THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

Today? It's rather gray.

George, IMHO, the chaos in Iraq become more complex with every day passing. This is the fault of the current administration that failed to listen to the 'experts' who told them we would need 200,000 troops on the ground after the major combat operations are over. Rummy knows best, and he still has his job - everybody else is gone.

Lt. Col. Jim Stockmoe, chief intelligence officer for the First Infantry Division, roared with laughter as he recalled the increasing missteps of the resistance in Iraq in an interview earlier this month with British journalist Toby Harnden, writing for The Spectator.

"There were three brothers down in Baghdad who had a mortar tube and were firing into the Green Zone," Stockmoe said. "They were storing the mortar rounds in the car engine compartment and the rounds got overheated. Two of these clowns dropped them in the tube and they exploded, blowing their legs off."

The surviving brother sought refuge in a nearby house, but the occupants "beat the crap out of him and turned him over to the Iraqi police," Stockmoe told Harnden, "It was like the movie 'Dumb and Dumber.' "

"The nine election day suicide bombers averaged about three victims each, a strike rate so bad that Allah might soon start rationing the virgins to show his displeasure," Harnden wrote.

Stockmoe has heard so many similar stories that he created an Iraqi version of the "Darwin Awards." Created in 1993 by a student at Stanford University, the Darwin awards commemorate those who "contribute to our gene pool by removing themselves from it in a really stupid way."

The number of insurgent attacks has fallen off significantly since the Fallujah offensive last November, and the attacks that are being made are less effective.

There are about 50-60 attacks a day on coalition forces, about half the pre-Fallujah level. Almost all are within the Sunni Triangle, and most are ineffective. "Most of these are ambush-style attacks that result in no casualties," noted StrategyPage.com.

The news media report the attacks, but tend not to report, as StrategyPage does, that "dozens, sometimes over a hundred, of the attackers, or suspects, are arrested every day."

Unbalanced reporting has given Americans a false impression of how the war is going, said Austin Bay, a retired colonel in the Army Reserve who was called to active duty in Iraq last year.

"Collect relatively isolated events in a chronological list and presto: the impression of uninterrupted, widespread violence destroying Iraq," said Bay, who is also a syndicated columnist. "But that was a false impression. Every day coalition forces were moving thousands of 18-wheelers from Kuwait and Turkey into Iraq, and if the insurgents were lucky, they blew up one. However, flash the flames of that one diesel rig on CNN and 'Oh my God, America can't stop these guys' is the impression left in Boston, Boise and Beijing."

It will be some months before the news media recognize it, and a few months more before they acknowledge it, but the war in Iraq is all but won. The situation is roughly analogous to the battle of Iwo Jima, which took place 60 years ago this month. It took 35 days before the island was declared secure, but the outcome was clear after day five, with the capture of Mt. Suribachi.

Proof of this was provided by Sen. Hillary Clinton. Iraq is functioning quite well, she said in a press conference in Baghdad Feb. 19. The recent rash of suicide attacks is a sign the insurgency is failing, she said.

"When politicians like [Clinton] start flocking to Iraq to bask in the light of its success, then you know that the corner has been turned," a reader of his blog wrote to Bay.

More substantive signs abound. The performance of Iraqi security forces is improving, as are their numbers. Nearly 10,000 men showed up at a southern Iraqi military base Feb. 14 to volunteer for 5,000 openings. Only 6,000 had been expected.

Sunni Arab politicians have admitted they made a big boo-boo in boycotting the Jan. 30 election, and are pleading to be included in the political process. Some ex-Baathists are seeking terms for laying down their arms.

Those who get their news from the "mainstream" media are surprised by developments in Iraq, as they were surprised by our swift victory in Afghanistan, the sudden fall of Saddam Hussein, the success of the Afghan election and the success of the Iraqi election.

Journalists demand accountability from political leaders for "quagmires" which exist chiefly in the imagination of journalists. But when will journalists be held to account for getting every major development in the war on terror wrong?

