The media can make any news about Iraq negative.

[KarlXII]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/20530.html

Discuss....

[rory_20_uk]

Looks more like trying to find a new angle to rehash old news. As a reporter stuck out there doig nothing and coming up with nothing isn't going to do one's career any good. Such articles shows the Editor you're still alive.

[Fragony]

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that’s cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

[Viking]

The cemetery workers aren’t immune to violence. In 2004, militia fighters loyal to the anti-American militant cleric Muqtada al Sadr and coalition forces fought in the cemetery, and burial operations had to stop.
Afterward, many cemetery workers were killed or injured by bombs left behind. Their work remained hazardous until U.S. and Iraqi military teams cleared the explosives, Malik said.

Yeah this article is clearly biased against the coalition forces, the whole article stinks!

[Odin]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/20530.html

Discuss....

Is there a dead horse smiley? Lets kick it again see if the tail moves.

[Lemur]

Wow, some reporter is really stretching for a story. And yet, there is some genuinely bad news out of Iraq this week:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence and anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a new militia offensive against U.S. forces.

During a visit to Jordan, Maliki said negotiations over initial U.S. proposals for bilateral political and military agreements had "reached a dead end." While he said talks would continue, his comments fueled doubts that the pacts could be reached this year, before the Dec. 31 expiration of a United Nations mandate sanctioning the U.S. role in Iraq.

The moves by two of Iraq's most powerful Shiite leaders underscore how the presence of U.S. troops has become a central issue for Iraqi politicians as they position themselves for provincial elections later this year. Iraqis across the political spectrum have grown intolerant of the U.S. presence, but the dominant Shiite parties -- including Maliki's Dawa party -- are especially fearful of an electoral challenge from new, grass-roots groups.

"All the politicians are trying to prove that they care more about Iraqis than they do about Americans -- otherwise they know the people and the voters will not support them," said Ala Maaki, a senior lawmaker with Iraqi's largest Sunni political party. "I think we could see al-Maliki and Moqtada Sadr trying to one-up the other today and see who can take the strongest stand against the Americans."

[CountArach]

There's no such thing as good news out of Iraq.

[Odin]

There's no such thing as good news out of Iraq.

Didnt your new PM recently announce the withdrawl of all Australlian combat forces? I'd thought that would be good news to you CA, you'd be able to officially point the finger at all the other coalition nations and call them whatever you want without being a hypocrite

[CountArach]

Didnt your new PM recently announce the withdrawl of all Australlian combat forces? I'd thought that would be good news to you CA, you'd be able to officially point the finger at all the other coalition nations and call them whatever you want without being a hypocrite

I plan on taking every possible chance opportunity I can

[Fragony]

There's no such thing as good news out of Iraq.

No such thing as news from iraq here, and they are only interested in bad news.

[Odin]

I plan on taking every possible chance opportunity I can

Thats a wonderful comeback to one of my sarcastic dry attempts at poking a stick in someones eye.

You have officially joined a short list of posters here that have actually made me LOL while reading the back room, thanks CA even though I think your a real half the time anyone that can make me laugh is alright with me

[Lemur]

For anyone who cares, there's a good interview with Stephen Biddle of the CFR on his recent trip to Iraq. Interesting stuff in there.

The Iraqi Security Forces are now so large that there's some danger of Praetorianism—a coup d’état—growing in Iraq. Interestingly, when you look back to the pre-Petraeus era [before Gen. David Petraeus took command of coalition forces in Iraq in early 2007], one of the reasons that the ISF didn't grow so fast was because there were fears that if they got too big, they would either pose a threat to Iraq's neighbors or a threat to Iraq's civilian government. There was a worry that there'd be a coup d'état if the Iraqi security forces got too big.

Now that it's bigger, you think this is a possibility?

Well, I think it's a growing possibility. I think one of the things our presence does is moderate and mitigate that dramatically. It's much harder to imagine a Praetorian solution, a coup d'état, a military government as long as we are there. If we were to leave, you could easily imagine a situation in which the military as the most effective institution in society decides to take over. The parliament is the least respected institution in Iraqi society.

[CountArach]

Thats a wonderful comeback to one of my sarcastic dry attempts at poking a stick in someones eye.

You have officially joined a short list of posters here that have actually made me LOL while reading the back room, thanks CA even though I think your a real half the time anyone that can make me laugh is alright with me

I do my best