Comments on: U.S. Fails To Curb Baghdad Violence

Attacks Up 22% During Ramadan Despite U.S.-Iraqi Efforts

[buddug55]

Iraq doesn't have anything to do with Al Queda's attack on 9-11. Hasn't anyone been reading the news. Most government officials have admitted that there is no proof of a link between Sadam Hussein and Al Queda. Wouldn't it be great if the President was honest and admitted to us why we are really over there. Since my son is serving in Iraq right now, it would be really nice to find out what he's risking his life for.

[chicatibu]

President Bush hasn%u2019t gotten our troops into anything they are all volunteers who happen to believe being in Iraq and Afghanistan keeps their families and friend much safer than following the liberal plan of surrender and capitulation.
Stupid people say stupid things then beg for protection when the terrorists show up at their door. How many of the 3,000 plus who died in the 9/11 attacks would condemn George Bush for being in Iraq today if they had the opportunity. God knows, I know and the victims of 9/11 know it was only a matter of time before Saddam Hussein joined Al Qaeda in the fight against the infidel.

[exusmcsgt]

laurieleemoo-

You call yourself "one of the few sane" who post on this site yet say that we who dissent "have the blood of the Iraqi's and our american soldiers on their hands".

That's real sane, alright......

[diamtool]

George Bush has gotten our troops into such a mess in Iraq that he should resign or at least fire rumsfield. he is obviously incapable of cleaning up his own mess. what ever happened to the days when republicans were dead set against "nation building" and insisted on "exit strategy" before you went in. what happened to the doctrine of "overwhelming force" that worked in Kuwait? now we are in so deep in iraq that we can't beat Osama in Afgahanistan which we must do and should have been a no brainer. osama must think he is doing pretty good so far.
heckuva job georgie!

God Bless our Troops
God forgive George Bush

[laurieleemoo]

YOU GO BMALLEN-----its so nice to actually have a SANE person on this site----we are so few and far between. As far as I am concerned all these Bush Haters have the blood of the Iraqi's and our american soldiers on their hands. These terrorists hated us LONG before President Bush came along. I have noticed that since they have started their HATE CAMPAIGN against our President (a few years ago), the insurgent attacks have picked up in pace greatly. The Bush Haters of the world just feed off of the Bush Haters and they have actually given the insurgents a CAUSE. Everytime these people open their mouths---an insurgent kills another iraqi or american soldier. Of course, you will never find one of them taking responsibility for this---they can not even take responsibility for their own lives. Democrats seem to blame the government for all their problems if life---does not matter what it is.

[ralphj53]

October 19, 2006

Hello;

I don't INTEND on critizising our government about IRAQ... but it seems like this government is on a ship that is SLOWLY sinking, but they will STAY the COURSE and sink along with this ship, ... IF ONLY to prove themselves RIGHT... yea, DEAD RIGHT.

And so, every night, before I go to bed... I say a PRAYER for America and IRAQ.

I'd like to think everything's going to turn out all right.

But the facts and REALITY don't bring this out.

And so, I CONTINUE to read about our American soldiers getting blown up with IEDS', getting shot at... and LOSING this war.

By the way... just WHO is the ENEMY anyway?

Clue me... I haven't the FOGGIEST.

Thanks,
ralphj53

[tejasdemo]

Are Bush and Cheney the most unfriendliest looking people in Washington or what ?

[clestes-2009]

BMALLEN3 you must military or ex-military. You sound like one and Gods knows I have heard enough of them. I am convinced that military service makes people paranoid and they forever after their service think someone is out to get them.

First off, wake up. The world has changed more in the last 25 years than you realize. Does the word global mean anything to you?? No longer can ANY country go it alone. The UN is not a useless organization, and it would accomplish a lot more if the Bush admin didn't act like it was just something that interfered with their plans of raping the middle east oil fields.

The middle east has a long history of warfare. It is populated by desert tribes who have a different, though not necessarily better or worse, outlook. We have no business interfering in their political affairs. As far as Iran goes, you probably didn't meet any people other than the ones that made money off you.

