32 posts tagged “iraq”
The first stunning fact was how many aircraft are deployed over Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US operates these craft out of 2 bases in the States. Creech in Nevada and Davis-Monthan in Arizona. The amazing number of 250 pilots piloting around the clock gives a hint of the size of the enterprise but add to this figure that pilots can handle 4 drones at any one time and the numbers really start to climb.
Impressive logistics must be involved when you think of contractors launching closer to the action then control being managed from the continental USA.
Currently the high priority targets for this force is leadership figures standing against the US and they have had some success. But here's the rub. According to Aussie counter insurgency expert, David Kilcullen, who actually works for the State Department in the US, for every al-Qa'eda or Taliban leader killed, 50 civvies also die.
Is that a net gain or loss in the overall picture? You can insert your own bias here as to if you think it's worth the effort.
What is beyond doubt though, is this is an expensive operation in both dollars and human lives and not especially clear cut in its advantages when you factor in the negative effect killing civilians has on boosting Taliban recruitment.
To make matters even worse from where I'm viewing it from, the so called "good guys" feel the need to cheat in elections so they are not as confident of public support as we were led to believe. Add to that the rule changes made against their women folk and the ramping up of protection for the churches with strengthened blasphemy laws, and I start to wonder exactly why we are even involved.
Americans might call it Democracy but its a pretty generous definition under normal standards. How many lives should be sacrificed for such an imperfect result?
As if the continuing stream of body bags out of Afghanistan is not testing the Brits enthusiasm for war, check out this item from The Age from last week.
The ongoing saga of these kidnappings from 2007 has serious indications of a cover up to conceal massive fraud in Iraq.
Whodathunkit?
Once you start pouring money into a problem and trying to hide the mistakes, things rapidly go pear shaped.
I feel very sorry for the survivor(?) and his family and I wonder just how the British Government is going to handle matters from here on in. The Voters are pretty fed up with the deceptions played by Blair and will more than likely tip Labor out when the next chance comes along.
Who can blame them? When a government sacrifices the lives of your kids based on deception and inaction they should hardly expect to get another term.
The Bush / Blair adventure just keeps gathering more and more bad karma.
How lucky are American voters?
This week another test popped up that McCain clearly fumbled and gave the Voters a clear indication of the correctness of their collective decision last election.
The unhappiness in Iran after the sham election has highlighted a serious character flaw in Republican thinking. That is that they have to tell other nations how to run their country. It’s not even a case of working towards achieving their desired ends. It must be obvious to them that any US interference is highly counterproductive so it must be a macho thing.
McCain decided to get vocal about this over the past week and has managed to show he is still locked into the “Cold War” thinking that he should have grown out of at his age. But maybe that’s what the problem is. Some of the older senators are locked into the knee jerk reaction that makes them oh so amenable to their opponents.
I hate to think of what may have happened if McCain was in power. Clearly he aspires to the “tough guy” image rather than the “smart guy” so perhaps we might have been treated to threats of military force and other worthless grandstanding which would make sod all difference to the situation on the ground, but been helpful to the folk he seems to want to unsettle.
The common US claim is to try and keep the civilian death toll down in struggles for Democracy but this simply doesn’t work when you have had previous leaders play the “Christian” card. Bush did it a lot and appears to have enjoyed doing so even at the cost of more aggravation. That was another ego thing just like his hated comments to the car bombers in Iraq of “Do your worst.”
In Iraq we now have the coming Civil War but we can be grateful to the US for going out of their way to train up many of the different groups. At least the body bags will be filled efficiently. Happily the US troops are being moved out of the way so their presence should be less obvious and thus less inflammatory to the locals. And hopefully less US body bags will be going home.
The take home message for McCain should be “mind your own business”. It’s not your problem and if you interfere you only make it harder for those struggling towards Democracy. How much easier can it get? By doing nothing you are actually getting a better result and no US kids need to be sacrificed to promote a hated foreign government.
The only down side that I can see is he might have to resort to Viagra to prove his manliness.
Dan Mills has a style of describing the action that has you picking up the book at every opportunity. The book opens with a highly detailed description of an attack that sees his troop in a desperate situation having lost a Snatch to a well placed hand grenade outside the Head Quarters (unknown at the time) of a rebel group.
