HT : GP
Iraqi Shiite Government Investigates
Iranian Arms Trafficking
excerpts:
[Iraq's ambassador to the U.S. said that a high-level committee
will investigate Iran's role in arms trafficking across his country's borders, after the discovery of large caches of weapons and explosive devices recently. "It's a bit disingenuous to believe such quantities of up-to-date weapons manufactured this year, last year, can flow into the country without the knowledge of the Iranian government," Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.]
[“U.S. counterterrorism officials said Iran has increased weapons supplies in recent months, adding that the Iranian government wants to diminish U.S. and Iraqi coalition efforts in the region,” The Washington Times reported.
"There continues to be a disturbing flow of arms from Iran
to Iranian-backed groups inside of Iraq and there are some indications that the flow is increasing," the paper quoted counterterrorism official as saying.
Mr. Sumaida'ie said that, despite an eight-year war with Iran during the 1980s under the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein, the current Iraqi Shiite militias — and specifically anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — have formed close ties with Tehran.
But he said the majority of Shiites in his country
maintain strong nationalistic ties to Iraq.
"In fact, the Iraqi Shiite presents a threat to the Iranian
state rather than the other way around," he said.]
***
[Haider Ajina comments:
This was an interesting statement from the Iraqi ambassador. Paul Bremer refers to the arrest warrant for Muqtada in his book. I agree that Iraqi Shiites can become a stronger influence on Iran than Iranians can on Iraq in the long run. Iraqi Shiites consider them selves the original Shiite. They host the major schools for the study and the Hauza is in Nejaf (Grand school of the grand Ayatollah). Nejaf and Karbala are the Vatican of the Shiites. In the past and now Iranian Shiites look to Nejaf (IRAQ) for religious guidance and if there is a conflict between instruction from Nejaf and Qum (IRAN) Nejaf will be considered the higher authority.
A number of Iranian references who disagree with Iran's government have sought refuge in Nejaf to escape harassment and in some cases persecution.
While hindsight is always 20/20 we should also learn from it. Just like when Bin Ladin was offered to us and we did not take him. Muqtada could have been stopped early. In the Middle East early courageous decisive action is needed when dealing with unreasonable individuals with demonic vision. If there is a main trait that middle easterners have (it is my place of origin) it is to wait and wait out whom you are trying to deal with.]
hmmm, no mention of the "rocket"..
==
hi Omar.. 
[The message is quite clear and simple. Baghdad sent a delegation last week to ask Iran to stop the flow of weapons and support to Shia militias. When the delegation returned empty-handed, the government immediately announced through spokesman Ali Dabbagh that it will work to collect and display evidence of this support. A day later the conversation escalated with the above statements. The question is: is Iran going to respond reasonably or is it going to keep denying its involvement in the crime? And if
it does, I wonder what the next escalation in the conversation is going to look like.]
i recognize the logic & diplomacy.. but how seriously lost is this world that anyone would even anticipate a "reasonable" response from Iran.. never mind expect them to carry it through if it does give one at this point in time??
==
I think it's pretty clear what's going to happen. The mullahs will say what they think the world wants to hear ("We aren't providing these weapons. Never have been. This is just another U.S. smoke job to justify an eventual war against us.") and, in private, what they think that the Iraqi leadership wants to hear ("OK, we hear you. We'll tone it down."). And then they'll keep right on doing exactly as they have been doing up to this point. They won't change their behavior one iota.
Why? Because their greatest fear is that Iraq will ultimately be successful in establishing a democratic state right next door to them with a free press, free speech, and operating under the rule of law. Such a state would plant the seeds for the mullahs' fall from power, and they know it. So, they're going to pull every trick in the book to keep that from happening.
Certain people inside Iran need to start turning up dead. That's the only way the arms shipments will stop.
Omar, you already know the answer to your question. Iran has been denying their support of Iraqi's terrorist and will continue to do so. Sometime in the future they will stop their support but will never admit to providing weapons, cash and training.
I also ready today that Iran is now blaming the bombing that killed 12 in Iran a couple of weeks ago as being carried out by US backed terrorists. That wouldn't be too bad of a plan for other nations to do against Iran but I'm sure it isn't happening at the moment.
Omar, many in US are saying Iran could be hit before President Bush leaves office. He leaves for Egypt to meet with the President of Lebanon on Tuesday. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to hear that conversation!
They got al Masri, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq! YIPPEEEEE!!!!
"There continues to be a disturbing flow of arms from Iran
to Iranian-backed groups inside of Iraq and there are some indications that the flow is increasing,"
We bombed an al Qaeda leader in Somalia, we can sure go in and do some damage in Iran as well. If this keeps up, I'd make a large wager that it will be done before Bush leaves office.
HT : TG
How the Outcome in Sadr City Led
to Today’s Clashes in Beirut
excerpts:
[What could have spurred-on this over- reaction on Hezbollah’s part, which has been manifested so far with flexing its muscles in the Sunni area of Beirut, seemingly showing-up the government
as weak and vulnerable?
I believe Iran needed to show the United States and its Arab allies that it can humiliate them by overrunning the government they back in Beirut and that they’d be unable to do anything about it, and I believe that Iran needed to make this point now because the Mahdi Army in Iraq has collapsed.
Iran has been backing certain factions of the Mahdi Army with training and arms as an investment in a force for chaos, which can be held in reserve and unleashed against the Americans in Iraq in the event that George Bush may order a bombing run against Iran’s illicit nuclear program this summer— something he’s be[en/ing] egged- on to do by U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.]
[Maliki has also ordered the Iraqi Red Crescent to prepare an initial contingency plan to absorb 100,000 refugees from Sadr City, indicating that he is not backing down. Moreover, there’s word from parliament that the government has asked for the removal of legal immunity from several parliamentarians, some
of whom are Sadrists, over charges of inciting violence against government troops. Particularly vulnerable is Sadrist MP Baha’ al-‘Araji.]
[The Sadrists and the Iranians have been reduced to bravado and PSY-OPS: one account has it that the Sadrists have a plan to take over the Green Zone within seven hours, and that they can take over Basra within 24 hours. Another is that General Suleimani of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard actually controls events in Iraq.
But in effect, Iran has lost the deterrence value of its investment in the Sadrists.
That’s why Iran needed to flex its might in downtown Beirut, to embarrass the Saudis and others who can do very little to bail-out Siniora’s government. The ruse seems to have worked: Saad al-Hariri basically rescinded the government’s orders against the airport security chief and the communications network today.]
someone asked him WTH he was talking about & called him an idiot.. i say TG has been a tad more on the money than he's been off so far, but what do i know..
==
OT.. HT : GP
Hezboallah Fires Rocket Propelled Grenades
excerpt:
[Fierce clashes raged in Beirut on Thursday after the Iranian- backed group Hezbollah said the U.S.- supported Lebanese government had declared war by targeting its military communications network.
Security sources said the fighting killed at least six people and wounded 15. The sound of exploding grenades and automatic gunfire was heard into the night in the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war.
Lebanese governing coalition leader Saad al-Hariri proposed a deal to end the crisis under which government decisions that infuriated Hezbollah would be considered a "misunderstanding".
The decisions would then be referred to the Lebanese army, which has been neutral in the confrontations, giving army commander General Michel Suleiman the option to suspend their implementation...]
(jic: think i forget TG's link in previous post)
==
DagneyT | Homepage | 05.08.08 - 5:07 pm | 
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq’s
leader, reported captured in Mosul
excerpt:
[The Iraqi military claimed Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq’s leader, has been captured in the northern city of Mosul in Ninewa province. The US military has not confirmed the report of al Masri’s capture. Al Masri's capture would provide a potential intelligence boon on al Qaeda's network in Iraq and its connections to the international organization.
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al Askari said al Masri’s capture was “confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province,” The Associated Press reported. The person believed to be al Masri has been transferred to US custody for identification, according to Askari. Al Masri’s capture was also announced on Iraqiya Television, the state-run TV network, AP reported.]
==
bg | 05.08.08 - 6:20 pm | #
I actually think that makes a lot of sense.
re: bg | 05.08.08 - 6:25 pm |
A Gift From Tehran
excerpts:
[Lebanon’s highest Sunni religious authority, Grand Mufti Rashid Qabbani, lashed out at the "armed gangs of outlaws" and call on Hizballah leadership to immediately withdraw them from Sunni neighbourhoods and warning that Lebanon’s Sunnis “had had enough”. He also pointed the finger at Iran as having a hand in today’s violence.
Christian Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea,
referred to Hizballah as the Mahdi Army in Lebanon.]
***
[All eyes were on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was due to hold a rare news conference via video link later in the afternoon in response to government moves against his militant group.
The army and riot police spread out in Beirut while many schools and businesses in the capital remained shut for the second straight day.
Armed men, some hooded or masked, were seen
in several mixed Sunni and Shiite neighbourhoods.]
==
Batman | 05.08.08 - 7:45 pm |
me too..
==
Meanwhile, the US is moving, too.
http://informationdissemination....lf-for-
war.html
H/T Pat Dollard
I think the only chance for anything less than a catastrophic (for Iran) outcome is if the Iranian government decides to pay attention to the Iraqis. And, they might do that.
There is such a thing as being too big. The threat from the US is not even on the same scale as that from Iraq, but the threat from Iraq has the advantage of being within the range that the mullahs currently in charge of the Iranian government can comprehend.
The Iraqi threat probably also has the advantage of being considered more certain by the mullahs. They can fool themselves into thinking that those infidels really do not have the strength of character to fight them, but they already know better than that about the Iraqis.
re: bg | 05.08.08 - 6:46 pm |
May 8, 2008
Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri is captured!
excerpt:
["The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Askari told The Associated Press by telephone.
He did not have any further details nor did he say when the al-Qaida leader was arrested. According to unconfirmed reports, however, he was caught Thursday evening in the Tayran area in central Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and al-Qaida.
Al-Masri took over al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.
U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No.2 official. He later joined al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.]
April 20, 2008:
Iraq Al-Qaeda Leader Vows "We Will Win"
-- Democrats Agree
excerpts:
[A man claiming to be the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq vowed in an audiotape released Saturday to launch a monthlong offensive against U.S. troops.
There was no independent confirmation that the voice belonged to Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, but it sounded exactly like the one heard on previous audiotapes.
Al-Muhajir has been the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq since his predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad in 2006.]
[Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton announced that they will withdraw troops from Iraq immediately upon taking office. 4/16]
==
OT..
uh-O-bama-bummer.. 
==
Chicken Farming gets a New Boost in Hawr Rajab
When Soldiers of the 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, began inspecting chicken coops in Hawr Rajab last December, they found munitions caches and bomb-making materials instead of poultry.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters terrorized the residents of this community south of Baghdad, destroying buildings, stealing
feed and killing livestock.
Although peace has largely returned to the area – agriculture, the main source of employment for local residents – is struggling to restore itself to its former state. With help from Soldiers of the 6-8th Cav. Regt. and the U.S. Department of State’s Baghdad-7 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, farmers here are hopeful that prosperity will return.
Members of the ePRT, along with 6-8th Cav. Regt. Soldiers, distributed more than 13,000 chicks to 10 poultry farmers in
the Hawr Rajab area May 6. This delivery of egg-laying chicks
is aimed at providing farmers with a more sustainable income
for the largely family-based farms.
Mike Stevens, ePRT agricultural adviser, estimated
40 new jobs were created with the May 6 delivery.
Stevens credits Soldiers with the program’s success so far.
“All I had to do was line up a plan to get the chicks out to the farmers. The (Soldiers) risked their lives to recon these chicken coops,” Stevens said.
The program to restore Hawr Rajab’s poultry industry began with microgrants to help farmers refurbish their damaged coops. Last month, the ePRT distributed 3,000 chicks to area farmers.
Prices for poultry products have been inflated here recently, with local residents relying on Baghdad markets for meat and eggs. Stevens hopes to see reduced prices for meat and eggs in local markets as a measure of success for the program.
Besides lower prices and higher employment for local residents, the greatest benefit to farmers is a better working relationship with their government, Stevens said.
“This is all part of the membership drive that began with seed and plastic distribution. It’s a way of encouraging locals to pay dues to get into the farmers union,” he said.
The ePRT helped form local farmers unions as a way of restoring farmers’ connections with the government. The ePRT also plans to provide agri-business training to teach farmers how to use their money wisely, giving them greater buying power.
Stevens worked with the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture to get the program work off the ground. The MoA provides vaccinations for the chicks, and in turn looks to the ePRT and Soldiers in the area to help farmers in the short term.
Stevens said one farmer who received the chicks, Kaleed Jasim, reminded him of his job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“He said it was very nice to see farmers (being) focused again in Hawr Rajab,” Stevens said. “He’s kind of like me back home. If something happens, I worry about my farmers, and you could tell he’s worried about his farmers.”
Jasim used to work for the MoA during Saddam Hussein’s regime.
“He will be able to employ people with this business and provide employment to the industry he loves: agriculture,” Stevens said.
The 6-8th Cav. Regt. is operationally attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga.
==
Soldiers Visit Windmills in al-Zatir and Hollandia
U.S. troops visited windmills in al-Zatir and Hollandia,
Iraq, on a quality analysis and control trip May 5.
The Soldiers with 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion, and 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, made the trip to check on progress made on windmills over the past eight months.
Major Michael Blankenship, from Jonesborough, Tenn., 489th CA Bn., oversees the project and said he makes these trips weekly
to ensure progress goes as planned and workers are following instructions.
The convoy made its first stop at al-Zatir and met with Haider, a local Iraqi contractor and son of Samir Muhammad, who owns al-Janoob Company, the lead contractor unit on the project.
Haider showed the Soldiers the windmill, which provides water for irrigation and drinking. He also showed off the newly revamped solar panels, which provide energy to purify water.
Taleb Hamid, a spokesperson for the local villages, said the
water is much better now that they have the purifying system.
“The people were hesitant towards the water at first,” Hamid said. “Now they are very happy to have clean water for drinking and laundry use.”
Soldiers also visited a windmill in Hollandia, which provides water for irrigation and will eventually be equipped with the same purifying system as the one in al-Zatir. Blankenship believes the windmill in al-Zatir is the first of its kind.
“These people should be very proud of what they have done here,” said Col. Ryan J. Kuhn, from Clarks, Neb., 3rd HBCT deputy commander. “They have done something that no other Iraqi ever has. History is being made in this village.”
Kuhn was a part of the original planning and took part in the visits Monday. He said the Iraqi contractors have made significant progress on the windmills over time.
“These people have done a great job,” Kuhn said. “Now, when children come walking by on their way home from school, they
will be able to … drink clean water.”
Kuhn said they are providing more than just clean water, but the security to enjoy it as well.
“Water is expensive for these people,” he said. “We are defeating the insurgents by not allowing them to control the prices of water and by providing free water.”
Blankenship said the overall project has been a huge success. He hopes that the success will carry over to 2nd BCT, 1st Armd. Div., as they take over command in the Mada’in Qada.
Lieutenant Colonel Matthew F. McKenna, from Pittsburgh, 2nd BCT deputy commander, will be taking over the windmill project when the 3rd HBCT leaves Iraq.
“We want to get the director general for water in Iraq to look at these windmills,” McKenna said. “Hopefully they like the idea and we can expand the windmill program through the Government of Iraq.”
The 2nd BCT, 1st Armd. Div., from Baumholder, Germany,
is replacing the 3rd HBCT, 3rd Inf. Div., in the Mada’in Qada.
The 489th CA Bn., from Knoxville, Tenn., is attached to the 3rd HBCT. The 3rd HBCT, 3rd Inf. Div., from Fort Benning, Ga., has been deployed in support of Operation Iraq Freedom since March 2007.
==
Medical Soldiers Show Readiness
during Mass Casualty Battle Drill
Soldiers from Company C, 47th Forward Support Battalion, performed a simulated mass casualty drill at the troop medical clinic on FOB Hammer, May 6.
A mass casualty (MASSCAL) event is any situation where there are more casualties than the aid station can normally handle.
“When a mass casualty call comes in, all physicians, from dentists to surgeons, are called in,” said Capt. Aaron Mallory, of Panama City, Fla., Company C commander. “Those who cannot help on the treatment floor are sent to help with triage.”
The 47th FSB used the training to rehearse procedures conducted by the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. After evaluating the mass casualty event, leaders of the 47th FSB will adjust tactics to create their own standard operating procedures.
“The thing about mass casualty simulations is that you can never get them perfect, which is why it is called practicing medicine,” said Staff Sgt. Chad Wilson, of Hendersonville, N.C.
This training event is important for Soldiers because it maintains readiness and offers a chance for adjustments before handling real situations, Mallory said.
The 47th FSB is currently assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, from Baumholder, Germany, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since April.
The 2nd BCT, 1st Armd. Div., is currently taking over
the 3rd HBCT’s area of operations in the Mada’in Qada.
==
CMOC Links People to Government
Providing services needed to sustain a city and the inhabitants within is a daunting task the Government of Iraq is working to solve.
In neighborhoods where conflict has reigned, many of the day-to-day activities that keep a city’s heart pumping have
been clogged and, in some cases, stopped completely.
The recently opened Civil Military Operations Center at Joint Security Station Sadr City is working with the local government to repair essential services to the residents of northeastern Baghdad while Iraqi Army and Coalition forces work to restore security there.
“The CMOC was established to facilitate civil military operations activities between Coalition forces, Government of Iraq ministries, Iraqi Army, local authorities as well as non-government organizations and international organizations,” said Maj. Brian Horine, the civil affairs officer for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
Operating out of a concrete building on the edge of Sadr City,
the CMOC is run by MND-B and Iraqi Army Soldiers as well as members of the local government and an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team.
The ePRT helps the CMOC engage and empower the government through pre-existing relationships in the region.
“We know we have the contacts in the community that we’ve worked with before in Sadr City. They’re familiar with meeting
us. We have contact, and when we have a representative in the CMOC, we’re contacting the local government as well as the higher-up portions of the Baghdad government to come to the CMOC and coordinate,” said Lt. Col. Dennis Kennedy, a deputy team leader with the ePRT.
The ePRT has teams that focus on governance, economic development, rule of law, health and education.
“Initially, we’re looking as governance, but we’re going to try to rotate all of our teams through there to make sure that we’re effectively engaging,” said Kennedy, a Hampton, Va., native.
Since beginning operations in late April, the CMOC has helped restore and repair essential services such as trash pick up, sewage line repairs and running water to northeastern Baghdad. Additionally, the CMOC helps to coordinate cooperative medical engagements in which Iraqi Army medics open their doors to residents for treatment and humanitarian assistance handouts.
The handouts typically consist of pre-packed meals that will feed
a family of five one meal and bottles of water.
“If someone has a concern about essential services, they can go to that ministry (at the CMOC),” said Horine, a Phoenix native.
The Iraqi Assistance Center operates in conjunction with the CMOC and helps the Iraqi people by paying property damage
and condolence claims as well as help families locate relatives
that are currently detained.
Since opening its doors in late April at JSS Sadr City, the IAC has paid 10 claims and seen an increase in walk-in visitors from 25 to 30 a week to more than 280 in 12 days.
Since beginning operations with only two members, the CMOC staff has swelled to more than 40. Slowly, essential services
are being restored to this region, which point toward restoring essential needs and services that many take for granted.
“The CMOC has a very diverse group working
toward a common goal,” Horine said.
==
Freedom Journal Iraq
Combat Lifesaver Skills
Police Volunteers
Iraq to upgrade fleet with Bombardier, Boeing Aircraft
Zawra Park bustling with visitors
Mahdi Army commander willing to accept Iranian help
Pilot breaks own world record
==
“Blue Dog” Democrats join GOP in Opposing War Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8050802858.html
excerpts:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday postponed consideration of a bill that would continue funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a bloc of conservative Democrats balked at the high cost of including several of Pelosi's favored domestic spending programs.
Pelosi (D-Calif.), who also faces Republican stalling tactics in protest of unusual parliamentary procedures, predicted that the complaints of "Blue Dog" Democrats would be addressed and that the bill eventually would receive unanimous support from Democrats.
****************
"unusual parliamentary procedures"
Translation: Nancy Pelosi is not acting in the national interest, so much so that her own party is restraining her. Republicans, please pay attention to this.
Barack Obama is Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked candidate to front her portion of the Democratic party’s presidential campaign.
Omar,
It is my understanding that Easterners are more subtle in their speech than Westerners. Therefore, when an Easterner says "That will be difficult" it is the same as a Westerner saying "There ain't no way in hell."
If that's the case, what does this say about Obeidi's public accusation against Iran? Is he really saying "Iran is at war with Iraq" or have Easterners come to use more Western methods in their speech lately?
Iraqis should begin to bomb Iran...
...and one day soon Iran will realize that they have a significant Iraqi military facing them supported by U.S. forces.
Talk about digging yourself into a hole...or should I say, "blowing yourselves up leaving a big hole"!.
At what point does the Iranian population start to feel panic over this? This could easily lead to war. If the Iranian government doesn't stop, the people might realize what must be done.
I know the Iran government is crazy...but are they such fools?
iran gets force multiplier effect from the ol media and the local non new york media from the region. it plays well to their crowd that they can kill iraqs because those iraqis are traitors to the islamic revolution. of course, all the oppression of iranian freedom is never mentioned in the press as that would be too truthful and make W look good.
its just a great investment on all counts for the iranians to kill iraqis so they have to, and if the US is too pussed out to do anything about it then why not?
no one is going to call out nancy pelosi and her clique as enemy abettors so she's all for the mullahs killing iraqis.
sad but true..
the west is like a big bloated fat boy mike moore with his skinny little runt brother trying to save him from himself. how long do we keep this charade going?
i guess the loyalists have been with us since day one and nothings new in that regard.
here we go again..
US military denies Iraqi claims of al-Qaida leader's arrest
hmm, think i'm going to stick with the premise that it's
not wise to alert ones enemies as to your advantage..
==
OT.. HT : GP
Hezbollah Takes Western Beruit
excerpt:
[The attack comes as several Sunni neighbourhoods in west Beirut, considered strongholds of Lebanon's ruling coalition,
have fallen under the control of rival Hezbollah-led militants.
Hezbollah also forced the closure of pro-government media and took control of a pro-government TV station. Hariri's Future TV is off the air after being threatened by the Hizbullah militia. Hezbollah also set fire to the al-Mustaqbal newspaper building.]
lets see now,
Hamas takes Gaza,
Hezbollah takes Beruit,
Palestine & Lebanon in worse
shape than Iraq, go figure..
==
OT.. re: bg | 05.08.08 - 10:16 pm |
"Can we ask?"
==
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 05/09/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.
Have I been banned?
typos, the guys are just slow to moderate. They must have a life...unlike us!?
If Iran is neutralized, both Hamas and Hezbollah will wither and die, as will the Mahdi Army (what's left of it).
Iran is the head of the snake. It must be cut off. Lasting peace will not be possible until that happens.
OT.. re: bg | 05.09.08 - 11:59 am |
HT : Michael J. Totten
Hezbollah's Endgame? [5/08/08]
excerpt:
[By Lee Smith
Elie Fawaz, a friend and colleague with the Lebanese Renaissance Foundation in Beirut, provides on-the-ground analysis on the developing situation in Lebanon:
“Beirut witnessed another round of sectarian violence yesterday following decisions of the Lebanese government to sanction and remove Hezbollah's illegal private telecommunication lines, and to replace the head of the international airport security for his direct responsibility in allowing Hezbollah to install private spying cams on one of its runaways.]
[Tony Badran, also blogging here in Michael Totten's absence, weighs in as well:
“What this has done is lay bare all the charades of the last two years that Hezbollah's is a “national” opposition, etc. What we saw yesterday is that Christians didn't budge (Aounists that is), in any region. And so, what you have here is Hezbollah vs. the rest, and Hezbollah vs. the state. Politically this is very bad for them, and obviously for Aoun. In that sense it was a shrewd political move by March 14, because it hit them on a point that they can't get sympathizers for outside their thugs (i.e., they have no allies, and they're fighting the state!). Second, it puts them in a corner: they either force the government to capitulate, or they lose themselves. Nasrallah is against the wall.”]
Brief Dispatches from the New Lebanon War [5/08/08]
[by Michael J. Totten
Is there actually a new war in Lebanon? Maybe. That's what it looks like if you read the brief dispatches on my friend Charles Malik's blog. He is in Beirut now and hearing gunfire and rockets in his neighborhood. That used to be my neighborhood. Anyway, more war in Lebanon is inevitable as long as Hezbollah exists.
Another friend told me in an email today that Lebanon is actually in worse shape than it appears in the media. This is new. It is usually the other way around.]
The Military Situation in Beirut [5/08/08]
excerpt:
[By Tony Badran ...
The tactics are reminiscent of the 1970s-80s war, with two essential differences: 1- the trigger is not the Palestinian guerrilla threat to the state, but Hezbollah's threat to Lebanon, and 2- the beginning fault line is to the west of the 1975 flash point.
The current areas of clashes are roughly along a crescent from Hamra and the vicinity of the Serail in the north down to Tariq el-Jdideh in the south, and the vicinity of Qoreitem (Hariri's residence) and Ain el-Tineh (Berri's residence) in the west to
Ras el-Nabe' in the east.]
==
bg,
I know that you're just being enthusiastic, but could you PLEASE stop spamming the comments page? This should be a place for discussion and NOT a bulletin board where you clip and paste entire articles. Because of having to scroll past your endless spams, I have a hard time following any coherent debate here. I've kept quiet about this for a long time, but enough is enough. I know you have a lot to say, so SAY it. Give us YOUR opinion. A short hyperlink is more than enough. If we want to read the entire article, we can then click on your link.
*
bg,
Thanks for the links. I do not have time to search thoroughly every day. The job interferes. So having the collection handy is a good thing.
HT : The Mudville Gazette
Anti-war wounds [4/20/08]
excerpts:
[For some people, the war is a cause. It’s a chant, a picket
sign, a march through town. For some it’s a political stance.
But I am the wife of a deployed soldier.]
[I want this war to be over more than anything I’ve ever wanted
in my life, but that’s not why I cry. I cry because I am so relieved that Paul isn’t home to see this.