Do you deny that the CIA staged the coup in 1953? How would you feel if Canada staged a coup here and deposed Bush and replaced him with someone who was a brutal dictator to the US people. Someone who sold all our natural resources to Canada and made *** sure none of the resulting money was spent on healthcare or education. That there were Canadian soldiers that did what they pleased and you were powerless to prevent it except by personal violence.

Somehow I don't think you would like it much.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

In 1969, a year after tet we began withdrawing marines form bases in northern I Corps on the DMZ, Firebase Sally is one that comes to mind. The withdrawal was quick and orderly with no interference from the NVA. The 101st Airborne and 5th Mechanized Infantry were in the area and there was a sudden, dramatic reduction in enemy contacts. What had been an area of fierce fighting (including the Ashau Valley), changed overnight to one of calm. Why? The NVA were smart enough to permit the unmolested withdrawal of troops without rocking the boat. The point is this: if the insurgency in Iraq sees American forces packing up and leaving while secret diplomatic talks assure the insurgents that we really intend on leaving, it would not be in their interests to interfere by attacking US forces. The Iraqi forces would have to stand up as we stood down and shipped out. We know they would probably fail on their own as the South Vietnamese forces did in 1973 when the North Vietnamese routed those forces in a few weeks, but its either that or stay the course for another decade only to throw in the towel then. There are bigger problems in the world for us to grapple with.

[radiob-2009]

To everyone there are numerous individuals who post here and just slam the other party instead of offering solutions.When lives are on the line regardless if they are our soldiers or Iraqi civilians it is in poor taste to just attack the other party.So ignore all those individuals who only want to make their team sound like the only team with answers but yet they provide none.After reading numerous articles about Iraq,listening to what the current and ex generals have to say alon with the N.I.E report and various others have come to a conclusion that partsof the Iraqi goverment,military and police are working against the democracy they formed and against us.Until we play hardball with the Iraqi goverment to cleanse itself of these factors we will be lost in a quagmire.

[jn4ggs]

thank god we accomplished that mission over 3 years ago, that would have been a nightmare.

i think its clear that Iraq is blowing up and our troops arent doing much good being there. its so tempting to stay the course and fight the good fight but at some point you have to take reality into account. unless we are willing to drastically increase our level of commitment in iraq we need to start to pull out.

the only way iraq is going to be stable is under a strong arm dictator. there are just too many parties trying for a power grab and noone has enough political capital to do anything but murder people.

congrats alquida, you completly f'd the iraqi people because you hate america. you will never accomplish anything like progress or stability, you wont even defeat your enemies. the only thing you can get done is murder civilians and guarantee that the arab people will suffer for generations. once we seperate ourselves from you economically we can contain you *** storm and leave you to your own devices.

its not the ideal situation but its reality, if people want to kill each other there is nothing we can do about it. well be waiting with open arm if you ever want to join the rest of the world where difference and comprimise is not seen as wicknedness and weakness. until then we should have as little to do with these people as possible.

[tomflint69]

A few people go completely wrong when they consider soldiers like "robots".
They dont care for human lives.
Soldiers are humans and they have their children and parents. Whwnever a soldier is killed, a human is killed. We need to accept it.

[bluestardad]

Remember to Vote Republican and get a free gift, Mr. Foley%u2019s %u201CSoap on a Rope%u201D guaranteed to help you achieve Mission Accomplished, especially made for those of you who are having trouble Staying the Course.

Special Note: This product will be discretely delivered in plain brown paper wrapping complete with plausible deniability and I do not recall disclaimer instructions.

[osidebear]

Gee, Mr.BMALLEN3, can I sit on your lap and have you teach me more?

If you would stop condescending just briefly, it might surprise you to know that others might also have some knowledge of WW II. You on the other hand, with a rather pronounced myopia, seem stuck on the idea that Kim Jong il = Hitler.
It just isn't so.

