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machangezi

Perhaps he fancies these stuff or perhaps it has got something to do with him being a Storekeeper on a ship for so long but you can never work out what goes on in his nuts and I am sure they are sore from a lot of thinking, isn't it Sailor boy??

__________________
"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." Samuel P. Huntington


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sabang

^ Have a strong coffee, Macha.
He's ex Air Force, think Bottoms.

Texpat

There really isn't an argument raging at the moment. Some posters think an MOU in lieu of a SOFA amounts to Iraq telling Geroge B. to get stuffed. They're having wet dreams.

And this thread is named Iraq news. Young Hassan certainly thinks the story in the post above is germane.

Your moral high ground is disappearing quickly.

machangezi

Nah!......I just want to know what he means by saying "Your People" thats it.

machangezi

Still skillfully ignoring my question and coming up with a drivel of shit. Keep dancing....

machangezi

Ooops no, not dancing. Keep juggling, you clown.

Panda

US issues threat to Iraq's $50bn foreign reserves in military deal


By Patrick Cockburn
Friday, 6 June 2008

AFP/Getty Images

Under the planned pact, reported in The Independent yesterday, US soldiers in Iraq will enjoy legal immunity
"The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent.

US negotiators are using the existence of $20bn in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the US, to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal, details of which were reported for the first time in this newspaper yesterday.
Iraq's foreign reserves are currently protected by a presidential order giving them immunity from judicial attachment but the US side in the talks has suggested that if the UN mandate, under which the money is held, lapses and is not replaced by the new agreement, then Iraq's funds would lose this immunity. The cost to Iraq of this happening would be the immediate loss of $20bn. The US is able to threaten Iraq with the loss of 40 per cent of its foreign exchange reserves because Iraq's independence is still limited by the legacy of UN sanctions and restrictions imposed on Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in the 1990s. This means that Iraq is still considered a threat to international security and stability under Chapter Seven of the UN charter. The US negotiators say the price of Iraq escaping Chapter Seven is to sign up to a new "strategic alliance" with the United States."

US issues threat to Iraq's $50bn foreign reserves in military deal - Middle East, World - The Independent

All is fair in love and oil, -- sorry I mean war. he he.

bkkandrew

^I wondered when the invoice for invasion and occupation costs would be rendered to Iraq...

Now we know!

Boon Mee

New Reality in Iraq

All of the most important objectives of the surge have been accomplished in Iraq. The sectarian civil war is ended; al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been dealt a devastating blow; and the Sadrist militia and other Iranian-backed militant groups have been disrupted.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has accomplished almost all of the legislative benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration. More important, it is gaining wider legitimacy among the population. The attention of Iraqis across the country is focused on the upcoming provincial elections, which will be a pivotal moment in Iraq's development.
The result is that we have an extraordinary – but fleeting – opportunity to advance America's security and the stability of a vital region of the world.

A boy enjoys a ride at a park in Baghdad, Wednesday, July 9.

What say you now you Nattering Nabobs of Negativism?

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ผมเป็นคนบ้านนอก

sabang

The deal was brokered by the Iranians- the US was entirely left out of the process, and are quite sore about it.

Dealt a blow for sure- their ultraviolence disgusted the mostly moderate Sunni population of Iraq, and many militia's- in return for arming and funding by the USA- turned against them, which is good. Unfortunately this pissed off the US propped up, Shiite dominated government- because many of those same militia's have indicated they are still at war with the Iraqi government that they do not recognise, and will turn their arms against them when the time is right.

Hence the Iraqi government is now sidling up to the Iranians, and distancing itself more from the US Occupation.

Can of Worms springs to mind. No amount of political lies will alter the fact- the invasion and occupation of Iraq stands as a Failure, a stark failure of US foreign policy that will be remembered for several generations.

Sorry booner.

__________________
To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.

Boon Mee

Sorry about what?
I'm simply bringing forward the 'new reality' in Iraq.
Plus - that Surge that Obama is trying to distance himself from!

Milkman

Yes, Obama is changing on Iraq, which is wise. (Typical politics, with some commone sense, perhaps.) He's also mention Afghanistan and Pakistan a lot and advocating more US forces in Afghanistan.

IMO only, but an American victory will only be achieved (for the few) if Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Total, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP are allowed to share profits in the spoil of oil.

We'll see if they are even allowed to.

__________________
Military men are dumb, stupid animals, to be used as pawns for foreign policy

sabang

They will be- lets face it, they have the best technology and kit anyway. And the Iraqi gov't still wants that US miltary muscle on call for a while, to cling to it's existence. They won't be able to monopolise it though (French Total is already in there), and Bush' vapid promises about sharing the plunder between the coalition of the villains has fallen on stony ground.

The same thing could have been achieved cheaper, and with less violence and less destabilisation to the ME. Such consolation prize as the US/UK receives will be their share on the oil revenues and profits though.

attaboy

Haha. You guys had it all figured out and when it didn't play out as you envisioned you say it didn't play out as Bush planned.