My husband fights this war. He risks his life every day. We have both made sacrifices for it. And to hear them say that it’s “a waste of time,” that it “will never make a difference,” that “we should call the whole thing off” — well, if that’s true, I’m not sure I’ll get out of bed tomorrow morning. There has to be a reason that our family — and thousands of others — are enduring this.
Paul believes that he is making a difference in this world. I have
to believe that, too. As an Oregon National Guard wife, there is
an unspoken code that assumes you won’t participate in anti-war sentiment, but that’s not what stops me from joining them. As I watch, I feel anger, not kinship.
The fact is, I didn’t really understand war
until I married someone who fought it.]
[The protesters say they support the troops, but not the war. To me, that’s impossible. I spent 10 years as a newscaster. If someone told me they supported newscasters but hated the news and thought it should be taken off the air, how supported would I feel? How can you say to someone, “I support your right to do your job — I even benefit when you do it well — but I think what you do is horrible and wrong and I’m resentful that it’s being done at all”?
How can we support the troops when we’re constantly telling them that what they do every day is wrong and they should be ashamed of doing it? How can we expect them to do their jobs well if by doing their jobs they are carrying out a war that we have labeled immoral? And if they don’t do their jobs well, don’t we all suffer?]
[Paul joined the Army when he was a teenager — seven years before Sept. 11, 2001. He joined before we knew what the world would look like today. He joined because he feels that it is his duty to serve his country.
And thank God. Because what I now understand is this: The future of our country — our honor, our dignity, our freedom — rests on the shoulders of volunteers. Volunteers! And if my husband didn’t go to defend us, who would?]
[And here’s the dirtiest secret of all. I believe there should be mandatory military service for all of us. Maybe if every American served this country, we would all be in it together. We would all ride the wave of hope, fear, pride, panic, uncertainty and unconditional love that comes with being a military family in the middle of a deployment. We could all support each other.
And no one could condemn what my husband does for a living, because their husbands would be serving beside him. Freedom would cost each one of us exactly the same amount — instead of being a gift bestowed by a very few that pay a tremendous price. A gift that so many of us forget to say “thank you” for.]
RTWT!!
==
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.09.08 - 5:24 pm |
okie dokie.. 
==
OT.. HT : GP
Al Qaeda has declared war on Hezbollah!
excerpts:
[Sheikh Ali al-Jozo, Mufti of the Jebel region, who is well known
for his harsh stance against Hezbollah told the TV network that
the clashes are a battle between Lebanon's Shia and Sunni communities and called on Arab leaders to prevent "Iran's influence in the country."]
***
[Former Lebanese president Amine Gemayel says al-Qaeda forces have entered the country, making Lebanon vulnerable to 'any possibility'.
Gemayel told ANB on Friday that new intelligence has indicated that members of al-Qaeda have entered Lebanon, taking refuge
at Ein al-Halveh refugee camp.
"Al-Qaeda has always threatened Lebanon. I hope the Hezbollah leaders are aware of the consequences for the current unrest in the country," the former president added.]
"the enemy of my enemy is my friend".. that is until their
enemies again.. hope they wipe each other off the map..
==
I've kept quiet about this for a long time, but enough is enough.
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.09.08 - 5:24 pm | #
Hey Jeffrey! Just who the hell are you. Back off of BG.
bg,
I like your copied material. It is sort of a Reader's Digest Condensed version. If I want more, I use the link. Sometimes I may not read more than the topic but my scroll works fine.
-
Valerie | 05.09.08 - 6:13 pm |
you're welcome Valerie..
Ron G. | 05.09.08 - 6:44 pm |
i heart you RG, thanks..
==
Richard B. | Homepage | 05.09.08 - 7:50 pm |
thanks RB..
i've been posting entire MNF article's because the recent ones
seem to be quite short (imo anyways) in comparison to older ones.. who'd of thought GOOD NEWS would take up so much
space!!
==
typos, the guys are just slow to moderate. They must have a life...unlike us!?
DagneyT | Homepage | 05.09.08 - 2:47 pm |
OK, Holoscan ate 3 posts in a row from me and I was starting to wonder.
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
US Special Forces fighting inside Sadr City
excerpt:
[Operations continue in the South
The Iraqi military continues to apply pressure on the Mahdi
Army and the Sadrist movement in Basrah and the South.
More than 70 percent of Basrah has been cleared, Multinational Forces Iraq reported. Iraqi police arrested 45 "wanted persons" and three "suspects" in Basrah on May 8. A Mahdi Army rocket attack killed two civilian contractors and wounded four civilians and four Coalition soldiers at a forward operating base outside
the city the same day.]
==
BG,
I read many of the items that you post and appreciate them very much. If Jeffrey from New York don't like them then he can skip over them. He doesn't have to read them.
Thank you for your help!!!
Ummm... the "Iranian weapons" story died a sad, embarrassing death, didn't it?
albeit good news, read with caution, it's McClatchy..
HT : Alan Furman via Talisman Gate
In big concession, militia agrees
to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City
excerpt:
[Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad's Sadr City
and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory
for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
In return, Sadr's Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government's agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of "medium
and heavy weaponry."]
[A government supporter said the Sadrists were brought to the table by the anger of Sadr City residents. On Thursday, the Iraqi military ordered Sadr City residents to evacuate in apparent preparation for a major offensive push.
"It is not the government who pressured the Sadrists into entering this agreement," said Ali al Adeeb, a leading member of the Dawa party. "It is the pressure from the people inside Sadr City and from their own people that will make them act more responsibly."]
["The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons," Araji said. "We don't have big weapons, and we want this to stop."
The Mahdi Army, and the Sadr movement in general, has been losing support in the past two months in the face of a government offensive intended to force the militia from its controlling positions in Basra and Sadr City.]
[The city isn't free of Sadr influences, however, though the Iraqi army seems ready to quell any resurgence. Sadrists resumed prayer services on Friday for the first time since late March, but
as the imam spouted anti-government rhetoric, Iraqi soldiers converged on the mosque and the Sadrists ran, witnesses said.
Iraqi officials, including Adeeb, said that Iran, which U.S. officials have accused of supporting the Shiite militias, was "aware" and "supportive" of the agreement. Adeeb made two trips to Iran to meet with Iranian officials to stem the militia violence in Iraq.]
==
Transition Team Teaches Skills to Iraqi Army Soldiers
A Military Transition Team stationed at FOB Falcon, about eight kilometers south of Baghdad, plays a rigorous and important role in rebuilding the capacity of Iraq.
The MiTT helps the Iraqi Army to operate in an optimal manner, said Sgt. Chad Highland, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
Soldiers from the MiTT, assigned to 1-33rd Cav. Regt., teaches a five-day Iraqi basic training course using U.S. Army knowledge converted into something Iraqi Army Soldiers can execute.
“It’s basically a course to teach basic Soldiering skills and
something to refresh what they … already learned in their
basic training,” said San Antonio native Sgt. Adam Troxel,
MiTT gunner and trainer.
The five-day course, taught monthly, has a capacity for 25 Soldiers; five from each of the companies with 3rd Battalion,
25th Brigade, 6th IA Division.
Before assuming their duties, the team went through a MiTT course in Taji providing them with guidance on teaching Iraqis, said Highland, from San Clemente, Calif.
The instruction focuses on first aid, guard duty, unit movement techniques, vehicle search, reaction to improvised explosive devices, rules of engagement and other soldiering skills.
“The course itself attempts to focus more toward hands-on training so that the Soldiers can take what we teach them and utilize it out at their battle positions and checkpoints, which is where the majority of the Soldiers coming to us work,” Highland said.
When the MiTT is not conducting classes, the team travels to IA checkpoints and battle positions to ensure the proper procedures learned are being implemented.
“When you actually go out and see them using what you taught them it is rewarding,” Troxel said. “Besides, we are all noncommissioned officers and it is our job to train Soldiers.
It’s a reward in itself to be able to stand here and say ‘I help
train Soldiers from a completely different country’s army than
our own.’”
==
Platoon’s Teamwork Keeps Wheels Rolling
excerpts:
[“I enjoy working hard with my peers, my (noncommissioned officers) and getting the job done,” said Spc. Shaneka Simmons, from Fort Meade, Fla. “It makes Iraq better than it seems by having good people around you.”]
[“If a truck breaks down on the side of the road, we’ll recover it, fix it and return it to the user,” said Chief Warrant Officer Two David Jeannotte, battalion maintenance technician for Company E.
In the 12 months the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade has been deployed, the maintenance platoon has performed more than 2,300 work orders, more than 300 scheduled services and has kept the battalion’s operational readiness rate at 98 percent.
Staff Sergeant Kipatrick Jackson, the platoon’s scheduled - services noncommissioned officer in charge, calls his Solders “Legend Killers” and says discipline and flexibility is what makes the battalion maintenance Soldiers work well together.
“They are willing to learn and grow,” Jackson said. “One day they could be doing a service and the next day it will change but they’re versatile. They keep rockin’ and rollin’.”]
[“Just in case someone is sick, someone else can step up to the plate and take care of what needs to be done,” Romeo said.]
[“We have good leaders,” he said. “They can do all the redeployment duties and still help us study for the board,
assist us in (physical training) and help out in the bay.”]
[“I couldn’t have asked for a better group,” Jeannotte said. “No section outshines the other. All of them are equally good. I can’t give credit to one section.”]
[“We’re all just one team,” Thomas said,
from Fairfax, S.C. “We don’t brag.”]
==
Bridge Brings Two Provinces Closer Together
A ribbon cutting ceremony officially opening two
temporary bridges in Bayji was held May 8.
These two bridges, which expand over the Tigris River, will promote more trade and stimulate the economy of the region
by allowing the people of the provinces of Salah ad Din and
Kirkuk to unite.
Iraqi Security Forces helped to set the conditions in the area to make it possible to reconstruct the bridge, symbolizing the dedication of the ISF. With the skilled workmanship of the Iraqi Army Field Engineer Company who along with the Coalition Forces, built this monument to the people of Iraq.
“This bridge is a symbol of the perseverance of the Iraqi Spirit
and the steadfast dedication to return Iraq to its rightful place in the Arab world. This bridge is a milestone towards the permanent bridge which will usher in a brighter future for the people of Salah ad Din and Iraq,” said Col. Melvin L. Burch, commander of the 111th Engineer Brigade.
==
200 Students Graduate from Iskandariyah Vocational-Technical School
Approximately 200 students from the Vocational-Technical School in the Iskandariyah Industrial Complex (IIC) graduated May 4 with friends and family members in attendance.
“I’d like to say congratulations to the vo-tech director and his staff but most of all to the students of this graduating class,” said Lt. Col. Jeff McKone, Multi-National Division – Center Iskandariyah Industrial Complex liaison, Team Iskan officer in charge. “It is an honor to be a part of the success in the rebuilding of the Iskandariyah vo-tech.”
Graduates received a certificate of training along with a gift
— sewing machine or computer repair kit — to help them get
started in the business world.
Back in May 2007, only 32 students were enrolled at the technical school, but now there are more than 700, said Naseer Abdul Jabar, vo-tech director. He said by June they’re hoping to have 1,000 students enrolled per quarter.
The IIC is located in the northern Babil Province, approximately 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, and houses a cluster of state-owned factories and the vo-tech, which is open to Iraqis wanting to learn job skills and trades.
Some of the classes held there include computers, electrical engineering, plumbing, sewing, carpentry, HVAC, mechanical,
auto mechanics, machining, milling and grinding.
“Now that you have the skills you need you will be able to serve this country and you will help the economy grow,” said Sabah al-Khafaji, chief of the Mussayib council.
The IIC is a business incubator similar to the Job-Corps program in the United States, dedicated to young start-up businesses. It has the space required for manufacturing, research and development and administration for young and established enterprises.
At the same time, the vo-tech is intended to produce a steady stream of qualified workers for the industries and business, providing a further base of economic stability in the region.
Congrats!!
==
Freedom Journal Iraq
Soldiers Patrol Streets
==
bg | 05.09.08 - 6:24 pm //
======
The wife's astonishment at the hypocrisy of saying 'we support the troops and benefit from their efforts but despise what they're doing and demand it not be done' is perfect.
But I grieve that she can't find it in her heart to care about what happens in/to Afghanistan and Iraq. Without that, her passion is a bit shallow and chauvinistic, IMO.
hass | 05.09.08 - 10:56 pm |
you really think so??
Iranian weapons causing Iraqi rift
excerpt:
[Maliki sees Iranian meddling as a threat to his government coalition and tacit approval of Moqtada Sadr, while at the same time giving his U.S. backers enough justification to consider military action against Iranian agents operating inside Iraq.]
cause i sure don't..
Countering Iran
excerpt:
[The Iranians have seriously overplayed their hand along the Tigris and Euphrates. In their love of the Hezbollah model, they have helped to build up Moktada al-Sadr, the scion of Iraq's most revered clerical family, who became a Shiite street hero for his defense of the Shia against Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda. Sadr's followers include the only Shiites willing and able to kill Americans--another hugely attractive factor to the leadership in Tehran, since wounding America in Iraq is as indispensable to the ruling elite's sense of purpose as raining Katyushas down on Israelis.
Yet Sadr's men are a hypercharged mix of Arabism and Islamism; as a rule, they are not terribly fond of Persians. They were inevitably going to clash with the followers of Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), a group founded in Tehran and which has maintained deep ties to many in Iran's religious establishment. The Sadrs and Hakims dislike each other. In the streets of Qom, Iran's most prestigious seat of clerical education, the representatives of the Sadr and Hakim families often throw shoes at each other. (Among clerics that is very bad.) Tehran should have known that it couldn't back both the Sadrists and the SIIC.
Although conscious of the fleeting loyalty of Iraqi Shiites who once took refuge in Iran from the wrath of Saddam Hussein and are now blessed with ever-larger Iraqi oil revenues, Tehran probably didn't anticipate how quickly Shiite sentiment in Iraq could change. The Iranians didn't see the rapid rise of the Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has become the most popular ayatollah in Iran as well as the most powerful cleric in Iraq. Iranian and Iraqi clerical ties are old, complicated, intensely personal, and often quite affectionate--all of which now plays powerfully against the Iranian ruling elite's cynical politics in Mesopotamia.
It is a very good bet that Sistani and other prominent Iraqi clerics have remonstrated vociferously with their Iranian interlocutors in Qom against Iranian-fed violence among Iraqi Shiites. We can see the Iranian side of this in former president Mohammad Khatami's accusing Khamenei virtually by name of spilling Shiite blood in Iraq and turning Iran's Islamic revolutionary message into a call for violence and upheaval beyond its borders. Khatami's recent speech at Gilan University is an astonishing sermon from a man not known for boldness.]
to Amadjerkoff, convert or die, with love of course..
==
Kind of on the fence about the mass copy-paste stuff. On the one hand, it's a quick summary and useful info. On the other, it does thoroughly break up the flow of comments back and forth. And MNF in particular doesn't care much about copying, etc., but for other sites, perhaps it amounts to theft of material and traffic.
And no one else I know does it, it's kind of a bg trademark, a modus operandi.
So I guess I'm about 45% for, 55% against. Excerpts and commentary are better. The originals have better layout and graphics than this bare-bones Haloscan text box, anyhow.
Wayne | 05.09.08 - 9:19 pm |
thank you Wayne..
==
Well, well .... Looks like Mookie's capitulation is now almost complete. I guess all those leftist talking heads who, in late March, were so quick & happyt to proclaim an "embarassing defeat for Al-Maliki" and that "Sadr has emerged from the fighting significantly strengthened" will now have to go back and find some new talking points.
The words may change, but the song remains the same.
Ummm... the "Iranian weapons" story died
a sad, embarrassing death, didn't it?
hass | 05.09.08 - 10:56 pm |
lets try that again..
you really think so??
Why You Won't See the Iranian
Weapons We've Captured in Iraq
excerpts:
[The answer is both simple and pragmatic: hopes of a diplomatic solution between Iran and Iraq have forestalled the U.S. military press conference displaying captured weaponry first expected in Baghdad over a week ago.
The press conference was delayed in hopes that an Iraqi delegation to Tehran bearing evidence of Iranian weapons captured by U.S. and Iraqi forces in recent fighting could resolve the issue as a matter between the two neighboring states.
Unsurprisingly, Iran has disputed the evidence, and as a result, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered a special committee to compile evidence captured by both American and Iraqi forces. Once the evidence is compiled, it is hoped that this would help inform the committee in putting forth a coherent Iraqi policy on Iranian involvement in smuggling weapons into Iraq. That policy will be presented to the Iranian government in hopes of stopping Iranian smuggling of weapons and preclude a conflict between the two nations, according to U.S. military sources.]
[The diplomatic pressure the Iraqi commission could bring to bear with it's findings could deepen divides in Iran's government between moderates and hardliners. Moderate former President Mohammad Khatami has recently made statements that some are interpreting as an admission that the current hardline regime as supplying weaponry and training to militants in Iraq and elsewhere.
Iran's weapons may be taking the lives of American and Iraqi troops in Iraq right now, but with the Iraqi government's creation of a committee to build an official Iraqi policy position on Iran's interference, Iran's weapons may turn out to be a greater diplomatic weapon for Iraq.]
there's more than one way to skin a cat.. we/they know exactly what they're doing.. we/they have been silent regarding many
an explosive matter (pardon the pun)..
==
"Hey Jeffrey! Just who the hell are you. Back off of BG.
Ron G. | 05.09.08 - 6:44 pm |"
Jeffery is the guy that set up ITM in the first place and paid the bills back in the beginning. Remember Iraq was under UN sanctions and no money transfers were allowed until '05 or '06. After the Bremmer turned over power to the temporary Iraqi Government. Not sure now if Jeffery has status beyond another poster. He IS due respect.
On the other hand bg is keeping ITM going while the brothers go on to other things. Without her posts, there would be almost zero content here. The amount of debate has fallen considerable the last couple of years.
In '05, a post by the brothers could get a thousand responses in a day. Now it takes weeks.
"Ummm... the "Iranian weapons" story died a sad, embarrassing death, didn't it?
hass | 05.09.08 - 10:56 pm | "
What are you talking about? When you are standing in front of a speeding bus, closing your eyes won't make the bus go away. Try it some time and see if I'm not right about that.
bg | 05.10.08 - 1:20 am //
======
Gerecht in the Weekly Standard is doing a lot of "on the one hand, on the other hand"-ing there, but still has rather more weight on Hez and its prospects than is warranted, especially given the breaking info from Totten's correspondents. The risk for Iran of trying to play so many ends against the middle is that the various ends would catch sight of each other and get distracted, or lose enthusiasm for the player and string-puller. Iran now risks the kind of isolation that Hezbollah is reaping.
re: bg | 05.09.08 - 6:24 pm |
sorry about that link, here ya go..
Brian H | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 1:18 am |
yeah well, i don't agree with you're choice of words.. and/but i
understand where she's coming from, better than where you're
coming from, always the critique.. so why don't you try cutting
her a little slack, cause the anti-war crowd sure as hell aren't..
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
we/they have been silent regarding many
an explosive matter (pardon the pun)..
==
bg | 05.10.08 - 2:06 am//
========
Could this be more of the deeeep strategy of the GWB planners, as explained here with respect to Al Qaeda? Every destructive and anti-liberation force and party has the swollen Achilles heel of its eventual deeply malign effect on the claimed beneficiaries. And if you can force some (enough) of that out into the open in the real world, it achieves what your own words and arms cannot (though they are necessary components): they alienate the manipulators' victims and tools.
Some examples-in-process are the Sunni in Anbar (completed); Shia in Basra re Iran and Sadr (advancing fast); secular voters throughout Iraq (almost complete); Lebanese re Hezbollah (moving fast); Shia in Sadr City (moving moderately fast, accelerating); and so forth.
Just sayin'.
OT.. HT : GP
Chavez Threatens To Intervene in Bolivia!
excerpt:
[Bolivia's largest and richest state overwhelmingly backed a May 4 referendum seeking greater autonomy from the leftist government of President Evo Morales. Leaders insist they have no interest in full independence.]
StJacques @ 8:12 PM
excerpt:
["I want to reiterate my position of submitting ourselves to the people, let them tell us who shall serve and who is not to govern," the chief executive said today, for whom this popular consult "is a way of making democracy more profound" in the country and an expression of respect for the legal process, the rule of law and the National Congress.]
more @ links..
==
Brian H | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 1:25 am |
thanks, i'm kind of 45% in favor of
your comment, 55% not.. j/k!!
==
In big concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/s...tory/
36530.html
excerpts:
Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad’s Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. …
Members of Maliki’s Dawa Party and the powerful Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq met with Sadr officials on Thursday and Friday to come up with a 14-point agreement to end the weeks of fighting, which has hindered the flow of food and water into Sadr City. The agreement was then passed to Sadr and Maliki for final approval, said Baha al Araji, a Sadrist legislator. …
"The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons," Araji said. "We don't have big weapons, and we want this to stop."
*****************
The net effect is to place the IA in the role of honest broker, here. This is something that absolutely has to happen before there can be peace within the country. Also, the Sadrists are laying a proper foundation for something that could turn into an honorable stand-down.
Either Mookie has gotten smart, or somebody else is calling the shots in Sadr city, now.
H/T Pat Dollard
yeah well, i don't agree with you're choice of words.. and/but i
understand where she's coming from, better than where you're
coming from, always the critique.. so why don't you try cutting
her a little slack, cause the anti-war crowd sure as hell aren't..
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
bg | 05.10.08 - 2:56 am //
========
Sorry, is it being a critic to regret this: "The truth is, I don’t care about life in Iraq or Afghanistan or what happens there." ??
That final paragraph reads like semi-enlightened selfishness no matter how I read it. She's trying to analyse and justify the whole effort on the basis of the sacrifices without "supporting" the goal. In the end, it can't be done, of course. Pure patriotism also comes up short if you "don't care what happens" elsewhere.
A further thought about the above. Excerpt: "And here’s the dirtiest secret of all. I believe there should be mandatory military service for all of us. Maybe if every American served this country, we would all be in it together. We would all ride the wave of hope, fear, pride, panic, uncertainty and unconditional love that comes with being a military family in the middle of a deployment. We could all support each other.
And no one could condemn what my husband does for a living, because their husbands would be serving beside him. Freedom would cost each one of us exactly the same amount — instead of being a gift bestowed by a very few that pay a tremendous price."
A few small countries like Switzerland and Israel get that kind of benefit from conscription, but only in full-bore warfare have larger ones. It didn't really happen in the Vietnam War, for example.
And the military MUCH prefers the quality of soldier and service it gets from volunteers. Lots of sergeants, e.g., hate having to baby-sit and discipline the "recruits" who come to them from the courts. They are hell on morale and unit effectiveness. And they don't actually learn much or change their stripes in the end, as a rule.
I doubt the effect of and on the self-righteous left would be much different.
Hey Omar, Mohammed, bg, and Dan and everyone else. How are you? Don't worry about Iran (or so I hear), the order has come down from on high (no, not THAT high!) to start...um...nevermind.
Was just visiting and re-visiting some of ITM's huge blogroll (Omar, many haven't posted for years, and some, like IraqiRocker, are dead; time for a purge!) and came across this:
In the coffee shop. Read the post and the comments (all by Arabs/Iraqis). A unique little probe of the power of emotional conditioning to shape ideas and feelings -- and on the psycho-cybernetic effects of hand-waving and gesticulating, or not. And on the difference between Western and Iraqi women's midday make-up techniques and results! And how it all relates to Saddam-worship.
Hey bg,
Maybe there's a compromise position. I read mnf-iraq regularly so I often scroll past your posts when I see they're from there. However, I like that you're doing it in case I miss something interesting since I don't necessarily go there every day. Perhaps you could start just excerpting the money quote followed by a RTWT. Then, you can keep this forum updated with what's going on on mnf-iraq and Jeffrey and I won't have to slog through a bunch of long posts.
What do you think of that idea?
bg | 05.09.08 - 6:24 pm |
She had me up until the last paragraph when she said "I don’t care about life in Iraq or Afghanistan or what happens there."
In my opinion, not caring about what happens there is what led to 9/11 in the first place. Maybe she's too close to the sacrifice to see what it's for, but I would have hoped that a military wife would have understood that.
Brian H & Kafir..
i obviously didn't isolate nor take what she stated as literally as
either of you have.. and i'm certain the woman is not a nuanced
journalist, nor a weathered author..
that aside, i'm reminded of how the the MSM operates.. pick
& choose a quote & throw the baby out with the bathwater..
Brain H. = selfish.. aren't we all to a certain extent??
Kafir = i'm certain she understands.. imo, you're digging too deeply out of context here.. btw, i don't give a crap how people live France (as well a s a lot of other places), hope they don't attack US dome day..
==
What do you think of that idea?
Kafir | 05.10.08 - 10:20 am |
yes it's a good idea.. that's how i used to do it when things were
hopping and MNF article's were longer.. however, i might slip up
here or there, so don't expect perfection..
i also see more posters rejoining, that's good too..
==
re: bg | 05.09.08 - 11:24 pm |
Valerie | 05.10.08 - 8:42 am |
HT : GP
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before
excerpts:
[The Iraqi forces, not the American forces, can come into Sadr City and search for weapons,” Araji said. “We don’t have big weapons, and we want this to stop.”
OK, boys, where did all those rockets and mortars come from?
“Gosh, Mom, those aren’t my rockets,” Araji said. “Eddie
al-Haskell did it. Honest. You gotta believe me.”
Ha ha, just kidding. He didn’t say that.
Iraqi officials, including Adeeb, said that Iran, which U.S. officials have accused of supporting the Shiite militias, was “aware” and “supportive” of the agreement. Adeeb made two trips to Iran to meet with Iranian officials to stem the militia violence in Iraq.
The mullahs are “aware” and “supportive” all right.
I knew I’d heard this one before.]
Day Trip to Sadr City
excerpt:
[Houle says that the Sadr City cops working at the station are "very friendly," but he doesn't know them particularly well. The American unit has been working at the JSS for only two weeks.
Some of the cops are "eager to learn" but many "won't say" where they live, added 1-91 MP Sergeant Travis Sand. He describes his unit's mission as "trying to build up the local area, to make a better workspace for [the Iraqi Police] and us."
The busy surrounding area is urban residential, with a few shops and other businesses. The streets have been closed to vehicle traffic, spurring interaction between walking citizens and patrolling American units.
