baghdad

Those of us who served in 'Nam, or really any insurgent conflict, and anybody else who were paying attention understand the Government Propaganda used to make things look rosier than the reality on the ground.

One of the most blatant is "The Body Count". Used to show success, in 'enemy kills', and used to show success in the citizens feelings security because of actions by an occupying force or a puppet government.

Real Honesty is not a popular tool of propaganda!

Newsweek and the New York Times are carrying articles about the returning Iraqi's to Baghdad, looking deeper into the reasons why, reasons anyone paying real attention already understand.

The new U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad must be deaf, dumb and blind. He ran the United States Embassy in Iraq for two years and never noticed the U.N. was there the whole time? Now he is announcing that the U.S. welcomes the presence of the U.N. in Iraq. I attended a few meetings with the U.N. members in Iraq, and the fact is, as far as I could tell, we didn’t want anything to do with them. The Bush Administration duplicity and pretence is showing here.

In 2003, immediately after our invasion of Iraq, American contractors began pouring in to the country.
Taking advantage of Paul Bremer’s order, which effectively dissolved all of the civil institutions and Iraq, the contractors seized buildings and property formally owned by the Iraqi government and even civilian and business property. The area around Saddam’s Palace where, in 2003, the Coalition Provincial Authority had set up their headquarters, (Now the U.S. Embassy), was the prime real estate for contractors, military command units, government agencies and coalition senior officer quarters. The Green Zone was the place to be. All the money was coming through there, and there was lots of money. If one could establish his foothold there, as a civilian contractor, the chances of getting contracts were greater than being located outside of the Green Zone.

The action was in the palace. In 2003 and 2004 the spacious lobbies of the Palace were like the floor of the stock exchange. Deals were being cut and money was changing hands seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It was the wild west.

On May 7th I read an associated Press release on my Yahoo internet sight. I could not believe what I was reading. I am now sure that we have now, knowingly and willing, entered the Iraqi Civil war squarely on the side of the Shia Majority who have, since our arrival in Iraq, terrorized the Sunni Minority who, during the reign of Saddam, lorded power over the Shia and insured they suffered considerably.

We are now, effectively, allies with the Shia in Iraq in their civil war with the Sunni Muslims.

Some Republicans will Stoop to Any Depth, and even Sacrifice the Dignity of the Congress To Get What They want. They were used to things that way.

Yesterday the U.S. House passed the long awaited Iraq Emergency Supplemental Bill.
It’s passage puts the bill on the road to the Presidents desk in just a few days.

Now that the democrats have control of the House of representatives, the first binding congressional challenge to Bush's handling of the conflict, now in its fifth year, is about to arrive on his desk.

"Our troops are mired in a civil war with no clear enemy and no clear strategy for success," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, as only one of the many justifications for challenging the Presidents failed leadership and dim vision.

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson & My Left Wing


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Crossposted from Town Called Dobson & My Left Wing


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Crossposted from Town Called Dobson & My Left Wing


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If I had to use one word to describe my three year experience in Iraq, one word which could say how I feel without discounting or dismissing the good things I personally saw and experienced, that word would be DISHEARTENING.

Unlike many Americans in Iraq, my experiences there brought me close up and personal to the Iraqis and their day to day lives. I worked with them and I lived among them in the red zone of Baghdad. As the V.P. of Aviation and marketing for the Sandi Group, a DC based Iraqi-American Corporation, I live on one of the city blocks in the middle of Baghdads Red District, away from the Green Zone and the protection of U.S. Forces. Those assigned to protect me were Iraqi, mostly Kurds from the Northern region of Iraq.

Every day as I traveled throughout Baghdad in the course of my work, it was Iraqi body guards who saw to my safety. We did not have armored cars, or soldiers to accompany us, as I would have later, being appointed into a U.S. Diplomatic mission in Baghdad. I trusted my Iraqi guards and befriended them. They never betrayed that trust. On more than one occasion, while on ambush alley in Baghdad, those Iraqi guards would cover me with their own bodies to ensure my safety when snipers opened up on our cars.

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson & My Left Wing


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