090100441.html
So much for the news.
On Tuesday, the Post is reporting that the left wingnuts have been busy all weekend, scraping up whatever they can find about McCain's VP pick and calling it dirt.
Funny enough, the Washington Post is all over every bit of it. They even record that it took "less than 48 hours" for the weirdest and ugliest stuff at the daily KOS to make it into the MSM.
It took the Post a LONG time to get around to publishing anything allegedly negative about Barack Obama, and then they did it only after it had hit the TV news, only in part, leaving out the credible nub of the stories and expanding wildly on the most outlandish speculation, getting that wrong in the bargain, and only from the point of view of the Obama Campaign.
Now they are "worrying" about how Sarah Palin will handle her parental duties, and criticizing her for daring to expose her pregnant daughter to the malevolent media.
This is going to backfire, and not just with the PUMAs.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/...lin-than-women/
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25417
Dear O and M
Here is yet another storey about the efforts of the Iraqis. A kuridh Iraqi at the age of 82 or 88 has been granted a PHD for his work on the Kurdish Language.
Sir, well done!
We are very proud of you.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25401
Dear O and M
would bg please translate this article with many thanks in advance.
We should be careful what to write here in this Blog, some people are reading it and carrying out our recommendations.
We are giving them Ideas to move their buts.
We shall do so again on many other constructive subjects.
Thank you the Iraqi government for listening and acting to some of the voices of reason.
Good luck with your evacuation plans using private Aeroplanes to transport the stranded Iraqis back home.
Good luck good people.
Kind regards
Kind regards
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0902-
52973.html
Dear O and M
Once again the iraqis are confronted with stupid laws in this free era.
The ministry of Interior is refusing to register Iraqis who are born overseas and would only register them if they claim they were born in Iraq.
This bizzare. how could they? they would be lying, if they are born overseas and all their birth certifcates and their foregin passports or other Un documents say they are born overseas, for example Amman, Demascus, London , New York etc.
What is this idiot who circulated this ruling? Is he a man or a donkey?
Can the Minister of Interior and the minister of foreign Affairs please stop this nonesense as soon as practicable, please?
Kind regards
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look...e=1&
NrSection=2
Dear O and M
Mary George, Halima faraj, and Sundus Abdul razzak are Iraqi Businesswomen who need help with their projects and investments ideas; for example, One of them has started an asphalt making factory, but she is facing difficulties Why?
Please assist these fine ladies to contribute positively to the rebuilding of Iraq.
If the Saudi King supports his nation's women'e businesses, then Iraq should be at the forefront in doing so and not be left behind.
Kind regards
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...Ar.aspx?
id=6801
Dear O and M
This news item relate to the use of the solar sun rays to light Baghdad Streets. What a brilliant idea. Well done boys and girls.
This should be used in many other situations too, for example in heating the water on the houses and buildings, and in contributing to some of the smaller facories and shops or supermarkets.
The use is wide spread in some of the industrialised countries of throughout the world and could be purchased easily..
It should also be used in powering new Integrating District Cooling plants - Tebreed- or as we designed at Dar Al Handasah- in Beirut the largest Integrated District Cooling plant in the world for Qatar with about 23-27 Water Towers 34m high, now under construction with a reputed construction cost of $220m by CAT.Co.
The use of Wind Power should also be used in Iraq especially at the Northern Mountenous Provinces.
There is too the use of Underground Thermal Energy by using convertors from cold water to energy- heat and Electricity etc.
Also there is the bio mass technical sources from wood shavings etc. and special boilers to create heat for central heating systems of large buildings which could also be converted to coolant energy.
The possibilities are endless and Iraq with its new found wealth and freedom to use modern technology should embark with these environmentally friendly energy generating systems and think outside the box for the sake of the future generations , not only of the iraqis but the rest of the world too.
Good luck Iraq.
Kind regards
Congressman Frank Pallone D NJ was just on Fox with Neil Cavuto, claiming that there was almost as much oil spilled with Katrina and another hurricane as the Exxon Valdez, and that this information is in a report from the Department of the interior.
This is supposed to be his argument against offshore drilling.
However, none of the oil was spilled from offshore facilities.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9365607/
moneyshot:
Nearly all of the oil leaked near the Mississippi River south of New Orleans and was contained by earthen berms designed for that purpose, said Capt. Frank Paskewich, federal on-scene coordinator for the Coast Guard. Any oil that escaped the berms flowed inland, away from the river levees. Only a few minor oil sheens, thin enough to evaporate in the sun, have appeared on the river so far, he said, and they probably came from small watercraft that sank in the storm.
None of the leaks sent oil directly into the Mississippi River, he said. The leaks involved either ruptured tanks or pipelines protected by levees.
***********
This liar is deliberately confusing spills from tank farms on land with spills from offshore drilling platforms.
via The Mudville Gazette
Transfer of Security Responsibility for Anbar Province
[The transfer of security responsibility in Anbar is significant because it is geographically the largest province in Iraq and borders three countries.
Iraqi Security Forces in Anbar have been operating independently for the past two months. Working with local government and military officials, they have demonstrated their readiness to assume responsibility for the provincial security of Al Anbar. Today this responsibility is theirs.
The transition of responsibility for security in Anbar Province is an important step. The provincial and military leadership in Anbar will have to work cooperatively in order to attain the sustainable security necessary for long term economic prosperity. We will assist as requested. The United States and Multi-National Force-Iraq congratulate the Government of Iraq on this important milestone.]
Move along, Nothing to see here
[I'm at roughly the halfway point in my latest Iraq tour, and though I haven't done any blogging of note this time around (Big Army is frowning upon it more so now than in the past), I thought I at least owed y'all an update. Of course, "nobody" reads this site, so I should be good to go, right?
In case you needed any more on-the-ground evidence, the war as we knew it is over. Finished. Kaput. Yes, pockets of enemy activity still persist, but their cells are so fractured and hounded daily by us and the newly confident Iraqi Security Forces that these rogue elements are in full-on survival mode. We have resoundly kicked their tails and they know it.
I've always maintained that the Iraqis themselves will tell us when it's safe for us to talk about finally withdrawing, and now that is actually happening. I find the bandied about timetables by the Iraqi Prime Minister eminently reasonable and workable. If this is my last Iraq tour in uniform, I for one will not be upset. Especially now that it's clear we won't be leaving a Rwanda-dwarfing mess in our wake. I can now think about returning to this historic land as a tourist with my son in tow perhaps twenty years from now, and when he looks around and asks me what we did here, I can state with pride, "son, we helped make all that you see here possible."
That alone, is what victory and returning with honor means to me.
-Buck]
==
dcat | 09.01.08 - 11:34 pm |
i was anxiously awaiting part 2.. as i had posted part
1 previously (as well as several other of his insightful
article's)..
Zuhdi in 012!!
==
Hameed Abid | 09.02.08 - 5:51 am |
none of my business Hameed, but Ron specifically told you
he does not want any of his "personal info" posted on the
web.. and you've obviously been communicating privately,
so why did you post what you did in here, hello??
==
bg, that article is bogus.
typos_R_us | 09.02.08 - 6:42 am |
there are other article's to back it up (i did
a search), not to mention the links @ link..
S. 2433: Global Poverty Act of 2007
Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL]
at any rate, if you want to call something "bogus", try that stupid video of that pool party you think Obama attended..
==
Hameed Abid | 09.02.08 - 6:19 am |
I agree somewhat. Every Iraqi national should be made a shareholder in the Iraqi National Oil company. Every month, or perhaps quarter, dividend checks should be cut with the following withholdings: 1) Federal, regional, provincial and local government expenses, 2) contributions to a retirement account and 3) premiums for life and dismemberment insurance. 4) Capital improvements and expenses of the oil company.
I think Iraqis living outside the country should have up to 50 percent of the net withheld that would be used for security and public works. This would give those Iraqis an incentive to return home.
Hameed Abid | 09.02.08 - 5:51 am
Contact me at:
ronelg62@yahoo.com
OT.. via GP
Obama Supporter Threatens Race War If McCain Wins
thank you for uniting Americans Obama.. between your racist
friends & terrorist associates.. you've managed to make Bush
look successful by comparison.. and we all know why that is
don't we.. yes, your devoted M(arxist S(upport) M(achine)..
who will also suffer in your defeat, and deservedly so..
==
now that it's clear we won't be leaving a Rwanda-dwarfing mess in our wake. I can now think about returning to this historic land as a tourist with my son in tow perhaps twenty years from now, and when he looks around and asks me what we did here, I can state with pride, "son, we helped make all that you see here possible."
