Picture of the Day - "Progress" in Iraq / Update

[Chandernagore]

QUOTE

It is interesting to see that since the transition of power Iraq slipped away from the top line news. I am wondering if it is really quiet, or just forgotten.

I guess it's being slowly forgotten... because it's far from being calm. The ridiculous "take hostage / menace country" terrorist circus doesn't even draw much attention. Nobody seems to care anymore wether Balushistan or Madagscar has 25 soldiers helping restore some order in the middle of nowhere or not. The real transition test will come when the US starts getting troops home.

ATTACKS SINCE HANDOVER
19 July - Attack on Baghdad police station, nine killed
17 July - Car bomb in Baghdad targets Iraqi justice minister, killing four of his guards
15 July - Car bomb targets police station in Haditha, west of Baghdad, killing 10
14 July - Governor of Mosul killed in ambush
14 July - Car bomb explodes near seat of government in Baghdad, killing 10 and wounding 40

[Indrid]

well, aparently the news that Cameron Diaz starred in a porn movie seems to be more important these days than the entire irak war....it seems that the media does no longer consider it a good subject. so, in consequence, the war will end and the news coming from there will soon be very limited.

i am expecting a new war next year or so...until then, cameron will do :cheers:

[Florin]

Thank you for the upgrade, Chandernagore.

Well, it seems Mr. Bush did not learn too much from this trouble evolving for more than one year in Iraq. I just read in the news that now Bush is thinking very deeply :shock: :!: about the involvement of Iran in September 11 matter. Even though the new chief of CIA does not back this approach... yet.
Well, the quality of the Iranian petroleum is pretty good, and some ancient ruins in Iran are waiting to be destroyed and lost for ever, like in Susa, Persepolis etc.

I heard that the ancient ruins of Iraq were plundered in the last year as much as in the previous 50. And as somebody highlighted to me, this implies a network, a chain of distribution up to the antiques markets of Western Europe and the United States. If nobody would wait for this antique objects overseas, there will be no point in plundering them on the site.

[Chandernagore]

[quote]I just read in the news that now Bush is thinking very deeply...[/quote]

I invite him to compare the demography and geography of Irak with Iran before making the next huge blunder.

[quote]If nobody would wait for this antique objects overseas, there will be no point in plundering them on the site.[/quote]

Agree. I think it's close to criminal to privately own such objects.

[Bernard Miclescu]

Our only hope is that in november he will not be re elected, if yes be sure that he will not calm down with his warrior ideas.
Bm

[Florin]

At BBC International news of July 22 there about 5 minutes regarding what I previously mentioned: the looting of 4 thousand years old objects from about 150 ancient cities abandoned in the desert.
Final destination of the stolen objects: London and New York.
The new Iraqi government is in rush to train and deploy 1500 of its own troops to protect the sites. Meanwhile the Italian Carabinieri started to do this, as much they can.

May I ask what the ... did the American troops to protect these 4000...4500 year old cities in the past year?

[Chandernagore]

What is the weight of 4000 years history in face of 30 years oil reserve ? Important things must be protected first ! A little understanding, please :shock:

[Chandernagore]

Wow. I've been reading a thing or two in the US press. There seems to be some real warmongering targetting Iran. The neocons have learned nothing in 4 years. Unbelievable.

[Florin]

[quote]Wow. I've been reading a thing or two in the US press. There seems to be some real warmongering targetting Iran. The neocons have learned nothing in 4 years. Unbelievable.[/quote]

It is unbelievable because you live in Europe.

The owners of the American mass-media manage a screen around the international news, so the average American folk hear 10 times more time about how a cat was rescued from a branch, or about the latest car accident occured on the local highway, than the real international stuff.

However, the matter is deeper. Is about that good one slap over buttocks which the American kid never get in his childhood years, and thus the average mad kid usually turn into the later crazy adult.

As an example, the law forbids to the policemen deployed in the American schools to defend themselves against the aggressive highschool students. So in order to don't lose their job benefits, these policemen rather let themselves beaten by these so-called humans.

[Florin]

Well, maybe my previous notes were not the best answer about the recent warmongering about Iran.

