Not sure if this has been posted yet, this article just made me wonder more than ever how many in even the Iraq military are simply going along with orders either waiting for us to withdraw, or the opportunity to attack. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22514279/
How many more must die before we bring our guys home, why wont the media listen to the american people. Doesnt our voice count for anything anymore. Our soldiers are dieing out there for what??????????
I think it should be whose sides rather than side 1. Al Qaeda 2. Shiites 3. Sunnis 4. Kurds 5. Nationalistic Iraqis 6. Misc Terrorist Groups There should be a few more to add.
I was going to post about Iraq....but with regard to this guy and others....they gotta find the guy and question him to find out what happened and where this Iraqi soldier was coming from and if he was part of some "group" in Iraq that could represent any kind of entity whether they are sunni al-queda in Iraq types, a guy on his own, part of some shiite group, part of some locals who simply hate Americans or whatever. As to Iraq....Grim's question is as good as any. Currently we are still in Iraq with a unending vision as to the length and breadth of our involvement. Overall violence is down against Americans. I suspect overall violence is down against Iraqi's...but I don't know for sure. I am unaware of any advancement from the Iraqi govt with regard to any of the aspects of solidifying their country and establishing forward progress with regard to satisfying the Sunni, Shiite and, Kurdish elements. As we all know the administration's stated reason for the "surge" was to give the Iraqi govt. breathing room and time to make decisions with regard to establishing a govt that incorporated and shared on some basis responsabilities and benefits among Kurds, Sunni's and Shiites. NO PROGRESS as far as I'm aware. In fact one element that has surfaced recently is that up to 70,000 young Sunni's were armed and supported by the US govt with regard to allying to fight Al Queda in Iraq. To date the central Iraqi govt is not taking aggressive actions to merge these people into their military or police, is not aggressively working to get them jobs, etc. Its a potential problem that could bring the country back to where it is....unemployed armed sunni's joining with rebel forces, in part just to get paid. The arms they got from the US could be turned back on the US. It happened before. There is a deep understanding that current lowered levels of violence provide no guarantees. Iran could spur shiitees to up the level of violence against US and sunni elements. Al Sadr's forces which have basically been quiet for a year (starting when the US announced its "surge" but before the US started increasing force levels) could become active and dangerous at any time. Armed Sunni's could start to reattack US forces and/or start disrupting the govt and shiite elements at any time. There are no guarantees at any point. So where do we go. Personnally I'd rather we start incorporating and pushing the Biden approach which was to move Iraq into a loose federation with separate elements and parts of the nation.....and start to remove our forces. We are spending somewhere between $10-12billion/month in Iraq right now. There is no sign of that amt dropping. Our military has been bogged in a setting wherein we have had to rely dramatically on Reserves and National Guard to a degree we hadn't in the past. We are relying on armed mercenary guards for protection. That is something the US had NEVER done in the past. The long term war has not overextended the US military....it has gone beyond that. We have reinvented our defense forces in a way where we have to depend on mercenaries who are uncontrolled. What do you think?
I see great logic in your posts My point even though I didn't state it, it's pretty obvious that there is no true 'side' the Iraqi military is infiltrated by those who wish to do us harm as well as other sects in Iraq. This was just another point illustrating that fact, it is not a true military as in the sense of unity for the same goal. At least not to the extent as the US military is. Possibly the rush to build the military over there has come at a huge cost, being destroyed from the inside is much easier than from the outside. Kind of like a cancer, don't you think? Forget the phrase in bold, I wouldn't expect you to
Approximately 90 military members (not all active duty) out of 2.2 million supported ron paul most recently. Not saying much, when the numbers are looked at objectively. Of course, not everyone is "objective." Now, given that many of ron paul's supporters are anti-military, but want to show that the military support ron paul (no matter how), the next round of donations to his campaign released, will probably show a lot more military member's support. After all, when you make a donation, all you have to do is put down "military."
There is a percentage of muslims that may 'pop off' at any time due to extremist influences. A MUSLIM US Army sergeant basically did the same thing and has been sentenced to death. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1591381,00.html
I was waiting for someone to bring that up There however have been several cases of this in the past on the Iraq side.
I like Joe Biden a little, but I don't like his plan. American policy makers can't even run this country properly, they certainly cannot decide how a foreign nation should be organized socially. The secular Iraq of today only came to be after WWI, when the League of Nations put the power of design in the hands of the British. That's true. Because if we were going to be objective, we would compare that to the total number of active duty donors, not the total number of active duty troops, donors or not. Very few supporters are anti-military. We're anti-bad foreign policy. Your statement reads like an intentional misrepresentation. I think it will show a lot more military support, because Dr. Paul is the candidate the military most wants for Commander-in-Chief. Over 400 veteran endorsements and counting! http://people.ronpaul2008.com/endorsements/category/veterans/ ------------------------
Ask all you want. You won't ever get an answer anyone can be sure of. If the US had been invaded, and the invaders were attacked, who would tell the truth to the invading forces? If you got stuck being questioned you would either refuse to talk, or you would make up some stuff to confuse them. Bottom line, our soldiers were attacked because they were in Iraq.
Your analysis of the present situation was very good. I agreee with you. The situation is volatile, and teh whole region may go up in flames any time. The best thing that can be done is integration of armed Sunni groups in government. That'd make sure they do not rebel again. National Reconciliation and integration is the best route for long-term stability. USA is in charge of Iraq now, and they should push the Iraqi government to accomplish integration of Sunnis. Mahdi Army of Al-Sadr won't do anything without Iranian approval.
The media? They have no say in anything...hell they don't even need to leave their offices to report the one sided garbage they report. They report for ratings A.K.A. Dollars. As for our government listening to the people...they only imply caring about our opinion during election season. God bless the soldiers and families afflicted and persecuted by the political games of our world. May the people stand firm behind you for morale and support irregardless of their political beliefs and opinions.