There are negotiations going on and it's the frigging Middle East to boot. Both sides are starting high. Iraqis ask for a timetable. The US asks for permanent bases (or some sort of 99 year lease). They meet somewhere in between. What's so odd about that? Should the US have opened with exactly what they considered would be agreeable? al-Maliki is playing to the Iraqi people's pride. I bet somehow he hopes he can balance this thing so the USA stays on. The money is too good.

__________________
As a kid I always thought my nickname was "attaboy" until I realized they were rooting for the dog: "Attaboy, get 'em! Get 'em!".

Boon Mee

Quiet Iraq streets leave soldiers yearning for Afghanistan.

The relative calm is apparent in Baghdad’s Ghazaliyah neighborhood, patrolled by troops stationed at Maverick from the 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
Instead of facing gunfire and roadside bombs, the soldiers’ armored Humvees are chased by waving children as they weave through streets crowded with pedestrians out to shop or just to stroll.

Some of Maverick’s troops saw combat a few months ago when they helped the Iraqi army take over the Ghazaliyah office of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a battle complete with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. But their days in Ghazaliyah have mostly been filled with routine patrols. The soldiers’ job is to serve as a critical presence that helps keep violence down in the mixed Sunni and Shiite neighborhood.
“Ninety-five percent of the time it is perfectly quiet in Ghazaliyah now,” said 1st Lt. Shane Smith, who leads one of the three platoons at Maverick.

Quiet can mean boredom, as Gebhart and a colleague turn in another four-hour shift in one of Maverick’s guard towers, looking over a landscape of two-story concrete buildings and green fields dotted with a few cows and goats.

To while away the time, the young soldier from Omaha, Nebraska, talks of his brother, who is fighting the Taliban in the mountains outside Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan. “He spends 20 days at a time camped out in the mountains, and the Taliban come engage them in serious firefights,” said Gebhart. “At least it sounds exciting.”

Quiet Iraq streets leave soldiers yearning for Afghanistan - CNN.com

Yep, sure sounds like a Quagmire don't it?

sabang

15 dead in Iraq car bomb

A car bomb in northern Iraq killed at least 15 people including children today in a sign that militants retain the ability to cause mass casualties despite a sharp improvement in security. In the south, US-led forces handed control of a province to the Iraqi government.
Ninety people were injured in the blast near a popular market in Tal Afar, said a police official who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Seven of the dead were children....

Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, is another trouble spot. Yesterday two suicide bombers killed 28 people in a crowd of army recruits outside a military base there. Iraq has said it will soon launch an offensive in Diyala against militants who are trying to regroup, and US commanders say they will assist.
Some insurgents are believed to have holed up in the northern city of Mosul after being driven out of other urban strongholds, and relatively small-scale attacks happen there almost daily. Today a car bomb exploded there killing two people and injuring nine, police said.
About an hour earlier on the same side of the city a suicide bomber blew up a car near a US military patrol and six civilians were injured, a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
A female suicide bomber blew herself up yesterday inside the Baghdad house of a municipal leader who was planning to establish a US-allied Sunni group in the area, an official connected with the group said.
Three men died and seven others were injured, said the official, who did not want to be named for security reasons. Saad Awad, a municipal leader in the Abu Ghraib district, escaped unharmed but his father was among those killed.
AP
15 dead in Iraq car bomb - World - smh.com.au

Iraq says hope slim for security deal with current U.S. gov't


BAGHDAD, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government spokesman gave a dim outlook Monday of reaching a security agreement with the current U.S. administration.

"There is a large possibility of postponing the signing of the long-term agreement between Iraq and the U.S., until a new U.S. administration is elected," Ali al-Dabbagh was quoted as saying by the Voice of Iraq news agency.
Their disputes include a timetable for the pullout of foreign troops and how the U.S. forces would operate in Iraq, Dabbagh said, adding that both sides were trying to achieve the maximum gains.
The negotiations for a long-term bilateral agreement started March, aimed at framing a sweeping arrangement for future mutual relations, including the security issue, after the UN mandate on Iraq expires at the end of this year. Yet, they are locked in differences over the status of the U.S. force in Iraq in the coming years.

Iraq says hope slim for security deal with current U.S. gov't_English_Xinhua

US Troop levels are likely to come down in the coming months. An interesting time coming up- will a fragile truce remain, or will conflict break out again? I don't know the answer.

Some news is not so good-

Fallujah's flames rekindled
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail

FALLUJAH - Security has collapsed again in Fallujah, despite United States military claims.

Local militias supported by US forces claim to have "cleansed" the city, 70 kilometers to the west of Baghdad, of all insurgency. But the sudden resignation of the city's chief of police, Colonel Fayssal al-Zoba'i, has appeared as one recent sign of growing unrest.

Authorities may have controlled the media better than the violence.

