Reality bites
The new US Military Commander in the Middle East, Adm. William Fallon, in his confirmation hearings before Congress, gave a new and more realistic assessment of the true situation in Iraq. He agreed that Iraq was more destabilized than before and that the idea of having an effective democratic government under the present circumstances needed to be "redefined." There was no more of the optimistic "success" projections that have routinely come from Pres. Bush, VP Cheney and their aides. Even with the 20,000 extra "surge" of military, he admitted that the defense of Baghdad is hardly possible.
New Congressional speaker Nancy Pelosi has also just visited Iraq with a delegation. On her return she said that they looked for evidence that the US strategy in Iraq is working, but could find none. Maybe she is a little biased, but I believe her when she says that she regretted this very much. Everyone would like to think that the US could work wonders in Iraq, but it just ain't possible. The surge of troops is a last ditch effort to show that the US tried everything possible to get the Iraqi Government going, but it simply won't work.
There was also an audit by the US Govt. Inspector for aid to Iraq of the reconstruction program that has been underway there. He concluded that billions of dollars from the b$300 that have been spent so far have been mis-spent from waste and corruption. He concluded that it is impossible to function in a lawless environment, where people are afraid to go to work and random killings are happening all the time. He cited examples of buildings constructed, and then left empty beceause noone was assigned to work there, or people were afraid to expose themselves to the danger. At the same time Bush is asking Congress to provide a further b$2 for reconstruction aid!
In Kerbala, just before the special Shia festival of Ashura, commemorating the defeat of Imam Hussein's forces there by those of the Caliph in 680 ce, there was a massive attack by ca. 200 terrorists. At least 50 people were killed in the ensuing fighting between the unidentified attackers and the US and Iraqi Govt. forces. It turns out that this was a new extremist Shia group that believes, incredibly, that upon the death of all the current Shia leadership, the Mahdi (Messiah) will come. This idea of the Messiah is one that the Muslims took from the Jews, and they were ready to kill every Shia leader in order to bring about the coming of their Messiah, the 12th Imam. I always said that religion is crazy, or at least irrational. If anyone has watched the Shia "celebrate" Ashura, cutting their heads and whipping their backs with flails, and bleeding profusely, then you know what I mean. How can anyone expect to combine sober democratic governance with this?
New Congressional speaker Nancy Pelosi has also just visited Iraq with a delegation. On her return she said that they looked for evidence that the US strategy in Iraq is working, but could find none. Maybe she is a little biased, but I believe her when she says that she regretted this very much. Everyone would like to think that the US could work wonders in Iraq, but it just ain't possible. The surge of troops is a last ditch effort to show that the US tried everything possible to get the Iraqi Government going, but it simply won't work.
There was also an audit by the US Govt. Inspector for aid to Iraq of the reconstruction program that has been underway there. He concluded that billions of dollars from the b$300 that have been spent so far have been mis-spent from waste and corruption. He concluded that it is impossible to function in a lawless environment, where people are afraid to go to work and random killings are happening all the time. He cited examples of buildings constructed, and then left empty beceause noone was assigned to work there, or people were afraid to expose themselves to the danger. At the same time Bush is asking Congress to provide a further b$2 for reconstruction aid!
In Kerbala, just before the special Shia festival of Ashura, commemorating the defeat of Imam Hussein's forces there by those of the Caliph in 680 ce, there was a massive attack by ca. 200 terrorists. At least 50 people were killed in the ensuing fighting between the unidentified attackers and the US and Iraqi Govt. forces. It turns out that this was a new extremist Shia group that believes, incredibly, that upon the death of all the current Shia leadership, the Mahdi (Messiah) will come. This idea of the Messiah is one that the Muslims took from the Jews, and they were ready to kill every Shia leader in order to bring about the coming of their Messiah, the 12th Imam. I always said that religion is crazy, or at least irrational. If anyone has watched the Shia "celebrate" Ashura, cutting their heads and whipping their backs with flails, and bleeding profusely, then you know what I mean. How can anyone expect to combine sober democratic governance with this?
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:56 PM
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