That alone, is what victory and returning with honor means to me.
-Buck]
==
bg | 09.02.08 - 5:39 pm | #
amen to that Sgt Buck. What a trip to look forward to.
That my dear Dems is what it is ALL about. To bad you lost site of what the US and freedom actually stand for.
It is not a bad thing to be proud, stand tall, and to be a WINNER! It's the American way!
Biden? Definitely stupid.
Kafir | 09.02.08 - 7:07 am |
Absolutely. That is why the hiar plugs are so important for Biden. They prove his head isn't solid bone, that there IS an air space in there somewhere.
Found the perfect quote;
"Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid."
Heinrich Heine
German critic & poet (1797 - 1856)
Commercial break....
What a GREAT 1ST night at the
convention...
and still showed respect for
hurricane relief..
Don't tell anyone,but Minnesota
"NICE" is getting around....
where do ya think my smiley
faces come from
even when life comes at ya at
15 below zero...
They all sure made a point
to say"THANKS" to our TROOPS!!!
No, Joe Lieberman has not “gradually tiptoed to the Right:” the leftists and europeans supporting the Democratic Party at the national level have worked hard to jerk the party hard to the left against the preferences of the voters, and throw out the Liberals. Joe, former vice presidential candidate and re-elected Senator despite the best efforts of the aliens in the Democratic Party, hasn’t moved.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8090203659.html
I thought the Washington Post did a good thing by printing the full text of the speeches at the Democratic Convention, and I hope they will see fit to print the text of the speeches for the Republican Convention. I am curious to know why those speech texts did not make the next-day printing.
Here you go bg all in one little pakage.
Oh and thanks to our TROOPS for giving Iraq the opportunity to better it self!
Now if they dump the backasses out they just may have a chance at normal!
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Close-up...e-up/
7476.shtml
Dear O and M
This storey will appeal to those readers and posters of ITM. who will be our honoured guests when they visit Baghdad in the near future.
It is the re-opening, after five years closure of the Baghdadi Museum on the Tigris river near Al Mustansiriah University.
It has all kinds of historical items and scenes showing the old lives of the Baghdadis, and their crafts, most of them are now redundant.
It will be lit and heated and cooled through solar Energy.
It will have according to its Director m/s Amal Abduallah, statues of famous Iraqi statesmen and women who contributed to the colourful and often violent and not so violent Iraqi past.
For those who will be joining me/us- hopefull soon, for that 'Masqouf' fish meal on the Tigris River at one of the open Restaurants at Abu Now'as Street, it will be after visiting this place first.
bg | 09.02.08 - 5:39 pm |
For Buck, Sir please come back to Baghdad earlier. 20 years is a long time. We wish to thank you for your service in Iraq personally.
Kind regards
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Politics...tics/
7493.shtml
Dear O and M
This storey relates to how the current political system is a failure as far the People are concerned.
In The UK, any citizen can meet their members of parliament in His/her 'Surgery' whenever that is held during the week- evenings or week- ends. The meeting is face to face where they will discuss; suggestions, recommendations, complaints etc. In other words, the people are in touch directly with their representatives who will speak on their behalf in Parliament. Be him/her occupy the position of a Prime Minister, Minister, Deputy Minister, Director or just plain parliamentarian in the back benches.
This idea of having civil servants acting as go between is daft and a total waste of money and should be scrapped sooner rather than later. It creates another hurdle to cross by the ordinary people.They are suffering badly now through the awful red tape in the organs of the government.
The people who complain, for example could be subjected to blackmail, or could even be killed or debarred from jobs, or they could just disapppear or something could be fabricated against them legally to shut them up or even jail and gagg and harm them for speaking out.
Besdies who will guaranttee that their complaints get to the parlaiment?
This is not freedom or democracy, this is selective dictatorship and soft tyranny cloaked under another veil.
This is as a result of the Electioneering system of 'Lists', instead of the individuals Parliamentary candidate being at the forefront and accountable to his/her electors.
This Iraqi system, therefore, should be changed and scrapped and if it is in the Constitution this clause should be amended very quickly through a referendum. before the next General Election 2009.
Voting to a 'list', brought with it people such as those with Al Sader who is fighting and may even been blackmailing the elected Government and causing a lot of unhappiness to many families and individuals. Being a spoil sport.
They work for their masters, and these master are not the Iraqi people.
The 'List' idea is faceless and not so good.
True democracies do not use it.
It may have worked in Israel but should not have been adopted in Iraq.
The Electors should be free to choose the person they trust and not persons they do not know who is put upon them by the faceles committees of the faceless 'lists'
What do your readers think, please?
Good luck Iraq.
Kind regards
OT.. via AIFD
When It Comes to Islamism, the DNC Still Doesn’t Get It
excerpt:
[Last week’s opening festivities at the Democrat National Convention in Denver began with an interfaith prayer. As the Democrat Party searches for its newfound interest in faith, it quickly called upon one of the lowest hanging fruit in the American Muslim community - the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Ingrid Mattson, the President of ISNA gave a speech along with Adbur-Rahim Ali of the Northeast Denver Islamic Center. Some may dismiss the selection of nine speakers of faith at the political shindig as irrelevant and simply part of the pomp and circumstance of the DNC Convention.
But propping up ISNA in today’s environment is akin to propping up the Legal Guild (a ‘60s Communist front group) to address the convention during the Cold War. Our civil servants will verify that they have prevented over 30 attacks by militant Islamists upon our nation and our citizens since 9/11. The only ideology that unites the groups set upon our destruction is not violence. It is political Islam - their Islamism. Unless we identify both violent and non-violent political Islam as a root cause of terrorism we will never win this conflict. Militant Islamists, much as non-militant Islamists, seek some form of a transnational Muslim, political movement. They both seek various forms of the ascendancy of Islam with respect to other religions culminating in the establishment of Islamic states.]
PLEASE RTWT!!
visit AIFD to learn more about who and what the enemy w/in
are doing via infiltrating & manipulating democratic systems /
government institutions..
thanks..
==
"I can now think about returning to this historic land as a tourist with my son in tow perhaps twenty years from now, and when he looks around and asks me what we did here, I can state with pride, "son, we helped make all that you see here possible."
Perhaps the readers of this ITM web site would like to copy this idea and get together in Baghdad on the tenth or twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War, March 19, 2013/2023 -- or perhaps more appropriately Liberation Day, April 9. It would be great to at last meet Omar, Mohammed and so many other interesting characters who have voiced an opinion on this forum, liberals included. While we would likely draw more people for the earlier date four years from now, the twenty-year mark would allow Iraq's tourist potential to reach full flower. Any takers? By then, Omar with his Columbia Ph.D. in international relations might be Iraq's Foreign Minister or U.S. ambassador and can give us the red carpet tour.
Those interested could simply e-mail Omar or Mohammed with their names and contact information 18 months in advance of the anniversary and then meet online to put together an itinerary for the trip. Both brothers would need to maintain their current e-mail addresses for this arrangement to work though. Perhaps we could invite Michael Totten, Michael Yon and other independent Iraq War journalists to join this party. I would gladly pay an extra few hundred dollars to have them join us.
duh!! do over re: bg | 09.02.08 - 8:59 pm |
thank you for "uniting" Americans Obama.. between your racist friends & terrorist associates.. you've managed to make Bush look successful by comparison.. and we all know why he's viewed as a "divider" don't we.. yes, your devoted M(arxist) S(upport) M(achine).. who will also suffer in your defeat, and deservedly so.
all better now..
==
andrea/minnesota | 09.03.08 - 1:35 am |
Laura Bush Speech
Fred Thompson Speech
Joe Lieberman Speech
==
dcat | Homepage | 09.03.08 - 9:31 am |
thanks dcat!!
==
OT.. here they come..
Islamic Jihadists Post 50K Bounty on McCain's
Spiritual Advisor Pastor Rod Parsley
Rod Parsley isn't even McCains pastor.. *sigh*
==
Kind regards
Hameed Abid | 09.03.08 - 11:17 am |
I posted on this back in '05, I think.
A bicameral party system with a twist.
Instead of representation being based on Geography, it should be done by Tribe or Clan.
An Upper house with a fixed number of 'senators' ( Beys, maybe?) and a lower house with the number of representatives (Sheiks?) pegged to the population ( so many representatives per so many Itaqi's).
When the citizens voted, they could vote for a Sheik and a Bey.
Then the Congress would elect the President, with the second place becoming the PM.
I think linking the Electoral process to the existing tribal structure would increase the stability of the government as well as making the existing 'underground' tribal structure legitimate, which would be to everyone's advantage. Except the wanna be tyrants.
