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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it."
- Noam Chomsky
The United States inaugurated its largest embassy ever in the heart of the Green Zone on Monday, officially opening the fortress-like compound that was built as a testament to America's commitment to Iraq.
Addressing an inauguration ceremony under tight security, Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the $700 million embassy was testimony to America's long-term friendship with Iraq, where about 146,000 U.S. troops are deployed.
"From this embassy in the years to come, we look forward to building our partnership and contributing to the future," Crocker said.
meanwhile...
Attacks once again rocked Baghdad a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 38 people at a Shiite shrine just four miles north of the site of the new embassy. Four bombs exploded in different parts of Baghdad just before noon on Monday, killing four people and wounding 19.
i hope those occupying the seats of power in the REAL iraqi government feel comfortable in their new home...
Citing a copy of the draft strategic framework agreement dated March 7 that it obtained, the newspaper said that the document is designed to replace the current United Nations mandate, which expires at the end of the year.
According to The Guardian, the agreement allows the United States to "conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security" without including a time limit.
It also does not put any limits on the number of American forces allowed in Iraq, the weapons they can use, the legal status of US troops in Iraq or the powers they hold over Iraqi citizens.
The document states it is "in the mutual interest of the United States and Iraq that Iraq maintain its sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence and that external threats to Iraq be deterred."
"Accordingly, the US and Iraq are to consult immediately whenever the territorial integrity or political independence of Iraq is threatened."
sometimes it's really hard for me to fully comprehend that i am governed by compulsive liars, cheats, criminals, and murderers...
i stumbled across the last of iraqis blog the other day... it's the product of an iraqi named mohammed...
i'm a 25 years old dentist i live in iraq (Baghdad) i was born and raised here but unfortunately i'm thinking that the iraqis are going to extinct so i made this blog wishing that i can make a difference or even share my greif with the whole world and give them an idea about what's happening here from the point of view of a civilian living in the war zone not from the politicians nor people who gets their benefits from the conditions.
it's so rare to read an honest, first-person account of life in baghdad, altho' i'm sure i could dig out more if i tried... riverbend, via her weblog, baghdad burning, was one of those voices until she and her family had had enough and escaped to syria...
mohammed offers this up close and personal view of a 25 november suicide car bomb explosion through the eyes of one of his friends, followed by an eye-opening first hand account of an experience with the iraqi police...
The incidents in the last couple of days was really frustrating for me and my hopes for a better future, because again I figured that I was so naïve to think things will improve, it's true that some areas changed from very troubled to "Iraqi normal" areas, that means it's dangerous but like the others not more…… Today there has been an explosion by a suicide car bomb in Bab AlMuatham providence near the square , where many important buildings lies; the ministry of health, a governmental clinic, the dentistry, medicine and pharmacy colleges, the dental technical institute and a very crowded transportation garage all of these near the are of the explosion. I have many friends who works at that clinic, one of them was so close to the explosion on his way to work , in fact he was two cars away from it…. He was with his mother in the car when the explosion happened, the car was totally destroyed and his mother was seriously injured, he survived the incident with scratches only because the explosion was at his mother's side so she took the shock instead of him, the explosion was so sever that even his mobile phone was broken, his mother is in hospital now, they are doing operations for her. My friends said that at least 15 people have died in this explosion till now, and many are seriously injured, most of my friend's cars have been damaged by this explosion they said that it was so sever. Another huge explosion was near my house today, I don't know about it, but the explosion was so strong. Before that, At Friday I was really sad and heart broken for the poor people who died in AlGhazil market, the sick bastard who planned the explosion placed an explosive pack in the middle of birds-filled cage, because this market is for pets, and they only open at Fridays, more than 15 people have died in this explosion. What I feared from has occurred, the relative peace and quietness that we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks was just for terrorist's re-evaluation, it seems that the terrorists from all the sides were just planning what to do next, they were planning how to overcome the current changes and achievements, I don't know why but they always seem to succeed, why can't we have peace for at least a month? Well, I think I know part of the answer, because today as the ministry of anterior has announced in a survey that they made that: 19,000 of it's members can't read or write!!!! 12% of the police force can't read or write!!! I just want to know how could they do their job when they can't even read the cars papers or even the IDs? That's a shocking part of the answer. Now I know why these incidents happened with me in which I laughed my guts out, once a checkpoint stopped me and the policeman asked for my ID and the car papers, to my surprise, he hold the paper upside down and pretended that he is checking them, he looked at it for a moment and then told me I can go, what a farce. And now I know why many times when they take the ID and the papers they stare at them like they were comparing a drawings to find the differences!! I just want to know how could a force that 12% of it can't read or write bring peace and settlement back to a torn-up country like Iraq?
his 4 december post offered this heartbreaking video...
