Tag: Iraqi Government

To (Wiki)Leak Or Not

By now the whole damn world has had time to hear about all those Iraqi war documents that have been leaked to the public….the newest batch came out a week or so ago….some 400,000 pieces of information…..I purposefully waited until after the mid-term elections….why?  It would be a mention in the media because the election would be the big story….because it gives the pundits a reason to live…..

I spent a week or so checking out the conserv commentators on the tube to see where it was falling on the subject……almost to a man/woman the reporting they did was about how the leaks would destroy our national security and the one who leaked should be tried for treason or some such trumped up charge…..not one mention that these documents are full of out right LIES told to the American people….not one word about the hero of the Surge, Patreus and that his big plan was not that effective as the WH would have us believe….and I mean both Bush and Obama White Houses……

I focus on the Surge that all Repubs have thumped their chest like sex starved primates and tried to deify a general for being a genius that apparently he was NOT…..

A analysis of the newest Wikileak documents from the Consortiumnews.com:

For instance, the records suggest that the sectarian slaughter of 2006 was burning itself out largely because brutal ethnic cleansing had separated the Shiites and the Sunnis. The indiscriminate violence also had turned many Iraqis against both the excesses of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the sectarian militias.

Also, in 2006, key insurgent leaders, such as al-Qaeda’s Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, were killed and Sunni tribesmen in restive Anbar Province were signing up to accept American money in exchange for switching sides – all of these key developments preceding the “surge.”

Though the additional 30,000 U.S. troops in 2007 may have helped accelerate or consolidate these gains, the eventual drop in violence after the “surge” appears more coincidental than causal – and thus may not justify the acclaim given to President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus or the claims by neoconservative war strategists that they were vindicated.

A New York Times analysis of the WikiLeaks documents lends support to the more skeptical view of the “surge,” noting that the growing revulsion among Iraqis over the violence and a renewed hope for peace go a long way toward explaining why the killing slowed.

I do so enjoy being proved correct…..for not many in the mainstream media was critical of the Surge from the beginning….but on the other hand there were several bloggers, including myself, that saw it for what it was……a game of military chess……to take credit for a good thing even if it was not your doing……

The Surge was NOT the huge success that the politicos and the media made it out to be…..the tribes were already on the payroll of the US and the surge was more to protect Baghdad than it was to secure Anbar province….but it looks good on a general’s resume to say that he secured the province and it was handed over to the Iraqis for further protection……I said this in 2007 and again 2008……of course, then I was a doom and gloom writer with NO foot into reality….and now with the ‘official’ military documents saying basically the same thing as I……I have but one thing to say to my conserv detractors……BITE ME!

Is It Really Over?

It was a beautiful sight….the last of the combat troops in convoy heading for the Kuwaiti border….bringing an end to the combat phase of the invasion of Iraq……but the US involvement in Iraq is NOT over….but at least for now the combat phase is…..as reported by FOX News……

As the exit of the troops was shown live on TV in the U.S. Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley described the end of combat operations as a “historic moment,” but vowed that America’s long-term commitment was unwavering.

“The last thing that we want to see is an occasion where we have to send troops back into Iraq yet again so we are ending the combat phase of our involvement in Iraq for a second time,” he said.

“We’re not ending our involvement in Iraq. We will have important work to do. This is a transition. This is not the end of something. It’s a transition to something different. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq.”

Like I said a great thing…..but I am concerned that the present lack of a government in Iraq will lead to growing violence and eventually the US will have to return to restore order….well what passes for order……

I am also concerned that the “theory of recurrent cycles” will once again become the order of the day….it has been there from the beginning of Iraq as a country…if it does then American forces will be returning to the desert…the heat….and the violence that is Iraq.

Time For US To Go

As reported in the NY Times

Iraq’s cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement that calls for a full withdrawal of American forces from the country by the end of 2011. The cabinet’s decision brings a final date for the departure of American troops a significant step closer after more than five and a half years of war.

The proposed pact must still be approved by Iraq’s Parliament, in a vote scheduled to take place in a week. But leaders of some of the largest parliamentary blocs expressed confidence that with the backing of most Shiites and Kurds they had enough support to ensure its approval.

Twenty-seven of the 28 cabinet ministers who were present at the two-and-a-half-hour session voted in favor of the pact. Nine ministers were absent. The nearly unanimous vote was a victory for the dominant Shiite party and its Kurdish partners. Widespread Sunni opposition could doom the proposed pact even if it has the votes to pass, as it would call into question whether there was a true national consensus, which Shiite leaders consider essential.

The proposed agreement, which took nearly a year to negotiate with the United States, not only sets a date for American troop withdrawal, but puts new restrictions on American combat operations in Iraq starting Jan. 1 and requires an American military pullback from urban areas by June 30. Those hard dates reflect a significant concession by the departing Bush administration, which had been publicly averse to timetables.

Iraq also obtained a significant degree of jurisdiction in some cases over serious crimes committed by Americans who are off duty and not on bases.

Could it be?  We can only pray that our troops can come home.

Iraq Finally Makes A Political Breakthrough

After months of infighting, Iraq’s parliament passed a crucial law Wednesday that will allow most of the country to hold provincial elections early next year.

The law is seen as a key step toward bringing under-represented groups back into Iraqi politics, particularly Sunnis in Anbar province who have recently turned against violence and al Qaida extremists.

The United States and the United Nations have been urging Iraqi politicians for months to agree on a law, hoping that holding elections soon will help solidify recent, tenuous security gains here.

A contentious debate over who will control Kirkuk , an oil-rich northern city, was the main sticking point delaying an agreement. Legislators didn’t resolve that issue Wednesday and instead set it aside for later.

To become law, Iraq’s three-man presidency council, headed by President Jalal Talabani , a Kurd, must approve the elections measure. Parliament passed an elections law earlier this year that called for power sharing among Arabs, Turkomen and Kurds, which the presidency council quickly rejected.

In a written statement, President Bush praised parliament. “Nothing is more central to a functioning democracy than free and fair elections,” the statement said. “Today’s action demonstrates the ability of Iraq’s leaders to work together for the good of the Iraqi people and represents further progress on political reconciliation.”

Maliki Becomes His Own Man

While the Bush Administration publicly hails the “progress” within Iraq which has allowed them to turn over control of Anbar province to the Iraqi government, many officials are reportedly expressing private concerns that success has gone to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s head, that he does not fully appreciate the US military’s role as his “enablers,” and that this is leading him to assert an uncomfortable level of independence.

This independence is perhaps most pronounced in Prime Minister Maliki’s stance on the terms of a draft agreement on long-term US military presence in Iraq. Maliki has demanded a “firm” timeline for a pullout, in contrast to America’s “aspirational time horizon,” which would leave the pullout conditional on certain progress metrics. He has also fought America on the question of immunity for US military personnel and contractors, the terms of which would be key to his ability to push the agreement through Iraq’s parliament.

Yet it is also seen operationally. Maliki has pressed the US to turn over control of the Awakening Councils to the Iraqi government, which the US has been reluctant to do. Considerable distrust remains between the faction and the government, as demonstrated by the reticence toward integrating them into security forces, and by the Council’s negative reaction to the Anbar handover.