| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 6:24:40 PM | Imagine political candidates having their children kidnapped and election workers being shot in the streets. Tell me how much good Bush has done, invading with too small a military force to retain order and inventing an excuse to do it.
An international disgrace.
(01-16) 15:32 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --
U.S. troops staged a series of raids in Mosul and elsewhere in northern and central Iraq on Sunday, arresting dozens, while insurgents stepped up their attacks two weeks ahead of national elections, ambushing a car carrying a prominent female candidate and killing 17 people in other assaults.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz conceded that U.S. and Iraqi forces cannot stop "extraordinary" intimidation by insurgents before the Jan. 30 vote.
Underscoring the precarious security situation, Salama al-Khafaji, was ambushed in central Baghdad by gunmen wearing police uniforms, but she escaped injury when her bodyguards returned fire, an aide said. It was the second attempt since May on the life of al-Khafaji, who is running on the favored slate endorsed by the country's main Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have insisted that the elections go ahead as scheduled, despite the persistent violence.
Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer said that if the elections were postponed for six months, there was no guarantee the violence would wane. The insurgents "might lay down for two or three months, then carry out attacks again," he said.
Most of the violence occurred around Kut, southeast of Baghdad, and the northern city of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.
Near Kut, three Iraqi policemen were killed in one shooting and three Iraqi National Guard officers were killed by a hand grenade in another attack. As mourners gathered for the policemen's funeral, a suicide attacker blew himself up in the crowd, killing himself and seven others.
Gunmen also shot dead an Iraqi translator for a Filipino company working on water projects for multinational forces near Kut, a medical official said.
In Mosul, insurgents shot dead a member of a local government council. They also set off explosives as a U.S. convoy passed, damaging a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, but no casualties were immediately reported.
A mortar also damaged a school in Mosul to be used as a polling place. And four other mortar rounds blasted schools in relatively quiet Basra, in the south, also slated to serve as polling centers.
Even in heavily Shiite areas of south-central Iraq, which is far more stable than Mosul or Baghdad, several election workers have been threatened and resigned in recent days, a senior U.S. Embassy official said Sunday in Hillah while outlining election preparations there.
"Most expect a high turnout if things seem quiet enough. There is some worry if you have a series of car bombs, people will think twice about coming," the official said.
Elsewhere in central Baghdad, insurgents attacked an Iraqi National Guard patrol on the east side of the Tigris river, then melted into the crowd in the open market area, sending shoppers running. Sounds of heavy machine-gun and automatic-weapons fire reverberated for nearly an hour along Haifa street on the western side of the river.
Wolfowitz, speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia, acknowledged that the security threat was worse than in last October's nationwide balloting in Afghanistan and that it was impossible to guarantee "absolute security" against the "extraordinary intimidation that the enemy is undertaking."
"There was intimidation in Afghanistan -- the Taliban threatened all kinds of violence against people who registered or people who voted," he said. "But I don't believe they ever got around to shooting election workers in the street or kidnapping the children of political candidates."
An Associated Press poll of Americans indicated 53 percent are not optimistic that a stable government will take hold in Iraq.
Around Mosul, the U.S. Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Team detained 11 suspected insurgents, including an alleged cell leader, and seized weapons and bomb-making material in several weekend raids -- part of the military's strategy to try to secure the city short of launching an all-out offensive.
The Mosul area has emerged as a major flashpoint between U.S. and Iraqi forces and the insurgents, raising fears the election cannot be held in much of the city.
U.S. and Iraqi officials are scrambling to recruit new police and election workers in Mosul after thousands of them resigned in the face of rebel intimidation. Similar mass resignations are believed to have occurred in other Sunni Muslim areas of northern, central and western Iraq.
With hours-long waits at gas stations across the country, the Iraqi government denied what it called "rumors" that the Oil Ministry planned to keep gas supplies low to deter car bombers. The government has indicated it plans to restrict much driving around the election.
But the long gas lines clearly were becoming a sore point.
About 300 followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began a three-day sit-in in front of the Oil Ministry in Baghdad to protest gasoline shortages. About a dozen entered the ministry and complained to Minister Thamir Ghadbhan, asking why U.S. troops have fuel for their vehicles and Iraqis do not.
Meanwhile, the ministry announced that Iraq expects to resume pumping crude oil from its northern oil fields to the Turkish export terminal of Ceyhan in 10 days. The flow of oil through the northern pipeline has halted since a Dec. 18 explosion by saboteurs.