Right now Iraq is coming up on the one man one vote one time hurdle. The one that Russia failed to clear, which is why they now have Putin the Tyrant running things.
Maliki the Tyrant would be a bad thing.
They still there? 25 days and counting.
typoz;
early on in the electoral process, many in Baghdad and other urban centers objected to the tribal realignment and sectarian identification because they had lived their whole lives ignoring such things. Many didn't have the faintest who "their" sheikh was, and couldn't care less.
One way other the other, Bremer's POV that the tribes are going to have to fade into the woodwork and let more modern associations take over is going to have to come to pass.
In America, there's a strong urban/small-community divide in viewpoint and lifestyle. In Iraq, that's still a gulf. What works for Anbar tribes doesn't wash in Baghdad, Basrah, or Mosul.
Here's one of the GREATEST photo/caption combos I've ever seen.
What was that about Hillary fans not being impressed by Sarah? Think again ....
Read (some of the) the (700+) comments under that blog posting I referenced earlier ( Palin ) The PUMA Hillary women live-blogged SP's speech, and were actually exulting at her poise and demolition of Oblabla. Really something!
Laura Bush & Cindy McCain
President George W. Bush
Fred Thompson
==
Joe Lieberman
Rudy Giuliani
Sarah Palin
==
I just had this fantasy:
During her debate with Obiden, Sarah asks sweetly, "Joe, did Barry ever confide in you when and where he took the Oath of Allegiance to reinstate his American citizenship? At 20 he still carried an Indonesian passport, and by law he had only one more year to switch back. But no one can find any records, as usual! So, simple 'yes' or 'no': Has he confided in you? I'd think it was something you'd have liked to know before you hitched your wagon to his star! And be warned, any double-talk or evasion and everyone in America will know and assume the answer is 'No'!"
Michael Yon and Soldiers' Angels have project to get discounted copies of his book Moment of Truth in Iraq into the hands of all OIF and OEF soldiers. Here's the link to check it out.
bg | 09.02.08 - 7:35 pm |
Sorry, I made an unitential error, but do you think indicating where Gunnison is , cannot be found in an Atlas or Google Earth?
Kind regards
Hey!!
I like your post... they are great. I regularly visit to your page. Keep on posting buddy.
http://innovideas.blogspot.com
Thanks
Abhishek
http://innovideas.blogspot.com
WHERE THE HELL IS THE TEXT OF HER SPEECH?
The Washington Post published, in full, the text of major speeches from the Democratic Convention, but did not give the same treatment to the Republicans.
Not Joe Lieberman's which will result in major penalties from the Democratic Party, not Rudy Guilianni's, not Sarah Palin's.
The Washington Post made her speech a major national story by publishing a bunch of speculative cr@p from the Daily Kos, but they can't manage to publish the speeches by the Republicans.
Perhaps it is because those speeches were effective.
Oh, yeah, and it's a front-page story that it's a "mostly white" convention. This is no surprise, given the racist, sexist campaign being run by the Democrats.
No links today.
typos_R_us | 09.03.08 - 9:51 pm |
Typos
Is it possible to dig up what you posted back in 2005 please and let me have a look at it.
They are reading and listening to what we are saying at ITM, in that the new Provintial Elections will not be based on Lists but on freelance representatives, who may or may not belong to a party.
The Electoral system in Israel is based on apportionments, in that there are seats reserved for the minority Arabs and the Ultra-orthodox jews and other groups etc.
Iraq is like that now, and it is not working as far as the individual Iraqi is concerned. The voter.
It should be amended, but with a provision for women representatives, as at present they form 25% of the members, but the majority are from the Lists.
They should make the Electorates as their prorities and not the Lists.
Kind regards
typos_R_us | 09.03.08 - 12:22 am |
that there IS an air space in there somewhere.
Gotta disagree. There's plenty of air above his head for those plugs. Inside his head is the substance that is necessary for all things to grow: fertilizer.
Hameed Abid | 09.03.08 - 10:17 am |
Germany to this day virtually excludes mentions of Hitler in its history books. I hope the Iraqis have the courage to put a statue of Saddam Hussein in that museum and, along side it, fully document his crimes against the Iraqi people and the rest of the world. That way, young Iraqis reading about how their country was invaded will have some context to understand why.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25540
Dear O and M
A Kolera outbreak in Iraq cuased by the drinking and using filty water for drinking and eating.
This is really tragic, as especially the young children dying from it.
UNESCO as well as the Ministry of health should get their fingures out and do something about it fast.
It is so tragic when this kind of infectious illness happens in the land of Mesopetamia.
Kind regards
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...Ar.aspx?
id=6807
Dear O and M
This gift is to the readers of ITM.
You may or may not have read my advice for some of you to buy the Iraqi Dinar. It was 1500 = $1.00 and Yesterday it is 1182 = $1.00.
This is a good percentage gain, don't you think? In few months?
Good luck to those who purchased then.
Kind regards
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...Ar.aspx?
id=6808
Dear O and M
This article is yet another knife drawn by the clever Cloggs -Iraqi out of touch civil servants to attempt to restrict the importatons to Iraq of high Electrical consumptions equipments.
What is this new twist boys? Are we going back to govenment interference in the free activities of the free Public?
This idea is purely socialist and Dictatorial and must be scrapped.
There is no earthly reason for it. Importations of any size equipment must be free and must be encouraged. How else can iraq calls itself free and democratic?
Has Parliament approved it? Or is it yet another burden imposed on the people of iraq by yet another idiotic and narrow minds?
Just because of the incompetence not to fulfill the Electrical demands, those who can afford better equipments will be singled out for difficulties and stupid arbiteral rules. If these high powered equipments are a menace and are against national security it may be accepted to ban their imports, but to cover the incompetence and lack of Electrical supplies is not a brilliant, or indeed plausible reason.
Sirs, instead of attempting to find feeble excuses and to restrict the freedom of the Iraqi people how to behave and what to buy and what not to buy, get off your damn asses and provide the needed Electrical powers to the people.
Alternatively, let the private Sector deal with it by deregulations like all other free countries have done.
The monopoly by the government of these essential services make it a Trader rather than policy maker.
Has this government become a Trader?
Are we going back to the old tyrannical dictatorial regulations methods again or are we free to behave within the Laws of the land as free men and women to import what we need, because of lack of essential services that are still controlled by this Governement and not functioning well?
Fix the problem of lack of adequate Electricity supply rather than waste time blaming the imported high powered equipments.
What a sham of an excuse?
The Iraqi children are dying of Kolera due to the lack of good and healthy water supplies and Electrical power and these morons are worried about the high powered equipments?
What a joke?
Kind regards
Anonymous | 09.03.08 - 8:14 pm | #
And you have no clue and never will! Keep backing your thugs for friends!
I know who you are anon! Yer the guy with the "a beauty contest will cure all in Iraq"!
You sir are a pompous chauvinist pig and many have your number! Also a lover of a deadly cult!
http://www.akhbaar.org/wesima_ar...0904-
53092.html
Dear O and M
Glad this subject has at last come out into the light. The reason is freedom of speech in Iraq brought in by Bush/Blair and the Coaltition Forces in March 2003.
It is clear to me at least that the Islamic belief is too ethereal to be logical and too strict to be enjoyable.
It is and has been to me - speaking on my behalf only- an Enigma.
Some of your posters here, secularists and non-practcing Catholics and Protestants and others who have questions about the Islamic belief too often make the mistake of going to the wrong place for answers, extremists websites, speeches and books or articles made or written by religious incompetents.
The result is incomplete and distorted Information.
With such Information one cannot help but see the Islamic Faith as a big enigma.
To my mind, then again I could be wrong, for that reason the Religious Iraqi political leaders should desist and stop their political activities and resign from any government post that they now occupy.
They should stick to what they know best and serve their community and Iraq better using their specific expertise and knowledge.
For example, I do not speak Chinese,or French but if you talk to me in Chinese or in French I cannot reply because I do not know the language.
Politics is the same, the religious political leaders in Iraq today do not know its langauge and therefore their stabbing in the dark over the past five years left Iraq in turmoil and indeed impeded its progress, the rule of law, freedom. success as a democratic new Iraq and the concilliation of its different people.
Granted no one alone is the only one capable of political views, and not all all people wearing suits can be pre-eminent in Politcs. And politics may not be confined to the rich or a certain class of people.
But it has been known historically that people of the cloth, or Turbans make bad politicians.
In Iraq the results are clear to see and Iran is about to be bombed.
