Life in the Green Zone is hardly fun. But for an elderly Iraqi couple, it's a lot better than being on the other side of the checkpoints.
Comment: The war in iraq was necessary because of the actions of Saddam. If you had a neighbor who threaten your life everyday and made comments like "I am going to destroy you". 1. would you ignore him (democrat). 2. call the police. 3. take him out.
Comment: The United States had no other choice than to invade Iraq after years of sanctions and UN Inspections. If you had a neighbor who said he was going to kill you and pointed a gun at you every day pulling the trigger with no rounds going off. I believe you would tire of this harrassment and call the police and have this Saddam carried off to the gallows. Our democrat friends seem to think it ok for our neighbors to threaten our very lives with no consequences.
Comment: As the third of 3 brothers to enlist, one of whom paid the ultimate price with honors, I was fortunate enough to get an appointment to the US Naval Academy where my studies included a concentration in military psychology. We had lengthy discussions about disinformation campaigns with a two-old purpose - 1) confuse and demoralize the enemy and 2) motivate the military and civilian population to maintain support for the war effort. The Cheney/Bush administration has used these tactics extensively as illustrated in the recent Washington Post articles about the Pentagon pressuring and or bribing military analysts to reinforce the party line rather than provide and honest evaluation of the mess that we are into in Iraq.
Comment: 911 was the result of 19 Saudis, trained in Afghanistan by Pakistanis and funded by a variety of our middle eastern allies. One of the few Arab countries that did not particpate in 911 and did not support Al Quaeda was Iraq. The GOP propaganda machine has tried repeatedly to link Iraq to 911 to justify the biggest FU in the history of this country, despite reports from the CIA, the 911 commission and our European allies that Iraq had nothing to do with 911. So explain to me again, if you would, why we HAD to rush into an attack and occupation of Iraq against the warning of many of our allies, especially the French who had gone through a similar disaster in Algeria.
Comment: 911 was the result of 19 Saudis, trained in Afghanistan by Pakistanis and funded by a variety of our middle eastern allies. One of the few Arab countries that did not particpate in 911 and did not support Al Quaeda was Iraq. The GOP propaganda machine has tried repeatedly to link Iraq to 911 to justify the biggest FU in the history of this country, despite reports from the CIA, the 911 commission and our European allies that Iraq had nothing to do with 911. So explain to me again, if you would, why we HAD to rush into an attack and occupation of Iraq against the warning of many of our allies, especially the French who had gone through a similar disaster in Algeria.
Comment: Enter Your Comment
Comment: Amazed to see so much anger focused against the US. I suppose the terrorists are angels if Bush is the anti Christ. Yeah, he has made mistakes, but I do ask this one question be answered - given the intel at the time and shortly after 9-11, the US people would have hung the president if he had took no action. What would you have seen as the right way to have handled post 9-11 based off of intel provided you at that moment of time? Bomb Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Iran? I am just asking a question.
Comment: I have an answer to your question. The first move Bush made after 9/11 was the right one. Attacking Afghanistan. No one wanted to hang him for that. That was the action everyone was looking for. If you read enough newspapers, magazines, and books, you know that Afghanistan and Pakistan were and still are Al Quaeda headquarters. They and the Taliban have been growing and selling BILLIONS of dollars worth of heroin for the last 5 years, and in summer 2006, Al Quaeda of Afghanistan tried unsuccessfully to liquid-bomb American passenger jets. As for the "intelligence", many former Bush people,including his former CIA head and former chief counterterrorism guy, plus British intelligence all say the "intelligence" was made up as an excuse to go to war. They say it was mainly Cheney,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Rice that ordered the CIA to cook up some propaganda they could use as an excuse to invade Iraq, and they bullied the rest of the world's intelligence agencies to keep their mouths shut and go along with it.