Elsewhere, the body of a man was found in a street in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi with a paper on his back identifying him as an Egyptian citizen.
"This will be the punishment of anyone who deals with American forces," the paper read.
The fallout from an earlier crisis, the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, also continued to reverberate.
Many Iraqis criticized a 10-year prison sentence given to U.S. Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr., the alleged ringleader shown smiling beside naked Iraqi prisoners in photos transmitted around the world.
Hussein Mohammed, a 22-year-old student in Baghdad, called the trial unfair and the sentence too light. "The judge should have been an Iraqi and meted out the death penalty," he said.
In other developments Sunday:
* Saddam Hussein's legal team claimed that it has witnesses willing to testify that the fallen dictator's regime was not responsible for gassing thousands of Kurds in the northern Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988. Chief lawyer Ziad al-Khasawneh didn't identify any of the potential witnesses.
* An armored Humvee flipped over and plunged into a canal in western Baghdad, killing an American soldier, the U.S. command said. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 6:33:04 PM | | Didn't George Bush Sr. give Saddam money to and weapons and train his armies to gas his own people and fight Iran. No weapons of mass destruction. 100,000 Iraq civilians dead. 9 of the hijackers were from Saudi. Why didn't we go after Saudi Arabia? It's all about the oil. and Halliburton. what is it the Mackelvanian Principles (misspelled)Go to Costanzo.org and read Bush's record. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 8:33:25 PM | "Sure did veronica...some people believe Bush's side... can you understand that?????"
And then again some people don't base three political views on a janitor in California | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:23:15 PM | Hey Mauser: *LOL* Good to know you model your political views after your social betters. I dare say you lack the brains to develop your own.  | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:29:22 PM | I'm a conservative from Texas (suprise) and I have to say that I disagree wtih the idea the the war in Iraq is a mess. Hundreds of goals have been accomplished, hundreds of thousands of oppressed people (whom the left is always jumping to defend but in this case isn't for some reason) have been liberated, the over through of tyranical dictator and fascist leader has been carried out, and 3 serious threats to the United States have been either signficantly downsized if not neutralized all together. No sir, I disagree with that entirely.
Nick | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:30:34 PM | I'm a conservative from Texas (suprise) and I have to say that I disagree with the idea that the war in Iraq is a mess. Hundreds of goals have been accomplished, hundreds of thousands of oppressed people (whom the left is always jumping to defend but in this case isn't for some reason) have been liberated, the over through of tyranical dictator and fascist leader has been carried out, and 3 serious threats to the United States have been either signficantly downsized if not neutralized all together. No sir, I disagree with that entirely.
Nick | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:33:53 PM |
And then again some people don't base three political views on a janitor in California
Nothing wrong with being a janitor. Its an honest living. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:46:40 PM | Nick, the candidates running for election in Iraq are STILL unknown,less than 2 weeks before the election; because they know if their names become public, they'll be assassinated. There have been so many Iraqi police and army uniforms stolen that the US doesn't know who's fighting them. We took 20% casualties at Fallujah and then had to quickly move them out to Mosul because the insurgents escaped Fallujah..
Iraq is a total mess.
If you don't understand this, you're just plain ignorant. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:46:55 PM | Maybe everyone has amnesia, but liberating the helpless masses of Iraq was not the reason we went to Iraq. The case was stated plainly that Iraq's WMD's and weapons delivery systems posed an immediate threat to the United States.
In 1988 when those helpless masses were getting gassed by Sadaam, Bush Sr.'s state dept played it down and blamed the Iranians. We had known that Sadaam was using chemical weapons for years, however, we sided and aided Sadaam in his war with Iran so the helpless Iraqis had to take a backseat.
I don't believe young American boys would be lining up to die so that Iraqis can vote. If that's the case, why not send them to Sudan and stop the murder that non-muslims are suffering through right now?
I believe the search for WMDs has been officially called off and of course they turned up nothing. No WMDs. No delivery systems. No plans for a future nuclear program. Even though Colin Powell assured us they were laying out in the desert like a trailer park. Remember the pictures? (You had to be pretty dense to believe that premise to begin with. The UN inspectors had been telling us the same thing for months before the war.)