Kind regards
Cordell | 09.03.08 - 6:26 pm |
Dear Cordell
Great idea. The two michaels will be just the ticket.
I hope to be there to receive your party with Omar and Mohammed.
You will be made so welcome, you will never forget the hospitality of the Baghdadis and others in Iraq.
I will be working with Mohammed and Omar on an Itenerary.
A drink below the newly reconstructed Steel Bridge - Jisr Al Hadid in Baghdad on a boat perhaps - which was bombed by the insurgents - as Mohammed and Omar and I - soft ones- used to do is a must.
Kind regards
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look...e=1&
NrSection=2
Dear O and M
This item of news is very good, since Iraq has agreed to supply Jordan with Oil 30% less than the market cost.
I was womdering how much will it cost to supply Jordan with Oil from the Old Iraq - Haifa pipeline which goes through Jordan/ Palestine?
It will be great to refurbish it and when Iraq and the rest of the Arabs, hopefully after Sarkozy's visit to Syria after today sign a peace treaty with Israel this year, the iraqi oil can flow to Israel as well, with another Med. outlet.
The USA will benefit too.
http://iraqalaan.com/bm/Economy/...nomy/-35-
.shtml
With Iraq having agreed to contract ( see above news item- sorry it is in arabic)- with 35 Oil Oompanies from 135 which expressed interests to increase the Oil and Gas production above the two millions barrels a day these days, the new outlet will be most welcome, I am sure.
Let Oil bridges the Arab/ Israeli gap with Iraq as its instigator.
Qatar could liquidise its Gas in Israel via Kuwait and Iraq for exports to the free EU/world reducing further the strategic dependence on Russian gas.
Kind regards
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/
sl...r2327355820.jpg
Dear O and M
The Iraqi football - Soccur- has gained a great guy from Brazil Mr. Jorvan Viera.seen in the middle signing his contract in Baghdad.
Welcome to your second home amongst your friends in Baghdad -Iraq, Sir.
We wish you well in your mission to train the Iraqi team and with God's help win the cup again this year.
We will pray for your success in your training programme of our boys.
Kind regards
Ooops, RealClearPolitics scooped the Washington Post. Here's the text from Sarah Palin's speech last night.
http://
www.realclearpolitics.com..._to_the_rn.html
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25535
Dear O and M
The Japanese Companies are ready to invest in Iraq to rebuild it.
This is very good news. well done Japan and thank you. You are welcome amongst your friends.
Kind regards
Boy, did Hurricane Gustav kick our butt here in South Louisiana! The entire electrical transmission grid is destroyed in many places. Lots of property damage but very few fatalaties, thank God. We will be a while building back from this one. If you have never been in a hurricane, take it from me: it is an awesome display of physics.
How about Sarah Palin last night!!!! I wish she were the presidential nominee instead of Vice President. that is one smart and feisty lady! I hope McCain wins, only serves one-term, and Sarah wipes the floor with Hillary in 2012.
Dan
Ron specifically told you
he does not want any of his "personal info" posted on the
web.. and you've obviously been communicating privately,
so why did you post what you did in here, hello??
==
bg | 09.02.08 - 7:35 pm | #
It's OK bg. Hameed did nothing wrong. He simply google earthed my town, which I posted openly here. The highways and streets he mentioned show up on google earth and in no way locate me.
Thank you for your vigilance.
Ron G
This world is very saddening.
OT.. re: Anon = bg| 09.03.08 - 8:43 pm |
Mike Huckabee
Mitt Romney
==
OT..
Nigeria seizes money 'for Obama'
via TRBO
Africans for Obama 2008: Leader’s passport seized
connecting links @ link..
==
okay M & O.. so where are
you, at the convention??
==
OT.. CAGW
ie: The Swine Line
[Pork in the Presidential Race
• Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) 2007 rating was 10 percent, making his lifetime score 18 percent. The 2008 Congressional Pig Book contained 53 earmarks worth $97.4 million for Sen. Obama, including $1,648,850 for the Shedd Aquarium.
• Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) received the worst possible rating in 2007 with 0 percent, while his lifetime rating is 22 percent. According to the Pig Book, Sen. Biden had 70 earmarks for a total of $119.7 million in fiscal year 2008, including $246,100 for the Grand Opera House in Wilmington.
• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) received a score of 100* percent and has a lifetime rating of 88, has never requested nor received a single earmark, and has pledged to veto any spending bill that contains any earmarks.]
ie: Porker(s) of the Month
[CAGW Names Speaker Pelosi and Majority
Leader Reid Porkers of the Month]
[Congress left for its traditional August recess after accomplishing nothing. Of the 106 bills enacted since January, 94, or 89 percent were to name government buildings or lands, extend or make technical corrections to existing laws, or passed either by unanimous consent or with less than 10 dissenting votes. The accomplishments included “Frank Sinatra Day,” National Plumbing Industry Week,” and “National Day of the Cowboy.”
The deadline for passing the 12 annual appropriations bills has been deliberately ignored. Only one of the bills has passed the House, and only four others have been approved by the House Appropriations Committee. In the Senate, nine have been approved by the Appropriations Committee but none have reached the floor. There are two reasons for this failure to act. First, the Speaker and Majority Leader appear to be waiting for the presidential election to decide what to do with these bills, hoping that the winner in November would favor higher spending and more earmarks.
Second, the moratorium on offshore drilling expires on September 30, and it is usually renewed through the appropriations process. However, both Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are opposed to lifting the moratorium. Rather than allowing a vote, they shut down Congress. House Republicans took to the darkened House floor, demanding that Congress go back into session and hold an up-or-down vote to lift the drilling ban.
The Speaker’s first response was to continue her taxpayer-financed vacation to promote her new book. She has since indicated some willingness to consider a vote, but only tied to a larger (and costly) energy package. Majority Leader Reid’s response has been to threaten to shut down the government by refusing to allow any appropriations bills to reach the Senate floor, including a continuing resolution that would allow agencies to operate at the fiscal year 2008 spending levels.
For leaving town after Congress has spent nearly all of its time on frivolous legislation, failing to address critical issues, and threatening a government shutdown, CAGW names Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid its August 2008 Porkers of the Month.]
(more @ link)
ROTFLMBO @ THE DEMOSPENDS!!
==
8:43...pm..9-3......
TRYING to make a point to the links
there? Good,bad,???
Text
http://www.clipsandcomment.com/2...onvention-2008/
And video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w...3w&
feature=user
Of Lindsey Graham’s speech to the Republican Convention.
Excerpts:
In our visits to Iraq — ladies and gentlemen, in our visits to Iraq, we saw the situation deteriorate. The troops we met, the sergeants, the captains, and the colonels had such respect and admiration for Sen. McCain, they felt comfortable giving him something he knows a lot about: straight talk.
They said, “Sen. McCain, this ain’t working.” John heard their message and put their interests ahead of his own. He came back to Washington and told everyone, including Republicans, “We must change course.”
For his honesty, some accused John of being disloyal, but John McCain’s loyalties, ladies and gentlemen, have always been to his country and to our men and women in uniform, not a political party.
Calling for more troops to be sent to Iraq was one of the most unpopular things John McCain could have done. Some said it was political suicide. But you know what? It was the right thing to do…because losing in Iraq would have been a nightmare for America. Al Qaeda would have claimed victory over our nation. Sectarian violence would spread throughout the region, and Iran would fill the vacuum.
Last summer, we came within two votes — two votes — of a congressionally mandated surrender. One Democrat, one Democrat broke with his party to support the surge. Ladies and gentlemen, thank God for Joe Lieberman.
It was John McCain’s voice and credibility that stopped the Democratic Congress from losing this war.
*****************
That’s the kind of change we can believe in.
Washington Post runs a front-page advertisement for Bob Woodward’s latest book.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...0403160_pf.html
The whole point of the article is to print this:
The book also says that the U.S. troop "surge" of 2007, in which President Bush sent nearly 30,000 additional U.S. combat forces and support troops to Iraq, was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence there during the past 16 months.
Rather, Woodward reports, "groundbreaking" new covert techniques enabled U.S. military and intelligence officials to locate, target and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.
*************
That’s right, folks, it wasn’t the COIN strategy implemented under the heading “The Surge,” it was magic.
Yes, they're still there. 27 days and counting.
http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com/
Russia, still thinking they can win at tic-tac-toe after all these years.
8:43...
Do ya have a point?
Positvie or negative?
I live here... I saw alot..
Bellwether.