"They seem interested to meet you, to get to know us," said Sand. "Not a lot of frowns or anything, a lot of smiles. When I talked to a few of the people, they want peace, and they are more glad we're here and that we're trying to work on a solution."
He said the locals studiously avoid mentioning the Mahdi Army, which continues to take heavy losses in daily conflict with US and Iraqi forces.]
more links @ link..
==
OT.. re: bg | 05.09.08 - 11:59 am |
HT : GP
Violence Rages In Lebanon / Obama
excerpts:
[Violence raged in Lebanon for a fourth straight day leaving 11 people dead on Saturday as tension gripped the country after Hezbollah seized control of west Beirut in what the West-backed coalition branded an armed coup.
The death toll from the fighting between mainly Sunni supporters of the ruling bloc and Shiite members of the opposition hit 29, prompting Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to announce an address to the nation as Lebanon teetered dangerously close to a new civil war.]
***
{Lebanese blogger Failasoof
I was wrong....
When I defended HA
I was wrong....
When I considered it a legitimate "resistance"]
lots more + links, pix & video @ link..
Obama's Letter to Lebanon
Echoes Hezbollah Talking Points
excerpts:
[AK at From Beirut to the Beltway was not amused with Obama's empty words:
Oh the time we wasted by fighting Hizbullah all those years with rockets, invasions of their homes and shutting down their media outlets. If only we had engaged them and their masters in diplomacy, instead of just sitting with them around discussion tables, welcoming them into our parliament, and letting them veto cabinet decisions. If only Obama had shared his wisdom with us before, back when he was rallying with some of our former friends at pro-Palestinian rallies in Chicago. How stupid we were when, instead of developing national consensus with them, we organized media campaigns against Israel on behalf of the impoverished people who voted for them.
David Kenner poked fun of Obama's empty rhetoric:
Barack Obama issued a statement mainly made up of standard American boilerplate regarding Hezbollah. However, given the running coup d'etat in the country, there is a bizarre focus on "work[ing] with the international community and the private sector to rebuild Lebanon and get its economy back on its feet." I am also outraged that he neglected to mention the pressing issue of civil marriage.]
[And, Jeha's Nail pointed this out-- Obama was actually echoing the words of Hezbollah terrorists in his message today to Lebanon:
Yes, we all want those things, and more; it's our country after all.
However, note the fact that he makes no mention of the necessary presidential election. Interestingly, this demand for electoral reform is not far from "opposition" (Hezbollah) demands, formulated before the current mess.
Could someone tell that neophyte that he is not yet President of the United States? He will have plenty of chances to “engage” with Syria at our expense, when or if he becomes "President of these 57 states".]
==
Brian H | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 2:58 am |
well, i don't know about "deep strategy" BH.. but logical &
necessary are 2 steps that are logical & necessary to any
strategy..
==
"[Operations continue in the South"
bg, not a working link. Do you have one?
BTW, Jeffrey in New York, if you don't want to take advantage of bg's hard work, scroll on by! But I suggest you take a look, you might learn something. I do, constantly!
Thanks, bg!
bg, stifle me...my bad! I came into the middle of that post. Sorry!
"But I grieve that she can't find it in her heart to care about what happens in/to Afghanistan and Iraq. Without that, her passion is a bit shallow and chauvinistic, IMO.
Brian H | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 1:18 am | # "
Brian, you need to take into consideration her locale. Living in Oregon, and being military cannot be easy! I fly into Portland to go to my son's over the river in Vancouver (mostly conservative). The amount of displaced California moonbats and tree-huggers in that state are mindboggling! They have more dread-locks (you know, that ugly hair that doesn't look like it's been washed since Abraham Lincoln's administration?) than even in Southern California! It's got to be depressing for her. She should move to Texas where we appreciate our military (except in Austin).
"Oh the time we wasted by fighting Hizbullah all those years with rockets, invasions of their homes and shutting down their media outlets. If only we had engaged them and their masters in diplomacy, instead of just sitting with them around discussion tables, welcoming them into our parliament, and letting them veto cabinet decisions. If only Obama had shared his wisdom with us before, back when he was rallying with some of our former friends at pro-Palestinian rallies in Chicago."
Folks, unless we keep this vacuous empty-suit out of the White House, we will have more of the same worldwide! A dear friend of mine, a Colombian, told me today that both CIA & Interpol have authenticated the information taken out of the captured FARC computer (bg posted the link recently), wherein the FARC proclaims that their meetings with "gringos" about Obama assure them that he will be the next US president.
Let's prove them wrong, folks! This guy's scary! Don't forget his links to Odinga in Kenya, add in Hamas' endorsement, and FARC proclaiming he's going to be our prez! Yeeeeshhh! Even Shrillary isn't scarier than that!
"Ummm... the "Iranian weapons" story died a sad, embarrassing death, didn't it?
hass | 05.09.08 - 10:56 pm | "
What are you talking about? When you are standing in front of a speeding bus, closing your eyes won't make the bus go away. Try it some time and see if I'm not right about that.
typos_R_us | 05.10.08 - 2:33 am | #
Rosemary | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 9:14 am |
hi Rosemary.. doing okay, hope alls well with
you too.. Iran?? it's still there?? go figure!!
DagneyT | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 4:46 pm |
here you go..
DagneyT | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 4:46 pm |
==
OT.. HT : GP
Obama
Unelectable
==
Exclusive: Lebanese PM opens door to surrender. Army grants two key Hizballah demands
May 10, 2008, 11:23 PM (GMT+02:00)
After four days of fierce fighting in which at least 37 people died, the Lebanese army revoked two government measures in obedience to Hizballah demands: the Shiite group’s independent telecommunication network will not be shut down and the pro-Hizballah Brig. Gen Wafiq Shqeir would keep his job as Beirut international airport head of security.
In a broadcast speech, Saturday, May 10, the pro-Western prime minister Fouad Siniora asked the army to defuse the crisis after Hizballah seized control of western Beirut, besieged the government center and attacked pro-government Sunni centers across Lebanon. Government loyalists found no support from Sinora’s powerful backers, the United States, France or even Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The pro-Western government was therefore forced to back down.
This means its acceptance of Hizballah’s communication system in central, southern and eastern Lebanon and its direct link to Syrian and Iranian command centers in Damascus; and the Shiite group’s Beirut headquarters online communications link to its Revolutionary Guards bosses in Tehran.
DEBKAfile's military sources report: Triumphant, the Hizballah chief Hassan Hasrallah will be a more dangerous enemy than ever. The army rather than the government laid down the condition that Hizballah withdraw from the Sunni districts of Beirut and the rest of the country and remove its armed men from the streets.
Even so, a government minister remarked that the deal awaits approval by Hizballah leaders and the Iranian ambassador in Beirut. It is far from certain that the Shiite terrorists will give up the territory they gained in the last four days.
Also in question are the roadblocks on highways and the shutdown of Beirut air and sea ports.
DagneyT | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 4:46 pm |
re: [Operations continue in the South]
oops, sorry DT.. it was an excerpt
from the link.. scroll down..
OT.. re: bg | 05.10.08 - 8:17 pm |
BUSTED!
Obama'08
excerpt:
[Diplomacy: Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions. Now is the time to pressure Iran directly to change their troubling behavior. Obama would offer the Iranian regime a choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we will offer incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization, economic investments, and a move toward normal diplomatic relations. If Iran continues its troubling behavior, we will step up our economic pressure and political isolation. Seeking this kind of comprehensive settlement with
Iran is our best way to make progress.]
==
What are you talking about? When you are standing in front of a speeding bus, closing your eyes won't make the bus go away. Try it some time and see if I'm not right about that.
typos_R_us | 05.10.08 - 2:33 am |
i really liked that one too T_R_U..
==
Soldiers Prepare for Euphrates Patrols
excerpts:
[Most Soldiers who join the Army can honestly say they would have never imagined patrolling the Euphrates River in a boat.
Some Soldiers will soon be able to say they’ve done just that.]
[“I’m pretty excited,” said Cpl. Tomas Montoya, Co. A, 3-187th Inf. Regt. “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to work on boats over here in Iraq.”
“The boats will create new opportunities and capabilities in their operations along the Euphrates River,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Rohling, commander of 3-187th Inf. Regt. “They bring a sense of security, strength and versatility the local populace has not always seen from the water.”
“The boats add invaluable dimensions to the unit’s ability to conduct full-spectrum operations,” said Maj. Curtis Crum, 3rd BCT operations officer. “The boats give the brigade a unique capability that is not typically resident in this type of unit’s arsenal.”]
[“It was excellent, they did great training,” said Pfc. Travis Baldridge of the Army divers and Coast Guardsmen who taught the course. Baldridge said the three-week course in Kuwait taught boat docking, engine repair, man-overboard drills, driving the boat under varying conditions, docking the boat and repairing major malfunctions. Now, almost four months later, Baldridge is in the instructor’s seat passing on the knowledge he gained in Kuwait.]
[“It feels really good to be involved in this,” he said. “I’m new to the Army, I’ve been in for two years and it’s nice that they expect me to go above and beyond the standards and to train up other people.”]
[“No weak swimmers or non-swimmers will be
allowed on boat operations,” Sanders said firmly.]
[“Our first mission will be … river reconnaissance,”
Sanders, an avid swimmer and certified lifeguard, said.]
[“The boats allow the [Soldiers] to deter illegal activity and deter insurgents from potentially using the river to transit weapons and personnel,” Crum said.
“As a BCT, we have added to an already incredible capability, and this ensures, as we continue to assist the government of Iraq and Iraqi security forces in stabilizing acceptable security levels, it will also foster systems that set conditions for long-term Iraqi self-reliance.”]
Rolling on the river..
==
bg;
No less than VDH offers some more grist for the Oblabla mill, hammering Andrew Sullivan along the way: More Blaming the Messenger.
‘Gunfighter’ Searches the Bunkers
excerpts:
[In the endless deserts of Iraq, the insurgency attempts to hide weapons for future use. Charlie Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, is there
to find them.]
[“It’s a preventative measure to cut off the insurgency from many hiding areas for weapons,” said Lance Cpl. Jeremy A. Pratt, a scout with Charlie Company. “The reconnaissance is an advantage for us to be safe and take out the enemy at the same time.”]
[“We look for caches and meeting sites the enemy seeks to accomplish their missions,” said Sgt. Marty S. Crisp, 26, a scout squad leader with Charlie Company from Lenoir, N.C. “It denies their freedom of movement and keeps them from even entering that area simply from our presence.”]
[“The Iraqi security forces taking over the area is our major goal,” said Lance Cpl. A. J. Hansen, 21, a scout with Charlie Company from Bellevue, Neb. “If we all work together, we will get this country to where it needs to be for the Iraqis to conduct the operations.”]
Searchin'..
==
Brigade Leaves Iraq Region Safe, Secure
excerpts:
[Nearing the end of a 15-month deployment in Iraq’s Madain Qada region, the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team has accomplished its purpose of contributing to violence reduction in Baghdad and stabilizing communities throughout the region, the brigade’s commander said Thursday.
“I think if you look back on the past 15 months, you can see that we most definitely accomplished our purpose of contributing to a reduction of violence in Baghdad and stabilizing the communities in the Madain Qada,” Army Col. Wayne Grigsby, commander of 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, told online journalists and “bloggers” in a teleconference.]
[“We never forgot what a U.S. Army heavy brigade combat team was made to do: close with and destroy the enemy,” he said.]
[“Where al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups had had their run in the southern portion of our battle space, now we estimate there are [only] about three Sunni extremist groups of no more than 10 extremists per group in our battle space,” he explained.
“We killed or captured their leaders, denied them use of the safe houses and support zones,” Grigsby said, “and with our ‘Sons of Iraq’ allies, we are sitting on their former re-supply lines and holding that terrain.”]
[“We built these relationships of trust by treating local residents with dignity and respect and giving them their community back,” he said.
All of the major population centers in the region now have revitalized markets, health care facilities, water distribution systems and schools, Grigsby said.]
[“The soccer stadium] is a luxury,” he said, “but a luxury that
we could assist in bringing to the community that has now lived through a relatively peaceful and normal year and is beginning
to want more than the most basic elements in the hierarchy of needs.”]
[“The leaders of Iraq are telling you things
are better in the Madain Qada,” he said.
“In our time in the Madain, we have seen a significant reduction of violence. We have seen the economy spring back to life. We have seen the local government structure continue to mature and progress,” Grigsby said.
“We most definitely have momentum,
and we have made gains,” he added.]
[“It is through this capacity-building effort that we can continue to pressure the enemy and leave him isolated outside the community that he used to use for protection and camouflage,” Grigsby said. “But, with another great combat brigade coming into Madain Qada, I am very optimistic that Colonel Pat White and his team will continue to build on our progress over the coming months.”]
Face of Hope..
==
Markets, Schools Demonstrate Peace, Prosperity in Basra
[Citizens of Basra, the third-largest city in Iraq, celebrated the opening Tuesday of a central market that demonstrated a return of peace and prosperity to an area that until recently was a stronghold of Shiia militias.]
["I am pleased to open the Jameat Market, which is an excellent example of the many projects contributing to the rebuilding of Iraq," Nigel Haywood, the British consular general in southern Iraq, said. "This project will help establish prosperity in Basra."]
[Operation ‘Charge of the Knights’, a citizen group that works to restore peace and security to Basra, was credited with opening
the market.
The market is expected to open for business within 30 days,
and vendors already have rented many stalls, officials said. Traditionally, markets are a community focal point in Iraqi culture, and officials are considering proposals for similar markets in other areas of Basra.
In other signs of progress in the area, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed renovations on a vocational-technical center Tuesday in the Zubair district of Basra province, Coalition officials said. The $1.5 million project restored two facilities that included
at least 24 workshops for vocational training.
[“Providing better educational opportunities will lead to better job opportunities,” Army Lt. Col. Maura Gillen, a Multi-National Force - Iraq spokeswoman, said. “Vocational training is an investment in the economy, an investment in the development of a secure and prosperous Iraq.”]
["It's important to help the Iraqis stimulate their own economy so they can have financial resources available to develop their own ideas and what they view as their own economic needs in their region," said Army Maj. William Kerr of the 415th Civil Affairs unit attached to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team.]
this is what it's all about..
==
BTW, Jeffrey in New York, if you don't want to take advantage of bg's hard work, scroll on by! But I suggest you take a look, you might learn something. I do, constantly!
Thanks, bg!
DagneyT | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 4:46 pm //
=========
Don't go all defensive! Actually, it's harder work to excerpt and comment than to do 100% block pastes.
Day Trip to Sadr City
...
==
bg | 05.10.08 - 2:30 pm //
========
Great catch! As one commenter noted, probably the first American reporter into Sadr City in recent times. Top-notch coverage.
OT.. HT : GP
Al-Qaeda Plans Attacks on Nigeria
excerpt:
[The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, on Friday, warned that the Al-Qaeda terrorist network was planning
to bomb some parts of Nigeria.
Okiro, who did not give the locations which the group, led by the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, planned to bomb, however revealed that security reports indicated that the threat was real and could happen anytime. The IG, who spoke at a conference for senior police officers in Obudu, Cross River State, charged them to be diligent regarding the threat.
He particularly called on the Assistant Inspector-General, Surveillance, Mr. Israel Ajao, to ensure that all parts of the country were well monitored. He also called on the Commissioner of Police (Border Patrol) and the commissioners of police in the 36 state commands and the Federal Capital Territory to ensure that the Al-Qaeda threat did not materialise in their areas of jurisdiction.
Okiro said, “The Al-Qaeda network has threatened to send
time bombs to Nigeria. The AIG Surveillance should intensify surveillance while the CP Airwing, CP Border Patrol and the
CPs of all the commands should be on the alert and ensure
that these items (bombs) do not pass through their end.”]
==
Most of you probably know me, Jeffrey Schuster, the founder of Iraqi Bloggers Central, which will be celebrating its four-year anniversary, by the way, in a week or so. I belonged to that first group of commenters at ITM back in late 2004. I've also met Omar Fadhil here in NYC; he's a very smart, articulate guy, and I had a great discussion with him and Iraqi Mojo about a wide range of topics, most of them having to do with Iraq and the Iraqi blogosphere. Obviously, the ITM brothers aren't blogging very much right now. Omar, I know, is busy in graduate school here.
My comment above to "bg" is one that I've been meaning to make for a while. In my opinion -- and you can disagree with me, of course, if you want -- a comments page ought to be a place of discussion and not a bulletin board for entire articles. I stopped commenting here because the page was getting all spammed up by bg's lengthy excerpts. I'm more interested in what bg has to say, less interested in what he can clip and paste.
*
Mossad Moshebob | 05.10.08 - 9:08 pm//
=========
Tragic, especially considering this: Hezbollah's Endgame? By Lee Smith
'In an email, Michael Young suggested it might be because of the debate today at the UN on Security Council 1559 that calls for the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon.
“Suddenly the issue of Hizbullah's weapons is back on the table internationally, where the majority wants to put it,” writes Michael.
There are two other possibilities Tony Badran and I have been entertaining today.
The first is that the government may believe that Hezbollah's preparations for another war with Israel have reached a critical point; given that Siniora and his cabinet have long understood that their actions would lead to a confrontation with Hezbollah, another war with Israel is a more daunting threat.'
The only hopeful info I found there was in the comments: Hez pushed out of W. Beirut, but there's no sourcing.
OT:
Omar, how much does this The New Learning That Failed by VDH resemble your current experience at Columbia?
OT.. HT : Anon @ GP
Syria's Covert Nuclear Reactor at Al-Kibar
==
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 11:58 pm |
well Jeffrey, what can i say.. you da
man (i don't even have a penis)!!
==
Here's an excellent column by Nibras Kazemi that recently appeared in the NY Sun:
http://talisman-gate.blogspot.co...d-in-
basra.html
Victory is at hand. The only thing that could possibly cause us to lose this war now would be an Obama victory in November.
With all due respects to others who may feel differently, I greatly enjoy all of the articles that BG and others place here. I visit ITM frequently just to see if any new articles have been posted. It's a very convenient place to catch news stories that, not surprisingly, don't make it into the mainsream US media.
The commentary (most of it anyway, apart from the occasional childish leftist troll) is also enjoyable. But I really see no reason to try and restrict the posting of news articles and links here pertaining to Iraq.
Just my $0.02
OT.. Brian H | Homepage | 05.10.08 - 11:23 pm |
can't wait to hear the backlash when the Obamaniacs get hold
of the new Unelectable vid.. wonder what they'll accuse others
of next?? i mean, after the race, gender, class, religious, guns,
bitter & age cards, are there any they haven't played left.. 
==
OT.. HT : Sandmonkey [5/10/08]
The Beirut Media dance
excerpt:
[I have been following the sataelite channels for the past 3 days, glued to my TV, watching what's going on with serious disbelief. I never thought that the Sunni neighborhoods would fall this quickly, nor that Hezbollah would control Beirut this easily. But here we are, and it all seems so…deliberate. Like M14 wanted this to happen. Like they wanted Hezbollah exposed. Their refusal to engage with the opposition fighters is making the latter look-and rightfully so- like thugs. Not to mention they are, once and for all, exposing to whom their allegiance falls: Our dear old friend Bisho!]
links @ link..
==
Brian H | Homepage | 05.11.08 - 12:21 am |
excerpt:
[Even if Hezbollah does withdraw and real calm prevails in the near term, Lebanon has crossed a threshold from which there likely will be no recovery. Quiet may resume, but it will be the quiet of cold war rather than peace.
Hezbollah has always said its weapons were pointed only at Israel, though many knew better. Hezbollah even brags (although it’s not true) that they did not turn their weapons against Lebanese during the last civil war. Both of these lies have now been exposed before the whole world.
There may be lulls in the violence, but there will be no real
peace in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed or destroyed.]
so true, same goes for Hamas (&
every other 'Islamist' group).. 
==
Brian, thanks for the link to VDH piece. He sums it up nicely for all of us here;
"The country needs that promised postracial debate between two skilled candidates — not the embarrassing racialist speech and creepy associates that Obama thus far has brought to, and so overwhelmed, it."
Jeffrey, point taken. I however must add my $0.02 by dittoing Dan's support of bg. Her research is invaluable to me, in support of the Iraqi effort to skeptical family and friends. Perhaps if the excerpts were shorter, with the link we could read further, it would satisfy us all?
I've been here an awfully long time. The conversation pretty much dried up a couple years ago, and bg kept the site going as a clearing house for hard-to-get news. (the suggestion that she pushed the commenters out is wrong) Whatever you think of her posts, there was a long stretch where this site would have dried up without her. Frankly, I'm glad that it didn't.
I have particularly enjoyed the posts on the Lebanon crisis, which helps demonstrate that nearly every point of conflict in the ME, including Palestine, is actually an extension of Iran's imperial aims.
Dagney T,
Perhaps if the excerpts were shorter, with the link we could read further, it would satisfy us all?
That's my original suggestion.
But here's another suggestion. Perhaps bg should make her own blog (Blogger is free), where she'll be able to excerpt to any length she wants. Just check any of ITM's recent comments pages and you'll see that the majority of them are bg's spam-posts. The quality of the commentary on these comments pages has fallen way off primarily due to bg's kudzu-like spamming.
*
Agree Batman and further to that, many of the 'regular' commenter's left when the trolls invaded, long before bg came on site.
BG, has kept this place alive IMHO.
Okay, you can tell to buzz off, if you like. That's cool.
Anyway, I've been re-reading old blog entries from Iraqi Bloggers Central today in preparation for our four-year anniversary, and I've been looking at quite a few that were written about ITM. Here's one I found from June of 2004 that discusses a post by Omar in which he looks back to his first days of blogging. Some of the old gang will find their names and comments in the blog entry.
Back to the Future: November, 2003
*
And in this blog entry you will find my first comment at ITM (November 21, 2003).
Italiano-Americano Friendship for Iraq.
*
Organization of Islamic Conferences endeavoring to rectify Muslim Image
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-we...tay&
link=141450
How? The article does not say. It mentions that it is launching something called the Islamophobia Observatory in order to eliminate the worldwide waves of fear of Islam. I have no problem with this, if it is a teaching tool for correcting false impressions about Islam that are being foisted upon us by evildoers.
I hope they can see their way clear to accepting this document,
http://www.islamicamagazine.com/...nedict-
xvi.html
which embraces the central teaching of the Torah, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I hope they can see their way clear to repudiating this document, and other terrorist writings:
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cg...=sd&
ID=SP109206
Otherwise, their efforts will not be productive in any positive sense. Christians and Muslims are all taught that “…by their fruits you shall know them.” Where’s the fruit? The world has been waiting for fruit from the OIC.
Dan R. | 05.11.08 - 2:04 am |
Batman | 05.11.08 - 10:24 am |
Anonymous | 05.11.08 - 11:00 am |
thank you all..
i've done a little research as well..
a lot of the older posts are just as long as (if not longer than) mine.. and as has been pointed out, my copy & pasting of MNF
article's is rather recent.. albeit there were still some debates & discussions occurring, it was dwindling rapidly due to the lack of ITM bro posts.. hence i tried to fill in the void..
thanks again to for all your support..
you ladies & gents are the best!!
==
jeffrey, toys r us is calling..
its called a down arrow, all you have to do is scroll past it. i look forward to bg's stuff so shup.
OT.. hmm, is there a Dhimmi Awakening??
==
Jeffrey -- New York
It’s funny how the same situation can look radically different to someone with a different orientation, and in retrospect. Bg didn’t cause the drop-off in either readership or conversation.
Our hosts have been busy, so they haven’t been posting much, and this is reflected in the graph at the site meter. It has also led to some extremely long comment lists. As a result, people have been careful to avoid a lot of back-and-forth commenting as a courtesy to one another.
Further, this blog has a moderation function so that posting of comments is no longer immediate. This puts also puts a damper on the conversation. Given the behavior the delay was designed to stop, I find it an improvement although I miss the conversation.
At the same time, people have developed a habit of bringing items of interest to the comments. Bg’s efficient, and her timing is good, so she posts the most. People try to avoid double-posting of news items, and they will try to check the comments before adding a post to a news item. The quotes make it easy to identify a given item, and see what she thinks is important in it.
The result is, in the absence of a recent post by the brothers, we still have a news aggregator and sifter related generally to Iraq that is familiar, not as broad as Pajamas, not as partisan as Hot Air, and not as rude as Pat Dollard. Things are quiet, now, but summer has arrived in Iraq and the US election is coming. The story here is not done, even if the brothers are taking a well-deserved rest.
OT..
Hezbollah Moves War Outside Beirut
excerpta:
[The people of Tripoli, a Sunni stronghold in northern Lebanon,
are fighting back against Iranian-backed Hezbollah and their Syrian-backed allies.]
***
[Heavy fighting broke out Sunday between supporters of Lebanon's Western-backed government and opposition followers
in the central mountains overlooking the capital, security officials said.
The violence came after overnight clashes in northern Lebanon left one woman dead, bringing the toll across the country for the past five days to 38 — the worst sectarian violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Sunday's fighting between pro-government supporters of Druse leader Walid Jumblatt and Shiite gunmen started in Aytat around
2 p.m., involving exchanges of rocket and machine gunfire. There also were sporadic gunbattles in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
The streets of Beirut, the focus of bloody sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shiites for four days, were largely deserted on Sunday, a day off in Lebanon. However, many roads remained blocked by the ongoing civil disobedience campaign.]
more links @ link (some i and
others have already posted)..
==
!!~ HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ~!!
==
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Operations continue in Sadr City
excerpts:
[US and Iraqi forces continue to strike at the Mahdi Army in Baghdad despite the agreement reached between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army late Friday. Seventeen Mahdi Army fighters were killed in northeastern Baghdad over the past 24 hours.]
["Seeing as how the Special Groups never listened to [Sadr] to begin with, I don't see how things will change," Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover, the chief Public Affairs Officer for Multinational Division Baghdad, told The Long War Journal on May 10. "We're not stopping [construction on the barrier]," Stover said. "The barrier emplacement is ongoing and about 80 percent complete."]
[US Army air assets have relentlessly pursued the Mahdi Army in and around Sadr City. "To date, 57 rocket rails and mortars have been destroyed and 150 Special Groups Criminals killed," Milano said.]
