Just what is it that the United States will win at the end of this prolonged and excruciating experiment in democratic imperialism in Iraq? We haven't restored basic services to Baghdad, nor can we protect the citizens of the city from themselves (or apparently train Iraqis to do it, either). Yet,... Sign in to see full entry.
The Commander-In-Chief of the military forces of the United States stated the above words today. Gone are the words "victory" and "win." Remember those? Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday and a gathering of Congressional members that there is... Sign in to see full entry.
My last post (on June 26) related the surging "surges" on the part of every faction in Iraq. Since then, 42 Americans have been killed and an untold and unknowable amount of Iraqi civilians, Iraqi soldiers, insurgents, militiamen, fedayeen, mujahideen, al Qaeda operatives, other terrorists, and... Sign in to see full entry.
CNN's Michael Ware, a reporter that has been in Iraq since the war began, reported that surges are being conducted across the board in Iraq. Not only did the U.S. send the last of its "surge" troops into Iraq a couple weeks back, but, according to Ware, everybody is "surging" in Iraq. Al Qaeda, the... Sign in to see full entry.
A man walked into the Monsur Hotel in Baghdad, the meeting place for the Political Reconcilation with various tribal leaders, and detonated the bomb he had strapped to his body. Twelve were killed, including seven sheiks, five of them Sunnis from al Anbar province. The hotel is blocks away from the... Sign in to see full entry.
There it is. I'm sure that the title of this post is probably one of the few truisms about the American fiasco in Iraq. Another seven American troops were reported killed today. Let's see. What happened this past week? Another mosque was blown to hell. Hundreds of Iraqis were killed throughout Iraq.... Sign in to see full entry.
General David Petraeus, the lead commander in Iraq, admitted today that only 40% of Baghdad was under control of American and Iraqi government forces. This admission came as military forces attacked two al-Qaeda suspected strongholds in Baghdad. Baghdad has been under lockdown since the Akiraya... Sign in to see full entry.
If the situation in Iraq wasn't already bleak enough, the second bombing of the Askiraya mosque in Samarra yesterday did nothing to help. The only thing left of the holy shrine is a small watchtower. It is hideous what these people did to such a lovely place. Fifteen people so far have been... Sign in to see full entry.
Some moron in the Bush administration stated that of course there were more American troop casualties in Iraq -- there are more American troops in Iraq (roughly 150,000). What? What kind of dumbass logic is that? Just because there are more targets for the insurgents, terrorists, militiamen, and... Sign in to see full entry.
It is a continuing atrocity that our occupation of Iraq after the invasion has been so mismanaged. The one saving grace is that the enemy, in all its varied forms, has been even more disorganized. Ten of our troops were killed on Memorial Day. If the insurgents and al Qaeda were better organized,... Sign in to see full entry.