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/
...eat_obama_i.php
Presidential candidate John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention drew more television viewers than his rival Barack Obama attracted at the Democratic party's event last week, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
Russian units raid Georgian airfields for use in Israeli strike against Iran – report
DEBKAfile Special Report
September 5, 2008, 12:58 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israeli long-range unmanned aerial vehicle
The raids were disclosed by UPI chief editor Arnaud de Borchgrave, who is also on the Washington Times staff, and picked up by the Iranian Fars news agency. The Russian raids of two Georgian airfields, which Tbilisi had allowed Israel to use for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, followed the Georgian offensive against South Ossetia on Aug. 7.
Under the secret agreement with Georgia, the airfields had been earmarked for use by Israeli fighter-bombers taking off to strike Iran in return for training and arms supplies.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that flying from S. Georgia over the Caspian Sea to Iran would sharply trim the distance to be spanned by Israeli fighter-bombers, reducing flying time to 3.5 hours.
Northern Iran and the Tehran region, where most of the nuclear facilities are concentrated, would be within range, with no need to request US permission to pass through Iraq air space.
Russian Special Forces also raided other Israeli facilities in southern Georgia and captured Israeli spy drones, says the report.
Israel was said to have used the two airfields to “conduct recon flights over southern Russia as well as into nearby Iran.” The US intelligence sources quoted by UPI reported that the Russian force also carried home other Israeli military equipment captured at the air bases.
Our sources say that if the Russians got hold of an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle complete with sophisticated electronic reconnaissance equipment, they will have secured some of the IDF’s most secret devices for spying on Iran and Syria.
When this happened before, Russian military engineers quickly dismantled the equipment, studied it and passed the technology on to Tehran and Damascus.
Palin rocks ...
Cheney talks about energy, Black Sea, Georgia in four-nation tour
DEBKAfile Special Report
September 3, 2008, 6:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
US VP Dick Cheney
At his first stop in Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Sept. 3, vice president Richard Cheney was briefed on the impact of the Georgia conflict on the prospects of diversifying energy supplies and pipelines from the Caspian to lessen Europe’s dependence on Russia. With Azerberjani president Ilham Aliyev, Cheney will discuss the events in Georgia and troop contributions to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tuesday, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin was in Uzbekistan to clinch a deal on a new gas pipeline to pump Turkmen and Uzbek gas across Uzbekistan into the Russian pipeline system for re-export to Europe.
The vice president continues to Georgia to discuss Mikhail Saakashvili’s quarrel with Russia, the highest level US official to visit Tbilisi since the crisis erupted on Aug. 7. That crisis will also loom large in his talks with another US ally, Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, on
McCain - stop sending 700 billion dollars a year to countries that don't like us - uh yeah!
Drill baby drill and drill now!
It appears more people watched Palin and McCain than the rock star god obama
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/
chi...s.2.810166.html
125 shot dead in Chicago over summer-twice Iraq US troop death toll - when will Illinois officials like Obama get this carnage under control ... Obama Lied People Died - he needs to do some serious community organizing!!!
Breaking News: no links as yet, and i'm not certain of the destinations except for Jordan, but i heard that Baghdad is sending buses to bring home hundreds of Iraq refugees who wish to return to Iraq!!
Godspeed Iraqis!!
==
Valerie | 09.04.08 - 6:59 am |
i posted a link to Sarah Palin's speech here
along with others, and still others here..
==
my sincere apologies to both
Hameed Abid & Ron G..
==
andrea/minnesota | 09.05.08 - 1:09 pm |
Anon/bg | 09.03.08 - 8:43 pm | was in response to your andrea/minnesota | 09.03.08 - 1:35 am | post.. i was just provided the substance, i wasn't disputing points, nor did i know any were required.. but i agree..
btw, if i didn't bother to waste several minutes trying to locate the 8:43 as to ascertain the who or what it was in reference to i would not have know it was my post.. so it would be nice if you provided more info ie: Anonymous | 09.03.08 - 8:43 pm | next time..
thanks..
==
Iraqi Mojo...
New flick coming...
danj | 09.04.08 - 12:01 pm |
re: Gustav..
oh yes, a terrible mess was left in it's wake..
but like you say, few fatalities, THANK GOD!!
Godspeed on the rebuilding!!
(btw: believe it or not, i've experienced similar hurricanes on
Long Island (NY) of all places.. but of course that was many
moons ago.. )
re: Sarah Palin..
yes ( albeit more like a "for whom the bell tolls" eulogy for Obama/Biden.. )!! it was not only the best speech ever made in this century, but possibly a few others as well.. at any rate, i was never a fan of McCain's, but after his speech last night, what can i say.. he probably would have won me over even w/o SP as VP..
(ps: at least i know who might be our 012 president, and
can now rest easy about my grandchildrens future should
i not be around for that election.. )
take care..
==
Thanks, bg.
Here's something ya gotta see, if it hasn't already been posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T...h?
v=TG4fe9GlWS8
H/T deltabravo @ Blackfive
"125 shot dead in Chicago over summer - twice Iraq US troop death toll - when will Illinois officials like Obama get this carnage under control ... Obama Lied, People Died - He needs to do some serious community organizing!!!
Ricky bin Ricardo | 09.05.08 - 1:54 pm"
Hmmm ... Guess it's time to pull our troops out of Chicago. I DEMAND A TIMETABLE FOR WITHDRAWL!!!!
Valerie | 09.05.08 - 1:25 pm |
[Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain’s speech ended the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama’s 4.3/7 average, according to overnight numbers from metered households in 55 U.S. markets measured by Nielsen. These ratings are preliminary, however, and are subject to change.]
Valerie | 09.05.08 - 5:08 pm |
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
thanks Valerie..
==
Sen. John McCain's full speech to the RNC..
==
"One way other the other, Bremer's POV that the tribes are going to have to fade into the woodwork and let more modern associations take over is going to have to come to pass."
Brian, good luck with that. The tribes pre-date history. It was tribes that got together and built the first city. Bremmer is a famous idiot, a classic example of the sort or morooons the State Department spits up.
It's as if you are saying;
The solution to high gasoline prices is to lower the force of gravity. Reduce gravity by 3/4 and you will increase gas milage by a lot. Only one wee problem with that theory.
The tribes will be around looooooong after America is an obscure footnote in a history book that is only read to pass a test. A pop quiz question by some old fuddy-duddy history professor.
So lets face reality, no matter how ugly it is and work it to get the job done.
As McCain pointed out last night, Americans are noted for getting the job done using the tools and materials available then and there thru the creation of new techniques.
So we got tribe, we got citizens, we need democracy. Having the citizens control the tribes and use them as a tool to improve their lives would be democracy, just a different sort of democracy. I built my theory on the basis of the different backgrounds of Western and Arabic (Islamic) civilization. Western civilization is based on Feudalism and the personal ownership of land and the things derived from that land. Arabic civilization is tribal and based on collective ownership of land and personal ownership of the things derived from that land.
So by imposing a land based system on a tribal structure we have tried to pound a round peg into a square hole. What we got was a wobbly, problem ridden structure with LOTS of splinters. Why not square the peg or round the hole?
Why not use the existing social structure based on tribes to promote democracy? The tribes are not going to go away, and they have outlasted EVERY attempt to destroy them for the last 7 thousand years or so.
When what one is doing ISN'T working, you either have to try another approach or reconsider the necessity of doing it in the first place.
We just went thru that on the military side of the campaign in Iraq. One group wanted to just quit, considering the campaign not worth fighting in the first place and any extra effort just throwing good after bad. The other group said the goal was worthy enough to continue the effort but a change in means was needed. Group 2 had the political power to see it done their way, so we got a change in tactics with an increase in power to speed up the new tactics. It was named the "surge" and it worked.
So now we need to make the same critical analysis of the Political process in Iraq.
Remember, any military effort is subordinate to the political efforts. That means we can win the battle and lose the war.
Since it is obvious that the current political campaign is not working very well, if at all, the question becomes how long will it take if it works and will a new approach be faster?
The problem is compounded by the cultural differences in time management between Westerners and third worlders. To a westerner a deadline is just that with a penalty if it's not meet. In the third world a deadline is a source of amusement, with a new deadline the result of missing the old one. So what seems like a painfully slow process in the west is looked at as having breakneck speed in the 3rd world.
It really would be better if the Iraqi's solved this problem themselves. If they can do it without violence, it will greatly increase their political power on the world stage.
What is needed are demonstrations DEMANDING elections in October. Huge demonstrations. Millions of people. Man Woman, crones and children. Goats and Cows too. ALL demanding elections. Let the tribes organize it.
Then after elections, have the new set of politicians re-do a Constitution and submit it to the people. Democracy is like a soup or stew,. You don't always get it right the first time, so the next go around you add a pinch or this and a dab of that.
