Letters to the Editor
susan sunflower
Published Letters: 1374 Editor's Choice: 29
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The appearance that the "the surge" is "working" is not an answer ....
[Read the article: "There is no report because I haven't written it"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]aside from the fact that the surge is not sustainable ... for starters ...
it's not surprising that there are noticeable improvements (not "gains", improvements) in some areas ... it remains to be demonstrated that these improvements would be maintained (conditional, future tense) if the surge continued ... or if some future theoretical "more surge" would produce "more improvement" ... or what the natural history of these improvement will be as the surge is "demobilized" as planned.
Given that a cardinal tenet of guerilla warfare is to "slink away to fight another day on your own terms" many of these improvements, unfortunately, are most likely "lulls" resulting from the insurgents backing away ...
That the "surge" apparently frightened the Iraqis people resulting in increasing numbers fleeing the country and fleeing the cities ... I'm doubtful, in the larger scheme, it's a "draw" ...
The government has been falling apart for months with some apparent aceleration recently ...
since the main objective was to "improve security to permit better functioning government" that would seem to be a failure.
This doufus seems to believe that the current "around the clock emergency sessions" denote progress. Not so fast .... sheesh.
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it appears as well that as the Wise and Wonderful Davey Petraeus has been playing yet another round of whack-a-mole .... chasing "al-Qaeda types" ...
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]internal displacement largely the result of old-fashioned "ethnic cleansing" has mushroomed across Iraq ... see today NYT front page ...
We're getting into some serious numbers in a country of only 27.5 million to start with ... and this is discussing only "internally displaced" not those who have left ... and that these numbers are ON TOP OF the old numbers .... a million here and a million there, pretty soon you're talking about real numbers ...
Didn't we "regieme change" Milosevic for failing to control ethnic cleansing? A what point are the 20 here, 30 there, 500 there, 200 here going to add up to the wholesale slaughter that lead Milosevic to be charged with ignoring GENOCIDE ...
Shades of Afghanistan where too apparently playing "whack a mole" (chasing Bin Laden) (cowboys and indians) has always come before "nation building" which we leave to NATO ...
"Positively 4th Street" is running around my brain.
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Is Allawi a stealth "compromise" candidate?
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]from Wikipedia:
During the summer of 2004, Allawi made several controversial decisions. Most notably, his decision to support the invasions of both Najaf and Falluja made him extremely unpopular amongst Iraq's Shia and Sunni populations. He also announced the creation of General Security Directorate, a domestic spy agency, whose main role is to counteract terrorist groups and the Iraqi insurgency. He recruited some former agents of Saddam Hussein's secret police to form the General Security Directorate. He gave himself the powers to declare martial law.[21] He closed the Iraqi office of al Jazeera and nominated Ibrahim Janabi, a former Ba'athist and Mukhabarat officer, to head the newly created media regulator. He also made moves to eliminate Muqtada al-Sadr from the scene.[22]
Sounds very Sunni-friendly to me ... I've noticed him positioning himself for a return to "the game" for 6 months or so ... (it was
also
Allawi is related to Ahmed Chalabi, another prominent former exile and now disgraced though somewhat rehabilitated U.S. ally, through his sister. Former minister of trade Ali Allawi is Chalabi's sister's son as well as Iyad Allawi's cousin. The relationship between Chalabi and Allawi has been described as alternating between rivals and allies.[1]
note: It was Ali Allawi who wrote the recent book describing the failures of the CPA.
I recall Allawi being spoken of as a potential "strong man" back in June 2004 and of his being much hated at the time he left office, and being considered corrupt -- nothing unusual there ... in Iraq, you're nobody until somebody hates you.
I just gotta wonder if he's got the Saudi's blessing.
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dannebrog313 - just read that ... anti-Iranian, anti-Moqtada. pro-baathist friends ...
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]hey, what's not to like?
It's not like the Iraqis vote in our elections or that (most)Americans care about anything more than "our troops", "our budget" and/or "our war."
Although Allawi is not currently in the cabinet or government, I'm not certain he could not finagle his way into position sufficient to be put forward as a prime minister in a new government... does anyone have any insight into this. ?????
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wasn't there recently some absurd (in a scary kind of way) legislation about seizure of assets of those who would destabilize Iraq?
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it was aimed at Iran ... and seemed both ominous (as in they'd already figured out which Iranian asset they planned to seizure first -- maybe a tanker or two) but also sort of like some -- "yeah, we'll bust them on their income tax evasion" -- nerdy too-clever-by-half legalistic ploy ...
or was I dreaming?
This stinks rather of Iran-Contra, iykwim. Y'know, the "real government" isn't giving you what you want so you ... yeah, as someone below put it, you "outsource" the task.
fwiw, I have little doubt that some form of "we" are behind Allawi ...