In this video I used a song called "The new country" for a very popular Iraqi singer who is Husam AlRasam, it's not a new song, and it was released when I started blogging. This song is very popular between Iraqis, I can say that more than 80% of Iraqis have it either on their mobile phones or computers. There is something strange in this song, whenever I hear it I twitch although I've heard it countless times, believe me in Arabic it's much more effective, because the emotions were lost in translation, but I think the images compensates for that loss. There is one thing that I want to make it clear, you will notice in the video the name Khansa`, she is a well known Arabic historic character and a poet, her brother died in a battle and she was blind from crying him, then in AlQadesia battle her four sons died too. I'd like to dedicate this video to all the innocent Iraqis who died for a reason or no reason at all, to all the Iraqis who had to leave their country or home, to all real Iraqis who had to suffer from the situation, for everyone who loves his country, to all the innocent men in the world who died for no mistake they have done and to anyone who cares for the human race.
Contempt citations recommended for full House vote AFTER THE FRIGGIN' RECESS?
goddam it to hell (and, yes, i'm feeling VERY SHRILL!)...! we sit here and decry the iraqi parliament for taking august off and, while our constitution is in flames, our congress does the same exact goddam friggin' thing...
The Foreign Minister of Iraq's puppet government cites potential civil war if U.S. pulls out
will somebody please tell this guy that the civil war has been underway for quite some time now and that he needs somebody else to write him a new talking point...?
Iraq's foreign minister warned on Monday that a quick American military withdrawal from the country could lead to civil war and the collapse of the government, as pressure on the Bush administration for a pullout grows.
oh, btw, the government is pretty much ready to collapse anyway...
CBS News is reporting that on July 15, the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accord Front will call a vote of no confidence in the Iraqi parliament against prime minister Nuri al-Maliki. CBS says that Sunni vice president Tariq al-Hashimi, who is spear-heading this move, met with US VP Dick Cheney and that Cheney may have approved the move.
nonetheless, we have folks like the esteemed senator from south carolina, lindsey graham, still insisting on just how well things are going over there...
“The military part of the surge is working beyond my expectations,” Graham said. “We literally have the enemy on the run. The Sunni part of Iraq has really rejected al-Qaida all over the country. We’re getting more information about al-Qaida operations than we’ve ever received.”
Vice President Dick Cheney and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged problems in the pace of reducing violence in Iraq on Wednesday, but both pledged their governments would continue working together toward a solution.
Once safely ensconced in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, however, Cheney appeared to reserve his toughest language for his normal target – the press. Cheney held a lot of photo ops with key Iraqi leaders like Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, but was adamant about not taking questions. At one point, Cheney emphasized to the assembled journalists that “this is just a photo spray.” Later in the day, as reporters filed into an embassy conference room for another photo of Cheney they overheard him tell his staff “then we kick the press out.”
wait, wait, wait... HERE IT IS...! i just KNEW it had to be kicking around somewhere...
U.S. officials have been livid since discovering that Iraq’s fledgling parliament – hardly a hive of activity in the first place – was planning to take a two-month summer recess, postponing work on a bill spelling out how oil money would be shared among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups or a law authorizing new regional elections.
goddam it, don't they have a clue about priorities...? whassamadda wit' dose folks, hah...?
"[F]or the Iraqi parliament to take a two-month vacation in the middle of summer is impossible to understand,” [said] The new American ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker.
Barry McCaffrey, retired Army general and one-time White House drug czar
"We’re in trouble."
"The Iraqi government in power is dysfunctional. "
"There is essentially no province in Iraq where the central government holds sway."
"Iraq’s neighbors are bearing no good will toward a favorable outcome in Iraq."
" . . . collectively the American people have said that the conduct of the war has been so incompetent that we’ve come to disbelieve the administration has the ability to carry this off."
"The next president, unless the situation in Iraq is dramatically turned around, is pulling the plug."
Gee, I guess Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are in pretty good company after all. It is Dick Cheney who is living in fantasyland.
yes, it's a good thing barry's retired because, otherwise, darth would probably find a way to give him the boot...
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