Iraq abuse portends hard times

[Barrett808]

Iraq abuse portends hard times
By Paul Reynolds
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent

The events of a disastrous week for the US-led coalition in Iraq have left senior officials profoundly depressed about the prospects over the next few months.

One British source even said: "I still don't despair that we can create a society which is better than that of Saddam Hussein" - a stunningly unambitious target compared to what was envisaged.

That comment might have been born of the despair of the moment - when images of Iraqis being abused were being published across the world and when even US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was being forced to make a public apology.

But it also expresses the underlying fear that the US and Britain are now reduced to muddling through and that sooner or later, even those Iraqis who want the foreign forces to stay, will conclude that an exit strategy is required.

(more)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3696391.stm

[stellanoir]

1. we've summarily

blown it.

[saigon68]

10. THIS JERK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TORTURE

BY HAVING HIS HEAD UP HIS ASS.

MEYERS AS OFFENSIVE LINEMAN FOR NEOCON CORPORATIONS



WITHOUT A STRONG LAPDOG RUNNING INTERFERENCE
THERE WOULD BE NO BROWN AND ROOT RECEIVING BILLIONS
Of TAXPAYER $$$$$ TO “RECONSTRUCT IRAQ”




There would be no BLACKWATER USA to have its private MERCENARY ARMY flying its
own PRIVATE MERCENARY AIR FORCE




to do WHATEVER under the sun it does..




THERE WOULD BE NO MERCENARY THUGS ACTING LIKE RAMBO WITHOUT THIS
PATHETIC LITTLE MAN

[whistle]

2. Does anyone think that had George Bush and...

...his administration told the truth right from the beginning about why they believed we needed to go into Iraq and why it was really necessary to boot out Saddam and install a government that would follow the dictates of the U.S. and Britain, that most Americans would have backed Bush totally?

The truth obviously is that the U.S needs direct and sustained access to the second richest oil reserve in the world and strategically and millitarily needs a foothold control in the middle east in order to survive. The shit-storm now being unleashed on the public by all of the stories of prisoner abuses and the Muslim world reactions to these events by our militray, whether isolated events which is what BushCo wants everyone to believe or systemic within official administration and military policy, now threaten to broaden and intensify the war over in Iraq.

Militarily, can the Muslim countries hostile of friendly toward the U.S. mobilize sufficient forces around the perimeter of Iraq to invade and boot the U.S. and Britain out (the Iraq version of TET)?

[Karenina]

4. Addressing your question,

if the *US is BLIND TO THE OBVIOUS and refuses to do what they OBVIOUSLY NEED TO DO IMMEDIATELY, (for anyone confused, what I mean is GET THE FUCKING RAPIST OUT OF THE ROOM), I wish those forces all the best FOR ALL OUR SAKES.

[Bandit]

5. ...his administration told the truth right from the beginning

They still haven't told the truth and if they ever did there is no way in hell America would have gone along with it. That is why they have the most "Secretive Administration in History". If they were up front with their intentions they would be immediately booted from office.

[Veggie Meathead]

7. You mean they would have to tell the truth about 9/11 too?

[July]

6. Are you talking about going to war?

I ask because I think that, given that before the war Americans preferred the "go to war w/U.N. approval" option, war might not have been a possibility if Bush had been honest. Which would have been great in my book.

However, he might have played it differently by trying to use diplomacy to force Saddam out (it seemed that Saddam was trying to save his bacon at the last minute) -- perhaps into exile in an Arab nation, or in Russia. He could have talked about the importance of the oil and the need for a stable Iraq. (I'm still not thrilled with the idea of oil as a cause, just trying to make a case.) He might have been able to get other countries with interest in access to oil involved. He could have negotiated an end to sanctions, poured some money into Iraq to improve conditions that had deteriorated during sanctions, and won us some good will. It might have worked.

On the other hand, it's obvious that helping the war profiteers, privatizing Iraqi industry, controlling (not getting access to, but controlling) the oil, and setting up permanent bases in the Middle East were what Bush was really after. Our troops aren't sure yet, after a year, if Iraqis are the enemy or the beneficiaries of our largesse.

It's hard to guess what will happen next, but it's clear we need people in charge here who know what the word "diplomacy" means. Even with huge diplomatic efforts, it's not clear that we'll salvage this horrendous situation.

Interesting question you raise.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Yeah. We need their oil.

The oil crisis was inevitable, and has been foreseen for 50 years. If the nation had listened to Jimmy Carter & started a massive alternative energy program two decades ago (or if Raygun hadn't dismantled Carter's grand start), we'd be independent of the whole pack of them by now. But no. Big Oil had profits to make, and you just don't get in the way of Big Oil.

[NNN0LHI]

3. Our new rallying call: We are a little bit better than Saddam

Oh man. How did we get to where we are and so quickly.

Don

[mike1963]

9. Yeah, and cancer is a 'little bit better' than a massive coronary.......

:grr:

[saigon68]

11. GEN MYERS TRIBUTE TO UNMUZZLED MILITARY POLICE DOGS

SCHINDLER'S LIST



Ralph Fiennes plays a chilling Amon Goeth in the movie, and plays him to the point that some
people have had trouble distinguishing him from the real thing.

Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindler Jews, famously said, "When you saw Göeth, you saw
death."



GENERAL MYERS TRIBUTE TO AMON GOETH



THIS IS GOING OVER REAL WELL IN EUROPE