Anyone seen all that oil we were in this for?

General Petraeus thinks the Iraqi gov’t is working hard under difficult circumstances

Jason on November 16, 2007 at 2:03 AM

lol.
If he really thinks that he needs to send that mem to Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno.

#1 – We’re not favoring SCIRI over Sadr, that’s simply fabricated from whole clothe.
#2 – The WaPo took the statements out of context and cherry-picked them to create a story. Why believe they are accurately representing anything close to reality? General Petraeus thinks the Iraqi gov’t is working hard under difficult circumstances, and they are spending billions of oil money on hundreds of reconstruction projects all across the country.

It’s frustrating to see media outlets report “It would be nice if things were better” as if it were news. The WaPo is simply pushing the false narrative that political progress is weak to avoid reporting the real progress on security, progress they said would never come. This will be swept down the memory hole once political progress – which is only becoming possible now that security is in hand – advances further.

The WaPo article about the military’s frustration with Maliki doesn’t mention any plans to remove him but those rumors have swirled for months, with the argument against doing so being that things were too unstable to try to install a new government on top of it. That excuse is less persuasive now and there are already stirrings in Congress on the Republican side to try to nudge Bush into action. The GOP can’t afford to let Maliki ride this incipient momentum down to disaster, and they certainly can’t afford to be seen as sitting by while he does so.

Well said AP. Maliki is NOT the guy. Even if he WERE the guy, the value of a democracy is how transfer of power is done peacefully. So to test the strength of a democracy you must first have a peaceful transfer of power.

Maliki is ‘Bush’s guy’. We all know what that means ‘Brownie’. Bush is loyal, that is good. But Iraq needs new elections with greater Sunni representation. If Maliki gets elected again, so be it. If not, then a better LEADER will emerge for the Iraqi people and Bush is going to have to let ‘his guy’ go.

Iraq needs new elections to solidify the new government. Without a peaceful transfer of power (as just happened again with a yawn in the USA giving Pelosi the gavel – it is still amazing how civil our country is though we disagree vehemently), democracy means nothing.

US backing the wrong Shi’ite horse
By Reidar Visser

For some time, analysts have suggested that the George W Bush administration’s “troop surge” strategy may have achieved a measure of success in certain parts of Iraq. Many highlight the tendency on the part of local tribes in the Sunni-dominated areas to stand up against al-Qaeda, in that way emphasizing their own “Iraqiness” as well as their unwillingness to join in an all-out war against Western civilization.

Attacks against US forces have declined in many of these areas, and there are signs that al-Qaeda has been forced to relocate to new areas and to choose new targets.

————–

The principal aim would be to create a counterbalance against the extreme pro-Iranian factions inside, such as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and its Badr Brigades – organizations that since 2003 have obtained a disproportionate degree of formal political power in the Iraqi political system and are using their roles in the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to consolidate their positions further.

There are many groups in the south with a long record of hostility to Iran, above all the various Sadrist factions such as Fadhila and the “mainline” followers of Muqtada al-Sadr (some of whom have even served sentences in Iranian prisons). There are also independent Shi’ite tribal groups that are fiercely proud of their Arab heritage. These groups also distinguish themselves from the SIIC by maintaining that any clerical rule in Iraq should be under the principle of wilayat al-faqih (the rule of the jurisprudent) dictated by Iraqi clerics, not Iranian ones.

————–

Ironically, long-standing enemies of Iran like the Fadhila party are now feeling so isolated that they see no other recourse than to upgrade contacts with their erstwhile foes in Tehran – if only tentatively. The apparent US rationale for this is the idea that the Sadrist Mahdi Army somehow constitutes their worst enemy in Iraq, and that some Mahdi Army factions are even being supplied with arms from Tehran.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II21Ak01.html

You can’t get there from here.
– New York City cab driver Pepperidge Farms Mohammad

MB4 on November 15, 2007 at 7:23 PM

Kini on November 15, 2007 at 7:30 PM

This an opportunity for the provinces to step up appoint leaders, dare I say statesman, to leadership roles. At the same time these local leaders should be preparing for election so they can go to Baghdad and form a real government.

The U.S. should be using this time to gin up a “throw the bums out mentality” to get rid of the old school corruption, and sloth in Baghdad, then replace it with real leadership in the next elections.

I would rather the people throw them out then being placated and a corrupt tenous ally remains in Baghdad.

This is not “bad” news, just another opportunity to move forward.

But this strategy means little if we cannot get the power on. If we can the message can get out to the masses, and the people can see local leaders taking charge and providing basic services prior to elections.

You can’t get there from here.
- New York City cab driver Pepperidge Farms

MB4 on November 15, 2007 at 7:23 PM

BL@KBIRD on November 15, 2007 at 7:15 PM

Tell that to the Turks

bnelson44 on November 15, 2007 at 7:20 PM

And then get the Turks to tell that to the Armenians and the Kurds.

U.S. begs Iraqi government to seize the moment before it passes

You can’t get there from here.
- New York City cab driver

Tell that to the Turks