[clestes-2009]

Oh, and one last thing I would do is change American foreign policy. Our foreign policy of interfering in other countries political affairs is why we are so hated. It has nothing to do with our freedoms, it has to do with the fact the CIA stages coup.

In Iran in 1953 the CIA overthrew the democratically elected prime minister and installed the Shah. Then they built an army base there and propped him up for 28 years.

All that kind of stuff is what causes the hatred of America. You might want to believe it is because we are envied as Americans. Not true. It is because we interfere in other countries business.

Did you know we are the only country to have army bases in foreign countries. No other country in the world goes into another and builds army bases and stations troops there. If Canada or Mexica decided to build an army base in your state and put several thousand troops there, would you be happy about it? I doubt it.

[stevex47]

Ouch this hurts, doesn't it republinazi's:

The Republican source said Trandahl planned to name Ted Van Der Meid, the speaker's counsel and floor manager, as the person who was briefed on a regular basis about any issue that arose in the page program, including a "problem group of members and staff who spent too much time socializing with pages outside of official duties." One of whom was Mark Foley.

I'm convinced all republinazi's are gay pedophiles. I knew this went deeper. Let's spend lots of time and money finding them all. You do stand for morals don't you republinazi's?

But vote the way you want. Stay the course.

Try this:

CHENEY: "I expressed the sentiment some time ago that I thought we were over the hump in terms of violence, I think that was premature."

Kinda like "Mission Accomplished" there ***? Oh and you and your pedophile buddies may want to refrain from the word premature.

[gdmoore2]

Talking is not necessarily negotiation. It never hurts to listen, if only to keep a direct channel open. Talking helps maintain personal contacts. Listening builds unexpected bridges. And if you are a smart listener, you always learn more than what is simply spoken. For example, you never know when a regime is going to suddenly destabilize, or when an out-of-band opportunity may present itself. Talking and listening are not weakness - they are 'learning.'

Second, diplomacy is progressive, and there is no such thing as negative data. Learning what does not work helps us progressively find what does work. The blame game underway is election bombast. Ignore it.

Last, you are beating the Neville Chamberlain analogy to death. If you are the master of WWII that you claim to be, then you will know the role that personal contacts, developed from contacts established prior to the war, played in bringing that war to an end.

[clestes-2009]

Thanks for asking. I didn't think you wanted to hear anything other than yourself.

First of all, I would start GRADUALLY withdrawing forces from Iraq. According to the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) the US presence in Iraq is fueling the anti-America feeling amoung muslims, espcially young ones and it is from that pool of people that the terrorist leaders are able to recruit new soldiers.

I would immediately contact our allies at the UN and assure them that the go it alone approach was off the table and from now on we would work with our allies and not ignore them or their very vaulable suggestions. Bush was told by foreign middle easter ambassadors (both US and other countries), Muslim world leaders and James Baker himself (I caught him on Sunday morning with George Stepanopolous) that going into Iraq the way he did would bring about this result.

I would allow the UN Atomic task force to do their job. (They told Bush that Saddam had no WMD and they were right) I would not second guess them. They know what they are doing.

I would stand with the UN and not undercut them when they are dealing with recalcitrant countries like Iran and N. Korea.

I would focus my energies on pulling the US balance sheet back into balance by raising taxes on the wealthy and espcially big corps.

I have lots of ideas of what I would if I could.

[osidebear]

I guess your solution would have been war with North Korea. Fantastic.

The bottom line is that NOT talking to the "madman" (where'd you get your psychiatric credentials, by the way?) is what has gotten us to this point. Who knows where a policy of constructive engagement might have gotten us?

That's right, we'll never know because North Korea has the bomb. And George W. was our president when that happened. Another feather in his cap....

[shingles1]

Obsidianwings (the voice of moderation) did a nice round up about these issues (the N. Korean situation and the BLAME for it).

See obsidianwings.blogs.com, the October 10th posting Do You Feel Safer Now?