America has been at it for over 2 centuries and we are still working on the recipe. If the USA lasts another 2 centuries we will still be adding a pinch of that and a dash of this.
"Civilization is built on a number of ultimate principles...respect for human life, the punishment of crimes against property and persons, the equality of all good citizens before the law...or, in a word justice."
Max Nordau
German author, physician, & Zionist (1849 - 1923)
Saracuda rocks!
"McCain - stop sending 700 billion dollars a year to countries that don't like us - uh yeah!
Drill baby drill and drill now!"
Ricky bin Ricardo
It is what these terrorist countries do with their money - fund terrorism in the world. It is time to cut off their life line: cold hard cash!
OT.. ht Joshua via GP
Obama Had Close Ties to Top Saudi Adviser at Early Age
Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour Sponsored
Barack Obama Into Harvard Law School
of course the Obama camp is in full denial ala: Wright,
Farrakhan, Rezko, Auchi, Khalidi, Ayers, etc, etc, etc..
i'm still looking for a close tie of Obama's that doesn't have
dubious connections to dubious connections, etc, etc, etc..
==
Bellwether: The money is even.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
ne...refer=worldwide
Isn't it about time we told the clueless Europeans to just stay out of our elections? They really have nno idea what's going on.
http://
www.realclearpolitics.com..._the_amnes.html
Arainna, Teresa, George, ... None of you have any idea what this country is about. Take your money, and do something useful with it. Find a charity somewhere, heal the sick, but if you continue to spend money in an effort to tell us how to run our country, you will continue to fail, because we know better how to do it than you do.
via TLWJ
Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle:
September 2008 update (DJ Elliot) ..
[The Ministry of Interior has also announced the formation
of a regional court system. The system will have regional courts located in Irbil, Mosul, Baghdad, Hilla and Basra.
• Region 1 court will be based in Irbil, and serve
the Irbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Dahuk areas.
• Region 2 court will be headquartered in Mosul,
and will serve Ninawa, Kirkuk, and Salah ad-Din.
• Baghdad will be the headquarters for Region 3, and will
be responsible for cases from, Baghdad, Diyala, Wasit, and al-Anbar provinces.
• Region 4 court will be at Hilla with responsibility for
cases from al-Qadisiyah, Babil, Karbala, and Najaf.
• Region 5 court will be headquartered in Basrah and will serve Basrah, Maysan, Dhi Qar, and al-Muthanna Provinces."
This is probably an interim organization and subject to change since Region 3 has an inordinately large percentage of the Iraqi population and land area. Region 3 will probably lose Anbar, Diyala, and Wassit to adjacent regions when they are fully formed and operational. It does indicate the division of INP forces into the same five regions (corps) composed of two or three divisions in each region for a total of 11 INP divisions. Of note, Region 1 is the de facto Kurdish Corps.]
lots more @ link/s..
==
re: bg | 09.05.08 - 3:12 pm |
aah, finally found something..
IRAQ-JORDAN: Government
plans to facilitate repatriation
[Iraqi officials plan to hire private airplanes to bring home migrants from Jordan, where they have been living since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Security in Iraq remains in dispute, with officials in Baghdad insisting it is safe to return as they make arrangements to welcome hundreds of people from neighbouring countries. But UN organisations remain sceptical about the extent of security in the country.
During a meeting with senior Jordanian officials, and in discussions with representatives of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Iraqi minister of immigration Abul Samad Abdul Rahman said security has improved and gave the green light for Iraqis scattered in the Middle East and beyond to return home.
Abdul Rahman was seeking help from Jordanian officials to facilitate legal procedures that would allow the smooth return of as many people as possible, according to an official from the Jordanian Ministry of Interior, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Jordanian officials said they were happy to help, as economic pressures have been fuelled by the influx of refugees.
[snip]
The first flight, expected to be organised within the next two to three weeks, is scheduled to carry about 500 people who have told the Iraqi embassy in Amman of their desire to return home.
According to the Iraqi ambassador in Amman, Saad Hayani, at least 500 to 600 Iraqi nationals have sought Baghdad’s help to facilitate their return.
Hayani said the “improved security in the past months encouraged many families to end their asylum-seeking process" and he expected many more Iraqis to return before the year-end.
Financial incentives have been offered by the Iraqi government to impoverished families to help them resettle, particularly in Baghdad, home to most asylum-seekers in Jordan.]
hah!! like Iraqis will heed or follow
orders from the UN ever again..
==
O & M and Mr.Abid,the headline on Drudge tonite is,Republican convention most- watched convention on television----ever!After years of bashing of our president and the degrading of the Iraqi goverment,an all out insulting bashing we have witnessed by the democrat party about your leaders careful care in working out a democracy for your country,this headline says it all.we here on this web site have known all along that we, the silent majority were right all along.It was a pack of lies.Those of us in both parties who love freedom were for you all this time.I am looking forward to your elections.What do you think of our Sarah Palin and John Mccain?They are for victory for Iraqi's.I really feel that they will win this election. If they do, maybe we here at Itm will get to join you at that wonderful party that you are planning!Mr.Abid, thank you so much for teaching us so much about your beautiful Iraq and its wonderful silent majority.I think God is willing for this to be in our future.
Bristol Palin Pregnancy Distracting From Fact We're
Winning the War on Terror; I Question the Timing..
[General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said declining violence in Baghdad raised the possibility that American combat troops could leave the capital by next summer.
Asked in an interview with the Financial Times whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, he said: “Conditions permitting, yeah.”
[snip]
More than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the past two years.
It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as "al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS.
[snip]
Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, narrowly escaped capture during a raid in the tribal region of Mohmand, near the Afghan border, Pakistan's top security official told journalists in Islamabad.
[snip]
All too easy to miss the biggest story out of Iraq this year: Yesterday [Sept 1., two days ago now], security responsibility for once-bloody Anbar Province officially passed from the US military to the Baghdad government.
Fallujah. Ramadi. Al Qaeda's worst atrocities. Those opposed to the liberation of Iraq celebrated years of headlines from Anbar.
Then it all changed: We won - and the headlines vanished.
This year, Iraq received a special gift to kick off Ramadan, Islam's holy month of alternate fasts and feasts: The handover of a huge, economically resurgent, peaceful province.
More than 12,000 Marines have been withdrawn from Anbar. The remaining 25,000 US troops are packing up. That means more forces available for Afghanistan - and more time together for our military families.
The handover also means that 11 of Iraq's 18 provinces are now the responsibility of the country's long-derided security forces - with two more provinces scheduled to revert to full Iraqi control by year's end.]
links @ link..
==
typos_R_us-8.23.08-2:33p.m. Your comment about our state department is right on!I have not commented in a while, but have read all of you on Itm daily.I kind of got hemmed in in Niceville ,Fl.by Gustav for several days, waiting for an open window to travel home.Traveling alone on those routes for people running from Gustavwas a nighmare of getting in those long lines and being locked in.My son insisted I take his new silverado truck on my trip.Twas a bit brave of him, after all, I had that close encounter with an 18 wheeler last july and totaled his Dads new silverado truck.It was really a nice ride ,loud mufflers and all. I think his reason for him leting me take his new truck is to prove to his Dad that its time to let Mom be Mom again, I have been pretty much under his thumb since my accident and things were fixin to get nasty around the home front!
btw, if i didn't bother to waste several minutes trying to locate the 8:43
...
==
bg | 09.05.08 - 4:01 pm //
========
Here's a quicker way: CTRL-F opens a little search box, and then enter the '8:43', and you can find every instance in a few seconds.
OT.. you will not believe this!!
ht: Lord of the Pagans Tree
OMG!!
i can almost hear the trees praying
they get the hell out of there!!
LMBO!!
==
Brian, good luck with that. The tribes pre-date history.
...
typos_R_us | 09.05.08 - 6:54 pm |///
=====
Exactly.
When history begins (development and increase in cultural resources and knowledge), tribalism begins to fade. How do you think post-tribal societies came about?
Many Iraqis are post-tribal, and have considerable resentment over and contempt for the imposition of "Bedou" attitudes and habits on the rest of society.
It may not be quickly, but the Bedouin Model has to be outgrown.
i'm still looking for a close tie of Obama's that doesn't have
dubious connections to dubious connections, etc, etc, etc..
==
bg | 09.05.08 - 7:15 pm |//
=======
Add Biden to the list; he's a paid shill for the Iranian Mullahs. Why else do you think he was/is so eager to dismember Iraq?