[The Mahdi Army is also using the deadly explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, roadside bombs to target US forces. Most of the roadside bomb attacks are EFPs, which are "the number one killer of our soldiers," Milano said. Iran has supplied EFPs to the Mahdi Army and the Special Groups, which are a subset of the Mahdi Army.]
==
HT : Talisman Gate
Interesting: Abu Suleiman al-'Uteibi Killed in Afghanistan
excerpt:
[Abu Suleiman al-'Uteibi (identified in the Saudi press as Muhammad al-Thubaiti, a young Saudi cleric) was killed in Afghanistan's Paktia Province during a skirmish with coalition forces there, according to a press release from Al-Qaida in Afghanistan today. The statement clarifies that al-'Uteibi had arrived in Afghanistan six months ago after leaving Iraq. Al-'Uteibi seems to have been a favorite of Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi's, having arrived in Iraq from Saudi Arabia shortly before the latter's death in June 2006. Al-'Uteibi makes his first public appearance in a video released on April 11, 2007 and is identified with the lofty title of "Chief Religious Judge of the Islamic State of Iraq", even though he was only 28 years old at the time.
But shortly afterwards, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi declared the names of his cabinet (on April 19, 2007), and he didn't pick al-'Uteibi as his Minister of Religious Courts:]
i don't believe 'who was where when' really matters
much.. bottom line is, they all have the same goal..
==
OT.. HT : Michael J. Totten
The Tea Boy
excerpt:
[As Tony Badran wrote me this morning: “I think Obama's statement is counterproductive in that it will be read by Syria as confirming their hope that there might be a chance with an Obama presidency to get back Lebanon.
“And so, there's a good possibility that the first thing the Syrians will do in 2009 is to coordinate Hezbollah launching an attack on Israel. Syria would then present its services promising to 'deal' with the situation. Obama would be pressed by the foreign policy luminaries to send a delegation to 'negotiate' with Syria, the way many were urging President Bush to do in 2006, but he wisely resisted. Simultaneously, Syria would push a return to a peace process with Israel, and presto, the rules of the 1990s, which the Syrians have been desperately seeking after, are reinstated, whereby Syria would be able to pursue proxy war and a peace process simultaneously while restoring its control on Lebanon, which is the primary objective.”]
Obama advisor
disclaimer: supposedly an ex-advisor now that
Obama has been caught in yet another lie.. 
==
ISF, SOI Presence Allows Families to Begin Moving Home
excerpts:
[Two years ago, al-Qaeda destroyed the Chalabi village in the Sayafiyah region. A Shia tribe in a predominately Sunni area, the Chalabis fled to Mahmudiyah, Baghdad and other surrounding areas.
About four months ago, Coalition forces entered the area and set up Sons of Iraq security and Iraqi Army checkpoints. Soon after, Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), discovered residents had returned to the area.
“These families had heard from word of mouth that the area was now secure so now they are back,” said Capt. Joe Johnson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-187th Inf. Regt.]
[“This is just to get them a jump start and to keep the men building and productive until the Government of Iraq comes and takes over,” said Staff Sgt. Christopher Sloan, 1-187th Inf. Regt. psychological operations noncommissioned officer. “The government is already working the (electrical) power issue in the area and we just wanted to jump start the building process and make it a smoother transition.”
Sheikh Jassim Mohammed Alawan al-Kalabi praised the supply delivery.
“The Iraqi government, the Americans and our families are all working together to make this place great again,” he said.]
welcome home!!
==
Joint Patrol With Iraqi Army Builds Capacity
Coalition forces are conducting joint patrols with the Iraqi army throughout the fish farm areas of North Babil, approximately 50 kilometers south of Baghdad.
On one joint patrol, Soldiers of Company B, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3th Infantry Division, evaluated the progress of fish farmers cleaning their farms preparing to receive economic aid from organizations
such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
A year ago, the fish farms were not operational due to al-Qaida influence. However, with improved security, the fish farms are quickly becoming the major source of local income they once were.
“We are surprised, but happy, to see the Soldiers in this neighborhood so often,” said Mahmud Khudair Abbas, a
local fish farmer. “It has helped my family sleep without
worry.”
Patrolling alongside American Soldiers allows their Iraqi counterparts to see how the U.S. Army operates, helping them become part of the team, said Spc. Salvador Diaz, of 3rd Platoon, Co. B., 3-7th Inf. Regt.
The U.S. Soldiers also benefit as Iraqis can point out details about people or places they wouldn’t necessarily notice on their own, Diaz said.
“We’ve definitely seen an improvement in how the
IA prepares and executes these patrols,” he said.
==
Village of Hope Graduates Ready to Rebuild
excerpts:
[The Village of Hope graduated its first class of students May 8
in a ceremony held at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, south
of Baghdad.]
[Hawr Rajab was devastated last year by al-Qaeda in Iraq, said town council chairman, Sheikh Ali Majid, who attended the graduation ceremony. AQI fighters burned houses, stole goods and used many structures for storing weapons and building bombs, he said. Now that violence has subsided in the area, its residents can move on.
“The first thing we need to do is
rebuild our homes,” Majid said.]
[“The real concentrated effort is to make sure the students, after their 90 days of academic and technical training, continue to develop their skill sets so they become true craftsmen,” said Air Force liaison Senior Master Sgt. Casey Wieland.]
[“Hopefully, by the time they get to that point, the renovations will have trained them to the level we need them to be, so they can go out and work on their own,” Brooks said.]
[“Our guys will actually be out there with them initially supervising and still training, but eventually these guys will be doing it themselves,” he said.]
[“You have a long way to go,” he told the graduates. “I want to challenge you to stay with the program. When you’re done rebuilding Hawr Rajab, you’ll feel a great sense of pride in your community.”]
[“Now they can rebuild Hawr Rajab on their own.
They won’t need help from someone else,” he said.]
good going & good luck!!
==
Petraeus Praises Iraqi Police for Gains in Past Year
excerpts:
[U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said the courage of the Iraqi police and the Iraqi Security Forces while working together helped drive down the level of violence and level of civilians deaths in Iraq in the last 15 months at the Baghdad Police Summit last week.]
[“We have seen in the past year in communities like Salman Pak where the police have gone back into that these communities have come back to life,” said Petraeus. “Markets have been renewed and businesses and schools reopened. Clearly, we have seen progress.”]
[He said “Al-Qaeda and other criminal groups will try to re-establish their presence in these communities. The Iraqi Security Forces will have to remain vigilant to secure the
peace in these communities. It will take a strong effort, but
it is achievable.”
Petraeus said, “It is an honor for me to be your partner
in this effort to bring peace to the citizens of Iraq.”
Minister of Interior Jawad al Bolani said the “Iraqi policemen
love their country and they are trying to bring peace to Iraq.”]
[“We are now facing many challenges from the criminals and terrorists who are against the Iraqi people’s hope for progress
and to live in peace, said Bolani. “They have failed to stop Iraq.
I see in the end that the Iraqi people will get the victory.”]
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
BG:
I love what you do, so you go girl! Seriously, you do indeed inject a lot of life between the infrequent posts of the estimable brothers.
By the way, have we generally lost those trolls, would you say?
JR Garner
bg,
OT.. hmm, is there a Dhimmi Awakening??
This comment is the right length for you. Why not try to keep them this short? Thanks in advance.
*
BG, has kept this place alive IMHO.
Anonymous | 05.11.08 - 11:00 am |
Exactly. When the comment section was filled with arguments, I stopped opening the comment section for over a year. Since that crap has mostly stopped and bg has been posting, I come here daily.
-
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.11.08 - 7:40 pm |
Jeffrey.. why don't you get off your high horse & contribute something other than you're crying over spilt milk, or should
i say your good old glory days before i darkened your horizon.. move on already, i've yet to read a comment of yours referring
to Iraq or anything else but you & your gripe against me..
to all who have commented, my sincere thanks.. lets show Jeffrey
what we're all about & we can do & leave the whining to him..
laugh & the world laughs with
you, cry & you cry alone..
==
Commenters always differed, but I kinda enjoyed the old arguments with the trolls. Either way, the reasons it died off were the introduction of the moderation, the long stretch of extremely infrequent posts, the long stretch of nothing but bad news during 2006-2007, and lack of any trolls to argue with.
Why not just call this BG's SPAMALOT BULLETIN BOARD?
*
Eh, "Jeffery, Knue Yahhhk"
Whats wrong, dude?
All ticked off by the contributions people are making here?
You don't have any near the readership that the brothers have here.
You don't have anything like the contributions comments make over at your blog as is being made here.
Clearly that bothers you so you've decided to come over and beat up the commenters here.
I recommend you run to mommy. It is mothers day, and cry until she changes your diaper and you are happy again.
YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
SIX-GUN-NEO-CON RIDING INTO THE ITM OK CORRALL FROM COMANCHE, TEXAS TO AID BG, MY GAL FRIEND, FOR SURE!
Whars my danged charge bugle when I need it...
We've got our selves a Knu Yarker who clearly thinks he is the skunks best stink!
"Ah am the FOUNDER of Iraqi blogger central" or something like that.
"Ah wuz here years ago..." and I get over to his blog and he has many posts with NO COMMENTS AT ALL. I mean, to be so high and mightier than thou, you would think folds would go over there and drop at least one word...
OT.. HT : The Mudville Gazette
G.I. wish I could go to college
Jeffrey alert: a very very very long post..
==
Knu Yahk Jeffery!
Here! Post this at your blog, dawg! This is guaranteeeeed to get you some hits so you won't be crying so much in your milk over here!
re: bg | 05.11.08 - 5:45 pm |
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Pakistani Taliban, Iraqi al Qaeda
operatives killed in Afghanistan
excerpts:
[Pakistan remains a haven for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters to conduct operations in Afghanistan. Thirteen Taliban, including a deputy of Mullah Nazir, a senior Taliban leader in South Waziristan, were killed in a clash with NATO and Afghan forces in the eastern Afghanistan province of Paktika. In a separate clash, two al Qaeda leaders, including a former leader in al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq, were killed during fighting in neighboring Paktia.]
[The same day that Iqbal and the 11 Pakistani Taliban were reported killed, al Qaeda announced the death of two of its operatives in Afghanistan. AL Ekhlaas, an al Qaeda forum, announced the death of Abu Suleiman al Otaibi and Abu Dejana
al Qahtani during a battle in Paktia on an unspecified date.
Al Otaibi is described as the former leader of the legal system of
al Qaeda in Iraq's political front, the Islamic State of Iraq. Abu Uthman al Tamimi is listed as current minister of the Islamic State of Iraq's sharia, or Islamic law, council.
Abu Dejana al Qahtani was also reported killed along with al Otaibi.]
==
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.11.08 - 9:47 pm |
talk about SPAM..
Mister Ghost | Homepage | 05.07.08 - 4:36 pm |
my response to MG's post..
funny how Mister Ghost & Jeffrey -- New York
share the samo samo HOMPAGE isn't it..
you did my story way back when, and i was flattered.. i have also
tried to address your posts w/o animosity, but you just kept going
& going like a kamakazi.. quite dissapointing to say the least.. but
at least now i know why.. kifaya!!
==
Why not just call this BG's SPAMALOT BULLETIN BOARD?
*
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.11.08 - 9:47 pm //
========
OK, Jeffery, that's over the top. Insults and hyper-insistence on being right are unwelcome. FOAD.
By the way, have we generally
lost those trolls, would you say?
JR Garner | 05.11.08 - 7:38 pm |
thank you..
and yes i would say, especially the bold one [wonder what
sod (and LC for that matter) is counting these days]..
Richard B. | Homepage | 05.11.08 - 7:53 pm |
thanks so much RB..
rg | 05.11.08 - 10:07 pm |
what can i say RG..
my hero's have always been cowboys!!
thanks..
==
correction re: bg spamogram | 05.11.08 - 11:13 pm |
"Mister Ghost" did my story way back when..
not "you" (unless you are one in the same)..
==
bg,
This is idiotic. You destroyed this comments page. Why not just make your own blog?
*
bg,
CMAR II, Mister Ghost, RhusLancia, and I are CO-BLOGGERS at Iraqi Bloggers Central, so naturally we share the same homepage.
*
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.12.08 - 12:05 am |
scrolling the troll
==
Very interesting update on A-Stan Non-Com and Police upgrading. (PDF transcript.) Smoother than expected, but a big job.
homopage?!!
Eh, Knue Yawk Jeffery.
Stop avoiding my questions like a loser would do.
When are you going to get your blog up to a decent standard. Not much traffic over there.
I think you should take bg's great articles and post them over there so someone will finally pay your a visit.
Come on out into the middle of the street Jeffery. Stop hiding behind your insults to other commenters here. Your insults are back firing on your clearly low integrity and charactor. Be a bravo and deal with the shortcomings of your own blog. I bet your life is just a unpopular.
bg,
So I'm a troll because I've isolated you and your endless spams as the main reason that people no longer come here to discuss Iraqi issues? It doesn't work that way. My criticism of your lengthy excerpts did get people to admit that you ought to shorten them, right? So for several people here it was legitimate criticism. Deal with it.
I stopped coming here because my right hand started suffering from SCROLLY-OSIS as I was forced to scroll past all of the article-length spams.
*
Yer way out of line here boy!
So why are you here Jeffrey? You have your own blog!
I see yer turning into one of them commie types now!
pitty... Take your prozac!
Ignore him bg I sure will be
rg,
Iraqi Bloggers Central received around 500 visits today, about our average. We've been writing blog entries for four years, helping many Iraqi bloggers gain a wider audience (ITM, Shaggy, and Chikitita, for example), and we're blogrolled on many websites, such as the NYTimes and C-Span.
I began participating in comments-page discussions in the Iraqi blogosphere at the very beginning, so I do know something about what makes for a dynamic comments page and what doesn't. One commenter dominating the comments page with long excerpts, like bg here, is deadly to real debate. If you guys are happy with just a bulletin board, then go for it, I guess. But you won't really find out what you truly believe because you're never forced to argue for and support your views.
Well, at least the argument we're having now about whether bg's spamograms help or hinder discussion is one of the first real debates to occur here in a long, long time.
*
Well, Well!! Look at what is being said about Omar at "Jeffery's" blog"
"Finally an Iraqi blogger with the testicular fortitude to fight for his country, rather than running off to Graduate School in the U.S."
I've got news for you Jeffery. The Iraqis who we think are best pumping lead into an Al Qaeda fighter, are over there do that and doing that well.
The ones who have the ability to further their education to become leaders of their nation, are now in our schools here, getting ready to do that.
That is success in Iraq.
But you are too much of a meat head to figure that one out, aren't you?
Brian H | Homepage | 05.12.08 - 12:13 am |
thanks BH.. that was very insightful.. McMahon sounds optimistic,
which is always good to hear, especially when it's coming from a
military guy..
and God Bless the people of Afghanistan!!
==
OT..
Nearly 22,000 Passports Seized
excerpt:
[Today Thai authorities announced arrests in an enormous counterfeit passport ring. 12 people were arrested and some 20,000 fake passports were seized. It was the second such
arrest in the past month.]
sure makes one wonder how many terrorists with
fake passports are coming & going as they please..
==
OT.. sort of related to:
The world has been waiting for fruit from the OIC.
Valerie | 05.11.08 - 12:15 pm |
funny..
[Obama: I want to be president of all 57 states]
not so funny..
[source to Obama's 57 states]
==
TL | 05.11.08 - 1:58 pm |
TL | 05.12.08 - 12:43 am |
==
This is a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, included here only because it’s got to be a record-breaker for stupidity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051101728.html
The writer thinks that a military takeover of the Burmese government by a Chinese and US coalition is justified by the recent cyclone disaster.
Obviously, this is the kind of person who can’t see fifteen minutes into the future.
On the peace process in Sadr City
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051101923.html
I think the underlying story is contained in these excerpts:
Lt. Col. Steve Stover said there were no reports of rocket or mortar fire from Sadr City….
"If we see any criminal elements firing mortars, rockets or planting an IED," or an improvised explosive device, he said, "we're going to engage them and kill them." …
Most of Sadr's militia has not engaged in the battles, obeying a cease-fire imposed by Sadr last August. U.S. military commanders insist they are fighting so-called rogue elements who have split from Sadr.
A comment for the moderator.
ITM has always been a worthwhile place to visit. However I gave up visiting the comments because of the "discussions" that were often loaded with posts by trolls and replies to those trolls.
When the brothers were later not able to post as often, I checked the comments and found bg's posts and now view the comments daily again.
I would not be reading comments were it not for moderation. Were it not for bg, comments would be fewer but far, far less interesting. So I am thankful for both moderation and for bg's "spam".
Keep up the good work and if 'Jeffrey -- New York' keeps loading the comments as he has been, please block him as well. I don't have time to waste on his opinions and replies to them. The comments should be relative to Iraq, not about one person's comments.
-
It's signed, say the Sadrists.
http://patdollard.com/2008/05/sh...-with-sadrists/
Google is not carrying this news story as reported by Voices of Iraq. Not on the web, not in the news.
If we ever wind up regulating speech on the 'Net, it will be because of Google or its successors, not because of some fly-by-night website, porn operator or criminal.
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.12.08 - 1:16 am | #
Are you serious? BG is adding to the debate not subtracting or hindering it.
I sniff an academic elitist. Information control is NEVER good.
I haven’t read comments now for a long, long time.
I don’t anymore it is only what the person has up that counts. Not the commenter.
bg is contributing to information.
I see it all went to your head Jeffery!
LGF has my vote Power line or Hot Air or... Not yours just thought I would tell you that.
Oh and as for mine? I don't care to be popular I have a real life. I don't spend every waking hour on line. Ahhhh but that is me now isn't it..LOL
Yeah scroll...
Jefferey, I don't think that word means what you think it does;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spa...am_(electronic)
"Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages."
Firts, let me point out that there is NOTHING indiscriminate about bg's post. Far from it. Second, they are not bulk messages, since bulk messages are the same message sent to multiple locations, where bg is sending one message to one location.
"While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam and junk fax transmissions."
So while spamming is NOT media dependent ( that surprised me, I thought spamming was just for e-mail),
I stand by my contention that bg's SERVICE is not even close to meeting the test for spam.
"BLog spam, , or "blam" for short, is spamming on weblogs. In 2003, this type of spam took advantage of the open nature of comments in the blogging software Movable Type by repeatedly placing comments to various blog posts that provided nothing more than a link to the spammer's commercial web site.[5] Similar attacks are often performed against wikis and guestbooks, both of which accept user contributions"
So, by media type, it might be acceptable to accuse bg of 'blamming'.
Considering that AFAIK, bg has NOT linke to her commercial web site, I don't think you can hang being a blammer on bg.
If you have some other definition of spamming, that is OK, you just should not expect others to know what it is.
No, there is some other issue at work here. If you want to share, we will try to help. I say that because you have more important things to worry about.
If Ohh.....BAMA gets elected New York will get nuked. That is no skin off my nose, but it should concern you.
further to typos a @ 10:00 am,
There is a polite way to solicit attention to blogs of interest.
A link with a short comment in your own style is all that is necessary. Rude posts about somebody else's style are counterproductive.
I remember when Bob the Linkman was getting beaned for merely posting links.
Sheesh.
Glad to hear that apparently the Sadrists have formally signed a deal with the government to let Iraqi soldiers take over Sadr City.
However, this won't be the end of the violence there in the short term. There are a lot of common criminals and Iranian stooges in Sadr City who don't answer to Sadr. Never have. They won't go down quietly.
But this is classic counter-insurgency strategy: separate the reconcilables from the dead-enders and then crush the dead-enders.
Soak, rinse, repeat.
Jeffrey, please go away. You have worn out your welcome here.
Unbelievable. That incredibly stupid letter to the Washington Post editor that I linked to at 05.12.08 - 7:32 am is part of something larger, including a trial balloon in Time magazine.
http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot....sion-
burma.html
Dilettantes should not discuss war. Scandal is really more their speed.
HT : 1st Lt. Jarred A. Fishman
Back From Syria
May 5, 2008
By Mohamed Hussein
excerpts:
[I came back to Baghdad last week.
First, it is important to mention the main cause that made me leave everything behind and go to Syria. By the end of 2006 my neighborhood had become an unbearable place. No one could continue there. It was without any simple services, from bakery shops to the hospital and physicians. They all closed their doors and left.]
[I put my luggage inside my mother’s car and we drove to my neighborhood. While driving I was amazed to see what I had heard about: the huge difference in security, which was much better than when I left.]
[Now I felt really safe because those people were working properly, not like the security forces in my neighborhood before who were making a secure path during the night for militia members to pass through, targeting everything there.]
[Will it stay safe or not?
I guess that all depends on the American troops, since we will not have qualified Iraqi forces soon. Although most Iraqi forces are sincere you find some have been infiltrated by groups of gunmen and sectarian people who made the mess all around us.
So we still need the Americans because if they intend to leave, there will be something like a hurricane which will extract everything - people, buildings and even trees. Everything that has happened and all that safety will be past, just like a sweet dream.
As people say in my neighborhood: “The Americans
are now Ansar al Sunna.” Protectors of the Sunni.]
RYWT!!
& pass it around @ Iraqi Bloggers
Central for a change of pace..
==
Valerie | 05.12.08 - 7:32 am |
Valerie | 05.12.08 - 4:51 pm |
excerpt:
[Now in all probability if the "good old U.S. military" actually does invade Burma it will incinerate every vestige of armed opposition in its path. Burmese Army units will stand about as much chance as ants before a kid's homemade flamethrower. And then all of a sudden the assumptions will collapse in reverse order. People are going to say, 'we didn't realize invasions meant killing people'; 'we didn't realize we wouldn't have allies'; and finally 'we did not think it would be so expensive'. And then we will hear that classic line: "I was for it before I was against it."
Here's what I think. The US can invade any country it wants for a good reason and with a full understanding of what it entails. The Time magazine article is proof that there are a whole lot of people who are a long way from either having reasons or understanding -- and a good chance they'll all be in office by 2009.]
nice catch Valerie..
of course it's always damned if we do; damned
if we don't.. that is how "dissent" works.. gah!!
==
HT : Talisman Gate
Happy Happy Joy Joy!
excerpts:
[Forty-nine days after the launch of Operation Cavalry Charge
on March 25, the New York Times finally gets around to sending
a couple of reporters down to Basra--to Iraq's second largest city--to give its readers a first hand account on the situation there.]
[This was yet another shameful chapter in how the Iraq story was reported and what is even more shameful is that no one will be held accountable for all the distortion and misrepresentation it has left in its wake.]
TG has been doing a great job of pointing
out the NYT (among others) distortions..
==
HT : Talisman Gate
excerpt:
[Fouad Ajami
[snip]
Nibras Kazimi’s column, “Iran’s Shifting Strategy” (New York Sun, May 12), is one of the most insightful readings of the Middle Eastern landscape to appear anywhere in a very long time.]
Iran's Shifting Strategy
excerpts:
[Two countries that were dead-set against Iraq succeeding were Syria and Iran. These are also the two countries most responsible for fomenting political paralysis and chaos in Lebanon.
In Iraq, the Iranians and the Syrians began a joint-partnership aimed at harnessing the disruptive energies of the Mahdi Army as a weapon by which to retaliate against America should either of them get attacked, as well as acting as a force keeping Iraq in a state of permanent disorder.]
[Thus, the Iranians and the Syrians were hoping to turn the rag-tag elements of the Mahdi Army into an Iraqi version of Hezbollah, with both a political wing represented by Mr. Sadr and
a military wing that they called the majamee’ alkhasa, or “Special Groups,” a name chosen in Tehran and not a technical term invented by American commanders as so many Iraq-watchers seem to think.
And boy, was that a mistake: the Mahdi Army as a whole and the Special Groups in particular have collapsed after seven weeks of fighting against a confident and capable Iraqi Army that was bolstered by American air cover and logistical support. On Thursday, the Sadrists effectively offered their surrender to Prime Minister Maliki, who had earlier put them on notice that he would smash into their redoubts, especially Baghdad’s slum of Sadr City, if they continued to act as saboteurs. Mr. Maliki was prepared to go all the away, including displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sadr City and arresting Sadrist parliamentarians.
Iran had lost and the leaders in Tehran needed to save face fast. Iran needed to show that it could create mischief around the region for that has always been one of Tehran’s strategic strengths. That is why they pushed Hezbollah to overreact when given a juicy provocation by the American-backed cabinet of Fouad al-Siniora.]
[Mr. Maliki has just ordered the launch of a much-anticipated military campaign to rid Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, of whatever significant vestige of Al Qaeda’s remaining in Iraq. The inevitable jihadist collapse there will push more and more jihadists to re-establish their efforts elsewhere, and nowhere looks more promising than Lebanon.]
RTWT..
==
OT.. HT : GP
well someone has 'lost their bearings'
again, & it sure as heck ain't McCain..
==
Gaza missile kills a 70-year old Israeli woman in Moshav Yesha
May 12, 2008, 7:20 PM (GMT+02:00)
She was on a family visit to Moshav Yesha south of Ofakim. Killed instantly by and exploding Qassam missile fired from Gaza which hit a house in the moshav, she was the second victim of Hamas missile attacks in four days.
Jimmy Kedoshim from Kibbutz Kfar Azza died after being struck by a Palestinian mortar last Friday, May 9. Over the weekend, more than 22 missiles were fired from Gaza. Early Monday, May 12, two Katyusha rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Ashkelon. One just missed a school, leaving several children in shock and damaging buildings. An alert sent town-dwellers diving for shelter.
dump olmert the useless and bomb the hezbos
Fighting rages in Mt. Lebanon, Damour south of Beirut and northern town of Tripoli
May 12, 2008, 5:45 PM (GMT+02:00)
Walid Jumblatt, Druze leader, head of key government faction
DEBKAfile reports: In the second winning round of its war on the pro-Western Siniora government, Hizballah pounded the Druze strongholds of anti-Syrian Walid Jumblatt in the Mt. Lebanon hills east of Beirut all day Sunday, April 11. When the Druze leader asked his rival Talal Arselan to broker a truce deal, Hizballah laid down an ultimatum: Druze militias must turn in their heavy weapons to the Lebanese army and disarm their troops or the attacks go on.
In the northern town of Tripoli Hizballah allies continued to fight pro-government Sunni loyalists.
