AP Headline: U.S. officials say Iraq gripped by fear

[laststeamtrain]

U.S. officials say Iraq gripped by fear

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 16 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Iraq is a nation gripped by fear and struggling to meet security and political goals by September, U.S. officials said Thursday from Baghdad, dashing hopes in Congress that the country might turn a corner this summer. One general said not to expect a solid judgment on the U.S. troop buildup until November.

"If there is one word, I would use to sum up the atmosphere in Iraq — on the streets, in the countryside, in the neighborhoods and at the national level — that word would be 'fear,'" Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"For Iraq to move forward at any level, that fear is going to have to be replaced with some level of trust and confidence and that is what the effort at the national level is about," he said by video link from the Iraqi capital.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070720/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq
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No,d'uh...

[villager]

1. so according to the headline, then, it's just like the U.S.?

n/t

[laststeamtrain]

3. I am, at times, gripped by fear. That's the truth.

Impeach, remove, indict, convict, imprison, rinse, repeat as needed.

[regnaD kciN]

2. No! Really???

A nation that, not threatening another nation, gets bombed, shock'n'awed, and finally invaded and occupied by a superpower with no concern for rebuilding their new possession, a nation that has lost hundreds of thousands of its civilians to this invasion and occupation, and a nation that now finds itself in a civil war arising from the anarchy permitted by its occupiers -- such a nation is now "gripped by fear?" Why, whatever for?

:sarcasm:

[Canuckistanian]

4. I think they fear American troops STAYING

That's why they're worried about September. If they DON'T meet their goals, it's the status quo for them.