Progress Is Ongoing in Iraq, White House Says

[kskiska]

Civilian Deaths Condemned as Administration Calls for U.S. to Show Resolve

After yesterday's brutal attacks on American civilians in Iraq, President Bush and his aides insisted progress continues there and vowed not to back away, as the United States did after grisly images of U.S. soldiers emerged from Somalia in 1993.

(snip)

Bush did not speak about the attacks during the day and did not specifically mention them last night at a Washington fundraiser for his campaign. He included his standard assertion that because he confronted Saddam Hussein, "an example of democracy is rising at the very heart of the Middle East. . . . The world is more free and . . . America is more secure."

(snip)

The twin assaults pose considerable challenges for Bush, who is trying to lay groundwork for ending the occupation on June 30 when his handling of Iraq has become a major issue in the presidential campaign and on Capitol Hill. His former aide Richard A. Clarke charged last week that the invasion had been a diversion from more pressing fronts in the war on terrorism.

Retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a critic of the Iraq war and former head of the U.S. Central Command who was Bush's special envoy to the Middle East, said the violence is likely to "scare off international participation," making it more difficult for the White House to attract foreign investment and military resources from other countries.

"We're going to find ourselves increasingly alone in this," said Zinni, who added that the Fallujah attacks are likely to lead to a crackdown by occupiers that will result in more anti-American images in the Arab media.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40654-2004Mar31.html

[yardwork]

1. It was the Repugs who nagged Clinton constantly about Somalia.

Wag the dog blah blah blah.

I hate war and rarely see good reasons for us to bomb or invade people, but don't the Repugs care how asinine they look flip-flopping on this issue?

[Eye and Monkey]

6. Cruise missiles into Afghanistan and South Sudan, that was "wag the dog".

Somalia was inherited from Poppy, and the "fair and balanced rag" was "mission creep".

[saigon68]

17. Zinni says "Investment threatened"

Zinni said the violence is likely to "scare off international participation," making it more difficult for the White House to attract foreign investment.

Especially when you don't know if the staff you have recruited to Manage the oil well will show up, as the center piece of the Next "down home" barbecue.

[PartyPooper]

2. Junior doesn't read the papers-or, the obituaries. 8 Americans died today.

:eyes:

[Mari333]

3. send their fucking kids!

assholes.
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com

[Cooley Hurd]

12. Not ONE Bush offspring is in the military...

THAT fact should be trumpeted at every turn!

[cliss]

4. I do believe you are right that we

will be increasingly alone in this. Let's see...what is the timetable for other countries' withdrawals? Spain's new leader has announced that he's pulling his troops in April (?), Britain is about to run out of funding in June.

And after the latest atrocity, other countries are not going to be lining up to sign on. The UN is still deciding whether to go back or not. Who can blame them for hesitating?

Meanwhile, the undisputed leader of the world, the US is acting like a manic-depressive: we really want all this for ourselves, but -- come join the coalition and take some bullets for us. We're vacillating on whether we want to be alone there (remember Bush's speech last year, "We're willing to go it alone..."), to a complete reversal and harassing other countries to sign up.

[yardwork]

5. No, no you have it all wrong (heavy sarcasm)

it's Kerry who flip-flops! He flip-flops all over! Gas prices will rise if Kerry is elected! Eek! Squawk! Wag the dog wag the dog!

I am even angrier at the moran Americans who don't pay attention to what is happening than I am at the criminals who are committing these crimes. I don't expect criminals and sadists to behave rationally.

Where the hell is the outrage!

[Barkley]

7. Q: Where's the hell is the outrage?

A: Americans (in general) are willing to put up with these deaths (600 or so) because the perceived benefit is oil.

If 600 GIs died "liberating" Haiti or Somalia, you'd see outrage.

I also think that there is a large segment of our society that wants to inflict pain/ domination upon the Arab world because of the 9-11 attacks.

Of course the media is doing their part by alloting more coverage to a missing college coed or Janet than slain GIs.

[calimary]

16. That's why the media NEEDS to hear from us!

(FROM DUer bigtree – 3/2004) Use the responses to strike back at the attacks, here and elsewhere.

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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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[yo-yo-ma]

8. One difference with Somalia

is that then the images were cast on the TV - here (from what I've read - I don't own one) and now they aren't.
The headlines, however, are dramatic -- "Iraqis drag 4 U.S. bodies through streets."
I hope our nation is waking finally from its coma.

[truthisfreedom]

9. yes, the progress of creating more terrorists so we can have a perpetual

"war on terror" and put our children to work forever paying off the huge debt incurred (and then sold to China, like 30% of our national debt already is) while bushco's mafioso buddies collect their profits from the energy companies and the military industrial complex's raping of our national treasury.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Clicked on headline, thinking this was another April Fool thread --

[ozymandius]

11. "The world is more free"

[Barkley]

13. 'Progress Ongoing in Iraq': April Fools! - n/t

[Barrett808]

14. Zinni is right on the mark n/t

[bvar22]

15. The US has been marketing Iraqi resources...

...to the big Corporations since the Invasion. The Privitization of Iraq is not going as well as the republicans dreamed. The Iraqi resistance is smart to target the Corporate predators and their private security. Unfortunately, all of our Armed Forces grunts in Iraq are there as Private Security for the Cporporate Looters

[The_Casual_Observer]

18. ending the occupation on June 30

This is absolutely a lie and is meant to mislead the public.

The occupation is not going to end, no troops are leaving. Even if they were to succeed in "transferring authority" to Chalabi or whatever by June 1 - (very doubtful and meaningless anyway) bush has no intentions of ending the military occupation, probably ever.