Shiite gunmen continue to man roadblocks on Beirut highways including the airport road even through Hizballah agreed Saturday, May 10, to take its armed men off the streets after the army surrendered to its two key demands.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that Hizballah fighters mingle with Shiite Amal men in order to camouflage their continuing street presence. Lebanese soldiers still do not venture into the districts conquered by Hizballah in four days of fierce fighting. The crisis which has claimed 44 dead and 128 wounded is therefore far from over. Arab League foreign ministers met Sunday in emergency session called by Saudi Arabia and Egypt Sunday night. Damascus, which sent a low-level delegate instead of its foreign minister, vetoed the proposal to send an Arab peacekeeping force to hold Hizballah in check.
Israel’s deputy defense minister Vilnai said the Lebanese situation is worrying but there is no cause for Israel to intervene.
In obedience to Hizballah demands the Lebanese army revoked two government measures Saturday: the Shiite group’s independent telecommunication network will not be shut down and the pro-Hizballah Brig. Gen Wafiq Shqeir would keep his job as Beirut international airport head of security. The general was accused of waving through illegal Iranian arms shipments for Hizballah.
In a broadcast speech, Saturday, May 10, the pro-Western prime minister Fouad Siniora asked the army to defuse the crisis after Hizballah seized control of western Beirut, besieged the government center and attacked pro-government Sunni centers across Lebanon. Government loyalists found no support from Sinora’s powerful backers, the United States, France or even Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The pro-Western government was therefore forced to back down.
This meant its acceptance of Hizballah’s communication system in central, southern and eastern Lebanon and its direct link to Syrian and Iranian command centers in Damascus; and the Shiite group’s Beirut headquarters online communications link to its Revolutionary Guards bosses in Tehran.
Triumphant, the Hizballah chief Hassan Hasrallah will be a more dangerous enemy than ever. The army rather than the government laid down the condition that Hizballah withdraw from the Sunni districts of Beirut and the rest of the country and remove its armed men from the streets.
Even so, a government minister remarked that the deal awaits approval by Hizballah leaders and the Iranian ambassador in Beirut. It is far from certain that the Shiite terrorists will give up the territory they gained in the last four days.
As my bumper sticker says:
Bush as CINC
hate him or love him
he's killed a lot of Jihaists!
Did any of you know Bush had militarized the Mexican border two years ago?
"Perhaps bg should make her own blog (Blogger is free), where she'll be able to excerpt to any length she wants."
Jeff, I've suggested that. For some strange reason she is afraid of being a blogger. So, there ya go!
We love you, bg
Okay, folks.
Maybe it's time to review our debate so far on whether bg's lengthy excerpts help or hinder discussion on this comments page. Kafir acknowledged my concern and suggested a compromise. "Perhaps you [bg] could start just excerpting the money quote followed by a RTWT," he wrote above. "Then, you can keep this forum updated with what's going on on mnf-iraq and Jeffrey and I won't have to slog through a bunch of long posts."
Dagney T also urged a similar solution: "Perhaps if the excerpts were shorter, with the link we could read further, it would satisfy us all?" This echoes my original suggestion: a brief summary of or response to an article with a hyperlinked title, if people want to read the original. Valerie, for example, uses this method.
Valerie stepped back and looked at the history of ITM over the last few years. At one time, as most of you will recall, ITM went through a period of serious troll-infestation. It reached a point where Omar and Mohammed had to enable comment moderation. Comment moderation is, in my opinion, a drastic option, often killing off any spontaneity in the discussions. But I don't think Omar and Mohammed had a choice. They didn't want to turn their blog over to trolls, a blog on which they had worked so hard for a couple years at that time.
Valerie argues, then, that comment moderation and fewer posts by Omar and Mohammed are the major factors in the reduced quality of the comments page, and not because of bg's long excerpts. As with others, she argues that they are mostly informative and have kept the comments page alive.
Still, for myself, I know that I stopped coming hear precisely because I got tired of scrolling through bg's long excerpts. I acknowledge that my view may be in the minority here, but I speak from experience and from having seen single commenters kill off a comments page. No one stops over at Omar/24 Steps of Liberty anymore, for example, because of the stranglehold there of one commenter, Annie.
Other commenters, along with Valerie, came to bg's defense, explaining that they appreciated bg's excerpts and felt that, after comment moderation had been enabled, bg's excerpts were the main reason they kept returning. Few of these other commenters were as articulate as Valerie in their rebuttal. RG, for example, comes off as the YOSEMITE SAM of this comments page.
Since I made my original comment a few days ago, I have noticed that bg has tried to use shorter excerpts with hyperlinks, which I certainly appreciate. Other times, however, she reverts back to long excerpts. I hope that in the future we get to hear more of what bg really thinks and fewer lengthy excerpts.
*
OT.. HT : TG
Sunnis and Alawites Clash in Northern Lebanon
excerpts:
[Long-standing feuds among Sunnis and Alawites in Trablus, Lebanon’s second largest city, have erupted into severe clashes involving light arms and rockets all throughout yesterday and today. These clashes are following familiar patterns from the time of the Lebanese Civil Wars in the north (early 1980s-1989).]
[But to answer the question I had posed to myself above: the Alawites are too few to be a threat to Sunnis in either Akkar or Trablus. However in venting Sunni anger at Hezbollah, Alawites can be beaten up in lieu of finding other Shias to beat up. I think the remaining Alawites of Akkar will either go to Syria or crowd into Jebel Mohsin should the bloodletting begin around them. Their shrines, or at least the ones that the Sunnis haven’t laid claim to, will probably be destroyed.]
as hard as Hezbollah/Iran are trying to start one (like AQ et al did
in Iraq).. i hope a civil war doesn't break out in Lebanon, but then
again the US et al aren't there to deter them..
==
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.12.08 - 1:16 am |
Jeffrey,
Let it go. Like you, I also enjoyed the discussions but bg didn't bring and end to those and eliminating her will not bring them back. Like others have said, the trolls left on their own and the brothers started posting less frequently.
Not every comments section has to be a forum for discussion. I'm happy this one has evolved into an information clearinghouse rather than dying like I've seen on other blogs.
Kafir,
Okay.
*
Iraqi Police Takes Greater Responsibility
excerpts:
[Much of the improvement is due to the actions of Maj. Gen. Hannin al-Ameer, the provincial director of police, appointed
in September.
“He is very competent,” Baker said. “He has taken a large force and made immediate and long-term improvements – not an easy task for a unit of that size.”]
[“It was due to a variety of circumstances,” she said. “Some had militia ties, some weren’t coming to work and some just weren’t doing their jobs.”]
[“They seem more disciplined in training with us,”
she said. “They want to learn better skills.”
They are also more open to conducting joint
patrols with Coalition forces, she added.
“Before [the firings], it was ‘yes, but not today,’” she said.
“Now, it’s ‘how many do you need, we’ll go now.’”]
[“When they went there [Zuwarijat] before [March 4], they had no plans or means to stay,” Baker said. “This time they planned to go in and stay. It’s had a huge effect on the population.
“Now when we go in, people ask if we will stay,” he said. “The reinforcements and improvements that we have made are a sign.”
“Overall, I know that taking ground, it was a huge step,” said
Staff Sgt. Erik Golden, a squad leader with the 511th MP Co.
“They’re more willing to learn, and we’re willing to teach,” he said. “We are working on a train-the-trainer program, so that Iraqi Policemen can do the training at the stations as the Americans supervise.”]
[“Much of what they do has a direct result on the Iraqi
Police, and that translates into better security,” he said.]
RTWT!!
==
Ceremony Marks Completion of School Construction
excerpts:
[Iraqi citizens celebrated the completion of construction at the Omah Moktar School for Girls in the Qadisiyah Apartment Complex in Mahmudiyah, about 20 kilometers south of Baghdad, May 8.]
[“The educational environment was greatly enhanced and helped to bolster pride in their school,” said 1st Lt. Jason Potter, Moktar School project manager, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
“This project was significant in that it showed the residents of the neighborhood that the Coalition forces are really here to help.”]
[Al-Hanni reminded attendees of education’s importance and maintaining an environment that encourages children to learn.
Students took the stage throughout the ceremony to give speeches, sing and recite poems. One group also performed a short skit reflecting on the successes of Iraqi Security Forces in improving security in the area, and cleaning up the neighborhood’s appearance.
At the end of the ceremony, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division distributed school supplies
to the students.]
==
Damn! I really do hate those spams!
Sorry, I'll have to absent myself from this comments page, I guess.
Good luck, folks. See you around.
*
Salvadoran Forces Celebrate 184th Birthday
excerpts:
[The Salvadoran Cuscatlán Battalion, X rotation, celebrated
the “Day of the Salvadoran Soldier,” here May 7.]
“We must remember our history,” said Col. Walter Arévalo, commander of the Cuscatlán Battalion, referring to the civil war El Salvador endured more than 15 years ago. “It’s important that we remember the contribution of those who have come before us. The work we do here is important in helping those who are suffering because of the insurgency in Iraq.”]
[“These types of activities increase morale,” Arévalo said. “The ceremony offered an opportunity for our soldiers to hone their skills and for us to demonstrate the type of soldiers we have.”]
[“Like everyone else, I am happy to be celebrating the anniversary of the armed forces of El Salvador. It is a very important day for every Salvadoran,” said 1st Lt. Walber Alfredo Rivas Rivas, a member of the Cuscatlán commander’s close security detachment.]
[“The ceremony gave us a chance to show the different skills we have gotten from all the training we go through,” he said. “Since we don’t have a lot of high tech resources we have to make double the effort to be very good in traditional military skills.”]
[“You have to do things to improve the morale of the soldiers,” Arévalo said. “I gave them some small gifts, but it is a way to
say thank you for what they do and the sacrifices they make.”]
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
Coalition Forces Provide Laptops, Software to Local Judges
excerpts:
["We provided laptops to … judges from different provinces south of here in order to help them with the administration of their particular court,” said Maj. Thomas Hurley, 4th BCT judge advocate general.]
[“Today, the judges are receiving judicial laptops, which basically takes all the Iraqi laws and law books and puts them into one system that is centrally located on a laptop so they can be more mobile,” said Spc. Wallis Lacey, Rule of Law team, 3rd Inf. Div.
“It allows judges to do legal research at home, work or wherever they need to.”]
[“We hope the judges have it easier, as far as looking up laws,” Lacey said. “It allows them to be able to go anywhere and have laws right on the laptop and not have to carry a lot of books around.”]
[“They still come to work and still try to participate the
best that they can,” Hurley said. “It’s truly inspiring.”]
Here come da Judge
==
OT..
Did any of you know Bush had militarized
the Mexican border two years ago?
Centra | 05.12.08 - 7:08 pm |
yes, but i thought it was temporary, they still there??
btw, it's nothing new (pardon the source)..
==
Miller, who served as a Middle East negotiator for Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, said :
"We are not feared in this region. We are not liked in this region. And we are not respected in this region, so there's not much leverage that we have."
OT.. HT : GP
[Jeff Goldberg: Do you think that Israel is
a drag on America’s reputation overseas?
Barack Obama: No, no, no. But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy.]
Obama: Israel a "constant sore"
that infects... foreign policy
Do you suppose the Obama's
missed this church bulletin, too?
==
Robert | 05.12.08 - 11:07 pm |
got a link??
==
Robert | 05.12.08 - 11:07 pm |
never mind.. i found it.. typical
"doom & gloom" McClatchy spin..
==
OT.. HT : TLWJ (Matt Dupee)
Senior Afghan officials sacked,
questioned over Kabul attack
excerpts:
[Afghan Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit, the lead investigator into the failed April 27 assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai, suspended the officials after taking over the investigation from a prior council.
"Sabit gave the order for the suspensions of the eight people so they can be investigated because they had the responsibility for security at the parade," Hayatullah Hayat, an official in the attorney general's office, told Reuters.]
[Humayun, who is suspected to have assisted in planning the attack, was killed during an Afghan police raid on his Kabul hideout on May 1. Humayun, a foreign woman, and a small child were killed after an explosion tore through their Kabul apartment shortly after Afghan police attempted to arrest them. Afghan intelligence claimed the woman and child were preparing to launch a suicide attack within the capital limits. Humayun was also suspected of playing major role in the Taliban’s January assault against the five-star Serena hotel in Kabul. Eight people, including foreign aid workers and journalists were killed in the Serena attack.]
==
HT : TLWJ (Bill Ardolino)
In Pictures: Patrolling the Shorja
Market with the Sons of Iraq
excerpts:
[Improved security and cross-sectarian cooperation
Since the improvement in security, central Baghdad has regained a sense of normalcy. Aside from the legion of security personnel bristling with weapons and ubiquitous concrete barriers, portions of the capital bustle and hum with an energy common to all big cities. At the market, children played in the streets while adults shopped, ate, and socialized over chai. The Sons of Iraq moved easily among them and seemed well-received by the locals.
[snip]
After US troops surged and the Al Fahdel area “Awakened” to drive out al Qaeda, leaders from the two communities met to discuss joint efforts to end sectarian conflict and establish security. The successful negotiations were “literally” marked by “dancing in the streets,” according to Colonel Craig Collier, the commander of the 3-89 Cav. Now both Shia and Sunni Sons of Iraq coordinate efforts to root out remaining al Qaeda and Mahdi Special Groups from the area.
“It’s exactly the type of cross-sectarian story you want to see,” said Collier. “The Shia Sons of Iraq will chase JAM [Mahdi Army] into the Al Fahdel area, and the Sunni [Sons of Iraq] will roll them up.”]
[Since the relative diminishment of al Qaeda in Iraq, the Al Sadria Sons of Iraq consider the Mahdi Army their main enemy in the district. Support for the Mahdi Army in Rusafa is diminishing as the populace grows tired of the militia’s criminal activity and as the Mahdi operatives clash with government forces. Faris and his men hate the Mahdi Army and consider them on par with al Qaeda.
“They were all corrupted,” said Dhia, Faris’s executive officer. “They have history in crime, robberies, murders, rapes, and
all kinds of bad things.”]
more @ link..
==
From Ohhhh....BAMA;
"When Israel invaded Lebanon two summers ago, I was in South Africa, "
I think I found evidence to support that;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D...h?
v=DRiiZ5M0_TQ
Look who pops up out of the pool at the 1:14 mark. Then check out the Pizza box at the 3:21 mark. Conclusive?
Meanwhile, why didn't Ohhh....BAMA start that speech off with "When Lebanon started firing Rockets into Israel 2 summers ago..."
After all, that is what happened in this world. Apparently It didn't happen that way on Planet Obama. After watching the video I now know why Planet Obama is different.
We knew this was coming: “Racidst Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051203014.html
This is a self-conscious effort to balance the stain from the Rev. Wright’s venom. What the Rev. Wright had to say about whites in general was no uglier that what the Democratic party had to say about Michael S. Steele during his run for the Senate seat currently occupied by Ben Cardin. I saw the website.
http://michellemalkin.com/2005/1...to-put-up-with/
The Washington Post did not put that story on the front page! Instead, we got an isolated recount of remarks that Mr. Steele made, where he is cast as being hypersensitive, with no reference to the context, which had been ongoing for months by that time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...6101701440.html
***********************
Barack Obama believes in premature withdrawal; I don't.
Anne Applbaum of the Washington Post thinks we should “Go Around the Generals” -- invade Burma.
http://www.slate.com/id/2191196/
But what does she have to say about Iraq?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...7111901185.html
"however it all comes out in the end, however successful Iraqi democracy is a decade from now -- our conduct of the war has disillusioned our natural friends and supporters and thrown a lasting shadow over our military and political competence. However it all comes out, the price we've paid is too high."
***************
Oh, yes, let’s go invade Burma. Lets send our youthful, happy warriors to invade a country where the people will have been told to expect a band of marauders, and then we can all cry and wring our hands when somebody else's kid gets killed.
This is just what we need to do: invade a country with the Washington Post and Slate right behind us, waiting to shoot us in the back.
Oh, this is really rich. Howell Raines, speculating about the end of Smash-Mouth Media, and in the meantime, engaging in it. Yes, that Howell Raines, former editor of the New York Times, famous for teaching Jayson Blair all he would ever learn about news reporting.
http://www.portfolio.com/views/c...nce-on-
Politics
Howell Raines wrote this and many other articles
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp...-
2004Aug26.html
that were scurrilous and ultimately proved ineffective. Oh, yeah, inaccurate, too.
http://davidm.blogspot.com/2005/...and-
howell.html
Valerie, it is going to be a long hot summer. Make sure your ammo stockpile is topped off. It never hurts to have a few thousand extra rounds.
"However it all comes out in the end, however successful Iraqi democracy is a decade from now -- our conduct of the war has disillusioned our natural friends and supporters and thrown a lasting shadow over our military and political competence. However it all comes out, the price we've paid is too high."
LOL!!! Valerie, can there be any clearer indication that we're winning the war in Iraq than this? The leftwing media's narrative is now beginning to turn to "Well, we may end up winning the war in Iraq, but ....."
I am SO going to enjoy watching the Democrats squirm in the future when Iraq is a stable, prosperous ally in the Middle East and the GOP can repeatedly remind voters that had the Democrats had their way, it would now be a failed state dominated by Al-Qeada and Iran from which the U.S. had retreated in disgrace.
Again, the one theme McCain needs to keep repeating over & over & over again is "The Democratic Party cannot be trusted with the national security of the United States."
From an on-going debate over at Iraqi Mojo, featuring the irrepressible, if repetitious, Bruno-Marion tag team:
"Marion lives in Opposite Land, where people who democratically elect their government are believed to be controlled by weird, conspiratorial (or imperial) forces, while people who are slaves of a dictatorship are in spiritual communion with their "destiny."
Sadly, there are quite a few people living in Opposite Land. Behold that as long as Iraq was under the heel of Saddam, it was beloved and admired by the Opposite Landers, but as soon as the people began to vote for and control their own government, the Opposite Landers began to criticize the Iraqis as being oppressed stooges.
In Opposite Land, that makes perfect sense.
M | Homepage | 05.08.08 - 4:12 pm |"
I do b'lieve we've located the Country of Origin of Pelosi, Murtha, Reid, Oblabla, and other prominent Dem intellekshools! Let's hear it for Opposite Land!
dump olmert the useless and bomb the hezbos
Mossad Moshebob | 05.12.08 - 6:59 pm //
=========
His uselessness won't get him dumped, but his corruption might.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was facing mounting calls on Friday to resign over a criminal probe into allegations he took bribes from a millionaire US financier.
Olmert has denied any wrongdoing but said he would quit if he is charged in a case that threatens to shake the political landscape at a crucial moment in Middle East peacemaking.
Pressure on the 62-year-old premier mounted after a gag order over the case was lifted on Thursday. The timing was particularly embarrassing for Olmert, coming as Israel celebrated its 60th anniversary and a week before a scheduled visit by US President George W. Bush."
Q: what's the difference between Rev Wright & the MSM..
A: the size of their audience..
==
OT..
Saudi Arabia Warns Iran Over Hezbollah
excerpt:
["The kingdom calls again upon all regional parties to respect Lebanon's soverignty and independence, and to stop meddling
in its internal affairs and poking sectarian unrest," he said.]
Israel to be ‘swept away soon’: Ahmadinejad
excerpt:
[Referring to worldwide celebrations for the 60th anniversary
of Israel's foundation, he said that "it would be futile to hold a birthday ceremony for something which is already dead."]
despicable..
==
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Al Qaeda operatives killed in Afghanistan were Saudis
excerpts:
[Abu Suleiman al Otaibi is a Saudi national who served as a senior leader in al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq prior to meeting his end in Afghanistan, according to a senior US military intelligence official who spoke to The Long War Journal on the condition he remains anonymous. The statement issued by al Qaeda intimates Otaibi is Saudi as well. "We offer our condolences to their families, to the mujahideen brothers, to all of our brothers in general, and especially to the brothers of Abu Sulaiman in Iraq and in the Arabian Peninsula," according to the translation from the NEFA Foundation.
Otaibi "came from Iraq and joined his brothers here [in Afghanistan] approximately six months ago, following migration and jihad and knowledge and missionary work and scholarship," al Qaeda's death notice stated. He was described in the press reports former leader of the legal system of al Qaeda in Iraq's political front, the Islamic State of Iraq.]
i still don't believe where they come from matters that much in the
long run.. truth is.. even if they came from Mars, they all have the
same insane goal..
==
Jeffrey, thank you for boiling down the attitudes and thoughts on bg's posting.
"bg's excerpts were the main reason they kept returning."
I must admit this is the reason I've kept coming back. I have ITM on RSS loop, and so I know when a new post has gone up. But because of bg, typos, Valerie and so many others, I came back after being away quite a long time.
Thank you for your succinct analysis.
Brian H | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 12:17 pm
OOhh, No! Brian, Surely they come from Bizzaro World.
http://www.batman-superman.com/s...mp/
bizzaro.html
Robert | 05.12.08 - 11:07 pm |
got a link??
==
bg | 05.13.08 - 12:06 am
Bush sets off for Middle East, unable to quell its troubles
JERUSALEM — President Bush sets off this week to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday, but the festivities are likely to be muted by the dimming prospects for brokering regional peace deals during the Republican administration's waning months in power.
On the eve of Bush's trip, Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters humbled the pro-Western government in Lebanon by seizing large parts of Beirut and unleashing the deadliest clashes since the country's 1975-1990 civil war.
An unfolding political corruption scandal has undermined Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's already questionable ability to secure a peace deal with the Palestinians.
And after a Palestinian rocket killed an elderly Israeli civilian Monday, Israeli leaders warned that a deadly showdown with the militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip may be on the horizon.
Combined with the Bush's diminishing influence over world events, the fissures running through the Middle East make any last-minute administration achievements unlikely, said Aaron David Miller , the author of "The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace."
"This is not an American story right now," said Miller, who served as a Middle East negotiator for Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush . "We are not feared in this region. We are not liked in this region. And we are not respected in this region, so there's not much leverage that we have."
BG has pretty much kept the comment section going, any comments about the volume of comments are ridiculous. Of course I read right wing zealot jews too so .... you know you can't trust me
HT : The Mudville Gazette
One Deep Breath
excerpt:
[Yesterday, I looked at the sun that fittingly was setting over the chain linked and razor wire fence that separates Iraq and Kuwait. As the sun was lowering itself in the sky I watched the remaining Bad Voodoo members still in combat leave the enemy territory for the last time. It was like an Old Western with the good guys riding off into the sunset.
[snip]
Where others see bewildering complexity,
Leaders see simplicity
And turn stumbling stones into stepping-stones
Where others perceive uncertainty as threats,
Leaders see it as fertile grounds for opportunity
And are willing to take risks.
Where others cringe from change,
Leaders make friends with it, welcome it,
Embrace it.
Where others grasp power jealously,
Leaders share it, mentoring, and inspiring.
Where others are lost in confusion,
Paralyzed by the multitude of options,
Leaders constantly scan the landscape
Using interpretive power to
Comprehend, intervene, solve, and move on.
Where others are exhausted by constant change,
Leaders are energized]
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
HT : The Mudville Gazette
Live from Iraq: MG Rick Lynch [5/12/08]
excerpts:
[I’m convinced, more than ever, that the
people of Iraq want what you and I want."]
[I asked MG Lynch what inspired such an obviously intentional program of local/alternative media engagement. His opening sentences surprised me with their carefully-considered conviction and intensity: "I do believe it’s imperative that the American public know how their national treasures are being committed--both people and money...It’s important that we tell the story." It was obviously not about "countering the mainstream media" or "balancing the reporting" so that good and bad news get equal time. For MG Lynch, it was about making sure that the American public be as informed as possible about the broad story of what their military is doing and what results from those efforts.]
MG Lynch, Part II: Security [5/13/08]
excerpts:
["We're close to that."]
[Developments in Iraq Security Forces themselves have obviously pleased MG Lynch. "Great progress with ISF," he enthused, mentioning three patrol bases that are currently being transitioned to the control of Iraqi units. "It’s an amazing thing to me—the progress that is being made in the Iraqi Army."]
==
Thanks for the link to Nibras Kazimi's article about the jihadist shift from Iraq to Lebanon.
Kazimi is unbelievable. I read the Talisman Gate every once in a while, and this guy is consistently six months ahead of everyone else - he is always anticipating and explaining the next shift of the battle field.
Dagney T,
You pulled that quote out of context. I said that some commenters argued that they approved of bg's posts. I myself despise them. I want to be clear about that. I truly hate her spam-excerpts. I doubt if she has any thoughts of her own or could argue coherently, if asked. She's the kind of vapid cheeleader -- armed with smiley-face and thumbs-up emoticons -- that one associates with the Kos Kidz.
But hey, if you guys enjoy scrolling through that endless crap, be my guest.
*
Brian H | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 12:17 pm |
Iraqi Mojo is great, such patience!!
i check IM blog at least twice a month.. i see that Batman &
several others gave that tag team a run for their money..
==
[Thanks for the link to Nibras Kazimi's article
about the jihadist shift from Iraq to Lebanon.]
ds | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 8:48 pm |
you're welcome..
yep, TG is a trip (he has a new posts up already)!!
==
attn: Jeffrey.. scroll as fast as you
can, hate to see a grown man cry!!
Commander Says al-Qaida ‘Virtually Destroyed’ in Kirkuk
excerpts:
[Violence in Iraq’s Kirkuk province has dropped by 70 percent, and coalition and Iraqi forces have “virtually destroyed” al-Qaida in Iraq in the region, the commander of the U.S. brigade combat team in the area said May 12.
[“The information and actionable intelligence
that they provide has grown exponentially,” he said.]
[Kirkuk is the northern oil center of Iraq, and it is providing the lifeblood to the country. “Since our arrival, there has not been an interdiction on the oil pipeline,” Paschal said. “In fact, we have exceeded all … pre-war level exports. Just last month, the Northern Oil Company exported 13 and a half million barrels of
oil, which has been a phenomenal increase in its capacity.”
Kirkuk may turn over to provincial Iraqi
control in November or December this year.]
[“With the increased security, we've had some outside investors come that are interested in … conducting some projects within the Kirkuk province,” Paschal said.
The Iraqi government also is hosting a small-loans program, anywhere from about $2,500 to $10,000, which opens up small businesses. “With the increased security, what we're starting to see is some of these that I would refer to as smaller ‘mom and pop’ businesses that are coming back into play,” Paschal said.