Palin On Obama's Ridiculous Surge Stands
via GP
[Maybe he should have listened to General Petraeus and John McCain a year ago when the general came to Congress and sat down to tell him about it. Instead, Obama was bashing the troops progress in Iraq, over and over, until he finally admitted last night on The O'Reilly Factor that the there was indeed a very successful turnaround in Iraq under George Bush and General Petraeus.
How presidential.]
==
typos_R_us | 09.05.08 - 6:54 pm |
Thank you Typos.
This is a great analyses and so true.
In Iraq the tribes are the source of strength. They work in teams. They help each other and they protect each other and do things together for the good of the whole tribe.
The tribe put a great burden on the Individual who belongs to it to behave, be a good citizen and do well.
They take great pride in someone's success.
Al Qaeda in Iraq was defeated, although not yet completely, because the tribe turned aginst it, as they tried to impose a new dictatorial method of Rules which offended the tribe's organisations and centuries old rules and structures. They were aliens and had to be rooted out. there mistake was killing tribal Shaikhs who objected to their primitive methods to govern.
Taliban style was not how the Iraqi tribes behaved historically.
There will not be a true freedom and democracy, rule of law and human rights unless the tribal elders say it is OK to follow them.
In the West/East in their management and organisational styles and theories, they are now terming it team work.
Your ideas are brilliant and so relevant to the situation in Iraq at present- Iraqis often discuss it - in what is in an area still living in the Middle Ages and probably beyond , backwards, which the Free world went through, until the advent of the Industrial revolution in 1850 and the one mand one vote principle.
For example at the turn of the last Century there were only three democracies in the world. In UK women had not got the vote then.
The Iraqi women are now suffering under this Constitution because the tribal systems, of the Kurds and the Arabs alike blocked their progress.
Some of us , me included, are trying to change the constitution to extract more rights for the Iraq women, in education , Inheritance, divorce, children's care and retirement rights, and of course employment and business opportunities, travls freedom and freedom of choice of husbands/partners and literacy and the choices of what to do with their bodies or the illigitmate Babies etc.
Some of these ideas are aliens to some of the tribal customs, and yet they need tackling sensitively and carefully through a relevant political process similar to the one you mentioned.
Thank you for your contribution here.
Kind regards
bg | 09.05.08 - 3:39 pm |
You are so gracious. Please do not worry.
We all make mistakes and the greats have learned to admit them openly as you did here.
That means you are one of the greats.
Many thanks for your geuine help and dedication for ITM and Iraq.
I hope we can commuincate privately.
Make new friends and keep the old,
One is silver and the other is Gold.
(an Irish proverb).
'The strangers are the friends yet to meet.' ( A Russian saying)
Kind regards
Anonymous | 09.06.08 - 6:09 am |
This was me.
Kind regards
Very telling cluster of stories. Front page, today’s Washington Post
US Teams Weaken Insurgency in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8090600345.html
excerpts:
U.S. intelligence and defense officials credit the operation and its unusual tactics -- involving small, hybrid teams of special forces and intelligence officers -- with the capture of hundreds of suspected terrorists and their supporters in recent months.
The "fusion cells" are being described as a major factor behind the declining violence in Iraq in recent months. Defense officials say they have been particularly effective against AQI, which has lost 10 senior commanders since June in Baghdad alone, including Uthman.
Aiding the U.S. effort, the officials say, is the increasing antipathy toward AQI among many ordinary Iraqis, who quickly report new terrorist safe houses as soon as they're established. Fresh tips are channeled to fast-reaction teams that move aggressively against reported terrorist targets -- often multiple times in a single night.
"Wherever they go, they cannot hide," said a senior U.S. defense official familiar with counterterrorism operations in Iraq. "They don't have safe houses anymore."
************
This news is going to come as a surprise to readers of the print edition of the Washington Post, provided they turn to page A12 to read the rest of the article. It also strikes a nice balance by refraining from publishing the details of how the teams operate.
Also on A12:
Iraqi Officials Express Surprise, Dismay over US Spying Report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8090502001.html
Suppose Maliki sets up a meeting, and tells his aide to handle it, who calls the attendees, one of whom tells his own aide, who calls his cousin, Achmed, the soon-to-be-dead terrorist.
Yeah, it’s spying, but the target isn’t Maliki, it’s Achmed.
Of course, this being the US, this action does not remain secret for very long. We deliberately refuse to cultivate the discipline to keep secrets, because we don’t want some fool to get confused, and then get away with shifting the focus from Achmed to Maliki.
This story indicates that multiple decisions have been made that it is time to 'fess up. It is a sure sign that a crisis is past, and that Iraq is assuming its rightful position as sovereign of its own territory.
And again, on A12:
US Warship Anchors off Georgia -- Relief cargo to pass Russian checkpoints on trip to interior
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8090503390.html
It is always our military that delivers relief supplies, because they are always ready. This time, they are going into the port at Poti, right under the noses of the Soviets ---err, Russians. The Russians are not supposed to be there, but like all Russian army emplacements, they never know when or where to stop.
***********
Even more interesting: these stories are still showing up on Google with a reference to Washington post mobile, but security has improved. This is a good thing. Also, there are very large numbers of hits, which I hope is a sign of the market size for thorough Washington Post and Washington Post Foreign Service stories.
While the Internet has its uses, it contains an enormous amount of chatter that is just noise. These stories bear traces of genuine news work, and so they have added value.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world...ast/
7600104.stm
Dear O and M and ITM readers.
At Last someone is taking note of what we write here.
The UN EP is listing the marsh Land of Southern and Western Iraq as world heritage site.
This is really great news.
Also the Basra Governate is spending money for electricity and water supply to its people there.
Well done everyone who contributed here on this subject.
Thank you UN and Canada. and the USA Army Corps of Engineers.
Kind regards
dcat | Homepage | 09.05.08 - 7:03 pm | #
dcat:
25 years ago I was giving a speech to a Junior League (general well-to-do women's social club, for our Iraqi friends knowledge) group and one of the women asked me if I thought there would ever be a woman U.S. president elected during our lifetime. I thought for a minute and replied: "Yes. She will be a grandmother from the heartland who thinks Ronnald Reagan was a little soft on the issues."
Sarah Palin will soon be a (very young) grandmother, she isn't from the elitism of the East or West coasts, and she will be the first woman president of the United States. I can't wait for she and Hillary to throw down in 2012 or 2016. It will be a lioness (Sarah) vanquishing a bewildered mare...
Dan
To Hameed Abid: 9.06.08, 8:26 a.m. Great news about the Iraqi marshlands being listed as world heritage site. I have always been interested in those marshlands and the people who make their homes there. I remember one of the posts by ITM about the date palm trees that SH destroyed, as part of his intimidation/terrorism against his own people. Here in the U.S., we often plant a tree to commemorate a person or important occasion. I think it would be great if many date palm trees could be planted in Iraq in honor of President Bush. I am tired of the constant bashing he gets. He loves his country and believes in freedom and liberty for all people and has done much good in his time in office. The liberal MSM has made it cool to bash him, and it makes my blood boil. I hope he leaves office knowing that people appreciate what he has done. To free 50 million people (Iraq and Afghanistan) is a noble deed. It comes at great cost for all involved, but I believe history will show that President Bush was right. I support you and thank you, President Bush. I am sure many people do, but the big mouths of the looney left drown out their voices. As far as Code Pink (what a bunch of nuts!!) and the other anarchists who disrupted both Conventions: I think they are terrorists and they belong in Gitmo. Lock em up and throw away the key !!! I don't mean the people who are just dissenters, I mean the ones who have no agenda other than going from place to place just trying to promote anarchy. What a bunch of losers !! Get a job, you sorry bunch of nuts !! I always wonder who finances these nuts !!! Anyway, I love trees and would love to see date palms thriving all over Iraq, or maybe in a big park in Iraq, dedicated to President Bush. Thank you ITM, for letting me vent. Also, I remember the ITM blog where the mural painter painted the wild horses. Yahooo!!! Long live mavericks !!!
Our security and economy can be reinforced (saved) by drilling, with coal and with oil shale? Think about it.
More energy development at home in the good ole USA would free us from ALL the other oil countries. We wouldn't need them for at the very least 30 years, by then new energy sources would have been implemented. We would never need anyone for our energy source within 5 years if we started today. The jobs this endeavor would create would be phenomenal, high paying jobs at that. The money from the oil America puts on the world market would clear our deficit in no time and a massive surplus would be around the corner. I am I wrong with this assessment? If so please explain where and why.