So I'll try again. About 5 percent of the American employees are directly paid related to military activities, like design, research, manufacturing, maintenance etc. Eventually, about 20 percent of the Americans have their jobs spinning directly or indirectly, partially or totally around military expenses.

You cannot imagine how desperate are the military manufacturers for any possible war. I am not joking, of course, because this is not a matter to joke about. My personal opinion is that all this evolved into a kind of cannibalistic system, which of course need to eat one country or another from time to time. Of course, they should be third world dwarf countries, preferable with 20...30 years old outdated military equipment, to confirm even better the superiority of the new superhuman race.

Everything is fine as long the average American see these wars in the video game style of the news. The others suffer? Who cares, by the way. As long those overseas wars are not felt home, everything is great. Well, the September 11 events were a glimpse of what a war really means, in the heart of the American homeland, and that's why nothing else would be the same it was before. All we saw these last years is a struggle to show that actually nothing changed, and nothing will change.
Like when emperor Hadrian built the Pantheon in Rome after shrinking the Roman Empire by leaving Mesopotamia and the Arabic Peninsula.

[Florin]

What we witness in our time looks like a conflict between the Western values and the Muslim ideology, the latter in various shades, from aggressive to peaceful. After all I previously wrote under this topic, the whole picture will not be complete without few thoughts about the other side...

I witnessed 2 cases here in the US when the Muslim employees pray in their offices, during working time of course. They neglected their job duties, and when they were asked about neglecting the job tasks, they turned the matter to mention that they are Muslims and this is the way they are. Id est: Change yourself, because I am not going to change even a little bit. So from this point they behave like many Blacks and Hispanics here in the US: any problem they have, they do not look to their own flaws, they do not try to see what they did wrong, they just yell that they are discriminated because of their nationality or religious beliefs. This Friday I had an arguing with a team colleague, born in the Ivory Coast (West Africa), who after 20 years lived in the United States is not able to make him understandable in spoken English. So what did he said? "Since all those Russians are coming here, Brooklyn became so crowded that you cannot breath any more."
Well, we discussed about the Russians in this forum and about our 3 years war against them, but they are anyway closer to my heart than the West Africans. So I picked up the fight, and what a fight!
Friday was messed, eventually.
So eventually in this world around us fitting in means to choose the lesser of the evils. So from my point of view, the lesser evil preferred is of course the Western type society, with its better exponents, like Europe and Canada, and even with its not so good exponents, like the United States.

[Chandernagore]

I must say that sometimes my patience grows thin with Muslim fundamentalism as well. Many European countries have Muslim minorities and we try to "integrate" them as well as we can. But at times you just shake your head and think : they don't integrate, not because we do not do enough, but simply because they dont want to. Sad. The Muslim world must change. And will.

[Chandernagore]

But let's not forget that this is the Irak invasion folder

[Bernard Miclescu]

unfortunatly they forgot the DEADS...

[Jeff_S]

Just to follow up on one of Florin's comments earlier...

It remains to be seen what impact the Iraq war will have on American public opinion. So long as the American troop level remains high, and the casualties keep coming, this seems likely. The American military -- the Army especially -- is being stressed in a way it has never been stressed before. Keeping over 130,000 in Iraq, plus other commitments, and a steady flow of dead and wounded -- America has never done this with an all-volunteer military.

Now if this was just the active duty, full-time Army, it would not matter to the average American. They have no military experience, and often do not even know anyone who has military experience (maybe Grandpa was in World War 2 or Korea, but he does not talk about it). But America's army reserves are seeing action they have not seen since World War 2. This is hitting every town across the country -- not just the towns near the Army bases. When people see people they know leaving -- the policeman, the fireman, the mechanic who fixes their car, the neighbor's son or daughter -- this gets their attention. It get more of their attention when the guy comes home in a coffin.

Maybe I am biased because I spent 8 months of 2003 on active duty, training these Army reservists before they went to Iraq and other places. More than one thought that being activated every 2-3 years was not what he had signed up for. (Me neither... I loved it sooo much I got out as soon as I could, before I got activated again :blbl: )

What impact this will have on recruiting for the reserves, and on the election, only time will tell...