The challenge ahead is to sustain the new security climate, Paschal told reporters. “When we first arrived, the enemy was the al-Qaida in Iraq,” he said. “We have virtually defeated al-Qaida in Iraq within the Kirkuk province. It's important that we continue to maintain the pressure.”]
==
Shukrega Greenhouse Project Begins
Local government officials gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Shukrega greenhouse in the Mahmudiyah
area, about 25 kilometers south of Baghdad, May 10.
“The project brings to the area an opportunity to prove how effective the greenhouse can be for farmers,” said Capt. Benjamin Torpy, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
The greenhouse will be built on local farmer Oday Ibrahim Ghathwan al-Ghererri’s farm and will feature a drip irrigation system and other technological advancements al-Ghererri
had no access to before.
“Its successes will showcase the strides the government of Iraq, the al-Rasheed agriculture union and coalition forces have been able to take in recent months in terms of supporting agriculture
in the local community,” Torpy said.
“In recent years, the area … has been severely impacted by low rain fall and poor irrigation and drainage, factors that will make the success of this project all the more impressive,” said Capt. Benjamin Neusse, 3-320th FA civil military operations officer.
==
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 8:52 pm | #
"Sorry, I'll have to absent myself from this comments page, I guess.
Good luck, folks. See you around."
I thought you were out of here?
Normally I ignore comments like yours, but for some reason "I myself despise them"
-
Easy Read..
Nothing to Fear..
==
Mossad Moshebob | 05.13.08 - 7:00 pm |
thanks..
and i know your busy soldiering,
so just in case you missed it..
==
Here's another little news nugget that shows we're winning the war. Apparently the U.S. is dropping the bounty on Al-Qaeda's #1 guy in Iraq because his organization has lost so much of its punch.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/a.../853552799/
1001
bg,
I may have been a little too harsh on you in my last comment. Reduce the vitriol in my statements by 20%, okay? I can live with that slight but necessary reduction, and I hope you appreciate the gesture.
*
C. Jordan,
Well, out of long-time loyalty to Omar and Mohammed, I feel compelled to stop by every now and then. But you're right. I really should step aside and let the spams flow unimpeded by commentary and dialogue.
Heh heh.
Yes, I'm a wicked bastard.
*
bg,
Damn you, woman! My SCROLLY-OSIS is flaring up again!
*
Sorry to bother you folks, but has the moonbat baseball season started yet?
Didn't think so.
Too much scrolling the last couple planetary cycles to satify my need for good arguments, in paticular, arguments on M and O's thoughtful posts.
ADD and massive scrolling don't mix. I happen to have a new trackball, and remarkably, my scrolliosis symptoms have all but disappeared.
Bye. Be back for the discussion on the nuke cleanup in the country just to the right.
OT.. HT : GP
The FARC has set up undercover cells abroad in 17 countries.
excerpt:
[The article (in Spanish) states that the FARC, through its Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana (CCB) [Continental Bolivarian Coordination] network created in 2003, the FARC has developed a strategy that involves legal groups, clandestine cells and guerrilla training. These groups are closely associated with leftist organizations in seventeen countries, including Germany
and Switzerland.
They opened four organizations in Mexico, managed by two cells that answer directly to the Secretariado, the FARC's leadership.
In the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela the FARC sponsor guerrillas through so-called "Biodiversity Forums", in addition to "official political-diplomatic relations" with Communist parties and the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador.]
more @ link..
==
Dan R. | 05.13.08 - 10:25 pm |
It's still 50 mill for waht's his face, isn't it? I was waiting till it hit 100 mill and then I was gonna run down to Dade County and pick him up but if they are cutting back the rewards. I need to strike while the wallet is fat.
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 8:52 pm | #
I thought you said you were leaving already. Why do you keep popping back up?
Hmmmm, the more I think about it, I believe that the real reason the trolls abandoned ITM (and the comments slowed down) is because they got such a regular ass-kicking here. Oh well.
I knew Der Spiegel was delusional, but ... words fail me. The concentration of contra-factual statements is too intense.
OT.. the "square one clowns" are
still preaching the same BS..
"Popularity is fleeting... Principles are forever"
excerpt:
[QUESTION: Now, Mr. President, President Carter recently told Charlie Rose the next President could change America's image in 10 minutes. Here's what he said: "I think the next President could change the image of this country around the world in 10 minutes by making an inaugural speech that would start off and say, 'As long as I'm President we will never torture another prisoner, as long as I'm President we will never attack or invade another country unless our own security is directly threatened.'"
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, what he ought to be saying is, is that America doesn't torture. If the implication there is that we do now, then he's wrong. And you bet we're going to protect ourselves by the use of military force. What he really is implying is -- or some imply -- you can be popular; if you want to be popular in the Middle East just go blame Israel for every problem. That will make you popular. Or if you want to be popular in Europe, say you're going to join the International Criminal Court.]
no argument here..
==
OT.. uh oh again..
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
60 killed, 200 wounded in multiple bombings in India
excerpt:
[A series of explosions have torn through the tourist city of Jaipur late Tuesday night, killing more than 60 and wounding more than 200, according to the latest reports from India. Eight blasts occurred within 12 minutes of each other in crowded markets and near a temple, The Times of India reported. One bomb, which was placed near a Hindu temple, was defused by an Indian bomb disposal unit.
The near simultaneous strikes, described as "carefully orchestrated low-intensity explosions" bear the hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation. Sources within the Indian Home Ministry pointed the finger at the Bangladesh-based Harkat ul Jihad al Islami, an al Qaeda affiliate. Pipe bombs were used in the attack, and some officials believe the Pakistani-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group assisted in the attacks.]
==
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Clashes continue in Sadr City
excerpt:
[The Iraqi military said it killed eight “gunmen” inside Sadr City over the past 24 hours. The US military said it killed two Mahdi Army fighters from the night of May 12 to the morning of May 13 during five separate engagements. Three more Mahdi Army fighters were killed in the Mahdi-influenced neighborhood in New Baghdad and in northwestern Baghdad as they planted roadside bombs.]
[The hospitals in Sadr City are known to be infiltrated with Mahdi Army and Sadrist bloc members who continue to use the hospitals for criminal activities. The Mahdi Army used hospitals as staging areas for sectarian attacks and weapons storage depots. On May 3, US forces knocked out a Special Groups command and control center situated next to a Sadr City hospital. The Sadrist bloc ran the Health Ministry prior to withdrawing from the government in 2007.]
i'm glad they're knocking them off so fast.. i know their leader is huge, but there was supposedly thousands upon thousands in the Mahdi army (remember those protest pix, oh wait, they were faux photos).. aah, patience..
==
don't see anyone stopping anyone else from arguing about nukes
or M & O's post.. but there's plenty of spam regarding others not
arguing about it..
ps: check the thread from the top down
just in case there was an "argument"..
==
WaPo.. not much to it, must be an early edition
(before they add all the spin & unrelated crap)..
U.S. Colonel Says Iran Is Assassinating Iraqi Officials
Iran has also armed large numbers of militia members in Iraqi cities such as Basra, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah and Sadr City, in Baghdad, training many in the use of the "most effective" Iranian weapons, including long-range rockets and a lethal form of roadside bomb known as an explosively formed projectile, or EFP, McMaster said. Iran has denied playing such a role in Iraq.
McMaster said it was unrealistic to expect "linear progress" in the war in Iraq. He cautioned that recent improvements in security could be compromised if the U.S. military withdraws too quickly. "The war in Iraq doesn't end if we leave prematurely, it gets worse," he said.
that's all they wrote..
==
Maliki's Southern Strategy by Reihan Salam 5/13/08
Iraqi Security Forces have succeeded
in temporarily pacifying Basra.
excerpts:
[Even the most diehard Iraq hawks want to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq and lean more heavily on Iraqi Security Forces to do the hard work of defeating insurgents and sectarian militias. Which is why recent developments in Basra have been so encouraging. At first, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr's Iranian-backed militas looked like a major strategic misstep. Now it appears to have transformed Iraqi politics, potentially paving the way for real reconciliation between Sunni and Shia.]
[The smartest case for withdrawal would acknowledge this new reality, and claim that it demonstrates that coalition forces are superfluous and can thus be safely withdrawn. It's true that Maliki's government now has momentum, and would have a fighting chance to survive if U.S. forces are rapidly withdrawn. But the government's chances would be far stronger with a continued American presence backing its efforts up. Unfortunately, few Americans understand what Maliki has accomplished, and how much international assistance he needs to beat back foreign elements that aim to undermine Iraq's fragile democracy -- which is, as far as neighboring governments are concerned (particularly those that begin with an "I" and end with an "n"), a profoundly subversive influence.]
RTWT..
==
US must focus on Iraq, less on future wars-Gates
excerpts:
["It is true that we would be hard-pressed to launch a major conventional ground operation elsewhere in the world at this time -- but where would we sensibly do that?" he said at a seminar for journalists in Colorado Springs.
Gates said the U.S. Air Force and Navy had ample combat power to deal with any aggression in the Gulf, on the Korean Peninsula or in the Straits of Taiwan -- clear references to possible actions by Iran, North Korea or China.]
["Smaller, irregular forces -- insurgents, guerrillas, terrorists --
will find ways, as they always have, to frustrate and neutralize
the advantages of larger, regular militaries," Gates said.
"And even nation-states will try to exploit our perceived vulnerabilities in an asymmetric way, rather than play to our inherent strengths," he said at the seminar, organized by the conservative Heritage Foundation.]
[But he said a defeat in Iraq would be much more
damaging than the current strains on the military.
"The risk of over-extending the Army is real. But I believe the risk is far greater -- to that institution, as well as to our country -- if we were to fail in Iraq," he said.
"That is the war we are in. That is the war we must win."]
==
Why the U.S. Slashed Bounty on a Terrorist
excerpt:
[The move to slash the reward also sends a message to al-Masri. "The message is that we don't value information about him as much as we did a year ago," says a senior U.S. military official. "I don't know how he's going to feel about that, but our assessment is that he's not the leader he once was."
More broadly, officials insist that the Pentagon rewards programs have paid off in Iraq. "We've gotten around 400 bad guys rolled up because of this program," Graybeal says. "It's not something we take lightly."]
makes cents to me..
==
Jeffrey -- New York | Homepage | 05.13.08 - 8:52 pm |
Jeffrey,
Stay or go. If you go, it's been nice knowing you. If you stay, then please participate here nicely. As I said before, you know bg is not the problem and her going away will not get this place back to what you want it to be. If you want this place to be a discussion area, then start some discussions, about Iraq rather than how you personally feel about bg's posts. I'll gladly exchange thoughts with you. If this comments section then evolves back into a discussion zone, I'm sure bg will realize that and cut her posts down so as not to clutter the place up making the ongoing discussions hard to follow.
I've been on the Internet long enough to know that we used to have to go to Usenet to have discussions like this and I've seen plenty of those Usenet groups dissolve when one person takes a disliking to another and the place becomes a battleground. Pretty soon, everyone is gone except the hard core partisans and none of the discussion is about the topic. I like this comments section. It is my main source of information about Iraq. Please don't destroy it.
Dan R. | 05.13.08 - 10:25 pm |
Sorry Dan. We might be winning the campaign in Iraq, but we are losing the war;
http://
www.realclearpolitics.com...in_mississ.html
AQ and the Mad Dog Mullahs will pull back this summer and let the Democratic party do their dirty work.
With a Demonrat in the White House and a huge Edged in democrats in Congress, all it will take is one car bomb and the US is out of Iraq. Right now it's a race to see if we can stand up the IA by Next Janurary. I don't think so.
Iran is getting ready. Once the US pul;ls out, they will do what the Chinese did in Vietnam and snd conventional military units in to take over.
Then it is on to Saudi Arabis. With nuclear weapons and 75% of the worlds proven Liquid OIL reserves under their feet, we will all be converting to Islam soon enough.
Bellwether.
The front-page story about the election for the print edition has a different title, online.
In print, it’s “Clinton Handlily defeats Obama in West Virginia.” Online, its hidden under a different title as far as Google is concerned, but it shows up under the same title once the article is retrieved. This is something that happens when the Washington Post shows signs of wanting to minimize a story: the titles in the search engine are changed, and the story just drops out of sight. In this case, the disappearing story is Mrs. Clinton’s landslide in West Virginia; and the buyer’s remorse of the smarter Democrats is being quoted as if it were a Republican talking point.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051301331.html
Mrs. Clinton’s landslide in West Virginia is being minimized, and the buyer’s remorse of the smarter Democrats is being quoted as if it were a Republican talking point.
Mrs. Clinton said that, by winning in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, New Hampshire and now West Virginia, she has demonstrated strength where it counts. "The White House is won in the swing states, and I am winning the swing states," she said.
Excerpt:
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded by saying that, while preaching change, Obama is pursuing old-style partisan politics. "Senator Obama offers nothing more than the soaring rhetoric of an old-style, partisan politician, and his lack of experience suggests that's all he'll be able to deliver," he said in a statement.
***************
What’s not in today’s Washington Post is a nice, big map of the states won by the two candidates, nor a listing of wins as segregated according to whether a state holds a primary or a caucus. (This information has appeared before.) Other news sources have been happy to provide those graphics this time, so they are available. Some of the reporting seems to portray this primary as being decided upon racial lines, but West Virginia does have black elected officials. http://www.blackcommentator.com/....com/
9_nul.html
The various descriptions of the West Virginia voters point to one especially salient characteristic: churchgoers. And, in the exit polls, they called Barack Obama a liar, saying also the Rev. Wright story was very important to them.
I think we are looking at buyer’s remorse, not racism.
I'm terrified at just how possible, if not probable, typos' scenario is. In a neighboring Mississippi district that is conservative as hell, a Demonrat just took a seat in Congress. Extremely sobering. I'm more afraid of the outcome of this general election then I have ever been in my life. I like MCain ok, but I wish we had someone younger and more vibrant to combat Obama's cult of personality.
Batman, don't worry. McCain will win. He's the only GOP candidate that can this year.
No Shame among the Jihadi
Girl carrying explosives blown up in Baghdad 'suicide attack'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/...may/14/
iraq.usa
-
Kafir,
To be honest, after five years of commenting and four years of blogging, I'm sick of talking about Iraq and Iraqi issues. Burnout, I guess. I've written hundreds of researched blog entries, and I've participated in thousands of comments page debates. Here's an entry, by the way, from my first day of blogging at Iraqi Bloggers Central from four years ago -- "Unpacking the Baggage." Omar and Mohammed know me from the very beginning of their blog. They were, in fact, some of the first commenters to stop by Iraqi Bloggers Central and say hello, having met me already on their comments pages. Today I know that Omar shares to some extent my feeling of crispiness. Hey, that's life.
I was just trying to cause trouble by lambasting bg. I really do hate her excerpts, but I was mostly just trying to get people pissed off. I can be like that, kind of a jerk. A few people did take the bait, like RG, but others like you responded with a cool head -- damn, that's no fun. Hey, everything you wrote makes perfect sense, but I doubt if I'll ever start a new debating point here. I've been through them all by now. I'll probably remain a malignant, unwanted presence around the Iraqi blogosphere until I quit it altogether. So, until then, you'll have to learn to scroll past my comments as quickly as I scroll past bg's. Heh.
*
At least 77 injured by Iran-made rocket which wrecks crowded Ashkelon shopping mall
May 14, 2008, 8:26 PM (GMT+02:00)
Jihad Islami and Popular Committees claimed the attack with Hamas blessing. After examining the rocket shrapnel, police commander Uri Barlev confirmed it was a Grad (Katyhusha) military rocket made in Iran.
Of the 77 people injured in Ashkelon’s bustling mall, four people were seriously hurt including a mother and her four-month old baby. Two other women suffered moderate injuries and the others of whom many were children were slightly hurt. Four were dug out of the debris.
The Palestinian rocket crashed into the roof of the three-floor building without warning from the former Israel Dugit site in N. Gaza as President Bush was winding up a conversation with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, reviving fresh demands to mount a major operation to put a stop to the daily attacks from the Gaza Strip. Ashkelon is 15 km north of Gaza. Security minister Avi Dichter, trade and industry minister Eli Yishai decide to skip the gala banquet in the US president’s honor and travel to Ashkelon instead.
Casualties have mounted recently from the daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli communities outside Gaza. Two people were killed in the last week.
OT.. HT : Middle East Journal (Tony Badran)
Hezbollah's Third Botched Coup Attempt
excerpt:
[All the idiotic commentators, from Paul Salem onwards, who talked about a different “political balance” as a result of the fighting, don't and never did know what they're talking about.
This is political suicide for Hezbollah, who has already made contacts with Hariri through a third party informing him that they're looking for an exit. They know they're in a jam.]
==
HT : Black Five
Maliki Roars
excerpt:
[Maliki’s presence sends a message to Iraqis in Mosul that the central government will not allow terrorists to create a state within a state. Having the leader of the elected government ride into Mosul at the head of a column of Iraqi soldiers gives AQI an answer to its terrorist attacks, which is that Iraq will not be terrorized into retreat. If Maliki can face down a native Shi’ite extremist like Sadr in Basra and Sadr City, he won’t get intimidated by a handful of foreign Sunni lunatics who kill more of their sectarian brethren than anyone else.]
who doesn't know the MSM has been
just as bias against Maliki as Bush..
thank God for bloggers, we'd all
be raging moonbats w/o them!!
==
HT : in-iraq via The Mudville Gazette
Transformation of Yathreeb
excerpts:
[The town children call him “Mister John”. He kneels to talk to them and they ask him when he’s bringing soccer balls. The local armed citizens know his face. Lt. Col. John Dunleavy and his Personal Security Detail regularly patrol these streets. They smile and wave. It wasn’t like this several months ago.]
[“We faced many obstacles,” Ahmed said. “What we achieved, we deserved based on sacrifices.” They didn’t receive much support from the central government, which acted very slowly, Ahmed said. But they were supported by coalition forces. “Now we have the governor coming and he hasn’t been here before.”]
some good, some bad, some ugly, and hope for the future..
RTWT..
==
HT : Castle Argghhh! - CW4BillT - in Iraq via TMG
Hussayn's Story
excerpt:
["When the patrol knocks on my door, I say, 'Please come in – I
would like some lubricant for my pistol.' The patrol leader looks
at me with a funny look, then he smiles, then they all come in
and drink tea and I draw a map of where the Wahabi are..."]
be sure to read the comments [ie: BillT @ 1:02 PM]..
==
re: bg | 05.13.08 - 7:20 pm |
MG Lynch, Part III: Growth and Transtions
excerpt:
[At times such as this in the interview, it seemed more that I was talking to a business-minded mayor or the professor of an agricultural college than to the commanding general of a lethal U.S. Army infantry division. I asked MG Lynch if he had envisioned himself being so involved in this kind of work. He pointed out that they had planned for this going in, "We were prepared to do COIN." The division started out with what ended up being about eight months of major combat operations but, "We knew coming in that there was [going to be] the rest of the story--Okay, now you’ve got to meet the needs of the people." They had prepared ahead of time for this eventuality, but MG Lynch admitted he'd gained much more familiarity with raising chickens and fish than he'd ever expected.]
==
OT.. Valerie | 05.14.08 - 8:35 am |
thanks Valerie.. have you (or anyone) an
addy for this map i keep hearing about??
==
Here's a bit of ammunition to fire at anyone pushing for the election of Obaba for president.
http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Vi...spx?
rsrcID=2036
Niall Ferguson on Why the World Needs McCain (vid clip): he's credible as a "bomb Iran-er", hence has leverage. Hillary and Oblabla, not so much.
Jeffrey -- New York | 05.14.08 - 2:12 pm |
I can be like that, kind of a jerk.
Well, you are from New York.
Musayyib IPs Honor Fallen Comrades
Members from the Musayyib Iraqi Police Station
unveiled a lighted memorial honoring fallen IPs May 9.
“These men gave their lives for the people of Iraq and history will show their achievements when Iraq is one country … these men will live forever in our hearts and they are the reason why we are able to live free,” said Lt. Col. Mohammed, district IP chief.
Local leaders and sheikhs in the Musayyib area have been working on the memorial for the past three months in order to honor those fallen since Mohammed took command.
Major Stephen Capehart said the celebration was an awesome event for Coalition forces to be present at the unveiling, which shows the relationship they have formed with the people of Musayyib. Capehart is the commander of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team,
3rd Infantry Division.
Iraqis honoring their "freedoms hero's".. wow!!
==
U.S. Troops Work Together with Georgian Soldiers
excerpt:
[“These soldiers are hard working and passionate about their work,” Rehnberg said. “They did an outstanding job building the COP. We are their guests here.”]
[“We are learning each other’s language, plus we are both learning Arabic. Every day communication gets better,” Rehnberg said.
The Georgians pride and joy on COP Cleary is a church they built from the ground up. The church includes a picket fence and a small bell tower.]
[“Faith is very important in our country,” Arsoshvili said. “The church is like a small piece of home for the soldiers.”]
[“First impressions are very important and theirs was very good,” Arsoshvili said. “They are new blood and have new ideas. They can only make us better.”]
[“These guys are our comrades,” Rehnberg said.
“We need them to help complete our mission.”]
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
The Way Ahead for Sons of Iraq
excerpts:
[When the Surge Strategy is documented in history, the
Sons of Iraq program will be listed as one of its successes.
Now, long-term plans are being developed so that gains
aren’t lost as its members transition into other roles.
In the past year, the SoI have been instrumental in transforming the security landscape of Iraq. Since the start of the program, areas where SoI operate have witnessed an unprecedented drop in violence and terrorist-related activities. ]
[Perhaps the most significant step taken to integrate SoI into non-security roles is the Joint Technical Education and Reintegration Program (JTERP). This initiative, primarily funded by the GoI, provides vocational and technical training, specifically for SoI. Through the program, SoI attend free classes and training courses that teach skills like electrical engineering, construction, manufacturing, or plumbing.]
==
Freedom Journal Iraq
Town Hall Meeting Iraqi Style
Iraqi Gov/Sadrists Truce
Large scale operation in Mosul
COM enacted a new Amendment to Amnesty Law
(excludes criminals who committed serious crimes)..
Helping an Iraqi School
Iraqi Amputees Walk Again
==
Chillin'..
Maintaining Order..
==
Brian H | Homepage | 05.14.08 - 1:00 am |
this is upsetting too..
==
bg | 05.14.08 - 4:35 pm
FOX flashed it up a couple of times during the election reporting. It was a simple graphic with darker and lighter (yellow-orange, I think) states according to who won. I have no clue how to find it.
The US Army, preparing for the future: “Army’s Next crop of Generals Forged in Counterinsurgency.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051403366.html
Gates, stating the obvious, only because Some People have been pretending that we haven’t been doing this all along:
“Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran with Incentives, Pressure
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051403553.html
"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us." …
Although the U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Baghdad met three times last year for discussions on Iraq, Iran has refused to continue that dialogue.
*************
Contrary to what some people, including Barack Obama, are saying right now, it is Iran that is not interested in talking, not the U.S. As a consequence, the U.S. has worked through the UN and by other means to bring economic pressure on Iran, and set an offer on the table with incentives.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/W...0805/
S00031.htm
The meetings in London also include a meeting of the P5+1 on Iran. The way to think about this is that we've had a strategy for some time of two tracks: one, the UN Security Council resolution track, we've done that now, we've had the latest of those resolutions; but the other was to have a track that the Iranians could take should they decide to live up to the obligations that the international community demands, and that means to suspend enrichment and reprocessing.
We will take a look again at what we have offered the Iranians on that second track should the Iranians be willing to suspend their enrichment and reprocessing. But I just want to say I don't see any evidence that the Iranians appear to be interested in that track, and that doesn't leave us with any options but to continue to pursue the -- to make certain that we're carrying out the UN Security Council resolutions that have been passed.
And indeed, as you know, the United States continues to look, as do other countries, to questions of designation and to questions of investment and reputational risk for private entities that deal with Iran.
**********************
The leaders of Iran are the ones who do not want to negotiate in good faith. They follow the example of Yasser Arafat, who made a big show of wasting President Clinton’s time to reach an agreement with Israel, and then promptly went home and declared war on Israel in hopes of getting a better deal out of President Bush. President Bush was right to respond by telling that murderous b*stard that the talking was done, and that he would not get a better deal by waiting for the next president.
I hope that Barack Obama, if elected, will demonstrate a better grasp of recent Middle Eastern history than he has shows so far by his choice of Zbigniew Brzezinski as an advisor, the liar who has been promoting the notion that George Bush has given Islamophobic speeches.
Brian H | Homepage | 05.14.08 - 6:09 pm
Niall Ferguson is applying something I learned from Ronald Reagan.
I remember Berke Breathed running his cartoons with a crazed Ronnie Ray-gun scaring everybody. That was before the Berlin Wall came down.
I never voted for Ronald Reagan, but in time, I came to see the utility of having the bad guys be afraid of a U.S. president.
Exclusive: Palestinians fire more rockets Thursday – one aimed at Netivot
May 15, 2008, 10:45 AM (GMT+02:00)
The Grad (Katyusha) rocket was aimed at the town of Netivot east of the Gaza Strip, the day after a rocket wrecked the Ashkelon shopping mall and injured 100 people. This time it fell short and exploded on open ground.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Israeli ground and air forces are on their highest alert for further Palestinian attacks on towns and villages within range of their missiles and rockets. They are also standing ready to ward off the mass marches Hamas has called for Thursday, May 15 to batter the Gaza-Israel border crossings and level the border fence. The Israeli air force operated overnight in an effort to pre-empt Hamas aggression.
DEBKAfile reports Hamas is targeting the Erez crossing (through which Palestinian sick are still evacuated to the Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon) and crossings through which Israeli still delivers basic commodities for the Palestinian population and fuel.
The Ashkelon rocket carried a message from Tehran to visiting US president George W, Bush that Iran’s arm was long enough to reach an American presence anywhere.
Our military sources also disclose that the Grad rocket was in fact fired by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command headed by Ahmed Jibril. A team of this terrorist group reached the Gaza Strip in the last few days via Sinai after attending a special course in the precise targeting of rockets at an installation near Tehran. The team arrived already armed with the Grad manufactured in Iran which hit the Ashkelon mall. The PFLP-GC spokesman declared openly that the attack was ordered from Iran.
The Ashkelon rocket also bore a warning to prime minister Ehud Olmert that the truce plan Egypt presented to Israel was a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum and not open to negotiation.
