Bremer can't wait to leave wonderful free New Iraq

[Cocoa]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-06-17-bremer-qanda_x.htm


<snip>

Q: When do you actually get to go home?

A: June 30.

Q: That very day?

A: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The occupation's over. The CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) is disbanded. I don't have a job.

Q: What's the last thing you do before you leave.

A: I would guess there will be some sort of ceremony with the new government. I don't know if they are going to swear themselves in. That's up to them. And then I'll leave. That'll be the last thing I do — get on a plane and go.

[wtmusic]

1. The ensuing civil war is "all up to them"

This is a disaster in the making.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. It's been a disaster since Sept 12th

"Iraq, Iraq did it!"

[rooboy]

3. The only people who are talking about a civil war all the time...

are non-Iraqis. Their society is a mesh of both tribes and religious persuasions. So to attack a Sunni might mean attacking your own brother-in-law. The civil war argument is largely a ruse to keep the US in Baghdad (that's not to say that the CIA wouldn't love to start one).

The sooner Bremer gets out of Iraq the sooner the bum can sober up. From one or two articles I've read, he apparently doesn't mind a drink.

[wtmusic]

5. It would be nice to think

Iraqis can self-govern from the start--but a long history of coups and violent power struggles argues otherwise.

You believe this new "government" will take shape without tens of thousands of deaths? Not a chance.

[rooboy]

6. Depends on the level at which these power struggles occur...

A coup doesn't necessarily mean civil war if it is only fought amongst the elites...I don't hold out much hope for a stable Iraq because I believe it's an artificial construct anyway.

I really just wish that the international community would work harder at giving the Kurds a country of their own - they've probably suffered as much as the Israelis over the last 100 years for lack of a cultural homeland.

[wtmusic]

7. There's the rub

The disputed "Kurdish" territory has some of the most valuable oil reserves in the world.

This is not an affair which is going to be resolved any time soon.

[papau]

4. Iraqi Leaders Would Consider Martial Law (may need US troops to do so)

Iraqi Leaders Would Consider Martial Lawhttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=716&e=27&u=/latimests/20040618/ts_latimes/iraqileaderswouldconsidermartiallaw

Iraqi Leaders Would Consider Martial Law

Fri Jun 18, 7:55 AM ET By Ashraf Khalil Special to The Times

BAGHDAD — On a day when two suicide bombings killed 41 Iraqis and injured more than 130, Iraq's interior minister said Thursday that the interim government would consider all options to quell the country's bloody insurgency — including declaring martial law.

That tactic is among those that will be discussed if the violence continues after June 30, when the interim government is scheduled to take over from the U.S.-led coalition, said Interior Minister Falah Fakib. "If we see the need to do it, we won't hesitate," he said. <snip>

Last week, Allawi said he and his ministers were prepared to use "drastic measures" to end the insurgency. He didn't provide specifics Thursday about how civilians and members of the nation's security forces could be protected.


Nor did Nakib give details on how martial law would be implemented in a country that has been occupied for more than 14 months, after a regime with a harsh security apparatus was deposed. It remains unclear whether Iraq has enough forces to use such a strategy. <snip>

[tnlefty]

8. "The occupation's over". I guess that means that the troops will be on

the next plane out, too, Mr. Bremer???

[AlCzervik]

9. Huh?

A: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The occupation's over. The CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) is disbanded. I don't have a job.


So if the occupation is over than all the troops come home right? WTF is he smoking? Maybe it's too much sun on his head. Do our troops become peacekeepers after 6/30?