Wups! They forgot to tell the America public!

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Siddalee

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:34 am

Wups! They forgot to tell the America public!

Ready for a shock? Below is an article from the London Times about our military. Interesting, it is! Our media coverage is shameful!

Winning Isn't News

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq .

London's Sunday Times called it "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.

The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.

We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province , which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there.

Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.

Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks "a big change for the better from a year ago."

Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates , which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, "the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks "that signaled political progress."

The war in Iraq has been turned around180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story.

Copyright 2008 Investor's Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.

Addendum: The reason you haven't seen this on American television or read about it in the American press is simple--journalism is "dead" in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful Republican initiated response to 9/11.

Ya-Ya!

Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 6211

yankee-in-france

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:47 am

Re: Wups! They forgot to tell the America public!

Siddalee wrote:

To suggest that because a person is a liberal and a Democrat that he/she is wishing for American troops to be defeated in Iraq is an outrageous presumption and comment, Sid. IMO. Don't know if it was your addendum or part of the paper? It looks like it was a London Times article reprinted in another paper, IBD.

The illegal Iraqi invasion was anything but a successfully initiated response to 9/11. It was and still is Bush's Folly. It is more probably true that there are more Al-Qaida in Iraq now than there were when we imperialistically invaded that country in 2003. Al Qaida fighters were as illusive as the infamous WMDs but we can sure take credit for bringing AlQaida back to Iraq in hordes and now we are claiming a victory for ridding the country of them when it was the vacuum created by our invasion that made Iraq a safe haven and target for them.

ETA The London Times, by the way, (yes, it is owned by Rupert Murdoch) endorsed Obama as president finding McCain uninspiring for the job.

YIF

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 7011
Location: France

Siddalee

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:54 am

YIF, my only intention is to present facts as I see them to people of America who are interested in the future of our country as we know it instead of a country of radical changes and leaders buddying up with known terrorists. I was very aware when I posted this article there would be an immediate reaction from individuals who are firm in their belief that it is wrong for America to defend itself against terrorism. That is okay, thank goodness we have -- at least for now -- the right to express our opinions.

Ya-Ya!

Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 6211

pax

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:03 pm

Siddalee wrote:

Here's mine:

barf

Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 16336
Location: Wish You Were Here

yankee-in-france

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:09 am

Is this what we have won and what do you suppose Iraqis feel toward the winners:

_____________________________________________________________

BBC Article - 11/4/08

Viewpoint: Bad case of Baghdadophobia

Security has improved in Baghdad, but it remains one of the world's most dangerous cities. Daily bombings and drive-by shootings traumatise its residents. An Iraqi member of BBC's staff describes his daily journey to work - anything but a mundane affair. His identity has been protected for his own safety.

COMMUTER PREPARATIONS

Here's an interesting new disorder for medical science to investigate: Baghdadophobia - an Iraqi's fear of his own capital city.

Other phobias are common enough - fear of flying, fear of spiders - but Baghdadophobia has reached pandemic proportions, afflicting virtually every Iraqi, including the writer of these lines. And I think my fear is justified.

I start my day by taking a bath and praying. I listen to the news while I have my breakfast, then I get dressed for work, and always kiss my wife and my children before leaving the house - everyone here does the same these days, because everyone knows when they leave home that they may not return.

Death lurks around every corner, and nobody is immune. Almost all the victims are innocent bystanders who wrongly think that because they aren't in the government or military their chances of survival are greater.

So we steer clear of areas that are out-of-bounds because of our ethnicity or religion. We don't express opinions in public beyond criticising our wives' cooking or the nosiness of our mothers-in-law.

Leaving the house, the first thing I do is check beneath my car and the inside, in case someone stuck a magnetic bomb underneath it - an easy-to-use weapon used frequently in Iraq lately.

I start the engine and drive off, and the whole road seems fraught with danger. Was that my neighbour's car that just set off behind me? No. Who does it belong to? Am I being followed? Maybe I should slow down or pull over, just in case.