Here you go, Batman | 05.14.08 - 8:43 am
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.co...ans-gop-
20.html
"America, we heard you." Like it?
I think we are looking at buyer’s remorse, not racism.
Valerie | 05.14.08 - 8:35 am | #
Oh, its racism, all right. Only the accusations are being pointed in the wrong direction. Apparently, the blatant, grotesque, in-your-face display of malicious racism by Obama's pastor and church are perfectly acceptable, because it is black racism against whites.
Yet the good people of W. Virginia are the ones that are labeled "racist" because they have the balls to stand up to this black racism. The world is turned on its damn head.
OT.. HT : GP
Colombian President Uribe called Pelosi's bluff.
excerpt:
[House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's main excuse for trying to kill the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is that Colombian President Álvaro Uribe winks at atrocities by his country's illegal paramilitary groups. The charge has always been false, and yesterday Mr. Uribe proved it by extraditing 14 "para" leaders to the U.S.]
[Since pro-American President Alvaro Uribe has been in office Colombian homicides are down by 40%, kidnappings are down
by 83% and terrorist attacks are down by 76%.
But, for some reason, this has not been good enough
for Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats.]
well if Obama gets elected (by the Soros Dems & MSM) as the "gringos" have assured FARC.. they will of course need to use Colombia as a distraction, if not a scapegoat.. the Dems cannot exhibit any support of Prez Uribe's actions if they want to keep kissing Chavez et al pocketbook..
==
OT.. Valerie | 05.15.08 - 6:10 am |
thanks..
there are several maps (one for each news outlet), and they
all differ, this one seems to list all the tallies (scroll down)..
there is also a "swing sates" map..
(no clue how reliable either map is)..
==
OT.. Contrary to what some people, including Barack Obama, are saying right now, it is Iran that is not interested in talking, not the U.S. As a consequence, the U.S. has worked through the UN and by other means to bring economic pressure on Iran, and set an offer on the table with incentives.
Valerie | 05.15.08 - 6:29 am |
dang.. can't recall how many times i've posted the same
scenario over the past few years via debates with Ash et
al.. ie (and numerous other news article's):
Our Nearest & Dearest Enemy
We've Been Talking
obviously some people only read/listen with their LEFT eye/ear..
==
OT.. Batman | 05.15.08 - 10:09 am |
uh, i thought they were typical white people who are so bitter they
cling to God & gun (unlike typical black people i presume??).. one
thing for certain, the more he talks off script, the more he reminds
me of Amadjerkoff (i've an aura, a halo.. no homosexuals here)..
==
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
An excerpt with no commentary from me -- dear God, can I actually do this? -- from the NYTimes.
“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Mr. Bush said. “We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”
*
HT : Breitbart
Bush says nuclear Iran would be 'unforgivable'
excerpts:
["Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery
to the Israeli parliament.
"America stands with you in breaking up terrorist networks and denying the extremists sanctuary. And America stands with you
in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions," he said.]
["The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. It is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a great ideological struggle," he was to tell MPs.
"And that is why the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped
off the map."]
["Hezbollah, the so-called protector of the Lebanese against
Israel has now turned on its own people," Bush said.
"Hezbollah is supported by Iran, and it's an Iranian effort to destabilise Lebanon's democracy, and the United States stands strongly with the Siniora government," he added.]
["And Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and (Palestinian Islamist group) Hamas will be defeated, as Muslims across the region recognise the emptiness of the terrorists' vision and the injustice of their cause," he said.]
all of whom endorse Obama, and all of whom stand
to benefit the most via an Obama presidency..
we have a globally assured mutual destruction deterrence policy..
that will reverse itself with a "kumbaya" Obama presidency.. all
things being equal to the socialist mind set, even if the all is evil..
==
OT.. HT : GP
Female TV Anchor Sahar Al-Khatib Tells Off Hezbollah!
excerpts:
[Sahar Al-Khatib: I would like to say something personal, even though I am known for being objective, and members of the opposition itself will attest to that. With regard to the conduct of the army – if only it had not intervened at all. It has been said that the army took a neutral stand, but that was not the case. Today, we should very objective, and say exactly what happened. The way I see it, we were driven out of the "Future TV" building, when all that we were doing was to make our voice heard. They accept that all we were doing was to broadcast the events. We were doing nothing except making our voice heard. For many wise reasons, Allah made the human voice untouchable, so the hand cannot reach out and strangle it.]
[Let me say something personal to the leaders of the opposition, who were my guests and whose voices I made heard for a year and a half. For a year and a half, I have borne this with objectivity, despite all the pain, and despite all the criticism I met from many people, including my family. I have borne the pain, in order to make the voices of all Lebanese heard. Let me tell them: The voice cannot be strangled or stopped. The voice cannot be reached by an evil hand. You will see that this voice will not be silenced.]
may God bless & protect this most courageous woman!!
RTWT [video]!!
==
re: Bush says nuclear Iran would be 'unforgivable'
video & more..
==
The Iranians are holding out to see who the next U.S. president will be. If it's Obama, you can bet that they will test him right off of the bat. But if it's McCain, expect to see the Iranians suddenly become a lot more interested in talking out a solution.
In a word, it's called "credibility". McCain has it. In spades. Obama does not.
Drive in Basra by Iraqi Army Makes Gains
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/
1...agewanted=print
New York Times By STEPHEN FARRELL and AMMAR KARIM BASRA, Iraq — Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, the oil-saturated city of Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old. In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias. Just as in Baghdad, Iraqi and Western officials emphasize that the gains here are “fragile,” like the newly planted roadside saplings that fail to conceal mounds of garbage and pools of foul-smelling water in the historic port city’s slums. Among the many uncertainties are whether the government, criticized for incompetence at the start of the operation, can maintain the high level of troops here. But in interviews across Basra, residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives. “The circle of fear is broken,” said Shaker, owner of a floating restaurant on Basra’s famed Corniche promenade, who, although optimistic, was still afraid to give his full name, as were many of those interviewed. Hopes for a similar outcome in Baghdad’s Sadr City district were undercut when an Iraqi armored unit was struck by three roadside bombs on Sunday, one day after a cease-fire there was negotiated. The principal factor for improvement that people in Basra cite is the deployment of 33,000 members of the Iraqi security forces after the March 24 start of operations, which allowed the government to blanket the city with checkpoints on every major intersection and highway.
Borrowing tactics from the troop increase in Baghdad, the Iraqi forces raided militia strongholds and arrested hundreds of suspects. They also seized weapons including mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and sophisticated roadside bombs that officials say were used by Iranian-backed groups responsible for much of the violence. Government forces have now taken over Islamic militants’ headquarters and halted the death squads and “vice ‘enforcers’ ” who attacked women, Christians, musicians, alcohol sellers and anyone suspected of collaborating with Westerners.
Shaker’s floating restaurant stands as one emblem of the change since then.
Just two months ago, he said, masked men in military uniforms walked into the packed dining room and abducted a businessman at gunpoint. The man was never seen again, and the restaurant closed. Now, however, customers who fled that evening are pressing the 34-year-old owner to stay open later at night, so they can enjoy their unaccustomed freedom from the gangs, which once banned the loud Arabic pop music now blaring from Shaker’s loudspeakers.
“Now it is very different,” he said. “After we heard that the lawless people have been arrested or killed, we have a kind of courage.” Even alcohol, once banned by the extremists, is discreetly on sale again in some areas. Capturing a mood that flits between bad recent memories, giddy relief and brittle future expectations, she added, “It is over, but it could come back any moment, because the people who are doing the intimidation on the streets, sometimes they are your neighbor and you trust them.” Mr. Maliki’s hastily begun operation to rein in the extremists did not start with great promise. Thus, stability in a city that could be Iraq’s economic engine room is a major priority for the Shiite-led government. However, the Basra experience may not translate to other cities like Mosul or Kirkuk in the north, with a much more complicated religious and ethnic mix. The push into Basra succeeded in part because people here were exhausted with the violence and in part because Mr. Maliki received crucial help from the American and British military. British forces, who headed the coalition military forces in Basra beginning in 2003, handed security control to the Iraqis six months ago. But a British military spokesman said British and American forces were providing fighter jets, helicopters, surveillance and logistical support for the government operation. In addition to the 4,000 British troops in Basra, he said, the Americans sent 800 people, including surveillance experts and around 200 transition team “advisers” embedded with Iraqi troops. Iraqi commanders acknowledge that the American and British support helped them wrest control of Mahdi Army strongholds like Hayyaniyah — a slum that is Basra’s equivalent of Sadr City — and other poor districts that are fertile recruiting grounds for militias. But a majority of the military presence on the streets is Iraqi.
From the moment motorists drive through the huge arch at the city’s northern entrance, they are confronted with a ragtag but daunting collection of armored police vehicles, Iraqi Army Humvees, cold war-era tanks, pickup trucks with turret-mounted machine guns and bullet-riddled personnel carriers. Canal bridges are guarded by head-high steel pyramids, from which soldiers observe bustling markets through a bulletproof window. Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman, conceded that the Iraqis would have “struggled” without the warplanes available to coalition forces. But he said: “I don’t think it’s a crutch. I think they would have tackled it in their own way and possibly, probably, achieved the same result.”And the result, whoever is ultimately responsible, is in many ways remarkable. At the College of Fine Arts, female students said they felt more, but not entirely, free to wear the clothes they liked. “I used to be challenged for what I wear,” said Athari, a 19-year-old student wearing heavy makeup and a bright orange headscarf pushed high back on her head in the liberal fashion disapproved of by Islamic radicals. “Makeup was forbidden; short skirts were forbidden. I will not mention their name, but they were extremists. They are still here, but quieter now.” Qais, a music student, spoke of his relief at no longer having to hide his violin in a sack of rice in his trunk. Most of the students were Shiite, but one youth named Alaa said that he was a Sunni and that 95 percent of his relatives had fled Basra after sectarian killings, including that of his uncle. “I want to thank Mr. Nuri al-Maliki, because he cleaned Basra of murderers, hijackers and thieves,” Alaa said. It was not an uncommon sentiment. In his city center office, Yahya, a wealthy businessman said he had just begun going onto the streets without his customary 10 bodyguards. Insisting that he was not a political supporter of the prime minister, he said he was nevertheless so grateful for the security improvements that he and colleagues had downloaded Mr. Maliki’s face onto their mobile telephones as screensavers. But as with the American-led surge in Baghdad, there are abiding uncertainties. These center on how long such a heavy military presence can be sustained on urban streets, and what happens when it departs. Gen. Mohan al-Freiji, the Iraqi commander in Basra, said the city was “75 percent” under control. He said the principal threat stemmed from rogue elements of the Mahdi Army and factions like the Iraqi Hezbollah (Party of God), Thairallah (Revenge of God) and Fadhila (Virtue). Emphasizing the urgent need to address decades of poverty and neglect, he said the government had to provide jobs and investment to convert short-term military gains into long-term political and economic ones. “This is a city which sits on top of oil, but its young people are unemployed,” he said. Sadrists protest that the Basra operation is a cynical exercise to weaken Mr. Maliki’s Shiite rivals ahead of provincial elections in the fall.
At Friday prayers in Kufa last week, the Sadrist preacher, Sheik Abdul Hadi al-Muhamadawi, said, “There is a large-scale conspiracy to remove the Sadr movement from the government’s way by all means, because it refuses the presence of the occupier in Iraq.” Such words underscore the widespread belief here that the Mahdi army has its own reasons for lying low and is by no means eliminated. During one Iraqi Army patrol in Hayyaniyah at dusk, the soldiers, elsewhere relaxed, became jittery. Belying the local commander’s insistence that the Sadrist stronghold was “90 percent or more secure,” some pulled up face masks that they had not worn in other districts. They also fired bullets into the air at the slightest delay in traffic, an aggression unlikely to endear them in an area that, although calm, was noticeably less welcoming.
Haider, a policeman at a checkpoint outside the Sadrists’ former headquarters, said his family had been threatened, even at his home in the capital. “I have spent 60 days in Basra and haven’t been home to Baghdad,” he said. “I will be killed if I go now. My family have received dozens of fliers with threats from the Mahdi Army.” Nevertheless he, like many others, said the evacuation of the factions from their once-untouchable headquarters had brought about a psychological shift. Outside the Sadr office, Iraqi soldiers now sit atop the roof, their tripod-mounted machine guns overlooking the tin-roofed Sadrist prayer hall, which lies half-demolished. “The Mahdi Army used to use this office like the Baathists when they were The Party,” Haider said. “They were ruling like the government of a state. They stopped police doing their duty, from implementing the law.” Noting that the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein, once much stronger than the Mahdi Army, had been routed, he said, “The Mahdi Army will meet the same fate exactly, and worse.” Yet traces of the old order remain. One wall in central Basra still bore the unsigned scrawl: “We warn girls not to put on makeup and to wear scarves. Anyone who does not follow these orders will be killed.”
in new yoik for the week, whole town completely in the tank for the magic one. even got listen to edwards blab about endorsing HIM.
creepy, pathetic, deluded, its almost like 1941..
what bugs me the most is that i feel so completely disassociated with so many of my fellow countrymen. like not even of the same nation anymore.
i know that its always probably been like that for my whole life, but when you leave the cover of the midwest and see it in your face it really hits home.
its as if 911 never happened except for a reason to push for more union benefits.
the tree of liberty...
Jeffrey,
just for U
What the Hell is wrong with smiley
faces,eh,teacher?
The world needs more of them!
Some of us search for good news..
Like this Link..
I am proud of these "BAND OF BROTHERS"
And i am glad i am a Minnesotan today!
Get back to the midwest bud and take
a break
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_...?
storyid=510861
OT.. biggest Islamist organization
paid for with US taxpayer dollars..
Whistleblower accuses UNDP over Somalia projects
excerpt:
[Ahmed openly filed a complaint dossier in October 2006, but it was not sent on to UNDP headquarters in New York, he said. Instead it prompted a "systematic destruction of documents that could be used to provide evidence of wrongdoing".]
==
OT.. highly doubt anyone cept for the dhimmi
Dems & moonbat groupies will be surprised..
CAIR: U.S., Israel are the Terrorists
excerpt:
[“We don't live for this world, as many of the Ikhwan [Brotherhood] seem to believe unfortunately. We live
for the afterlife. This dunya [world] is for Joe Kaufman
and Alan Dershowitz and George Bush. Let them have
it because they'll have no share in the next life.”
-- Radical Islamist and CAIR Staffer, Omer Subhani]
==
OT..
3 Cheers For Former Democratic VP Candidate Lieberman!
excerpt:
[“President Bush got it exactly right today when he warned about the threat of Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. It is imperative that we reject the flawed and naïve thinking that denies or dismisses the words of extremists and terrorists when they shout “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and that holds that—if only we were to sit down and negotiate with these killers—they would cease to threaten us. It is critical to our national security that our commander-in-chief is able to distinguish between America’s friends and America’s enemies, and not confuse the two.”]
but, but, but Bush is evil.. terrorists
& tyrants good, right loony moons??
==
"Heh heh.
Yes, I'm a wicked bastard."
That's OK, Jeffrey, I still love you. Of course, I misunderstand much of what you say, so take that for what it's worth.
"re: Maybe someone should check Bill Ayers's computers?
Ayers & Dorhn raised a brother Weathermans son.. who worked at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas..
Critical Pedagogy and Bolivarian Revolution. Luis Bonilla-Molina and Bill Ayers. Translation: Chesa Boudin
World Education Forum
Centro Internacional Miranda
Debunking Obama's Ayers "Fact Sheet" [audio]"
bg doesn't limit her uncanny research abilities to ITM, gatewaypundit.com has benefitted as well. bg, you're welcome to contribute on my comments session anytime you want!
Brian H | Homepage | 05.14.08 - 1:00 am | #
Brian, der Schpittle got the picture of a prank of one soldier pranking another soldier. "My" guys, wounded warriors here at BAMC, are constantly pulling this sort of prank on one another. The guys are proud of what they do for a living! In fact, I took one of them to church with me several times. The first time, he asked me, "Do these people know what I do for a living?" I said, "such as" He said, "a killer". [He was a former soldier in the Colombian Army, and when his cousin was killed in Iraq fighting for US, he came to America [legally] and joined our Army. He's now a US citizen.] He has his favorite Psalms verse on his helmut, btw.
I'm curious if Obama gets elected in November, if that might prompt Bush to start bombing Iran before he leaves office at the end of the year. If I were Bush going out, with terrible approval ratings anyway, and likely Democratic control for the next eight years, I would want to do everything possible to leave the nation as safe as possible.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.co...t.co...ans-gop-
20.html
"America, we heard you." Like it?
Valerie | 05.15.08 - 9:52 am | #
----------------
It's definitely a good starting point, although I'm going to have to do some homework on this "Fair Tax." The prescription for health care is not exactly catchy nor a clear solution.
Aside from that, the main issue is credibility. This is very similar to what we were promised when the Republicans were voted in in 1992. And what did we get? Corruption and earmark spending as bad as the Democrats.
Batman | 05.15.08 - 6:11 pm |
lol on the ratings.. Bush's numbers
are still better than Congress'..
==
When I heard Pres. Bush's speech about appeasement, I thought of Jimmy Carter. Others probably thought about other people. Sen. Ted Kennedy tried to engage in direct negotiations with the Soviet Union.
Oh. So That's why Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden jumped.
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Art...51-
1C054E35B7BA
Lets see.. What is it May 15th?
About a year ago we saw the Awakening Councils. That was a nice start.
Now we finally have a government in Baghdad instead of a lousy puppet show. Even Better
At the time of the awakening council formation I commented on this blog that it was the turning point of the war. I still believe it was.
However Maliki's nuts finally dropping is turning out to be a rock solid phase 2.
The beauty of what is currently happening (I have done my best to follow every ounce of news coming from the north and south) is that Al-Qaeda sat back and smiled while Maliki took on the Shia terrorists. Now the Shia with their notorious (and may I add, pathetic) cease fires are standing by while Maliki takes on the Sunni thugs.
All the while, our beautiful embassy is being completed, We are signing long term treaties with out newly capable ally in the Middle East and the Mullah's next door are beside themselves by what is taking place.(read:http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/world/
2008/05/14/D90LI8E00_iraq_iran_s_hand/ ** )
Good times, but we aint done yet ~ Godspeed!
**[excerpt: At one point, a key leader within Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused the Iraqi delegation and their leaders of being tools of Washington and showing ingratitude for years of Iranian support to Iraqi's majority Shiites, who suffered attacks and persecution under Saddam, the politicians said.
Brig. Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force unit of the Guards, accused the Iraqis of offering U.S. forces "a permanent home on our doorsteps," the politicians told the AP.]
OT.. HT : GP
US Democrat Was Secretly Working With FARC
To Undermine Colombian Government
excerpt:
[Interpol confirmed today that US Congressman James McGovern (D., Mass.), a leading opponent of the Colombia free-trade deal has been working with a go-between, who has been offering the FARC terrorists help in undermining Colombia's elected and popular government.]
go figure..
==
OT;
The Weekly Standard has a very on-point article What to Expect When You're Expecting...to be president. by Lawrence B. Lindsey, pointing out that setting a specific agenda in advance works WAY better than "winging it", and ticking off where Oblabla and McCain need to get on with doing that.
Oh. So That's why Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden jumped.
Valerie | 05.15.08 - 8:10 pm | great find..
heck V.. all the top Dem dogs are jumpin' (actually, they
went off the cliff a long time ago, only they didn't notice)..
excerpt:
[So, there was a plan, or at least a suggested plan, to hook up Andropov and other senior apparatchiks with the American media, where they could better present their message and make their case. Specifically, the names of Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters are mentioned in the document. Also, Kennedy himself would travel to Moscow to meet with the dictator.]
and that despicable TK.. dear Lord, i don't know why after all the harm that man (& his cohort Kerry) has done, and is doing (not to mention Mary Jo Kopechne) he's still free.. one things for certain, he cannot (& he never will) hold a candle to Jack or Bobby..
==
"However Maliki's nuts finally dropping is turning out to be a rock solid phase 2."
I agree completely, Jake. I really think that Maliki's willingness to take on the Hahdi Army in the streets .... and the Iraqi Army's overall strong performance in kicking their butts .... will, in retrospect, prove to be the point at which Iraq's democratic government was assured of its victory over the forces trying to undermine it.
MNF scroll..
IA, GoI, Local Government Take Lead
in Providing Aid to Sadr City Residents
excerpt:
[“The CMOC has done an exceptional job bringing together all of the Iraqi officials, allowing them to take leadership in repairing some of the damages caused by the recent fighting,” said Lt. Col. Frank Curtis, who serves as the commanding officer of the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 360th Civil Affairs Brigade, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
“The Iraqi army plans and executes mission in coordination with coalition forces,” continued the Braintree, Mass., native, “but the Iraqis determine the locations and plans the missions.”
Area citizens are beginning to use the center more to help deal with the issues they might have. They can show up in person and receive help dealing with their problems.]
[IA soldiers have not forgotten about providing medical care to those in Sadr City. They have been bringing such services to the streets of Sadr City on a regular basis.
“The 11th IA Division doctors have done at least one medical engagement a week, treating the local people,” said Messmer.
They have seen more than 2,500 people over the last three weeks out on the streets in Sadr City. They go to different locations with their vehicles and set up a mobile medial office to treat people right there on the streets, he added.]
[“We plan to renovate schools and clinics and then refurbish and revitalize the Jamilla Market, a wholesale market that supplies most of Baghdad,” said Messmer.
Ultimately, it is all about Iraqis helping themselves and other Iraqis.
“The people see this,” said Curtis, “and they recognize that they can support their government’s efforts to give them a better, more stable community.”]
way to go IA!!
==
General Cites Iranian Links to
‘Special Groups’ Terrorists in Iraq
excerpts:
[“Over the course of the last several months, we have publicly discussed numerous times, and shown numerous times, the evidence on four separate occasions on what we have found and continue to find: Iranian-made weapons in the hands of criminals in Iraq,” Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters during a Baghdad news conference.]
[“With this evidence, the government of Iraq has recently engaged its neighbor and again sought fulfillment of Iranian commitments previously made to stop the flow of weapons, training and funding” to insurgent groups in Iraq, Bergner said.]
video
==
bg | 05.15.08 - 11:17 pm
I've got to hand it to Newt Gingrich for the best comment on this froufrau. He said that all Barack Obama had to do was say: "I agree with the President."
It may be that Newt has yet to make his most outstanding contribution to this country. I didn't like the way he conducted himself in office, but it is obvious that he is actively thinking about the current condition of the country, and how to make it better. This is hugely refreshing in an atmosphere where the Speaker of the House, Senate Majority leader and a candidate for President all want to pretend that various chunks of the last 8 to 40 years never happened.
I'm a Democrat, not a Republican.
Obama's version of the sniper story.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.../
obamaclap.html
"He said that all Barack Obama had to do was say: 'I agree with the President.'"
And therein lies the problem, because Barack Obama DOESN'T agree with the predidents. He and the rest of the namby-pamby leftists really do believe that you can rationally negotiate with the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah and that the problems in the Middle East and elsewhere are mostly our fault.
i know GOOD NEWS turns some people
off.. but here you go anyways!!
Iraq Vows It Will Not Become Another Lebanon
excerpt:
[Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari on Thursday said that Iraq will not be another Lebanon, stressing the need to fight militia groups and not allowing the establishment of a state within state.
"The largest security challenges are militia groups and organized crime gangs," Zibari said in an interview with the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper in its Saudi edition.
The Iraqi government's recent battles against the Sadrist movement's Mahdi Army and other armed groups "highlights the government's persistence to prevent Iraq from turning into another Lebanon," the minister said, adding that arms and weapons should be exclusively possessed by government forces.
"The presence of Arab ambassadors in Iraq will provide Arab governments with a clear picture about what is happening," the minister said on the sidelines of his participation in the Arab Ministerial Meeting, held in the Egyptian capital today to address the volatile situation in Lebanon.]
Amen!!
also @ link:
Anbar transfer..
"Mass Graves Day"
==
HT : GP
Obama Moonbat...
excerpts:
["Right now, we don't have enough troops, and NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq."]
***
[This is what's truly disturbing about Barack Obama's foreign policy vision — it sees ending the Iraq War as the Philosopher's Stone that, once found, will turn all of our leaden overseas problems into golden opportunities.]
aah, Obama lives in an alternate Utopian Marxist vision of the world.. couldn't be farther from reality if he was campaigning
on the Luna..
==
HT : Talisman Gate
Fascinating: The Jihadists Admit Defeat in Iraq
excerpts:
[A prolific jihadist sympathizer has posted an ‘explosive’ study on one of the main jihadist websites in which he laments the dire situation that the mujaheddin find themselves in Iraq by citing the steep drop in the number of insurgent operations conducted by the various jihadist groups, most notably Al-Qaeda’s 94 percent decline in operational ability over the last 12 months when only a year and half ago Al-Qaeda accounted for 60 percent of all jihadist activity!]
[I don’t have the time to translate these charts right now, or translate the analysis he provides, but I wanted to share this with you immediately because it is a stunning and unprecedented admission of defeat!]
[I’m not saying that the jihadists won’t keep trying to find a workable formula for the caliphate elsewhere, but for now
they have been dealt a severe demoralizing blow.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it all
ye calling for a hasty withdrawal.]
RTWT!!
==
just in case i gave the wrong addy re: TG's
Fascinating: The Jihadists Admit Defeat in Iraq
and here's another one..
CNN Airs More Bigotry
excerpt:
[But don’t expect Cafferty and his employers at CNN to apologize for the following words, which were uttered yesterday on Wolf Blitzer’s 'Situation Room':
This garbage about Iraq is the same bill of goods that we have been sold by the Bush administration since we invaded that country. We will be greeted as liberators. We will set up a functioning democracy. All good will come to the Middle East.
They will pay for the war with their oil.
It's garbage. It hasn't happened. It ain't going to happen. The tribal animosities that fuel the violence in that part of the world date back centuries. They are not going to adopt a Western- style democracy next year or in 2013 or 100 years from now. So, it's just more political crap.]
Baghdad Bob comes to mind..
excerpt:
[Dismissing Arabs as a nation culturally and historically incapable of adopting democracy is just plain racist. But it is a bigotry that is not only tolerated in leftist circles but rather openly and proudly displayed because it stands in opposition to George Bush’s vision for the Middle East. So much for the honesty and solidarity of liberalism.