"Assassinations never stopped in Fallujah, but the media seem unwilling to cover the actual situation here," a human-rights activist in Fallujah, speaking on terms of anonymity given the tense situation, told Inter Press Service (IPS). "The two bomb blasts that killed six policemen earlier this month and another two that killed three on the weekend seem to have terminated the silence."
Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs

Some more encouraging-

Al Qaida bailing: Out of Iraq, into Africa
BAGHDAD — The Al Qaida network in Iraq, battered in the U.S.-led coalition offensive, has been sending scores of operatives to Africa.
Iraqi security sources said the Al Qaida network in Iraq has ordered hundreds of foreign operatives to leave the country. The sources said scores of Al Qaida fighters left Iraq for northern and eastern Africa during 2008.

"Many of them have escaped through the borders with Syria and Iran to hotter zones such as Somalia and Sudan," Iraqi Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said.
World Tribune — Al Qaida bailing: Out of Iraq, into Africa

It's wait and see time.

Boon Mee

^ Damn shame that Surge isn't working...

Texpat

By Rowan Scarborough
Washington Times
July 17, 2008

The nation's top military officer Wednesday declared the security situation in Iraq "remarkably better," so good in fact that he expects to recommend more US troop reductions this fall if conditions hold.

Just back from a tour of two war fronts - Iraq and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - Adm. Michael G. Mullen said he expected to witness improvements in Baghdad and across Iraq, but was surprised by how well a 17-month-old U.S. troop surge has worked.

"I won't go so far as to say that progress in Iraq, from a military perspective, has reached a tipping point or it is irreversible," Adm. Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, said at a press conference with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. "But security is unquestionably and remarkably better."

The last of five reinforcement combat brigades have left Iraq, leaving behind 15 such units. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, a key architect of the February 2007 surge and recently confirmed by the Senate to lead U.S. Central Command, has called for several months of assessment before deciding whether to reduce troop levels below about 145,000.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a positive review of the security situation in Iraq on Wednesday, but were less optimistic in their assessment of Afghanistan.

But Adm. Mullen's statement that "I expect to be able early in the fall to recommend to the secretary and to the president further troop reductions" is a clear signal that top commanders in Iraq think a continued drawdown is warranted.

The two most important questions in the equation are: Can the Iraqi Security Forces inherit and win the fight, and is the insurgency nearly defeated?

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared that his country had defeated al Qaeda in Iraq, the Osama bin Laden terrorist franchise that at one time controlled much of Anbar province west of Baghdad and sent suicide bombers to the capital at will.

The administration now reports that violence in Iraq has plummeted from 1,400 incidents a week to fewer than 400 nationwide.

Adm. Mullen was not so optimistic about the war in Afghanistan, saying commanders there pressed him to supply more U.S. troops to reinforce the 32,000 already present. Taliban forces last week were able to execute a daring sophisticated attack on a U.S. outpost in Wanat that killed nine American service members.

"It's a tougher fight. It's a more complex fight," he said. "They need more troops to have the long-term impact."

Mr. Gates said the Pentagon is studying ways to send reinforcements, but Adm. Mullen previously said that no additional troops are available for Afghanistan until Iraq supplies more of its own.

Adm. Mullen and Mr. Gates said Pakistan has failed to stem the flow of fighters recruited and trained in unregulated tribal areas.

"We're seeing a greater number of insurgents and foreign fighters flowing across the border with Pakistan, unmolested and unhindered," Adm. Mullen said. "This movement needs to stop."

The Joint Chiefs chairman said the administration is trying to persuade Pakistanis to take action by impressing on them the internal threat they face from militants and al Qaeda terrorists operating in the tribal areas.

"We see this threat accelerating," he said. "We see it almost becoming a syndicate of different groups who heretofore had not worked closely together."

The new Pakistani civilian government pledged to tighten the border. But after launching several operations earlier in the month, it also talked of negotiating with militant tribal leaders instead of fighting them. The U.S. says such agreements in the past produced nothing.

"There is no question that the absence of pressure on the Pakistani side of the border is creating an opportunity for more people to cross the border and launch attacks," Mr. Gates said.

Still, the admiral spoke of progress he tracked in southern Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban's harsh Islamist rule. Marines and Army soldiers have liberated villages and trained Afghan forces to hold them. "Clearly, we have a long way to go but we are making strides," Adm. Mullen said.

The Pentagon sent 3,500 Marines into southern Afghanistan in the spring to stem a Taliban offensive. The unit is scheduled to leave in November.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/17/iraqs-security-remarkably-better/

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Anybody going to the homecoming parade? Panda, Anty, Sabang? Wanna join me? It'll be a great time. Budweiser and hotdogs with ketchup, cheering for the brave troops and waving our beloved flag.

AntRobertson

Thanks but no. It's not my flag and I'm opposed to the war in Iraq. I'm sure you'll have a great time though.

sabang

I thought u wus a Patriot tex.
But if theres a party, count me in.