Good Morning, Iraq.

**Proletariat** · 07-07-2005, 01:13

I'm sure Ali from the Free Iraqi blog would like to personally thank Watchman for his support.

And allow me, one very grateful Iraqi on this day, the 4th of July to congratulate all Americans on their independence day that I truly celebrate with them. It's not just out of gratitude but also because I believe it's more than an Independence Day for America, for by being free and independent, the American people gave so many other nations their independence, and thus I see it as an independence day for all the free around the world. Happy 4th of July America and thank you for all your help and sacrifices, not just for us Iraqis but all free people that you helped them get their freedom, and thank you for being the symbol of freedom that gives hope to all oppressed people around the world.

**Tribesman** · 07-07-2005, 01:35

And the 'I wish Saddam was still in power' chant still goes on strong. Well Prole , you may not have your fingers in your ears , but I think they must be seriously defective if that is the chant you are hearing .

More good news .The Association of Barbers is telling its members to keep working .
Hooray ....when barber shops become targets you just know its getting better

**bmolsson** · 07-07-2005, 03:11

Maybe Syrian guy's shoot only are freedom fighters that is trying to remove a totalitarian regime ???

**Proletariat** · 07-08-2005, 17:25

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/...nd-london.html

They would have blown up 30 trains if they had the means. Certainly it was not the milk of human kindness that stayed their hand.

The inevitable question then is 'why could Bin Laden not find the means to attack 30 trains?' The answer it seems to me, must be Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and hundred other places where he is engaged without quarter by US forces.

...the practice of engaging an enemy on one front to weaken him on another has been tested from antiquity and is more natural than the alternative....There are many who accept without question the proposition that the US Armed forces are being 'bled dry' in Iraq; that it has become over extended...Yet the very same persons will vehemently reject the idea that Al Qaeda can also be spread thin...it is as if one set of natural laws operated for the Jihad and another for the blundering Americans. But mental honesty will compel us to accept that this can't be true...that if we thought about it really hard, everyone who lives peacefully in a Western city owes it to the men out on patrol tonight.

But don't listen to Wrechard, he's just a former special operations officer...

**Redleg** · 07-08-2005, 19:16

Originally Posted by Proletariat

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/...nd-london.html

But don't listen to Wrechard, he's just a former special operations officer...

Ah but you miss their point Prolerariat his views run counter to thier expectations - and he is an American therefor they will blindly ignore anything he has to say.

**Tribesman** · 07-09-2005, 05:51

But don't listen to Wrechard, he's just a former special operations officer...

Then he should know that if the "enemy" concentrates its forces hunting for you , then you bugger off somewhere else where he isn't looking.

Ah but you miss their point Prolerariat his views run counter to thier expectations - and he is an American therefor they will blindly ignore anything he has to say.

What you mean like this bit
...Yet the very same persons will vehemently reject the idea that Al Qaeda can also be spread thin...
But his views don't take into consideration that it only takes 1 terrorist in a city anywhere in the world to blow up a train . So it don't matter how thin you spread them does it .

**Proletariat** · 07-11-2005, 23:09

Substantially "out" in time for the 2006 mid-term elections?

The United States and Britain are drawing up plans to withdraw the majority of their troops from Iraq by the middle of next year, according to a secret memo written for British Prime Minister Tony Blair by Defense Secretary John Reid.

The paper, which is marked "Secret -- UK Eyes Only," said "emerging U.S. plans assume that 14 out of 18 provinces could be handed over to Iraqi control by early 2006," allowing a reduction in overall U.S.-led forces in Iraq to 66,000 troops. The troop level is now at about 160,000, including 138,000 American troops, according to a military spokesman in Baghdad.

Reid on Sunday did not dispute the authenticity of the document, but said that no decision on troop levels had been made. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said officials there had not seen the document.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071000725.html

This article seems like both a "best case scenario" and an indication that "standing up" has come to mean solely an ability to fight insurgents, and not a remake of society.

I also see another fight between Rumsfeld and the commanders on the ground, in some ways necessitated by the over-extension of the Clinton-destroyed force numbers.

I also see the mid-terms as importantly driving the result. It is important that people see success at the mid-terms, but a permanent constitution and two successful elections in the fall and winter should be all the success they need. Alas, only a significant troop drawdown would probably work at that point.

I still think it's a woefully bad idea for this information to have been released. But, expecting the Western Press to do anything to further the goals of Bush and Blair is silly. The person who leaked the memo should be tried for treason.