He gave this speech
text
http://portal.gopconvention2008....ails.aspx?
id=49
video
http://blogsforjohnmccain.com/mi...full-video-
9308
and the Washington Post reported it like this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...0303962_pf.html
excerpts:
In a More Diverse America, A Mostly White Convention
Organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party's biggest shortcomings.
************
Maybe if the Washington Post had bothered to print or at least point to the speech by the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, Michael S. Steele, and point out that he is chairman of GOPAC, African Americans would have been inspired. And maybe that’s why the article came out the way it did.
Keep at it, Mr. Steele, we'll get it right, yet.
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/Dis...ws.aspx?
id=6809
Dear O and M
The above article written by an Iraqi writer in London, I know Abdul Munim Al A'asam.
It deals with the government latest requests for the qualified Iraqis who live abroad to get back to Iraq to help with its rebuilding and re-development and reconstruction.
The Prime Minister has urged those select group of professionals and technocates so many times to return to their home land. There are so many thousands wanting to go back, but Alas! very few took up his offers.
Some have and were met with red tape, procrastinations, delays, officials are posing on them and treating them derisory with no respect or regards like pieces of shit.
Some of them did not belong to one party and therefore could not get served by the Ministry or department of the others.
They are shunned from Pillar to post and treated like criminals sometimes,unless they pay bribes for their paperwork to be processed, because their qualifications could be dud. Some cases may have been false, and some others needed verifications or equalisation.
Imagine a guy working his guts out in UK, Germany or USA to qualify and work in these countries for years and wanted to serve the Country he loves, by invitation only to be met with some ignorant and often jealous and corrupt civil servant who will make his/her life hell and waste his time and efforts and question his integrity.
One of them told some, Oh! for goodness sake you were happy and living well,out there what the hell brought you here? ( Ya ma'awaad.. moo ka'aid wa mistreeh?)- in other words, why do not go back where you have come from where your stay is OK and restful. Why are you bothering meeee?????
If the Government wants to get these people out to Iraq, then they should put their own house in order first.
Treating very highly qualified people like they have just come from Mars and insulting them in the processs is the height of lack of manners and bad form.
Is it a wonder the majority of them could not give a damn about Iraq and stay put?
They should be made special cases and be treated with respect and honoured for their sacrifices to go home which is made hostile to them, on their arrivals to help it.
The governement should institute a special National Directorate populated with people- civil servants- from abroad,who understand them and speak their language to deal with these peoples affairs and help them resettle without too much complications, delays, suspicions and insults.
Good luck guys in Baghdad. You will have to change your tunes to attract the finest and best, successful Iraqis from abroad?
Kind regards
Valerie | 09.06.08 - 11:01 am |
thank you Valerie..
hence, i didn't even know MS gave a
speech until you posted the link..
i don't have cable & our local stations didn't cover the RNC like they did the DNC.. and i'm not just talking about the number of stations, but who's speeches they covered.. no bias here in Messatwoshits, no, none at all.. gah!!
==
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORL...ined/
index.html
A military press release on the raid identified those in custody as "a suspected car-bombing cell leader and three alleged associates."
"The alleged leader is reportedly involved in procurement of bombing components, construction of bombs and distribution to the cell, which has been known to attack Iraqi civilians in north Baghdad," the military release stated.
"He is also believed to have contact with terrorists around Iraq and internationally."
Hall would not say if the journalist was the alleged bomb leader or one of the three alleged associates. One other person, identified as "an armed terrorist," was killed in the raid, the military release stated.
On Monday U.S. and Iraqi forces picked up Jassam after raiding his home in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
"He is being detained because he has been assessed to be a threat to the security of Iraq and coalition forces," a U.S. military spokesman told CNN.
The London-based Reuters news agency is demanding more information about the detention of Jassam, a freelance photographer who has worked with it for about two years.
http://www.time.com/time/world/a...=feed-cnn-
world
"They haven't done anything," Amar, a 35-year-old from the mainly Shiite district of Karrada, says of the politicians he helped elect in the 2005 parliamentary polls. He remembers with pride emerging from the ballot box with a purple, ink-stained index finger. "This time I won't have a purple finger, and I think the majority of people won't," he says, bitterly. "I want to vote for people who will help us, but I don't see any."
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORL...ined/
index.html
A military press release on the raid identified those in custody as "a suspected car-bombing cell leader and three alleged associates."
"The alleged leader is reportedly involved in procurement of bombing components, construction of bombs and distribution to the cell, which has been known to attack Iraqi civilians in north Baghdad," the military release stated.
"He is also believed to have contact with terrorists around Iraq and internationally."
Hall would not say if the journalist was the alleged bomb leader or one of the three alleged associates. One other person, identified as "an armed terrorist," was killed in the raid, the military release stated.
On Monday U.S. and Iraqi forces picked up Jassam after raiding his home in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
"He is being detained because he has been assessed to be a threat to the security of Iraq and coalition forces," a U.S. military spokesman told CNN.
The London-based Reuters news agency is demanding more information about the detention of Jassam, a freelance photographer who has worked with it for about two years.
OT.. Kathy L. | 09.06.08 - 10:03 am |
re: [Code Pink]
add another dubious group to Obama's list of
"not the (fitb) i know/knew" supporters..
==
Kathy L. | 09.06.08 - 10:03 am |
Dear Kathy
Thank you for your post.
What a good idea.
Bush and Blair should be remembered by planting trees at a place devoted entirly to them.
Amanat Baghdad. What a way to say thank you to Bush and Blair?
I am sure Bush will be remembered by the majority of Iraqis and Americans when they wake up, in History as a great leader of a great Country.
He fought to protect American Interests from a world about to be dominated by vicious extremists Islamists much like Hitler's Nazies.
Had he not acted, these morons and Bin Laden would have gotten too big for their boots after 9/11 and would have started blackmailing and terrorising the week Middle Eastern regimes and would have taken over Pakistan with its Nuclear weapons.
Saddam and Ghathafi would have developed the Bombs with the help of Ghadeer Khan, the corrupt Pakistani nuclear scientist.
The Europeans would have been in danger too and the whole world order would be in jeopardy.
If anyone sincere president of the USA who backed freedom with his forces similar to Roosvelt it is Bush.
Sir, you deserve to be respected in you own land for your courage and for far sightedness and support of the free world.
Some of your countrymen are like pigs with votes who would never understand you.
We the newly freed Iraqis will always be thankful to you for our freedom and democracy.
God bless you and your mother and father and your wife and children and grand children. And your brave forces.
May you live long and Happy, Inshallah.
Kind regards
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnew...ws.php?
id=25661
Dear O and M
Here we go again.
The Saderists do not know their arse from their elbow.
Here we read them talk about the security agreement with the USA and telling the People . It will harm the Iraqis.
How ? I might ask?
He says the two parties negotiating the agreement are not negotiating on Equal terms.
Well! they are not, and what can you do about it? Iraq went to war with America and lost. How could they be equal?
He says it reflects the American way of thiking?
Well the American, the victors think differently from the Iraqis the losers. How on earth do you expect them to think? The Iranian way? Or like Muqtada Al Sader? Or Bin Laden?
He says, the Americans do not consider the people of Iraq, but only their military?
Well, how could you say that Mr.? Where were you living during Saddam's time? They freed the iraqi people and gave you the freedom to spew garabge like this without being arrested or in the mass graves..
Besides it is their Military's position beyond 2008 that is being discussed, of course they have to consider their Military's interests you moron. It is their rights as victors and war winners.
This agreement will present the American Interests far away from the Iraqi Interests,He says.
That Sir, is nonesense, it is because they wish to better the Iraqis whom they have defeated. For leaving a weak Iraq to Iran, Turkey or Syria- like what happened in Lebanon will be a disaster. They are acting resposibly, a state that will take you hundreds of years to appreciate.
Sir,
You are giving your countrymen a bad name by opening your mouth before engaging your brain, assuming you have one.
Kind regards
Dear O and M
I have read an edict from Shaikh- religious source- Mohammed Ishaq Al Faiyadh,in Najaf, demanding that the terrorists and those who steel the public funds should be hanged openly in Public.
There are objections to ths form of exection in that it is not civilised. He said those terrorists who kill, maim and injure innocent Iraqis in the most vile way do not care about civilised behaviuor when they carry out their Acts.
This a significant development coming from such a learned source.
What do your readers think, please?
Kind regards
A Major General Comments on Governor Palin's Job as CIC of the Alaska National Guard
(and also the Alaska State Defense Force by the way)
Its funny to watch libs try to act like military experts and mock her on this when its a very serious, real job. Dumnba-ses.
Drill baby drill!
You can vote for a hero ... or vote for a zero!