More good news from Iraq

Oh, I'm with you there that it goes on on both sides, and I can't pretend for a second that it doesn't. And you are right, when controversial topics get posted, people can hide behind a computer and post whatever they want. There is a lot less holding back I feel like, and more polarization.

I don't think people who support the war are ignorant or war-mongers. Nor do I think people who think we should leave Iraq are cowardly or un-patriotic. I think there are people on both sides who get so caught up in things that they don't take the time to breathe, take a step back, and take a look at the bigger picture. It seems everything is so divisive around here and you have to take sides.

Would be much more civil if the conversations were over a beer, I think :laughing:
 
Would be much more civil if the conversations were over a beer, I think :laughing:

All too often, even with friends, these conversations lead to words, fights, knives or guns.:confused3. Don't have to be in a business establishment for this to happen.

Come March next year, there could very well be more fuel for one side or the other.
 


Like you.

You posted a good news story-I posted the "other side" as Paul Harvey says. It doesn't mean that that good news isn't true, it just means that there are other factors to consider before pronouncing anything a success.

Look, Joe-I don't like where I am now. I would much rather still be where you are, believing without question-but I can't do it anymore.

I did a little experiment after the 2004 elections were over. I started listening to talk radio. I gave the Rush/Sean station two weeks, then I gave Air America two weeks. (I found both annoying) I started buying the NY Times and reading it as well as the NY Post. I watched an hour of Fox and an hour of NBC every night. I started Googling every news story that came out to try and find the facts behind the spin that both sides were giving me.

I found out that what I had thought was the absolute truth really wasn't. There were facts out there, hard objective facts that contradicted the things that the White House was telling me. More and more I found evidence that the "reason" for the Iraq war had no foundation. It became clearer and clearer that this administration had rushed into this conflict with NO plan to get out.

I've said this many times-I take no joy in the knowledge that the man I voted for twice and believed has failed this country in such spectacular ways. However, no matter how unhappy it makes me, it doesn't mean I can ignore it.
 
You posted a good news story-I posted the "other side" as Paul Harvey says. It doesn't mean that that good news isn't true, it just means that there are other factors to consider before pronouncing anything a success.

Look, Joe-I don't like where I am now. I would much rather still be where you are, believing without question-but I can't do it anymore.

I did a little experiment after the 2004 elections were over. I started listening to talk radio. I gave the Rush/Sean station two weeks, then I gave Air America two weeks. (I found both annoying) I started buying the NY Times and reading it as well as the NY Post. I watched an hour of Fox and an hour of NBC every night. I started Googling every news story that came out to try and find the facts behind the spin that both sides were giving me.

I found out that what I had thought was the absolute truth really wasn't. There were facts out there, hard objective facts that contradicted the things that the White House was telling me. More and more I found evidence that the "reason" for the Iraq war had no foundation. It became clearer and clearer that this administration had rushed into this conflict with NO plan to get out.

I've said this many times-I take no joy in the knowledge that the man I voted for twice and believed has failed this country in such spectacular ways. However, no matter how unhappy it makes me, it doesn't mean I can ignore it.

Thanks for your post.

To clarify my past thoughts, I want us to be successful in Iraq for the good of the USA and the world, not for the legacy of President Bush. Although ultimately history will judge him on it.

For the record, I don't believe without question and I cringe every time I hear of death in Iraq. I've said more than once that mistakes have been made in Iraq (as tragically happens in nearly all wars), but I do sincerely believe that overall we are doing the right thing and we will be successful.
 
The only good news will be when all of our boys are home with their families ALIVE and well and the money wasted over there can be used to help America.
 


Thanks for your post.

To clarify my past thoughts, I want us to be successful in Iraq for the good of the USA and the world, not for the legacy of President Bush. Although ultimately history will judge him on it.

For the record, I don't believe without question and I cringe every time I hear of death in Iraq. I've said more than once that mistakes have been made in Iraq (as tragically happens in nearly all wars), but I do sincerely believe that overall we are doing the right thing and we will be successful.

I can respect that. You're telling me that you've looked at the facts and reached a different conclusion. My impression was in error then, and for that I apologize.
 
BAGHDAD - The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq said Thursday that a seven-month-old security operation has cut violence in Baghdad by half.

On Thursday, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno told reporters that car bombs and suicide attacks in Baghdad have fallen to their lowest level in a year, and civilian casualties have dropped from a high of about 32 to 12 per day.

Al-Qaida in Iraq was “increasingly being pushed out of Baghdad, “seeking refuge outside” the capital and “even fleeing Iraq,” Odierno said.

Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar, the Iraqi military commander, said that before the troop buildup, one-third of Baghdad’s 507 districts were under insurgent control.

“Now, only five to six districts can be called hot areas,” he said. “Al-Qaida now is left only with ****y-trapped cars and roadside bombs as their only weapons, which cannot be called quality operations, and they do not worry us.”


“What we do know is that there has been a decline in civilian casualties, but I would say again that it’s not at the level we want it to be,” Odierno said. “There are still way too many civilian casualties inside of Baghdad and Iraq.”

Meanwhile, an Iranian officer who was smuggling powerful roadside bombs into Iraq was arrested Thursday, the military said. The terrorist—a member of the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards—was captured in a hotel in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, the military said.

He was involved in transporting roadside bombs, including armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, into Iraq, according to a statement. It said intelligence reports also indicated he was involved in the infiltration and training of foreign fighters into Iraq.

Officials have said the Bush administration is expected to blacklist the Quds force as a terrorist organization, subjecting part of the vast military operation to financial sanctions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said seven Shiite extremists were detained following a pre-dawn raid by Iraqi special forces and U.S. troops in Sadr City.

the AP contributed to this report

http://patdollard.com/2007/09/20/al-...ce-plummeting/
 
That could very well be a decline in people showing up in the ER, or morgue. One of the very real reasons is that in plenty of neighborhoods there everyone of the oppostion has either been killed or moved out. There is no one left to kill anymore. So, yeah, it's safer. That doesn't mean it's good. We now have seperate areas for each group. This is a very real and dangerous West Side Story.
Mean time, if things are so peachy, why haven't the Iraqi army stepped in, or for that matter, the government, and say to the US, "thanks. We'll take over. You can leave now." Considering that clearly isn't happening, or going to happen, how are things good? What was the big star guying saying? Things are good? Well, if so, how come 150,000 can't come home instead of just 3,000 that were scheduled to come home anyhow? There must be some reason to keep them.
Think about it: yeah, maybe there aren't any casulities any more. But why?
 

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