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But the police (UN) was deemed to be insignificant. That's the reason why we didn't return to them for their 'support.' Our secretary of state even outlined the locations of those weapons, but they all poo-pooed it, and said a preemptive attack was not justified. I was scared; nobody else listened to my concerns.

If he were to fail to convince the police, he could defend himself by what he perceived was a self-defense killing of his neighbors and take the risk of failing to persuade a jury of his peers (e.g., American voters) his neighbors were a growing threat.

Ican what color is the sky in your world?

Does anyone think that other countries may start thinking of AMERICA as an 'imminent threat?'

It would be all the justification they needed, to say so; they certainly don't need anything silly like proof.

Cycloptichorn

Survey unveils Arab frustration over way US in handling Arab-Israeli, its intentions in Middle East.


AMMAN - Tensions between the Arab world and the United States are not likely to disappear soon amid frustration over US foreign policy and skepticism over US intentions in the Middle East, according to a poll published in Jordan.

The poll was conducted by the University of Jordan's Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) in cooperation with research centers in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and the Palestinian territories between March and June 2004.

A total of 9,700 people were surveyed in those places on how they view France and Britain - both long-time colonial powers in the region - and the United States.

"The current conflict is based on deep-seated frustration with Western, and particularly American, foreign policies and a growing distrust of America's underlying regional objectives," according to a copy of the survey received by AFP.

And it warned: "The study provides little evidence that the tensions between the Arab world and the US will soon disappear."

Eighty-six percent of respondents said they were "not satisfied at all" with how the United States is handling the Arab-Israeli conflict, while 75 percent said Washington is not serious about implementing the Middle East "roadmap" for peace.

The roadmap, drafted by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, envisions on independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace.

On Iraq, a majority said the use of force was "not justified at all" while more than two-thirds said they did not believe the US-led coalition will turn Iraq into a model for democracy in the region.

"In this context, Arabs interpret many groups and actions that the West labels as 'terrorist' as legitimate," namely such organisations at Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The status of Al-Qaeda, Ossama bin Laden's organisation responsible for the September 11 attacks against the United States, was "more controversial".

"Only in Egypt and Jordan did majorities view it as a legitimate resistance organisation," the survey said. In Syria eight percent described it as a "legitimate organisation" while 49 percent did not answer the question.

France fared better than the United States and Britain in Arab opinion.

Only 25 percent of national sample respondents in Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Egypt said they felt "highly positive" or "moderately positive" towards the United States and Britain compared to 57 percent "who felt positively toward France".

In Syria, 75 percent of respondents perceived the United States as "not at all positive"

"In the final analysis the US and the UK have reason to be concerned about the demographic and political trends in the region," where half the population is under 25, the survey said.

"The younger generation and individuals outside of elite business and media circles demonstrate high levels of dissatisfaction with these Western powers," it added.

It would be really interesting to see the demographics of the people polled. I would be that 25% favorable came mostly from people who have had opportunity to attend school, live, or work outside their native countries.

Does anyone think that other countries may start thinking of AMERICA as an 'imminent threat?'

It would be all the justification they needed, to say so; they certainly don't need anything silly like proof. Cycloptichorn

Those based in other countries, for example al Qaeda

Does anyone think that other countries may start thinking of AMERICA as an 'imminent threat?'

The terrorists don't give a tinkers damn about an occupying force. They aren't even targeting Americans these days. They are targeting anybody who opposes their coming to power and having the ability to exercise their murderous control over the entire population.

... finally, you wrote: "We shall see if the present method works or not."

I emphatically agree, we shall see, and upon that agreement, I shall end this particular dialogue. As I said to c.i. above, the music is ending and the dance is over. I am sure someone else here will engage you when the music starts again. Namaste.

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Those based in other countries, for example al Qaeda

Hate to break it to ya, but Al Qaeda isn't a country. Cycloptichorn