Comment: 911 was the result of 19 Saudis, trained in Afghanistan with Pakistani support, and funding by a variety of our middle east allies. Iraq was one of the few Arab countries who did NOT participate in 911. So, explain to me, if you would, why it is that we HAD to attack Iraq. The GOP propaganda machine has relentlessly tried to link Iraq to 911 to justify the rush to war and the gross incompetence that has ensued. "Made mistakes" is a gross understatement for one of the biggest FUs in our countries history.l
Comment: Amazed to see so much anger focused against the US. I suppose the terrorists are angels if Bush is the anti Christ. Yeah, he has made mistakes, but I do ask this one question be answered - given the intel at the time and shortly after 9-11, the US people would have hung the president if he had took no action. What would you have seen as the right way to have handled post 9-11 based off of intel provided you at that moment of time? Bomb Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Iran? I am just asking a question.
Comment: This war is evil. Bush is the modern Anti-Christ: a lunatic with a religiously-inspired delusion of "correctness" which fails to conceal his family's immense war profits.
He deserves to be tried for war crimes and sent to jail for life, or perhaps, a more fitting punishment for a war-profiter who lied to get our nation to back the biggest foreign policy blunder in the last hundred years, is the same one given to Saddam Hussein.
If an ordinary citizen were to hear a voice inside their head, telling them to kill their neighbors, and, if that same lunatic decided to go on a killing spree, while saying it was God's Will, we would say this person deserves to be placed in maxmimum security prison, until a jury decides their fate.
Why should the President of the United States be above the law?
He lied, and thousands have died, and, we ALL know his father made Saddam into a strongman and, that, Bush, Jr. issued Executive Orders at the outset of his first term, which classified all the clandestine activities of Daddy WarBucks, so that the public would be blissfully unaware of these high crimes.
Nations that live by the sword, die by the sword.
I've moved abroad, because I refuse to live in a nation that slept while it was turned into a Police State by a madman with ill-gotten power.
News outlest like yours should be ashamed of your own cowardice for doing the bidding of our evil, insane "leader" who rigged his wa into the White House twice. Your failure to call attention to Bush's draconian policies have enabled him to harrass and threaten journalists who HAVE had the courage to expose this monumental lie which is bringing down our nation.
Comment: Vox,
To be very honest, it is people like yourself who put us over here. Your crys for our people who died in 9-11 is the reason we are here. As stated in another post "you would have hung him if nothing had been done". Get off your high horse and support those who allow you to sleep soundly at night. This is no longer about you it is about the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen who are over here risking everything to ensure your safety. No wonder the morale here is low. We read and listed to ignorance like yours and ask ourselves "Why are we doing this anymore when the people no longer support us?", "Why should we let them sleep in peace?" Next time think about what you are writing and think those who may read it.
M-Baghdad, Iraq
Comment: Iraq is Rumsfeld's mess. He pulled all the strings to be the one to call the shots in Iraq, including misleading the President on the number of forces needed in the initial invasion. To say that the generals were in charge or that the president is to blame is a liar. When you are surrounded by two old time buddies like Cheny & Rumsfeld, you are helpless.
Comment: It is a crime to fight an immoral war. To kill in the name of oil is horrible. How can our Leadership allow this to happen? The sad part are the damaged lives of our soldiers and the Iraqi people. They can never be repaired. Thousands of lives for the privlidge of paying $4.00 a gallon for oil in the United States, and $12 a gallon in Europe. Bush and his Cronies should be ashamed for the damage to the World, they've done.
Comment: Where is the truth for ALL citizens of the world in this? The war is a SHAM. The REAL truth is how many oil companies, Construction companies, were seeking to benifit from the war.. The TRUTH is.. our Gov't made up some facts as why were supposed to goto war in IRAQ, all now revealed as LIES. Whats the reason now? Protecting the Bush family legacy as an energy mogul. Don't believe me?
Did you ever see the Condalisa Rice? I was an OIL tanker Commissioned as a "gift" to her. What BULL Sh!t.
All I got to say is '"keep your arms close friends". They ( the religous sponsors of the Holy war) have a plan, and they, at any cost, are going to succed at it. What is their plan?
