US Iraq strategy 'no longer achievable'

[CHIMO]

Iraqi hostility towards the American-led "occupation" means that Washington can no longer achieve its pre-war goals, according to a new report.

The International Crisis Group (IGC), a conflict resolution organisation, said on Wednesday that Iraqi confidence in the US "is in freefall".

Soaring resentment feeds anti-US violence, making the transition process a source of, not the solution to, the US's legitimacy deficit, said the Brussels-based group.

"Washington has to realise - you occupy the Iraq you have, not the Iraq you might wish to have later," said Robert Malley, director of the IGC's Middle East/North Africa Programme.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EDF35F2E-3E4B-46E7-AED7-EE00BFB19EF7.htm

[MSgt213]

1. That's a good one the Iraq you have not the one you wish to have

[gratuitous]

2. Sounds like Rumsfeld's cute little sound bite

Is going to bite him in his pasty white rump-ah over and over again, doesn't it? Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. No shit, Sherlock.

A lot of us have been saying this for a long time.

[0007]

4. "The Turning Point" A Dynamite read

http://www.progressives.org.uk/magazine/default.asp?action=magazine&articleid=833

[TahitiNut]

5. Actually, the Regime *IS* achieving its pre-war goals.

They just don't happen to have a damned thing to do with 'democracy,' 'freedom,' or 'liberty' and never have.

[Mandate My Ass]

7. You nailed it

and stuck the landing too.

Same thing with the economy, unemployment, the shrinking value of the dollar, checks and balances, national security, job creation, deregulation, poverty relief, corporate oversight, environmental policy etc. etc. etc.

[TahitiNut]

12. ;-))

[Mandate My Ass]

14. Aw, you look so cute in that pic

Leotards become you!

[SoCalDem]

6. It never WAS achievable.. not since Day One

People, ANY people will rebel against an intruder, no matter how noble his intentions.

As bad as saddam was,apparently the Iraqi people were not yet ready to toss him out. Democracy is NOT the norm in most places on earth, so why would anyone expect to see Iraqis yearning for democracy? They could have been wooed to see things our way, IF we had hired every male in Iraqi cities (15-45) and paid them a bit more than saddam had paid them. (It would have been a bargain for us too). Those men would have happily taken up trowel, broom, shovel whatever, and started busily repairing their torn up country, with American & other money donated for the "cause"..

Once they had rebuilt their own country, they would have been less willing to kill the people who helped them and financed it...and they might just have been ready to accept a more democratic form of government.. but consideriing the mess we have made of things, there is no way we can "help" them much more..

The bottom line is this..

Their society is THOUSANDS of years old, and it;s a patriarchal society that values women as child-bearers and home-makers..Saddam actually afforded women more "freedom" than most middle eastern leaders..

The radical Islamic government that we have undoubtedly unleashed on them will be a carbon copy of Iran..

We have broken what little they had, as a country, and we will never been seen as anything more than oil-hungry interlopers.

[Demeter]

17. If Only The Intentions Had Been "NOBLE"

we would be apologising and heading home, tails between legs, and prosecuting the war criminals among us...

[Cooley Hurd]

23. Our actions of '90-'91 also a factor...

We bombed the crap out of them (with DU shells, no less), massacred tens of thousands of troops (many who were trying to surrender) and left much of their country in ruin.:grr:

Can't say I blame their mistrust in us...

[RuleofLaw]

27. The funny thing is

that in many democracies, people still long for a "strong Man" to lead them. Just look at the US. People voted for the guy who can protect them.

My guess is that if Iraq had free elections, Saddam Hussein would get a large vote, because he protected the people.

[NNN0LHI]

8. AP story

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=US%20Iraq%20Opposition

Crisis group challenges Bush's Iraq policy

By BARRY SCHWEID
AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The growing insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq is fed by nationalist feelings and widespread distrust of the United States, the private International Crisis Group said Wednesday.

Challenging the Bush administration, the crisis group said, "The insurgency is not confined to a finite number of fanatics isolated from the population and opposed to a democratic Iraq."

Iraqi elections set for Jan. 30 to pick a national assembly will change little unless they produce Iraqi institutions that can distance themselves from the United States, the group said in a report.

The group's recommendations include gradual U.S. political and military disengagement from Iraq and a clear Iraqi political disengagement from the United States.

more

[Disturbed]

10. Iraq democracy is a SCAM!!!!

The Hand-Over That Wasn't: Illegal Orders give the US a Lock on Iraq's Economy
by Antonia Juhasz

Officially, the U.S. occupation of Iraq ended on June 28, 2004. But in reality, the United States is still in charge: Not only do 138,000 troops remain to control the streets, but the "100 Orders" of L. Paul Bremer III remain to control the economy.

