SP4: In a word...Jun 23rd, 2008 - 23:19:45

winning.

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tonny from belgiumJun 23rd, 2008 - 23:29:10

As usual SP4 not concerned a bit with reality.Only the projected image seems to be of any importance.Million upon millions of displaced persons,millions of Iraqi refugee outside of Iraq,tenthousands killed or maimed.No electrivity,no potable water,the economy in shambles,oil plundered by the likes of Hunt oil without even negociating with the central governmnt in Bagdad.Billions of dollars destined for reconstruction disappeaing in the pockets of war profiteers ,domestic democracy destroyed,prison abuse in Abu Graibh,renditions,torture.Armed thugs from blackwater kiling in total impunity ,...compare that with the bold statement from SP4 .Apparently the iraqi population is not part of that definition of victory .
Define winning....

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SP4: Jesse Jackson...Jun 23rd, 2008 - 23:48:35

..said it perfectly: 'In slavery, everyone has a job.'

Peace in our time, eh Tonny? Tell us, how'd that work out for your ancestors? Now, run along and see if you can get the rest of the euros to pitch in, in Iraq.

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SP4, wake the flock upJun 24th, 2008 - 03:41:03

SP4, you cheerleading idiot fanboy, get yo' head outta yo' ass and READ the entire damned thing:

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiraq24-2008jun24,0,98319 6.story

Pentagon, GAO see good news and bad in Iraq

Two new reports point to security improvements but are pessimistic about political and economic progress.

By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
8:07 PM PDT, June 23, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Two new government reports, one by the Pentagon, pointed Monday to encouraging security improvements in Iraq, but were decidedly pessimistic about prospects for political and economic progress and warned that costly military gains will remain fragile.

One report, by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that many political reconciliation efforts have stalled, that Iraq's security forces remain largely unable to operate without U.S. assistance, and that its central government has not fulfilled commitments to spend its own money on reconstruction efforts. As a result, a new U.S. strategy for attaining military, political and economic goals is needed, the GAO said.

The Pentagon, while not agreeing on the need for a new strategy, acknowledged problems throughout Iraq. The quarterly report on progress also cited continued dissatisfaction among Iraqis over essential services such as water, electricity, sanitation and healthcare and said government officials in Baghdad 'lack the ability' to advance needed rebuilding projects.

Both reports cite dramatic improvements in security, and top officials say the number of attacks is continuing to plummet. On Monday, Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the No. 2 U.S. military commander in Iraq, said the average number of weekly attacks had fallen from 1,200 in June 2007 to 200 this June.

'Iraq is a much better place than it was a year ago across the board, politically, economically and from a security standpoint,' Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday. 'But we are not at the sustainable point yet, we are not at the irreversible point yet.'

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The war is in AfghanistanJun 24th, 2008 - 03:42:55

afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j6KT3dm_320OBZTMzUvKKSOGSGGQ

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The chief of the US military, Admiral Michael Mullen, said Monday he needed three more brigades in Afghanistan to battle Taliban fighters and train Afghan forces.

'We are short of forces there,' Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a meeting of military officers.

'I need at least an additional three brigades, one of them a training brigade,' Mullen said. A brigade is about 3,500 soldiers.

The United States has urged NATO allies for months to deploy reinforcements to the strife-torn nation, where 70,000 soldiers are fighting under separate US and NATO commands.

'Violence is up this year by every single measure,' Mullen said.

The month of June is already the bloodiest of the year for international forces with 32 soldiers killed so far.

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Iraqi forces still need U.S. troop backingJun 24th, 2008 - 03:45:45

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080623/ts_nm/iraq_usa_military_dc;_ylt=AjhLQSWmxozOWT ysqopbM_N34T0D

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi forces have improved but cannot operate without significant help, according to a senior U.S. commander and two government reports on Monday.

Iraqi troops are not ready to take full responsibility for security and combat operations in any part of the country, said Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 U.S. military commander in Iraq.

'There are no areas that we would be willing to separate out right now to dedicate specifically to the Iraqi security forces,' Austin told reporters at the Pentagon. 'They are not there yet.'

