http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5973273/site/newsweek/
This is from Newsweek/MSNBC. It paints a strange picture of what is going on in Iraq. Basically there are these weird westernized zones where the Americans/Ruling Iraqis live/work. People there seem to have no idea how the war is going or if Iraqis living inside their little zone are even on the American/New Government side. I'm not sure what to make of this exactly but it doesn't sound like the American rebuilding effort is going well if this is how it is going down. How can you rebuild a country if you only know what is going on within a few block radius? It seems pretty backwards and disorganized to me and seems to jive with what the intellegence/generals are saying if you are looking for secondary evidence.
Setanta wrote:You'll get no credit for that lame attempt, either . . . Ican already tried it, and it didn't work for him . . .
I'll try harder in the future. I am sure I can get lesson on being pompous and condescending by re-reading a lot of your posts.
An intereting fact I wasn't aware of:
Quote:The anti-government violence in Iraq is causing a annualized death rate of 15 per 100,000 population for terrorist activities alone. That compares to a murder rate in the United States of 5.6 per 100,000. European nations have an average rate of about four per 100,000 (although some West European nations are below two per 100,000, while Russia is 20 per 100,000.) Some nations are particularly violent. South Africa has a murder rate of 59, and neighboring Namibia is 45. Colombia, in South America, was over 50 a few years ago, but is now down to the 30s because a crackdown on armed militias. The Middle East tends of have low murder rates, with Turkey having a rate of 2.3. Israel also had a rate of 2.3, until the Palestinians began their terrorism campaign in late 2000. The deaths from suicide bombings and other attacks doubled Israel's murder rate to about 4 per 100,000, although that has been coming down in the past year.
But Iraq has become accustomed to a high murder rate. Saddam's police forces were the cause of many murders, and as far back as the 1970s, the official murder rate was 12 per 100,000. The coalition forces and Iraqi security forces have gotten the non-terrorist murder rate down to about five per 100,000. This, combined with the deaths caused by terrorists, produces a rate of about 20 per year. The murder rate in Washington, DC, is over 60 per 100,000.
link
Frankly, if I told you a year ago that we wouldn't control significant areas of Iraq, McG, you would have said I was crazy.... Hell, three months ago...
But, things are going well. Riiiiight.
Cycloptichorn
Jesus, McG, that was a long article. Thanks. There is some good news in there. But there is also a lot of anecdotal opinion, and positive non-news. Plus, Plus, some of it is just bullshit fluff, like the stuff about the sports teams and the olympics and the hit song, etc.
So yeah, there is some good news. There are some small glimmers of hope.
But if you compare it to the news about the insurgents and their growing numbers, it doesn't reall amount to much.
But how much of that article have you heard mentioned in the news? The only mention of the soccor team is the condemnation from the left about Bush commenting on it.
It amounts to a heck of a lot to the people living in Iraq. It is a small percentage of the whole of Iraq that are part of the insurgency. It is a small matter compared to the whole.
As I said before, you see it your way...
You are right though, that we don't hear that stuff in the news.
The reason that the insurgents are actually winning in certain areas of Iraq, McG, is that the people support them morally.
Now, a lot of people aren't at the point where they will take up arms against their occupiers. But that doesn't mean they don't sympathize with their cause, if perhaps not their methods.
The reason you don't hear much good news about Iraq is.... ? There's just not a ton of good news to report.
Cycloptichorn
Well, I am going to agree with kickycan and agree to see things my own way and allow others to see things their way.
Do you know the real difference between Vietnam war and the Iraq war?
George Bush had a good plan to get out of the Vietnam war.
(I think this is paraphrased from Bill Maher)
