Occupation Iraq: Setting the Stage For Staying

And cui bono?

"Cleric vows strikes if US stays in Iraq" August 08, 2011|Associated Press

BAGHDAD - Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shi’ite cleric with thousands of followers in Iraq, said yesterday that US forces that stay past the Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline would be fair game to attack.

Iraqi officials, worried about a potential backlash if US troops remain in the country, have tried to portray any American forces that do not withdraw as trainers of the still-growing Iraqi military rather than as combat troops.

While the security situation in Iraq has improved during the past few years, attacks are still commonplace. In June alone, 15 US soldiers were killed, making it the bloodiest month for the US military in Iraq in two years. Nearly all of them were killed in attacks by Shi’ite militias bent on forcing out American troops on schedule.  

Does that make sense to you? We were going to be leaving, except now these attacks are causing questions. Gimme a f***ing break!

Sadr’s comments suggested that even limited training would not be acceptable to his Shi’ite militia, which has stepped up rocket and bomb attacks against American forces as the December deadline approaches.

“They will be treated as anyone who stays in Iraq, as a tyrannical occupier that must be resisted by military means,’’ Sadr said on his website. 

That's all what the AmeriKan media says, and I'm tuning that out these days.

Violence has continued in Iraq despite the improved security situation. A woman and two children under 10-years-old were killed yesterday in a bomb attack in Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad. Four bombs were planted near homes in the town, officials said.

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"Al-Sadr warns US forces to leave Iraq" August 09, 2011|Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press

Yeah, I saw that. You didn't have to repeat it.

A powerful anti-American Shiite cleric called Tuesday on U.S. troops in Iraq to leave the country and go back to their families or risk more attacks.

Muqtada al-Sadr’s comments came in a rare statement translated into English and directed at U.S. troops in Iraq. The statement was posted on his website.

Another "website" claim by the AmeriKan media.

In it, the Shiite cleric appealed directly to the roughly 46,000 U.S. troops still in the country and said Iraq does not need their help.  

They never did.  

And some help, huh?  Millions dead, a shattered infrastructure, and an environment polluted with depleted uranium munitions.

“So, go forth from our holy land and go back to your families who are waiting for you impatiently,’’ al-Sadr said. The comment appeared to be a nod to the unpopularity of the Iraq war in the U.S. where many people are frustrated with the length of the war and the heavy burden it has put on American troops.  

We are MORE THAN FRUSTRATED! 

We HATE the THING and the ENDLESS LIES upon which it is based!

Iraqi officials are mulling whether to keep some U.S. troops past their December departure date. But they’re worried about a potential backlash if the U.S. military remains in the country.

Al-Sadr and his militia members have vowed to assault any American force that remains and have already been attacking American troops with rockets and bombs.

Al-Sadr added that Iraqi security forces are able to handle the country’s security challenges without the help of U.S. troops or trainers.

“Enough of this occupation, terror and abuse. We are not in need of your help. We are able to combat and defeat terrorism, and achieve unity,’’ he said. “We are not in need of your bases, your experience.’’

While the security situation in Iraq has improved over the past few years, attacks are still commonplace. In June alone, 14 U.S. soldiers were killed in combat, making it the bloodiest month for the U.S. military in Iraq in two years. Nearly all of them were killed in attacks by Shiite militias, like those headed by al-Sadr, who are bent on forcing out American troops and portraying themselves as driving out the “occupier.’’

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Yeah, and if it ain't him it is "Al-CIA-Duh!"

"Daylong wave of violence in Iraq kills 89; Insurgents show strength with 42 attacks; US troop plan could be factor" August 16, 2011|By Michael S. Schmidt and Yasir Ghazi, New York Times

BAGHDAD - Insurgents across Iraq launched their most significant and wide-ranging attacks in months yesterday, killing 89 people and wounding at least 315 in the most violent day in Iraq this year.

In all, there were 42 attacks, nearing the level of violence at the height of the sectarian conflict here in 2006 and 2007.

I'm sorry, it is all a little too coincidental to me.

The carnage sent a disheartening message to the Iraqi and American governments: After hundreds of billions of dollars spent since the US-led invasion in 2003, and tens of thousands of lives lost, insurgents remain a potent and perhaps resurgent threat.  

So we will JUST HAVE TO STAY! 

Yup, they COULDN'T HOLD THEIR WATER FIVE MORE MINUTES until we were OUT THE DOOR and HEADED HOME! 

Heck, then we would have had to turn around and go back and would have wasted even more time and money! What stoo-pido insurgents, 'eh?