So, it's nice that Americans are so concerned about Iraqi civilians now. Bush Sr. didn't give two cents about them when our buddy Sadaam was gassing them in 88. And apparently Bush Jr. doesn't really care so much about them either. He's killing thousands of Iraqi civilians including women and children. I guess dropping giant "smart" bombs on densely populated civilian urban centers is what's passing for liberation these days. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 9:57:03 PM | | Absolutely I base any ones political statement against the authors social stature. Whom would you take more seriously the boy working at Walmart or the CEO or CFO of a corporation? As for my own political ideology, most of it was developed in College, while some of it was reinforced since I started working in the manufacturing industry. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:06:45 PM |
Whom would you take more seriously the boy working at Walmart or the CEO or CFO of a corporation?
I don't care about the position. I care about the person's intelligence and common sense. As you get older, you'll realize social stature is no measure of either. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:06:59 PM | You are correct that those running for office would be assassinated. Do you know by whom? By a tiny, however strong, sanction of the dominant religion of the country. We're talking less than 1/100th of a percent of the Islamic people in that country. They have been oppressed for so long, and had their rights violated for so long that they don't know how to fight against these "less than human" terrorists.
You say, "There have been so many Iraqi police and army uniforms stolen that the US doesn't know who's fighting them."
Is this anything new? We fought against this in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia, and now the War on Terror, which includes the BATTLE in Iraq.
I think that some of the people in this country have forgotten the enemy here. Here is a little test...
Let us know how you do...
HISTORY TEST
Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice
test. The events are actual cuts from past history. They actually happened!!!
Do you remember?
-1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by
a. Superman
b. Jay Lenno
c. Harry Potter
d. Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3.During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old
American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6.In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to
rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7.In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9.In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill' s women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10.On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take
out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US
Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers.Thousands of
people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11.In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
Nope, .....I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?
So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent
on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile
certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little
kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members
of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips,
and Medal of Honor winning and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim
Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone because of profiling.
Nick | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:12:58 PM | And Erik, actually in the Bush's speach of September 21st, 2001, he clearly states that we were about to enter a war on terror, not a war over WMD. WMD were merely a small fraction of the things that Iraq "was" contributing to terrorists, along with suicide bomber compensation, training camps for Hezballah, Al-Queda, the PLO and several other terrorist organizations, and working on a "nukular" weapons program which was uncovered a mere week and a half before the invasion of Iraq, which naturally wasn't reported by the biased, liberal, seditious media. 2 truck loads of yellow cake Uranium were intercepted by US troops on the Iraq-Syrian border. What do you have to say to that?
Nick | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:19:55 PM | | Funny, I find a persons intelligence and common sense go hand in hand with occupation. But that could just be me. Myself being a people person and a chatty person at that I have talked to many of the janitors that were in my high school. This along with teachers, professors, the president and vice presidents of my university. Somehow again the people that I trust most have achieved the most in there life. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:26:16 PM | Holy sh*t,bigfunnyguy~This post above isn't even worthy of response,other than for me to point out how prejudiced and narrow-minded you are. Would you like me to make a list of all of the atrocities that "white* male extremists," or "Christian male extremists" have committed throughout history?What an ignorant post...or ignorant website that you copied and pasted from. That was just ,...well...stupid.BZZZZZZZZZZZ... try again! | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:26:19 PM | "mauser: I think I'd take anyone else's opinion over yours. You are a champion of bumbleheadedness, ignorance and mediocrity. :-D"
Awww. That's what i like to see! :) the liberals break down into insults when someone has the balls to disagree with them. Very convincing argument. Of course, you don't have the courage to print the WHOLE truth. In southern Iraq, candidates are VERY visible with TV ads, and posters. it's in the sh*tholes of Fallujah and others where the dictator Saddam still has groupies, that people are still afraid. It's this fear that you wanted to still remain over ALL of Iraq today. You don't care about the people of Iraq. You just wanna feel like you're doing something. | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:31:31 PM | | mauser~ If you equate a person's intelligence with their profession, how would you explain the fact that in poll after poll college/University professors overwhelmingly were against the war, and were anti-Bush? | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:38:07 PM | Rhiannon, I'm not making excuses fo the attrocities of the white chirstian males. I wasn't alive then, nor where you, and we can't change the past. All I'm saying is that the TINY sanction of radical Islam that is KILLING PEOPLE BY THE THOUSANDS needs to be put in check.
Nick | |
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| This is how Bush's Iraq mess is shaping up
Posted: 1/16/2005 10:39:43 PM |
Funny, I find a persons intelligence and common sense go hand in hand with occupation.
As I said, as you get older, you'll realize this is a misconception. | |
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