hamburger wrote:c. i. : your post is a " Another positive sign of progress " - will the world never learn ? afraid not
hbg
But "they" will continue to provide a rosy picture of "progress" to the world at large. Some people will never "get it."
i'm sure revel's post could also be put under the heading "progress in the war against terrorists " .
[it reminds me somewhat of the second world war when the german army was retreating from the soviet-union . the word "retreat" was not in the vocabulary of the german ministry of propaganda . they described these retreats as "straightening of front lines" ('front begradigung' in german) - finally the lines were staightened enough to bring the soviet army to the gates of berlin - and the war ended ]
It's remarkable how much progress we're making in Iraq - in such short order.
Truck bomb kills 7 people north of Baghdad
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 53 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - A truck bomb detonated by remote control north of Baghdad killed six policemen and a member of a local group of Sunni volunteers who have turned against the insurgents, police said.
The truck was parked along the side of a road in Duluiyah, some 45 miles north of Baghdad, and exploded as police entered the vehicle to search it, said police Col. Mohammed Khalid.
In other violence, gunmen killed the head of Basra's intelligence department Saturday night in a drive-by shooting in eastern Baghdad, local police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Some of us amateurs figured out Iraq was a failure long before now.
Occupation Plan for Iraq Faulted in Army History
Pool photo by Karen Ballard
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By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: June 29, 2008
WASHINGTON ?- Soon after American forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Gen. Tommy R. Franks surprised senior Army officers by revamping the Baghdad-based military command.
The decision reflected the assumption by General Franks, the top American commander for the Iraq invasion, that the major fighting was over. But according to a new Army history, the move put the military effort in the hands of a short-staffed headquarters led by a newly promoted three-star general, and was made over the objections of the Army's vice chief of staff.
"The move was sudden and caught most of the senior commanders in Iraq unaware," states the history, which adds that the staff for the new headquarters was not initially "configured for the types of responsibilities it received."
The story of the American occupation of Iraq has been the subject of numerous books, studies and memoirs. But now the Army has waded into the highly charged debate with its own nearly 700-page account: "On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign."
The unclassified study, the second volume in a continuing history of the Iraq conflict, is as noteworthy for who prepared it as for what it says. In essence, the study is an attempt by the Army to tell the story of one of the most contentious periods in its history to military experts ?- and to itself.
It adds to a growing body of literature about the problems the United States encountered in Iraq, not all of which has been embraced by Army leaders.
Lt. Col. Paul Yingling of the Army ignited a debate when he wrote a magazine article that criticized American generals for failing to prepare a coherent plan to stabilize postwar Iraq.
In 2005, the RAND Corporation submitted a report to the Army, called "Rebuilding Iraq," that identified problems with virtually every government agency that played a role in planning the postwar phase. After a long delay, the report is scheduled to be made public on Monday.
But the "On Point" report carries the imprimatur of the Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth. The study is based on 200 interviews conducted by military historians and includes long quotations from active or recently retired officers.
Publication was delayed six months so that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the current Army chief of staff and former top commander in Iraq, could be interviewed and senior Army leaders could review a draft.
The study authors were instructed not to shy away from controversy while withholding a final verdict on whether senior officials had made mistakes that decisively altered the course of the war, said Col. Timothy R. Reese, the director of the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., who, along with Donald Wright, a civilian historian at the institute, oversaw the volume's preparation.
Even so, the study documents a number of problems that hampered the Army's ability to stabilize the country during Phase IV, as the postwar stage was called.
I am certainly glad that the US was a country before the Internet was created. I doubt we'd have been successful if it had.
It was a good thing the US was created before George W Bush; he's been successful at destroying over 50 percent of it in seven years!
ci, are you optimistic about anything?
McGentrix wrote:I am certainly glad that the US was a country before the Internet was created. I doubt we'd have been successful if it had.
Well, the internet was invented before the new country of Iraq. Is that what's preventing success over there?
T
K
O
cicerone imposter wrote:It was a good thing the US was created before George W Bush; he's been successful at destroying over 50 percent of it in seven years!
So we have lost 26 or more states?
We have lost more then 51% of out territories and posessions?
We have lost over 51% of this countries wealth, both totally and personally?
Exactly what 51% of this country have we lost?
Another sign of progress, revel.
Yea I know; we never post signs of progress.
Quote:A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.
The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts' announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq's oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.
In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said.
It is unclear how much influence their work had on the ministry's decisions.
The advisers ?- who, along with the diplomatic official, spoke on condition of anonymity ?- say that their involvement was only to help an understaffed Iraqi ministry with technical and legal details of the contracts and that they in no way helped choose which companies got the deals.
source
Ha, They are just helping out the Iraqis with technical and legal details of contracts out of the goodness of their own little hearts with no interest at all in any of the negotiations and contract deals.
revel wrote:Quote:A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.
The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts' announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq's oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.
In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said.
It is unclear how much influence their work had on the ministry's decisions.
The advisers ?- who, along with the diplomatic official, spoke on condition of anonymity ?- say that their involvement was only to help an understaffed Iraqi ministry with technical and legal details of the contracts and that they in no way helped choose which companies got the deals.
source
Ha, They are just helping out the Iraqis with technical and legal details of contracts out of the goodness of their own little hearts with no interest at all in any of the negotiations and contract deals.
Wolves watching over the chicken pen; "technical and legal details" was established long before Bush started his war in Iraq.
When the rich get richer so does the middle class. Wealth is not a fixed quantity such that when some get more others get less. Wealth is increased by all those getting more wealthy--yes, even those on limited incomes get more wealthy and more economic choices as others get more wealthy.
So it will be good for the Iraqis if private oil companies take over the management of Iraqi oil production and refining. Neither the Iraq or American governments are competent to do that job.
ican, Where do you live? It surely is not on this planet.