Yesterday’s apparently coordinated strikes against civilians and security forces came in many forms: suicide attacks, car bombs, homemade bombs, and gunmen.

The widespread and lethal nature of the attacks - compared with an average of 14 a day this year - frightened many Iraqis, because it suggested that radical Sunni insurgents, led by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, had regained the capacity for the kind of violence that plagued Iraq when sectarian conflict was raging in 2006 and 2007.  

Then BUSH'S SURGE FAILED!

But it also demonstrated the multiple and simultaneous threats gripping the nation at this pivotal time, with Shi’ite militants being linked to the killing of American troops, and threatening more violence if the troops remain, and Iraqi forces clearly unable to preserve the peace....  

That really is a wonderful paragraph of agenda-pushing propaganda.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks. But in a voice recording posted on a website for Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia last week, a spokesman for the terrorist group said that it was preparing a wide-scale strike....  

Puh-leeze!!!

“Do not worry, the days of Zarqawi are going to return soon,’’ spokesman, Abi Muhhamed al-Adnani said, referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia who was killed by American forces in 2006....  

Oh, HIM AGAIN!  

How many times have they dug him up again?

Still, one political analyst said he saw the attacks as a calculated bid to frighten the Iraqis into asking the American forces to stay behind, because if they completely withdraw, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia will have lost its rationale for existing.  

Yeah, cui bono?

“If the Americans leave, Al Qaeda will no longer have an excuse to operate throughout the country,’’ said Hamid Fhadil, a professor of political science at Baghdad University. “Al Qaeda wants Americans to stay here so they will have Iraq as a battlefield to fight the Americans.’’  

Yup, I'll bet "Al-CIA-Duh" does!!

Fhadil said that one of the biggest problems with the Iraqi security forces is that they are more loyal to armed groups like Al Qaeda and Shi’ite militias than to the Iraqi government....

Yeah, whatever it is we gotta have Americans stay.

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"Al Qaeda in Iraq plans 100 attacks to avenge bin Laden

BAGHDAD - Al Qaeda in Iraq has vowed to carry out “100 attacks’’ across the country, starting in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to exact revenge for the death of Osama bin Laden. The terror group’s statement was released on militant websites late Friday. It said the attacks will avenge bin Laden, who was killed by US forces in Pakistan in May, and other slain senior Al Qaeda leaders. The statement said the campaign would include “varied attacks, including raids, martyrdom operations, roadside bombs, silenced guns and snipers, in all cities, rural areas and provinces’’ across Iraq.  Monday marked the middle of Ramadan (AP)." 

Readers, I can not tell you how sick of this shit I am.

Also see: 

Occupation Iraq: Iran All In

Yeah, who are the terrorists again?

Occupation Iraq: Special Request to Stay 


Whatever excuse works here. 

"Mission still not accomplished" Globe Editorial, August 18, 2011

AS 42 coordinated attacks swept through Iraq on Monday, killing at least 92 people and wounding hundreds, they shattered the notion that Iraq has stabilized.

So we have been lied to all this time, huh?

What isn’t clear is if this violence, strategically timed to fall on the halfway mark of the holy month of Ramadan, is the precursor of a bigger storm to come or the last storm before the quiet.

Using a combination of suicide attacks, car and homemade bombs, and lone gunmen, insurgents made a simple point: They are almost as strong as they were in the most violent days of the sectarian clashes of 2006-2007. Iraqi security forces neither anticipated nor stopped the slaughter. And while no group has claimed credit, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia had hinted last week that it was planning a large-scale killing.

Violence is not abating in Iraq....

A single day does not define the success or failure of a war that should never have been fought....

If I remember correctly the Globe and most other American papers were in favor of the Bush's fervor. 

But the insurgent attacks raise fundamental questions about the lessons of Iraq. First, did President Bush’s much-heralded troop surge really work?  

Nope.

The answer is essential to understanding whether the extended US commitment has made life better for Iraqis....

I'm sorry, but no f***ing way!!!!!!!!!

Billions of dollars and thousands of lives later, the story of the war in Iraq is not yet in the history books.  

Oh yes it is! I AM the HISTORY BOOK RIGHT HERE!!!!!!

The war continues, and this week’s news is a reminder that the notion of mission accomplished is no better understood today than it was in 2003.

And if the mission is not yet accomplished....

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Actually, the MISSION HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, hasn't it? 

Saddam's government is gone and THERE WERE NO WMDs!