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2007-10-29 Iraq

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2007-10-29 02:29|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top
File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1 Smart enough to stay bought?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2007-10-29 07:10|| 2007-10-29 07:10|| Front Page Top

#2 The obvious problem in Iraq is that there is no common agenda, no common direction. Some are in the government for power and control, others for change, but everyone, for this to work, should be in it for defined results. More power, better water and sewage, the end of terrorism, available healthcare, jobs, schools, and safe streets. The major problem with third world cultures is graft and corruption. That's what keeps them from development. That along with their retarded religion, but not many Iraqis are of the overly pious jihad-r-us variety.

Posted by wxjames 2007-10-29 07:48|| 2007-10-29 07:48|| Front Page Top

#3 U.S. officials maintain that it's up to New Orleans' government to provide its citizens with longer-term stability. Residents agree, especially when it comes to services beyond the capability of neighborhood councils, such as providing electricity, bringing doctors back into neighborhoods, establishing and paying a police force and building a school system, Traditionally, New Orlean's city government delivered these services.

N' Owlins might have a lower crime right than Baghdad's, though.

Posted by mrp 2007-10-29 08:05|| 2007-10-29 08:05|| Front Page Top

#4 No, mrp, I am not confident N'Awlins does have a lower crime rate than Baghdad right now. At least not on a per capita basis. Our population is less than 10% that of Baghdad, so our murder rate would be roughly the same as 10 per day in Baghdad. I don't know what they average, but I do know it makes the news when it hits double figures or more there.

Baghdad may be a bit ahead of us in corruption though. Nagin is kind of weird, and not very competent, but he doesn't seem corrupt (to me). Now as to the school board ......, well, Baghdad's school system may be ahead of ours.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-10-29 08:23|| 2007-10-29 08:23|| Front Page Top

#5 Look, as per a post from yesterday, these people will not even pick up their own garbage, they stand around with their thumbs up their asses waiting for our Marines to do it. Show me the politician ANYWHERE who brags about making it to the top by getting the sewers fixed. I don't think even Bob Byrd ever bothered to get a sewage pumping station named after himself in WV...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2007-10-29 08:51|| 2007-10-29 08:51|| Front Page Top

#6 It is time for the military to start pulling back from the infrastructure type missions in Baghdad. Pay those people to do it and make them.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-10-29 09:32|| 2007-10-29 09:32|| Front Page Top

#7 Actually Chalabi never went away. He has held a number of cabinet level positions and has generally been recognized as a good technocrat. The problem is he doesn't have the personality to be a "man of the people" so he doesn't do well in elections even though he seems to have administrative ability.

Al

Posted by Frozen Al 2007-10-29 10:39|| 2007-10-29 10:39|| Front Page Top

#8 Ironically, in the long run, the lack of a strong central government may prove to be a good thing.

Back in the founding of the US, the federalists first had their chance, and did much to get the local and State government running smoothly. Only then did the anti-federalists step in to get the central government working and efficient. It was much easier to do with State power pushing it up than dragging it down.

A strong foundation, as it were. In Iraq, now that the people are creating much better local and regional governments, it is approaching the time when the central government can be the capstone--not, like it is in so many failed states, the only government that works.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-10-29 10:45|| 2007-10-29 10:45|| Front Page Top

#9 That the U.S. and Iraqi officials are again turning to Chalabi, this time to restore life to Baghdad neighborhoods, speaks to his resiliency in this nascent government.

No, it speaks to what a gigantic sack of shit the entire Iraqi parliament is. The one single repetitive theme throughout this entire article is how effing useless the Iraqi government continues to be. With its popularity so non-existent, this is a golden opportunity to disband the entire sideshow, stop the inmates from running the asylum and install a new bunch of goons who will take their marching orders from us and never, ever even dream of installing an iota of shari'a law. Had we the wisdom to do this, there might be a chance of realizing some of America's most vital security goals in the MME (Muslim Middle East). Scrubbing the region clean of theocratic Islam should be our top priority. It is what entrenches the most pernicious forms of graft and corruption, breeds up the very worst scum and drives global terrorism.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-10-29 10:54|| 2007-10-29 10:54|| Front Page Top

#10 "how effing useless ~~the Iraqi~~ government continues to be."

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-10-29 11:03|| 2007-10-29 11:03|| Front Page Top

#11 "With no U.S. or Iraqi forces in this almost exclusively Sunni neighborhood since the fall of Saddam's regime"

And that, ladies and gents, is why we almost failed.

Posted by OldSpook 2007-10-29 12:42|| 2007-10-29 12:42|| Front Page Top

#12 They do not understand local government and community activism, prohibited under Saddam's tight control. Several Iraqi women have toured the rural regions of the Midwest,& were pleasantly surprised at their own preconceived notions, but were especially interested in the local schools and farmers markets. One woman even teaches elementary kids Arabic in an Amish town, in a positive but unusual cultural exchange! I don't know how this could be implemented on a larger scale IMMEDIATELY, but educating the refugees and returning them to rebuild may inspire and teach the dregs that are left there. How about micro loans to buy dumpsters and garbage trucks and skidloaders for a landfill so they can start their own small businesses instead of paying security billions more?

Posted by Danielle 2007-10-29 13:33|| 2007-10-29 13:33|| Front Page Top

#13 1 the opening paragraphs of this article imply that Chalabi is being pushed by the US, when the article actually shows that he was selected by Maliki, which makes sense in terms of his Shiite orientation.

2. From what I understand, he did a decent job as Oil Minister. He may have no real political support in Iraq, he may be a snake oil salesman and be unreliable, but he seems to be a decent administrator by Iraqi standards.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2007-10-29 16:39|| 2007-10-29 16:39|| Front Page Top

#14 "No common agenda, no common direction
...defined results" + "Want Government to help them ... [but] Government does nothing" > ISN'T THIS WHAT OSAMA, i.e. HIDDEN IMMAMS/MAHDIS = MESSIAHS, etc. are for??? MOUDIAN -ISLAMIST APOCALYPSE > Even iff Osama + Radical Islamists in the present should fail or only partially succeed, would NOT a TRUE IMMAM/MAHDI correct and finish the job for them, for "doing the right/just thing" "in the name of God-Heaven"???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-10-29 18:06|| 2007-10-29 18:06|| Front Page Top

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