Thank God, the driver passes by, continuing his journey until he's out of sight, probably as afraid of me as I was of him. I start driving again.

SCARY ROAD USERS

The road is very busy, bumper to bumper. Suddenly, a convoy of four-wheel-drive vehicles - the kind used by Iraqi officials - swerves madly through the traffic, sirens blaring, and a voice from a loudspeaker telling drivers to get out of the way.
Automatic weapons bristle from the jeep windows. Everyone panics, the road is total chaos until the convoy disappears.

Before long, I'm stuck in a traffic jam stretching for more than a kilometre. It moves just a few metres at a time, backed up from the entrance to a bridge across the Tigris that I have to cross daily to get to work.

Iraqi soldiers scan the waiting vehicles with an explosives detection device that looks like a weapon used by aliens in low-budget sci-fi films.

I'm still in the back of the traffic jam. I'm trying to kill time by studying the faces of other drivers.

This driver beside me looks a lot like my mental image of a suicide bomber: long beard, nervous glances. But the truth is no-one knows what a suicide bomber looks like today - he could be an old man or a woman. Or he could be driving a wired-up car with a woman and a child on board just for camouflage.

The driver of that luxury car seems to be a government official. It may be safer to stay as far away as possible from him.

Someone might have put a bomb in his car which he is not aware of and it could explode at any minute. I recall that many government officials have been assassinated this way recently.

That truck over there, with "highly flammable material" written on it… What a disaster if it were to explode!

The driver behind me is becoming increasingly impatient; he's started blowing his car horn in a desperate attempt to get the attention of the traffic policemen who are only making things worse.

IMAGINING DEATH

Sometimes we can't hide our feelings. But we've learned to hide our fear in public - we pretend to be braver than we are, so that people don't make fun of us.
But I am certain that everyone here, in this traffic jam from hell, is to some extent, afraid, just like me.

In just the blink of an eye, my whole life will have ended for nothing. Hot shrapnel will hit me, I suppose, and I wonder if I will even hear the explosion. I wonder what it would be like for bullets to tear through my body.

Every day this is how the living imagine the way in which they will die. And being blown up is only one of a long, long list.

Suddenly, my car shakes as there is a horrible blast somewhere else in the city. I wonder if the victims of that explosion had the same thoughts as mine. Did they imagine that they might die today? Did they have a chance to say goodbye to their families?

LONG, TERRIFYING JOURNEY

I think of the other threats to the commuter in downtown Baghdad. A box, a trash bin, an animal cart parked on the side of the road, a mentally ill person crossing the street, or even a stray dog, every one of these could have been wired with a bomb waiting to explode spontaneously or by a remote control.

Everything is unknown, everything is anonymous - the killer, the victim, and the means of the murder.

That broken-down car, why is it parked here? Where is the owner of that motorcycle? God knows how much I fear motorbikes, especially the fast ones, with two riders.

One of them drives the motorbike and the other one fires from a pistol equipped with a silencer.

The memory of the remains of the university professor assassinated by shots to the head in precisely this way will never leave me.

And it's not just our own killers we have to be careful of.

I fear that my children will be orphaned when a US military convoy passes by.

A US convoy is one of the most terrifying things you can run in to on the streets of Baghdad today.

The driver next to me acted selfishly, not allowing me to get out of the way of the convoy. The convoy guards have a reputation for not hesitating one second before shooting at anything in their way.

In peace time, my journey to work would take 15 minutes. Today, it takes an hour and a half. Once I'm at the office, I start the day with a cup of heavy black coffee. And two aspirin.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7706872.stm

YIF

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 7011
Location: France

minitess

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:08 am

Thanks for posting that Sid.

It's been the same throughout this war. Most media outlets only report the tragedies - not the successes.

It's heartening to hear al Qaida has been reduced to such small numbers.

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 2283

dugo

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:28 am

Re: Wups! They forgot to tell the America public!

Siddalee wrote:

Addendum: The reason you haven't seen this on American television or read about it in the American press is simple--journalism is "dead" in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful Republican initiated response to 9/11.

