Baghdad is not like Kabul yet: Rumsfeld

[Barrett808]

ADELAIDE: US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed on Friday growing calls for the US to start withdrawing forces from Iraq, saying Iraq was several years behind Afghanistan as a secure country.

Rumsfeld said as Iraqi forces took more control of their own security, it would enable US forces to be diverted to other assignments within Iraq.

"What you'll see over the period ahead is that the Iraqi security forces will be handed over responsibility for pieces of real estate, for certain types of missions and assignments," Rumsfeld said.

"As that happens, the people who were engaged in those activities, they will in many cases assume other assignments and responsibilities, in many cases assisting help to train some additional Iraqi security forces," said Rumsfeld.

...

Rumsfeld launched a spirited defence on Friday, saying Iraq had made enormous progress since Saddam Hussein was driven out.

(more)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1300769,curpg-2.cms

[swag]

1. 2005 is the deadliest year yet for US troops in Afghanistan

Surely SecDef knows this.

[PDJane]

2. ahem.........

Excuse me, but when did Afghanistan become a secure country? We still have forces there, trying to rehab child soldiers and get the country back on its feet.......what the h*** is wrong with this man? What has he been smoking?

[opihimoimoi]

3. He is so full of SHIT its coming outta his EARS

He been saying shit for 2 years, and now, no one believes any more. Progress my ass.

[Rick Myers]

4. No, they haven't finished FUCKING UP Baghdad!!!

:grr:

[htuttle]

5. "Baghdad is not like Kabul yet" -- what the hell does that mean?

Does that mean he expects Baghdad to get better or worse?

That's like saying, "Your cancer is not like heart disease yet."

?

Signed,

Confused in Wisconsin

[punpirate]

6. He's right in one sense...

... Iraq still doesn't have nearly enough warlords in its government yet.

Otherwise, things are remarkably similar. The head of the Iraqi government can't move without twenty bodyguards and a fleet of armored cars, and neither can Karzai.

The elections in Iraq and Afghanistan make what happened in Ohio and Florida look like model election processes.

For practical purposes, NGOs doing relief work can't operate freely in either country.

In both countries, the oil deals are underway. (Isn't that what really counts, though, huh?)

In both countries, the US continues to take losses by insurgent fighting.

In both countries, the US continues to deny reality.

In both countries, US taxpayer-funded reconstruction is rife with corruption.

In both countries, the US is on friendly terms with the countries funding the insurgencies (Saudi Arabia, in the case of Iraq, Pakistani ISI in the case of the Taliban).

In both countries, the US still operates secret jails for the purposes of hiding torture and/or detainees from outside inspection.

Geez, except for those warlords, they seem a lot alike to me, Rummy.

[54anickel]

7. So this is the big plan, the exit strategy? They've been saying the

same damn thing since they got us into this mess. "We'll hand over responsibilities a little at a time". Yet for the most part the Iraqi forces either aren't willing or able to take on the simpliest of security responsibilites. Basically we haven't moved from square one yet. Sure sounds like "stay the course" to me.

SSDD - "great progress"; "Iraqi forces taking over responsibilities"; Blah, blah, blah.

[Lisa]

8. oh, so he thinks that Kabul is safe and secure ...

In that case we should tell the parents of all those troops stationed there that they have nothing to worry about! (There are a lot of Canadians in Kabul now, and up here there is plenty of concern about whether we will make it through this deployment without losing anybody else to bombs, etc.)

[Megahurtz]

9. Oh Great!

:eyes: Now the Repukes are just going to keep running their mouths over this one.

Go ahead Rummy, say something else stupid.:popcorn:

[Spazito]

10. Baghdad is eerily like Kabul, both have 'safe zones' within the

city, zones heavily fortified and defended, while the rest of the city is far from safe for the troops or the puppet Afghan government to be in without security.

Rumsfeld is, as usual, talking about an alternate reality found only in his insane brain.

[rainbow4321]

11. Afghan suicide attacks threaten US(Taliban want to "copy Iraqi tactics")

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=125834

Taliban fighters’ increased suicide attacks on US-led forces in Afghanistan are worrying the United States and NATO, a security official said.

"We have seen in the recent months a slight change of strategy... but we are preparing to prevent them," said Lieutenant Colonel Riccardo Cristoni of NATO’s security force.

The insurgent group has launched three suicide bomb attacks in three days this week, killing one German peacekeeper and several Afghan civilians

The Taliban, allies of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida followers, say they have copied tactics of Iraqi insurgents to drive out US-led forces, including America’s NATO allies. "They are very effective and better than face to face war for us to defeat the occupiers," said chief Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen.

[nickgutierrez]

12. Captain Freud strikes again

No, Baghdad is not like Kabul. Where Kabul is now the capital of the country with one of the world's biggest opium trade, Baghdad is now the capital of al-Quida's newest base of operations. Big difference between the two, see? :eyes:

[Geo55]

13. "As that happens, the people who were engaged in those

activities, they will in many cases assume other assignments and responsibilities,".....
like maintaining our brand spankin' new "permanent" bases and guarding the oil infrastructure of coarse.

[DemoTex]

14. Jesus F. Christ! Robert S. McNamara looks SO good now!

At least McNamara had early doubts about Viet Nam! At least Mac gave speeches (12/65) questioning the war. At least Mac was visibly shaken by the events of 11/65 (Norman Morrison's fiery suicide on the Pentagon steps and the bloody, set-piece battles in the Ia Drang River Valley SW of Pleiku, Vietnam). At least Mac has a conscience: He proved it to me - albeit way too late - in The Fog of War.

Rumsfeld is not half the man McNamara was, and Mac was a seriously flawed man.

[Dead_Parrot]

15. "Baghdad is not like Kabul yet:

They still have some schools, hospitals and power. We're working on it"

[High Plains]

16. Kabul has power sometimes...

Four years after we invaded, not a single power plant has been built. The electricity in Kabul is out about half the time every day. And you ought to see the roads!

But, hey, the opium trade is doing well.