A. Raise the cost of oil to over 130$ a barrel. ( at the time of the release of their plan in 2001 a barrel of oil was $65)
B. Raise the cost of a gallon of gas to $3.50 ( Wow almost there )
C. Break the American economy. ( With the investigation into the Sub-Prime lending habits of Foriegn backed lenders such as Country wide, ect.., and the eventual rise in the cost of goods down to a carton of eggs, looks like they are succeding reguadless of what we do).
Face it folks, our priesident, a c student, geta an "F" in running our country.
A bulb flickers brightest before it burns out. Anyone been watchin the Feds keep lowering the intrest rate on our money? It's because on a global market we , the USA, are no longer the strongest economy in the world, we "Outsourced our econmy" over to China, India, Canada, and other countries that are willing to work without the bank busting unions... Face it how do you buy a house in a $9 per hour economy WITH a degree??
Comment: Thanks for daring to tell the truth about the evil people who drain our federal coffers and kill our soldiers and innocent Iraqi's so they can bow down to their true god, which is money!
Comment: President and Bush and his cronies were not studentns of history. it has been said that when you deprive a people of the rock upon which they rest, their freedom and institutions, then give them in something of value in return. Disbanding the police, army and all other institutions with nothing of value in return, it is what brought about the the US disaster in Iraq. You do not build a nation in a few years but rather in decades. The good and honorable intentions of the president, notwithstanding. Divert the money from arms and war to civil projects. Put people back to work or they would continue to accept wages from Iran and their interlocutories. That is what the US did with Japan, Germany which were a more formidable enemy than Iran or Bin Laden.
Comment: Uh, we're going bankrupt at the federal level WHILE we try to rebuild a nation we never should have attacked!
Go hold a bake-sale and pay for this yourself, OK????
Pretty soon, the dollar will be worthless.
Comment: When Bush was elect or should I say appointed rather than Gore, I suspected that it was the beginning of a long and demanding time for the US and then came 9-ll and I heard all the s_____t that started to come out of the White House about Iraq, Sadam and the linkage to 9-11, wmd, invasion and terrorists. I knew then that my what I suspected about Bush and Chaney were correct, these people were just evel and would take this country in directions that history would prove would be the worst place that America could end up at. Afganistan and the fight with Bin Ladin was and is a proper fight. Iraq on-the-other-hand was and is an error worst than Viet Nam and will continue to be the mistake that will overshadow everything that this country will undertake regarding the rest of the world for generations to come. I just cannot emagine what these innocent people in Iraq have gone through in the past five years but from what I've read it seems like the closest thing to HELL. I would really enjoy hearing that Bush and Cheney would just have to live through just one month in the shoes of the common Iriqi and then ask the if the invasion was worth the cost. This war has cost Americans in so many ways, life and money and image but the price that people in Iraq have paid is a real tragedy. When is it going to end?
Comment: Interesteing view Dean. Unfortunately, as I've spent four years there, working and knowing thousands of Iraqi's I see so many people outside of Iraq willing to write off the dreams and aspirations, and fear and oppression of millions of Iraqis. Although France may well have had different reasons for helpin us find freedom, I'm thankful that they stood by us then. And keep in mind it was decades before we ironed out the aftermath of that war. Finally, I remember watching a 20-year old man run to me in Dec 2005. He was a Shite, covered in blood. THe bus he was on was attacked, and gunmen killed 23, wounded 13. These men worked for us, and the local Al Qaida teamed with the local Sunni Sheik and decided to make it known these men not only didn't deserve to have a job - they did not deserve to exist. They shot the driver, climbed on board that bus and shot everyone they could in the head. This young man escaped when his brother jumped on top of him,shielding and hiding him. He was eye to eye with his brother when he was shot in the head. The same people that killed these men merciflessly were the same who were running the country and doing this with impunity. Shame on those who are so comfortable in their lives that they are unwilling to even consider a cause worth sacrificing their own lives for. Our brave men and women in the US military are doing so; albiet much maligned by the American public. We as a nation have given blood and treasure - and let me tell you now - it's has been worth it. Literally millions of people now and in the days to come will have liberty and freedom to make their own life free of oppression. The turmoil now is evil fighting to survive, not good people who happen to have an opposing view. They will walk up to you, put a weapon to your head, and kill you because you think differently. What are you personally willing to do about this? Give up your 2d car. Pay more for gas? Delay college? Volunteer at home? We are where we are because political decisions that would require more troops and capability were not made in 2004 that would have headed this mess off. And that is right in the lap of the politicians who allowed just enough to stay, not enough to finish. All of them are at fault.