These little noticed orders enacted by Bremer, the now-departed head of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, go to the heart of Bush administration plans in Iraq. They lock in sweeping advantages to American firms, ensuring long-term U.S. economic advantage while guaranteeing few, if any, benefits to the Iraqi people.

The Bremer orders control every aspect of Iraqi life - from the use of car horns to the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Order No. 39 alone does no less than "transition from a … centrally planned economy to a market economy" virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat.

Although many thought that the "end" of the occupation would also mean the end of the orders, on his last day in Iraq Bremer simply transferred authority for the orders to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi - a 30-year exile with close ties to the CIA and British intelligence.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-07.htm

*All of the Dems that voted for the Iraq resolution were either duped or they had their heads up their ass. After Kerry said that he would still vote for it after knowing that there were no WMDs it was over for him in my view. All the Dems that stuck to that betrayed the progressives in the party and took the core Dems for granted due to ABB.

It's bullshit to say that liberals &/or leftists are anti-war. Most are anti-foolish wars that lead to disaster. The U.S. created the anti-American blast around the world by supporting any right wing dick that said he/she was anti-commie. The ME countries, for the most part, oppress their masses and the U.S aides that. The people there know it. Most people in the world that hate the U.S. don' t evy us or hate us for our freedoms. They hate the U.S. Govt. policies that keeps them oppressed and downtrodden. The Iraq invasion threw gasoline onto their fire.

The mantra that the Dems need to move more right is a fool's song.

[zara]

18. who is antonia juhasz

powerful stuff. clear. so so so.....un-Democratic


don't you hate that about the mealy mouthed corporate dems?

[Deja Q]

9. WHAT pre-war goals? They never once uttered 'liberation' until AFTER

some dingaling came up with the "Support our Troops" lawn sign, with people happily buying into it.

[buddysmellgood]

11. Mission Accomplished meant they had achieved their goals by seizing

the oil.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

13. Haven't we been asking about this since BEFORE the invasion?

Aside the fact that Aljazeera might be the only outlet that MIGHT suggest the fact that the U.S. has made a terrible mistake and opened a Pandora's Box of gargantuan proportions, they have said a terrible truth.

Since the Children's Crusades and before, the west has tried to remake its roots into its own image. With nothing but failure and disaster to show for it.

What in God's name made the morons in the White House think they could accomplish this in the "cakewalk" paradigm they drew in the wet dream halls of PNAC?

The more I read of death and maiming of our own and the tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq, the more I become ashamed to be an American.

Please, if you are outside the US and read this, please know we are all not like this. We are victims of a coup of sorts and are a bit slow in believing it has actually happened.

My apologies.

[damntexdem]

15. Oh Iraqi hostility means that Washington can no longer :..

1. find nonexitent WMDs?
2. be welcomed with cheers and flowers?
3. rip off Iraq's oil?
4. use Iraq to dominate the Middle East?

I just wanted to know which of the 'pre-war goals' couldn't be achieved.

[zara]

16. Brilliant--Dems Ought Run WIth It--

"Washington has to realise - you occupy the Iraq you
have, not the Iraq you might wish to have later," said
Robert Malley, director of the IGC's Middle East/North Africa
Programme

[barb162]

19. reminds me of the Colin Powell line to Bush :you realize if you

break it you own it and the shrubster nodded.

[saigon68]

20. A GOAL--- Lets STOP the Dogs from feeding on the corpses



A dog feeds on the head and FACE of an Iraqi CORPSE

[NNN0LHI]

21. That is a good goal saigon68 n/t

[saigon68]

22. Thanks Don

Someone has to wake them from their sound sleep.

[leftchick]

24. ain't freedom grand?

:puke:

[saigon68]

26. Yes I agree our Fearless Leader says "LET FREEDOM REIGN"

"Sorry the dog is eating your husbands face Mrs. Adbul, Freedom is on the March" simpered the evil Condominium Rice.

[truthisfreedom]

25. bwa-haha! rummy gave him that one.

what a jab.

[NashVegas]

28. It NEVER Was!

grrrrrr ....

no time to expand on that, sorry.

[GOPBasher]

29. This is the most incompetent President in our history. Period.

[reprobate]

30. And what will Lil Boots do when we are bombed out of iraq?

There is no doubt in my mind that this will end very badly for amaericans in iraq. I think the dining hall bombing was just the first of many to come with the intent of causing maximun casualties to our troops. You can look for the KIA and wounded counts to go up exponentialy.

Meanwhile, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Wolfoshitz, etc., sit there fat dumb and happy in DC, with hardly a notice of the american men and women killed and maimed, leaving families at home with nothing.

The question is what will the people do when the last days in iraq are copies of the last days in Saigon. Another debacle that sets america running for safety will not be good for america's psyche. In fact, what's the chances they will turn on him after realizing that it was all a pack of lies.

I hope he realizes that the outcome in iraq will determine HIS future. Or will someone from one of those families demand an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life?