Do they teach what causality is in the US? There is more "dead" than just journalism I'm afraid.

Please tell how this is a response to 9/11?

(this is going to be fun..)

Dashing Dutch Dynamo Dude

Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 6129
Location: L4L

annie13

Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:39 am

We won and the troops are coming home!

That's what I think winning the war is. When the troops come home!

Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 1586

prolific

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:07 am

Siddalee wrote:

Really? And exactly who are these people who are firm in their belief that it is wrong for America to defend itself? You're saying anyone that respond to your hysteria firmly believe that it's wrong for America to defend itself? Just where do you get that?

I suppose you must have missed Obama's plan to increase troops in Afghanistan as Afghanistan has become another hotbed with terrorism on the rise once again. Sure doesn't sound to me that he belives America shouldn't defend itself. Quite the contrary, it sounds like he's well aware of the dangers and will act appropriately.

As a matter of fact here's one statement on it:
"Obama said securing Afghanistan is key to American interests because the country serves as a haven for terrorists, providing sanctuary where they can plan attacks and a source of funding via the country’s drug trade."

And your nonsense with constantly telling people that they don't think America should defend itself or that they're unpatriotic is nothing but Limbaugh/Hannity hysteria and fear mongering.

JMO

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 9590
Location: Living happily in my "clueless" little world.

prolific

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:11 am

Well then I suppose those in power now must just want to see our troops defeated since these negotiations have been going on for over a year:

Plan sets date for U.S. withdrawal in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Iraq's Cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly accepted a plan to end the U.S. military presence in Iraq by the end of 2011 and sent it on to Parliament for approval, where it faces a fight from some lawmakers who consider it a sellout to the Americans.

The Cabinet's decision brings a final date for the departure of American troops a significant step closer after more than 5-½ years of war.

The Status of Forces Agreement was expected to be presented to the 275-seat national legislature today. Leaders of some of the largest parliamentary blocs expressed confidence that with the backing of most Shiites and Kurds that they had enough support to ensure its approval.

Twenty-seven of the 28 Cabinet ministers who were present at the 2-½-hour session voted in favor of the pact. Nine ministers were absent. The near unanimity was a victory for the dominant Shiite party and its Kurdish partners.

But widespread Sunni opposition could doom the proposed agreement 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.

"This will be an adventure," said Omar Abdul Sattar, a Sunni legislator, summing up his prediction for the Parliament debate. In addition to political resistance, Sattar said time constraints on lawmakers will make reaching consensus difficult.

Lawmakers are under pressure to vote on it by Nov. 25, when they plan to leave to attend the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. The agreement will replace the U.N. mandate expiring Dec. 31 that now gives U.S. forces the legal basis for being in Iraq.

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

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

In Washington, the White House welcomed the vote as "an important and positive step" and attributed the agreement itself to security improvements over the past year.

While the Cabinet approval marked a victory of sorts for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, it also puts him on a collision course with some Shiite and Sunni Muslim lawmakers who strongly oppose the deal. Among them are followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has threatened to call his Mahdi Army militia back to war against the U.S. to derail the pact. Leaders of Iraq's minority Sunni population also oppose the plan, saying it is too important not to be voted on by the public.

Throughout the negotiations, the Shiite parties and al-Maliki had been trying to strike a balance between forging a viable agreement with the Americans that would guarantee Iraq's security and still stand firm against what many consider a hostile force that has occupied Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

"This vote shows that the Iraqis have figured out how to stand up for themselves, to Iran and to the U.S.," said Michael O'Hanlon, a specialist on Iraq at the Brookings Institution. "They will have stared in the face at the various options and concluded that none are ideal but the best for their security is an amount of ongoing but finite American cooperation."

------------

Interesting note: Obama set a timetable of 16 months for a responsible total troop withdrawl and this set the table at 2011....pretty damn close ain't it.

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 9590
Location: Living happily in my "clueless" little world.

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