The details of the Rules of Engagement and the politics of the situation, really call into question the whole idea behind being in Iraq. Not being able to shoot back unless someone is in the act of delivering a mortar round must be very frustrating.
The use of the Snatch (lightly armored jeep) was wisely curtailed at the start of the uprising but has since sadly had some reintroductions. This vehicle is extremely vulnerable to road side bombs and should be withdrawn from service both in Iraq and the unsolvable Afghanistan.
An excellent read that gives you a more realistic view of Iraq than the news gloss overs. Putting Western troops in harms way without the ways and means of properly defending themselves is an on-going tragedy.
A timely design to remind folk of McCain's support for staying the course on the endless loop.
Here in Oz it's a bit confusing working out how the Republican party can offer "more of the same" for the coming election and have some sort of chance in the polls. After totally failing to rid the world of Osama, and worse, rewarding the 911 culprit with an impressive membership drive, the new team look just as inept as the out going Bush. Still the fantasy exists. Iraq can be won by force of arms.
The drubbing delivered in the half Senate Elections showed just how reactive Republicans are to the wishes of the general population. That is to say, NOT. No change to the Iraq policy. With the upcoming vote Americans have a chance to really punish their deaf pollies but it seems that pipe dream of the destruction of all things non-Christian has closed their eyes to the bleeding obvious.
It may prove instructional to my fellow Aussies to read this primer for what makes a Republican. They will still look a bit wacky but at least we might be able to predict what path they will follow if they win Government again.
I especially like point 7.
In order to be a Republican, and vote accordingly, you need to believe:
1. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
2. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
3. The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our highest national priority should continue to be enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
4. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
5. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
6. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle and berate our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
7. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
8. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
9. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
10. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness, and you need our prayers for your recovery.
11. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
So there you have it. Logic comes a poor second when US politics gets fired up but it may give some predictability.After many years of helping America run Bush's War in Iraq, today we start withdrawing our troops from that troubled area. And not before time as far as I am concerned.
Some time back a US General admitted he could only vouch for about a third of the troops he had trained. In plain speak that meant he didn't know where the allegiances of the other two thirds lay. With all the different factions about he was really training all sides of the Civil War.
That marks Australia as guilty too seeing we were there for the exact same reason.
One incredible comment made on this mornings radio by a military man was even more frightening. He said the locals were sad to see us move out and the US take over because the Aussies don't react then evaluate the situation. In plain speak this means they don't shoot first and ask questions later.
My assessment of this comment is he thinks we were protecting the Iraqis from the Americans.
How the spin can bite these folk back is amazing. The trouble is how many folk get killed before the bad decision is reversed.
I heard an item on SBS Radio this morning that gives pause for thought. I can’t remember the exact number but the figures for folk killed by terrorists since WW2 is very small. And that includes everyone, not just Americans.
Now to listen to US Republicans you would imagine an American gets killed every other day and twice on Tuesdays, but in real life the figure is tiny. Don’t bother to try claiming Iraq casualties in this figure. I’m talking real terrorists not civil war participants.
Notwithstanding this fact, the Republicans have discovered that US folk can be tricked by the fear mongering. It looks like it may be well worth the effort when it can get a thoughtless bloke like George Bush Junior into the White House. Twice.
Just about everyone realised he wasn’t up to the serious job of being President in his first term and yet still the fear campaign got him there again.
The unfortunate flip side to this campaign, however, is it makes it far more likely that more Americans will be killed by a terrorist in the future because of the fear they have induced in the non-Christian inhabitants of this planet. Kill enough folk in their own country and eventually they decide it’s time to come out swinging. If you can’t afford a nice new tank then cheaper alternatives exist and soft targets abound when you can’t afford a front line.
What a predictable outcome and what an amazing thing it is to see that it’s far more likely a US citizen will be killed by their own President than by a terrorist and all in the name of a war against terror that is making matters worse.
My Groups
-
Separation of Church and State Updated: 19 minutes ago
-
Freethinkers Updated: 19 minutes ago
-
Pinko Commie Traitors Updated: 19 minutes ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