[snip]
Nevertheless, it’s heartening to know that Iraq is proving them all wrong. Whether someone like Cafferty will ever have the moral courage to admit it, even to himself, is suspect.]
when it comes to exposing the subversiveness
of the MSM.. TG is just about the best!!
==
Dan R. | 05.16.08 - 11:53 am
Last time around, the Kerry campaign tried to influence the outcome of the election in Australia; Sen. Ted Kennedy is known to have made personal contact with leaders of the Soviet Union; Nancy Pelosi recently visited Syria; Jimmy Carter visited Hamas.
Has the Obama Campaign been talking to some foreign governments (besides Canada), and has it been making any promises?
OT.. HT : AIFD
Press Release
==
OT..
Has the Obama Campaign been talking to some foreign
governments (besides Canada), and has it been making
any promises?
Valerie | 05.16.08 - 2:33 pm |
Kenya, of which Obama is a citizen (as well as Indonesia, and i for one would love to know what either have listed as his religion since he was registered as Muslim & religion Islam at both schools he attended) for certain.. plethora of connecting links..
btw, i firmly believe Obama is more Marxist than Islamic, but it's also apparent that Obama sees little difference between the two,
as witnessed via the following..
Obama favors an unholy alliance
between Marxism and Islam
excerpt:
["I will stand with the Muslims should the
political winds change in an ugly direction".]
Islam and Black Liberation Theology
oh yeah, almost forgot all about FARC being "assured" of an Obama Presidency.. posted about that several times already..
ie: bg | 05.15.08 - 9:53 pm | link..
==
I don't know, Valerie. But what I do know is that the hissy fit that the Democrats threw in response to Bush's speech in Israel yesterday won't help ease the perception that Obama isn't ready for prime time. Bush didn't mention either Obama or the Democrats by name. He merely stated that appeasement is a fool's errand, a statement that history has repeatedly shown to be true.
Both Bush and McCain have been the targets of a lot worse invective from the Democrats in the past. They just smile and shrug it off. Why? Because they don't feel like they have anything to prove to anybody when it comes to national defense. If Obama and the Dems can get this flustered over a few lines in a speech ... lines that didn't even mention the specifically ... it doesn't give me the warm & fuzzies about how cool they'll be when faced with a real international crisis against the likes of Hamas, Iran, North Korea, or Venezuela.
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Attacks decrease in Sadr City;
fighting shifts to western Baghdad
excerpt:
[From March 25 until last weekend, US and Iraqi security forces were engaged in major battles in Sadr City. Mahdi Army fighters were killed at a rate of nearly 20 per day, during which it was not uncommon for 20 to 30 Mahdi Army fighters to be killed in a single engagement.
The major clashes have slowed, but the attacks continue as the US and Iraqi military nears completion of the wall. “The enemy still creeps up on the wall or fires at the wall, our Soldiers and the IA [Iraqi Army] soldiers," said Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover, the chief Public Affairs Officer for Multinational Division Baghdad, in an e-mail to The Long War Journal. “The wall is nearly complete. There are fewer attacks, but there is still a threat - however, there are no major engagements." Indirect fire attacks - rockets and mortars - are down significantly, Stover said, with only one mortar attack on May 15.]
[The US military believes the Special Groups are shifting their attacks outside of Sadr City into areas of Western Baghdad in order to deflect attention from the Mahdi Army stronghold. "We're actually seeing more hostile action in western Baghdad, likely because the SG [Special Group] criminals are trying to pull the focus off of Sadr City and those penned up there," Stover said. "And also, because they lack their freedom of maneuver" in Sadr City.]
How to catch a bad guy...
==
bg | 05.16.08 - 1:59 pm |
bg,
It is the soft bigotry of low expectations and Bush has talked about that, too. The left in this country also embraces that idea: "Oh, poor black kids cannot pass the white man's culturally insensitive test even though right-off-the-boat Asian kids ace them? Well, we will just lower the passing grade. There you go. All better now?"
I think somebody needs to ask Barack Obama if anyone from his campaign has met with representatives of foreign governments, and whether they have made any promises. Having a platform and relatives is one kind of thing, soliciting funds from overseas and attempting to act diplomatically without winning the election, though, is something else entirely. If this has happened, we have a right to know.
Dan R. | 05.16.08 - 6:26 pm |
well stated!!
as if it were the first time anyone or Bush
has ever related such a statement.. ie:
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile,
hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill
"No people in history have ever survived who thought they could
protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their
enemies." - Dean Acheson
"No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can
be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb." - Franklin D Roosevelt
"The one sure way to conciliate a tiger is to allow
oneself to be devoured." - Konrad Adenauer
"Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks to a
tiger, the tiger will become a vegetarian." - Heywood Broun
"You may gain temporary appeasement by a policy of concession to violence, but you do not gain lasting peace that way." - Anthony Eden
“Admittedly, there is a risk in any course we follow other than
this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies
in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face.” - Ronald Reagan
“In this century, when evil men plot chemical, biological and nuclear terror, a policy of appeasement could bring destruction
of a kind never before seen on this earth. Terrorists and terrorist states do not reveal these threats with fair notice in formal declarations. And responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not self defense. It is suicide. The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now.” - George Bush
amongst others..
==
OT..
It is the soft bigotry of low expectations
and Bush has talked about that, too.
Kafir | 05.16.08 - 6:50 pm |
think i'll nick you total recall K!!
not the first time he's said it,
but here's one time for sure..
President Bush Addresses NAACP
Annual Convention vid/ 7/20/06
excerpt:
[I decided to do something about it when I was the governor, and I decided to do something about that when I became the President. See, we must challenge a system that simply shuffles children through grade to grade, without determining whether they can read, write, and add and subtract. It's a system -- see, I like to call it this: We need to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. If you have low expectations, you're going to get lousy results. (Applause.) We must not tolerate a system that gives up on people.]
here's another: 1/09/04..
i believe he also stated it during his
2000 campaign for the presidency..
==
OT.. Valerie | 05.16.08 - 6:55 pm |
Valerie, we get 'dung slung' if we dare to even ask about a flag
lapel pin.. and he was the one who used it to make his anti-war
campaign statement in the first place, gah!!
(btw, i hear he's now wearing it on the campaign trail, but not
on the Senate floor.. whatever Obama, we got your number!!)
==
Valerie, My kind of democrat! You are like Zell Miller and Joe Liberman.And a lot of my good friends who are democrats.You are gutsy,a realist,a person who is confortable in your own skin.You can tell a lie from the truth instantly ,from a dem or a rino.I was raised by parents who were democrats.They switched to republican when the progressives took over the democrat party.Overruled the blue dog dems and ruined the party.The rinos are doing the same thing to our republican party.I do not like MCcain all that much, but I will vote for him on be half of our military, God, Please don't let him let us down.I think Brian said ,hopefully, Bolton for vp.Oh, pray that it would be so.They, progresives and rinos would litterly go off a cliff!I was in my early 20's when our vietnam vets came home, some of my cousins with them.I cried so hard over the way they were treated.That made me sit up and pay attention to politics.The first vote I ever cast was for Ronald Reagan for governor of Calif. when we lived there.When we came home and Zell Miller ran for Gov.of Ga, I voted for him.Do you agree, neither party has much of a choice this election?It is so dog gone scary.This bit about President Bush's speech in Isreal is the most absurd thing !What is so funny is they think they are so smart to get so riled up as they have.They are better than saterday nite live! Its down rite funny.Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your own face! I agree with Newt on that one.Valerie ,I really injoy reading your opinions on issues.I always agree with you.
HT : The Mudville Gazette
sad/bad news..
Al-Qaeda Operatives Who Infiltrated
Into Iraq From Syria Kill 11 Policemen
U.S. and Iraqi sources reported that Al-Qaeda operatives who infiltrated into Iraq from Syria had penetrated a settlement in the Al-Anbar province and attacked the homes of 11 policemen, killing all 11 as well as the son of one of the policemen.
It was reported that the infiltrators wore U.S. military uniforms
and that one, a Lebanese, was caught on his way back to Syria.
On May 10, the Iraqi government launched an operation to purge
Ninewah province, which borders Al-Anbar province, of Al-Qaeda.
now we know what those stolen
uniforms will be used for.. uhg!!
==
Iraqi Army Captures Special Groups
Cell Leader in Husayniyah
The Iraqi Army captured a mid-level Special Groups cell leader
in Husayniyah, responsible for coordinating improvised explosive device, rocket and small-arms fire attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition forces, approximately 30 km north of Baghdad, May 15.
Iraqi Army soldiers conducted the operation to capture the Special Groups cell leader whose cell conducted attacks against the ISF and CF as recent as April 22.
These criminals emplaced explosively-formed penetrators and conducted indirect fire attacks against static Coalition force positions. Three additional suspects were detained.
“The capture of this cell leader will likely affect the ability of Special Groups criminals in Husayniyah to conduct attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition forces,” said Col. Bill Buckner, MNC-I spokesman. “This will prevent Special Groups leadership from exploiting the city as a safe haven.”
==
Bridge Linking Busayefi to Hawr Rajab Opens
excerpts:
[Thanks to the efforts of Coalition forces, Iraqi Army and citizens tired of violence, the insurgents were driven away. However, the canal still isolated them from one another.]
[The event was coordinated by Wasmey Yas Khudhayer, owner of the Adwa al-Ashar Construction Company and supervisor of the project. Besides having an Iraqi company perform the construction, the project was funded by the Government of Iraq.]
[“It’s an important sign that the GoI is footing the bill to reunite their communities,” said Maj. John Brock, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
Sheikhs from multiple areas attended the event, including Sheikh Salah, who cut the ribbon over the bridge and Jalil from Busayefi. Sheikhs Ahmed and Salah from Khamasiyah, Sheikhs Yassin and Hamid from Adwaniyah and Adel from Hawr Rajab were also present.]
[Once the event was over, the crowd moved to the Busayefi Sons of Iraq headquarters for lunch, where they discussed the importance of working together to prevent the criminal activity that once caused division in the area.]
crossing the bridge..
==
Joint Patrol Yields Multiple Caches
excerpt:
[“These caches and every other cache are living proof of how important it is for units to build relations with the local population. Every mission that we conduct, my platoon’s goal is to reach out
to the local population, talk with them and build the trust between us,” said 1st Lt. Greg Highstrom, platoon leader with Battery B.
“In return, Iraqis are more willing to help.”]
Helping Hands..
==
U.S. General Cites Steady Progress
in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul
excerpts:
[“The Iraqi security forces are maintaining a strong presence” in Basra, Bergner reported, noting Iraqi soldiers and police are setting up security stations throughout the city and chasing down insurgents.]
[“Much of the recent progress we have seen in Basra, Baghdad and Mosul is due to the efforts of Iraqi security forces,” Bergner said.]
[And recent police and recruiting drives for “Sons of Iraq” citizen security groups across Baghdad have shown Iraqis from all communities volunteering to protect their country, Bergner observed, adding that nearly 500 new Iraqi police officers recently graduated from the Baghdad police academy.]
keep em comin' Iraq!!
==
French Iraq recruiters are jailed
excerpt:
[A French court has convicted seven men accused of recruiting young Muslims in Paris to fight against America-led forces in Iraq.
The sentences ranged from 18 months in prison to seven years
in prison, with the cell's ringleader being jailed for six years.
The men were tracked down and arrested after a young Frenchman was found dead in the Iraqi city of Falluja in
2004.
Five of the seven men are French and
the other two are from North Africa.
They were arrested in 2005, suspected of being part of an
Islamist cell recruiting volunteers to join the Iraqi insurgency.]
who says the French aren't helping in the
GWOT (albeit hasn't even started yet)..
==
Fredom Journal Iraq
On Patrol in Baghdad
IAF / Lions Roar
Maliki orders a new assault on AQ in Mosul
124 Tribal Chieftans visit Karbala, (renewed harmony)
school supplies for children in Taji
==
Iraqi PM leads offensive in Mosul
excerpt:
[Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is in the northern city
of Mosul to supervise an offensive against Sunni insurgents.
Mosul is seen as the last urban
stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Elsewhere, a ceasefire between the government and Shia militiamen in the Sadr City area of Baghdad is reported to
be generally holding.]
in comparison to what's going on here, it seems awful quiet in Iraq.. but then again, they don't have moonbats do they??
==
OT..
How to Enrage a Democrat
excerpt:
[If nothing else, we now know what it takes to make
a Democrat go nuts. One word: "appeasement."
Notwithstanding that President Bush named no names in his speech to Israel's Knesset on Thursday, Barack Obama instantly called it a "false political attack." On him, of course.]
maybe this will start a debate..
oh yeah, i had the tv on for background noise, and i could swear i
heard the newscaster say Bush named Obama & the Democrats in
his speech re: 'appeasement'.. albeit i have been & am convinced
that the Soros Dems & MSM et al have already elected Obama to
be the next US president.. i'm afraid we are up against something much bigger than we've recognized or may have thought..
btw, although BDS is still alive & well.. i have a new theory as to
what the leftist elites of the world are suffering from, i believe it's
an advanced (or evolved) form of The Stockholm Syndrome..
==
Iraq offers amnesty in Qaeda stronghold
excerpt:
["We have decided to grant amnesty to those who joined the armed groups on condition they hand over heavy and medium weapons to the security forces," Maliki said in a statement.
He did not elaborate, but this would mean weapons such as rocket-propelled grenade launchers and mortars. Iraqi law
allows each household to have an AK-47 assault rifle.
Those who turned in arms would be paid a cash
reward, Maliki said, without saying how much.
But in a condition that could limit the amnesty's reach, he said it only applied to "those who did not commit crimes against civilians or stain their hands with blood".]
more or less sounds like the same
deal he offered the Mahdi et al..
excerpt:
[Tribal leaders welcomed the offensive in Mosul, a Sunni Arab dominated city.
"Al Qaeda has ruined this city. We have sacrificed our sons in the police in the fight against them," Sheikh Abdul-Razzaq Mijbil, head of the Sunni Arab Jubouri tribe said.
"We have to kick them out."]
never surrender.. good on them!!
==
From the donkey's mouth: "If Obama is the nominee, I’m with McCain."
Has the Obama Campaign been talking to some foreign governments (besides Canada), and has it been making any promises?
Valerie | 05.16.08 - 2:33 pm//
====
Do FARQ and Chavez count?
TG has a graph of the drop-off of attacks by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, so this is today's front-page headline for the Washington Post. May 17, 2008
Bounties a Bust in Hunt for Al-Qaeda
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051603921.html
It’s information. It's not the most pertinent information to come out of Iraq this week.
One thing about bounties, they are cheap unless they produce the desired result. Then they are still cheap. Another is that, even though tiny, insular organizations are less vulnerable, if the organization is being hit hard and has turnover, it becomes more vulnerable. They are one tool, and they should be available.
After a wait appropriate for professional courtesy, I expect the Washington Post to publish that graph reported at TG. They certainly were quick enough to report on “Bin Laden’s latest tape” so I expect that an internal document from Al-Qaeda including graph showing the drop-off in Al-Qaeda attacks in Iraq, would be news.
I will count the days.
This guy is did not serve in Iraq, but our guys ought to know about it.
Double-Amputee Oscar Pistorius allowed to compete for Olympic Bid
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051601738.html
Talking Macs, Luke Skywalker’s hand, Geordie LaForge’s glasses. We will make all of these a gift of love to those who have been injured on our behalf. We have the talking Macs already.
http://soldiersangels.org/index....oject-valour-
it
Today's real news from Iraq, from the US soldier's point of view, is here.
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/
The Washington Post has two other articles
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051603611.html
excerpt:
Despite U.S. pressure over the past month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has yet to provide significant financial support for the nearly 2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and Lebanon ...
********************
I don't know if Iraq's failure, to hand large sums of money to the Lebanese and Syrian governments, is a real problem. It might be part of the solution.
It's true that Iraq doesn't do ATMs and slow payment by the government is a chronic problem. The question here is whether there are unintended benefits from this problem.
Firstly, 2M is the peak number of refugees quoted in lots of news articles, and lots of refugees have been returning home. That number could be high to the point of fraud by now, if it wasn't, before. Then there is the question of accountability: where would the money go, once transferred? If it is paid to those sending fighters in from Lebanon and Syria, it is counterproductive.
Home's a mess, and if Iraq must decide where to put its best effort, it needs to be in welcoming the refugees back, not maintaining them in a "refugee camp." Refugee camps have a nasty habit of turning into squalid cities when there is a source of support (money) for them.
********************
While the front page says that bounties for Al-Qaeda don't work, the interior story says that bounties for weapons ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8051603794.html
Iraqi officials on Friday gave insurgents in the northern city of Mosul a 10-day amnesty period to turn in weapons for cash payouts, the government's latest effort to regain control of the largest insurgent stronghold in Iraq. ...
U.S. military officials said several hundred suspected insurgents have been detained in Nineveh this week. ...
******************
This is an Iraqi Army operation, with the US in a supporting role.
Brothers,
I feel like I should explain the OT posts. I know I’ve been posting OT a lot lately about the upcoming US presidential election, even though the parties have yet to pick their candidates. However, Barack Obama has made our relationship with Iraq a major issue in his campaign, and so the campaign should be of general interest to anybody who is a friend of Iraq.
I am as nervous about this election as “a cat on a hot tin roof.” Under other circumstances, I would be pleased and proud to support a Democratic candidate in a historic first, namely the first female or first black US president. The response across this country tells me that a lot of people feel the same: Democratic turnout is ‘way up, and both Hillary and Obama are attracting record-setting amounts of both voters and money.
Of course, every time Hillary sets a monetary record, Obama swamps it, and therein lies a tale.
Barack Obama is not the black Democratic candidate I envisioned. I had expected to see and hear a polished speaker, of course, but one also with a record of accomplishment and training in our political system, and certainly not one with his blood-curdling taste in connections. Then there’s the money, and the way the press has swallowed whole the fairy tale that it all comes from small donors. Then there’s the dichotomy in what he says and what his campaign says and does. And the election fraud in my home state. Then there is the total lack of concern for the welfare for a people we have invaded. Then there is a whole series of gaffes that tell me he is seriously miss-advised about the facts of recent history.
If the campaign turns into a contest between The Lady and The Maverick, we will have a policy debate. If Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate, we will have a mess.
Yeah well there isn’t much of a pick for the republican side!
The true republicans are gone! However I am not throwing away my vote! I will still go with McCain …grudgingly!
I know some morons that will be voting for obaaaabaaaa just because they would never go to the republican side!
Idiots!
...& no arabs shouldn't have nuke capabilitys because they are not being capable as far as human life is concerned!
They can’t be accountable for others! Some don’t even give a darn!
Arabs have a shorter fuse then I do! Hard to believe but very true!
ot you wanna talk about the male beauty contest in baghdad again? LOL...
Interesting New York Times blog post concerning the new mood (post Iraqi Army invasion) in Basra, observed by a visiting Iraqi.
HT : TG
Lying Low in Mosul
excerpts:
[Here’s the western media’s brand-new dodge when trying to explain why the Iraqi Army is winning across the country: the insurgents, whether Sunni or Shia, are lying low.
[snip]
But it seems that journalists too are adopting these alleged insurgent tactics: the Iraqi Army’s operation in Mosul is basically being ignored. In a sense, reporters are also lying low for fear that their false narratives would unravel.
[snip]
Maliki has been in Mosul supervising the operation together with his war cabinet just as he did in Basra, and by all accounts things are going very well. I was told by a source there that a new breed of jihadist was captured in the operation: a female ‘emira’ [commander] who heads a terrorist unit comprised of her sons!]
the MSM get Iraq wrong?? nah, they're just being 'sensitive'.. ironically, it's in consideration of themselves & Iraq's enemy!!
==
Valerie | 05.17.08 - 6:53 am |
well i tried to read it, but it's so chock full of crap, i
could almost smell the rancid odor of propaganda..
bg | 05.14.08 - 4:11 am |
excerpt:
[More broadly, officials insist that the Pentagon rewards programs have paid off in Iraq. "We've gotten around 400 bad guys rolled up because of this program," Graybeal says. "It's not something we take lightly."]
and lets omit the fact that a lot of intelligence has been gained
from these roll ups.. pertinent details that the US/Iraq are not about to air/broadcast.. which would only lead to opinionated journalistic dissemination.. loose lips & all that jazz..
==
Dems are scrambling to cover their Soros kissin' butts..
Pelosi Makes Surprise Trip to Iraq
-- She Ought to Apologize
excerpt:
[Pelosi was wrong.
Nancy Pelosi led the charge in Congress against the surge.
She said the surge was failing. She said the war was a failure.
She was wrong.
The surge has been a great success.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has seen a 94% drop in attacks and
has resorted to using children for their suicide attacks.]
GP is displaying TG's AQ chart once again.. how long will it be
before the MSM has no choice but to expose their own bias and
Dem failures re: Iraq??
==
Val, I second the importance of the U.S. election to what will happen in Iraq after November. The importance of beating Obama can't be overstated.
I can't help that it is absolutely critical that McCain have a female running mate (there are more women than blacks, and blacks will vote for Obama either way) to offset the giddiness on the Democratic side of electing a minority.
HT : TLWJ (Roggio)
Operation Lion's Roar nets more than 1,000 suspects
excerpts:
[Al Qaeda in Iraq's last major ratline into Syria spans westward from Mosul into Tal Afar and the crossing point at Sinjar. The terror group is waging a brutal campaign to prevent the Iraqi Army and US forces from securing the province and to keep their supply lines to Syria open.]
["There have been some very big fishes caught," Hertling said. Tier 1 operatives are operational leaders. Tier 2 operatives are foreign fighters or weapons facilitators, bomb makers, and cell leaders.]
[To counter the problems with the courts, the Ninewa Operational Command has established a special court. "Detainees will go from brigade to division and then to the NOC [Ninewa Operational Command] instead of the Iraqi Police (the usual route)," Price said. "Maybe, that will make the difference here."]
[The Sahwa, or Awakening, forces in Ninewa are beginning to mobilize in the province. Fawaz al Jarba, the leader of the Mosul Sahwa Council, said more than 11,000 tribal fighters were prepared to assist the security forces during Lion's Roar.]
mixed lot of news RTWT..
==
Valerie | 05.17.08 - 8:53 am |
i know it wasn't addressed to me, but i'd still like to
thank you for a most excellent post Valerie..
Obama should be a major concern to Iraq.. as he is the anti-Iraq
Dems last best HOPE of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory
in their politically inspired quest to acquire power by any means necessary & CHANGE the course of America as a liberating force of the oppressed to one of beholden dhimmitude..
==
House speaker meets Pelosi, expresses concern over U.S. forces pullout
[“I reminded her of the moral duty of the U.S. toward Iraq, to maintain the democracy it initiated in the country..."]
RTWT (it's short)
Iraq's football youth team lineup announced ahead of Japanese championship
Oh, yeah, Harry and Nancy, Iraq is nothing but chaos...
VDH on Obama Rules. Hypocrisy, thy name is Hussein.
Kafir,
Nancy Pelosi doesn't give a rat's butt about Iraq. All she cares about is sucking up to the moonbat leftist fringe of her party and seeing George Bush humiliated. The fact that she is currently one of the Dems' highest two elected officials in the land should tell you all you need to know about today's Democratic Party and how low it's sunk.
Kafir | 05.17.08 - 5:52 pm |
here's the same & a little bit more..
HT : GP
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Lectures Pelosi
excerpt:
[For his part, al-Maliki, according to the statement, stressed that the measures taken by the government to hunt down “terrorists and outlaws has for the first time received full support from all political forces and parties in addition to tribes and clerics.”]
==
their "unconditional" support for this Marxist
puppet goes way beyond the pale of rational..
Obama Listed as One of Nation's Fittest Guys
yes, there is no length they won't go
to to crown their mythical messiah..
==
oh i just can't help laughing..
Pelosi Gets Quiet Reaction in Iraq
excerpt:
[Pelosi is something of a nonentity to average Iraqis. If they know who she is at all, she is generally seen as an antiwar caricature figure, someone whose views on U.S. troop withdrawals are widely considered unrealistic. Pelosi has said she wants to see most U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the 2008, a time frame virtually no Iraqi political leader sees as feasible. Not even Mahdi Army militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercest advocate of a U.S. withdrawal on the scene, has called for such a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces. Rather, Sadr contends that the Americans should simply announce a reasonable timetable for the departure of U.S. forces.
The lack of popularity of Pelosi's views was evident in the fact that her first day on the ground Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not make an effort to see her. Maliki is currently in the northern city of Mosul overseeing a crackdown on insurgent networks there. But the city has been largely quiet in recent days, and there was no obvious pressing reason for the prime minister to skip Pelosi's arrival.]
of course they still try to make her look good
via tossing in a little Rice to spice her up..
Earth to TIME (CNN): it doesn't work anymore..
==
So long as they identify who it is that murders, Muslims, I'm fine with this.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-we...tay&
link=142136
c'mon, guys, do a little research. Who's been killing the Muslims? Who has killed more Muslims that the US ever dreamed of? Who has killed more Muslims than the Israelis? Do the research. Count them up. Please.
Who has been killing the Iraqi Muslims?
Who has attacked Jordanian Muslims? Indonesian Muslims?
Pakastani Muslims?
Think it over. Please. The answer is important.
no need for Pelosi to worry about her visit lacking
sensationalism.. her buds are working on that..
Iranians on way to Shiite shrine wounded in attack
excerpt:
[Two of the Iranians were seriously wounded; another Iranian
and an Iraqi suffered minor wounds, a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy said.
"We don't know who did this," said the spokesman, Manoucher Taslimi. "But we know there are many sides in Iraq who do not want good relations between Iran and Iraq."]
of course the US is at fault, go figure..
Iran diplomats wounded in Iraq; US blamed
==
Batman | 05.17.08 - 5:13 pm |
I agree with you. Unfortunately, a lot of Republicans are against the idea of playing the politics of identity (elect me for who I am rather than my policies). I also am against the idea, but since our opponents are playing that game, we should play it as well and show them that we can do better.
Here's where the problem comes in. McCain is a centrist. He needs a strong social conservative as VP to get the base to the polls in N