Iraq war into 6th year, same old story...

[Butchers Bill]

I didn't have any time to do.

You like this war, sign up again.  Go over there and help make things better for Iraq, like Bush would want.

I would have if I didn't have a couple screws in my right knee.  I'd never pass the physical at this point.

[Diomedes]

chickenhawk

[Butchers Bill]

chickenhawk

Don't you have a link for me to re-enlist to?  Or some papers you can fax for me to sign up?   

[Diomedes]

more good news from Iraq:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq18jul18,0,428018.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Trench proposed around Kirkuk
The plan by U.S. and Iraqi leaders is aimed at keeping out bombers. In a Diyala village, 28 Shiites are slain.
By Tina Susman
Times Staff Writer

July 18, 2007

BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi officials Tuesday announced a ban on truck traffic into Kirkuk and proposed digging a trench around the northern city, where a series of bombs killed at least 76 people a day earlier.

The idea of encircling the city with a trench underscored fears that the violence in Baghdad and neighboring Diyala province will overtake the once-peaceful north as increased U.S. troop levels drive insurgents from the capital. Police in a village in Diyala said Tuesday that they suspected that Sunni Muslim militants chased out of the provincial capital of Baqubah were to blame for the slaying of 28 Shiite Muslims.

The Shiites were killed Monday night in Duwailiya. Police Col. Raghib Radhi said he thought the attackers had come from Baqubah, where a U.S. military offensive launched last month has targeted insurgents loyal to the Sunni militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq. Some gunmen wore Iraqi army uniforms, which authorities say is a common ploy by insurgents.

In Baghdad, at least 24 people died Tuesday in two car bombings, including one in the parking lot of the Iranian Embassy near the well-fortified Green Zone. Four people died in that attack. The other 20 victims were killed by a bomb that went off near a police patrol in east Baghdad, authorities said.

The unidentified bodies of 24 people, believed to be victims of sectarian death squads, were found across the capital, police reported.

At a meeting in Kirkuk, officials announced the indefinite truck ban and the digging of the trench, which already had been planned on the southwestern and western edges of the city. There was no indication of when the project would be finished. Similar plans have been suggested for Baghdad but never have come to fruition.

Kurdish leaders are hoping to make Kirkuk part of the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan and could be driven to isolate the city. The Iraqi Constitution calls for a referendum this year on whether Kirkuk should join the region. Few expect it to take place as scheduled because of logistical issues, but that has not lessened the Kurds' desire to claim the city as their own.

The U.S. military announced a major offensive in Al Anbar province involving 9,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops and focusing on towns on the western side of the Euphrates River. A military statement said the operation began Saturday and was aimed at preventing insurgents from establishing new bases in the area.

During a visit to the province's capital, Ramadi, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, said such operations have led to a "sea change" in Iraq in terms of better security in Baghdad and elsewhere.

Several operations targeting Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias are underway in the so-called belts around Baghdad. They began last month as the last of 28,500 additional troops sent to Iraq by President Bush settled into place.

Sunni-dominated Al Anbar has seen a turnaround as its tribal sheiks, who once harbored anti-U.S. militants, have turned against them and are cooperating with U.S. forces. The leader of the effort, Sheik Abdul Sattar Rishawi, told state-run Al Arabiya TV that it was being hampered by the Iraqi government.

"There is no ammunition and no arms from the government," said Rishawi, who heads the Anbar Salvation Council.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has expressed discomfort with the idea of arming tribes, saying this could create militias that might one day turn on his Shiite-led government.


Digging ditches around cities...now that IS progress.  How much you wanna bet Halliburton or KBR gets the no bid contract to dig the moat, fargs the job up royally, and profits millions on it anyway?

[Rome]

"I am Shiite," Ali said. "My uncles and cousins were murdered by Saddam's regime. I wanted desperately to get rid of him. But today, if Saddam's feet appeared in front of me, I would fall to my knees and kiss them!"

Wow.

[Butchers Bill]

Civilian casualties drop 36% in June

So Dio...nothing good is happening there at all?  No schools or hospitals have been built?  People can't vote?  There are a lot of bad things happening there as well, but to say nothing good is happening is dishonest.

[ice grillin you]

To be sure, the fate of the oil law remains uncertain as Iraq's parliament gets set to debate the legislation. It may stall like other political initiatives pressed by Washington, such as provincial elections and sectarian reconciliation. And violence may rise again. Sadr ordered a postponement, not an abandonment, of the march on Samarra. And the possibility of some terrible carnage in Iraq is always near. A few bad days of car bombings and murders could easily raise the civilian death toll in Iraq to numbers high enough to erase the gains. But for those watching Iraq's situation closely, even small and potentially ephemeral signs of progress are worth taking note of as the September deadline for the military's situation report nears.



after five years this is the progress we should salute...tell me youre joking

[Rome]

A few bad days of car bombings and murders could easily raise the civilian death toll in Iraq to numbers high enough to erase the gains.

Also - schools and hospitals have been built?  Whoopee!  Five years into this fiasco and most of Baghdad doesn't even have electricity on the regular.

[tnt4philly]

A few bad days of car bombings and murders could easily raise the civilian death toll in Iraq to numbers high enough to erase the gains.

Also - schools and hospitals have been built?  Whoopee!  Five years into this fiasco and most of Baghdad doesn't even have electricity on the regular.

One thing people fail to realize is that there was barely enough capacity to provide everyone electricity before the war. The infrastructure in poor shape. And because many people can now afford appliances they couldn't before, demand is up even more.

[ice grillin you]

all those george foreman grills that the iraqis are cooking their big macs on are sapping the countrys power dammit

[Diomedes]

Civilian casualties drop 36% in June

You have some pretty low standards for good news.  The only way this could possibly be considered good is because it's already so bad.

You're like W touting that his Texas schools have improved, nevermind they're so farging far behind all others that they could improve for years and still be the worst in the union.

Iraq is an unqualified disaster..

[Rome]

all those george foreman grills that the iraqis are cooking their big macs on are sapping the countrys power dammit

I was about to write a lengthy rebuttal to tnt's post but yours is much more succinct and humorous.

Too funny.

[General_Failure]

all those george foreman grills that the iraqis are cooking their big macs on are sapping the countrys power dammit

It knocks out the power.

[Diomedes]

painful

[Diomedes]

oh, look!  more good news

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2007/07/20/ware.iraq.americas.militia.cnn

with friends like these, the U.S. stands no chance in hell of being respected by any civilized people