Comment: Your post is very moving but also sad for a totally different reason. I'm afraid I have to tell you I'm not one of those people who believes that only our soldiers know what's Really going on in Iraq. Different soldiers have different points of view. Many of your fellow soldiers have been against this war for 3 or 4 years now. Why has the democratically elected Parliament of Iraq been trying to have a vote to order you guys to leave Iraq ? Why has Iraq's top leader al-Maliki been Refusing to let them vote on it for 18 months now? Why did the Bush administration pressure the Iraqis to remove from power the man they originally elected to be their top leader in 2005 - al-Jafari - and replace him with al-Maliki ? The American media is the only media in the whole world that is Not saying the Iraq War is being fought for control of Iraq's oil. Why should I be sure that all those dozens and dozens of news sources from nearly every single other country on the planet are all wrong about this War for Oil thing ? Alan Greenspan, the most powerful economist in the world for the last 20 years (former head of the Federal Reserve Bank) wrote in his book last year "I find it sad that it is considered politically inconvenient to say what we all know - that the Iraq War is largely about oil." Should I assume this powerful man doesn't know what he's talking about ? Are you sure the Iraqi people believe that we are there to "liberate" them ? Why do we see all these polls from American news organizations that say "60-70%" of the Iraqi people "approve of attacks on American soldiers"? It makes me wonder: what if those Iraqis that thank our soldiers for liberating them from Saddam are just saying that because they're afraid ? What if they're afraid that if they show anger toward U.S. soldiers, they might be suspected of being with Al Quaeda or some other anti-U.S. group ? Maybe the Iraqis are afraid that if they don't show respect to our soldiers, they might get tossed in jail, or maybe even seen as an immediate threat and shot ? Even some of President Bush's former generals don't agree with your point of view that the "turmoil now is (caused by) evil fighting to survive." Even Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker say that Al Quaeda is "less than 5%" of our enemy in Iraq, that they're only significant in Mosul, and that the majority of the people attacking our troops are "Iraqi civilians taking up arms." Just last week, John McCain said he wanted to make sure our "young men and women will never again be sent to war because of our dependence on Middle East oil." Then he tried to cover it up by claiming he was talking about the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It seems as if the only people left who have the same exact point of view that you do are the people in the White House. Could it possibly be that only those people who agree with what the president is saying are also the only ones who r
Comment: We went to Iraq to get rid of the so called WMD's. When will it stop? I will fight for my country and the freedom of others, but not for base less lies. We could have helped millions of people around the globe from starvation, and showed the world what America is realy about. We don't need to waste all the millions and the greatest resource American life on lies. There was never Al Qaida in Iraq before we got there. Thats another lie. We should have finished one WAR(AFGAN) before starting another. But we always half a>> things and get ourself in a no way out situation. I hope we can get out of this mess, and quit believing the criminals that are running our country.
Comment: This article is so sad. I wish our TV newscasts would talk more with the Iraqi people and get their perspective on what life was like in Iraq before the war compared to now. Too many Americans have been fooled into thinking Iraq was a total hell before we invaded. Saddam was a dictator but his rule was tough only on those he saw as a political threat. Iraqi society was one of the most modern in the Middle East before the war. Now it truly is Hell.
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