While the Pentagon, in a quarterly progress report to Congress, said Iraqi forces could be 'mostly self-sufficient by the end of 2008,' a senior U.S. military official said they will still require U.S. logistics and intelligence assistance for years.

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Now Sunni leaders killing our troopsJun 24th, 2008 - 03:49:05

ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYeFwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD91FS5OG0

American soldier killed, 5 others wounded in Iraq
By KIM GAMEL – 12 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — An American soldier was killed and five others wounded Monday when they came under fire southeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Witnesses and local police said the Americans were ambushed after a meeting with Iraqi municipal officials.

The troops were hit by small-arms fire near Madain, an area with a volatile mix of Sunni and Shiite extremists about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad. A suspected militant also was killed, said Maj. John Hall, a U.S. military spokesman.

The military provided no further details, but a witness said an attacker was waiting in his car until the soldiers came out of the municipal council building in Madain.

'The attacker got out of the car with an AK-47 assault rifle in his hand and he started to fire on the American soldiers until he was killed by return fire,' said Hussein al-Dulaimi, who owns an agricultural machines spare parts store across the street.

Al-Dulaimi, residents and a police official said the attacker had been a Sunni member of the municipal council until he was ousted by Shiites during sectarian violence following the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad.

www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world& oref=slogin

BAGHDAD — A security guard for an Iraqi politician grabbed his Kalashnikov automatic rifle and opened fire on at least a half-dozen American soldiers, killing two of them, during a meeting with Iraqi officials in a village southeast of Baghdad on Monday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The number of casualties was in dispute. The American military command in Baghdad said that two American soldiers had been killed and that three others and an interpreter had been wounded. The Interior Ministry official said that in addition to the two soldiers who had been killed, at least six other soldiers had been wounded. The gunman was killed in the firefight.

According to the Interior Ministry official, the attack took place as American soldiers were attending the opening of a park in Madaen, a village along the Tigris River about 20 miles from Baghdad. Madaen was the scene of horrific sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite gangs in the years after the American invasion in 2003. The official described the attacker as a security guard for a member of the provincial council.

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Dopes like SP4 out of the loop - why?Jun 24th, 2008 - 03:52:08

www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23logan.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref= slogin

According to data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, coverage of Iraq has been “massively scaled back this year.” Almost halfway into 2008, the three newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The “CBS Evening News” has devoted the fewest minutes to Iraq, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC’s “World News” and 74 minutes on “NBC Nightly News.” (The average evening newscast is 22 minutes long.)

CBS News no longer stations a single full-time correspondent in Iraq, where some 150,000 United States troops are deployed.

In a telephone interview last week, Ms. Logan said the CBS News bureau in Baghdad was “drastically downsized” in the spring. The network now keeps a producer in the country, making it less of a bureau and more of an office.

Interviews with executives and correspondents at television news networks suggested that while the CBS cutbacks are the most extensive to date in Baghdad, many journalists shared varying levels of frustration about placing war stories onto newscasts. “I’ve never met a journalist who hasn’t been frustrated about getting his or her stories on the air,” said Terry McCarthy, an ABC News correspondent in Baghdad.

On “The Daily Show,” Ms. Logan echoed the comments of other journalists when she said that many Americans seem uninterested in the wars now. Mr. McCarthy said that when he is in the United States, bringing up Baghdad at a dinner party “is like a conversation killer.”

Coverage of the war in Afghanistan has increased slightly this year, with 46 minutes of total coverage year-to-date compared with 83 minutes for all of 2007. NBC has spent 25 minutes covering Afghanistan, partly because the anchor Brian Williams visited the country earlier in the month. Through Wednesday, when an ABC correspondent was in the middle of a prolonged visit to the country, ABC had spent 13 minutes covering Afghanistan. CBS has spent eight minutes covering Afghanistan so far this year.

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ShaneJun 24th, 2008 - 04:10:15

Don't count the chickens 'till they're hatched!!

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