News from the Colonies - America's War in Iraq

Back when this war was in foreplay, and we were saying "Don't do it!", the warheads were chanting that we could never stir up the bad blood in Iraq like we did over there in (Marley Sings):

"Viet-Nam,
Vietnam,
Vietnam,
Vietnam..."

But here we go...

 

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Nope. At least five of the fatalities died waiting for medical assistance.
You can wait a long time for first aid when triggerhappy gunships are in the vicinity..

Get your eyewitness account here....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1303827,00.html

Dee Cee

 

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Apparently the Christian-Jewish Crusaders have not managed to root out the opposition, so they're staging My Lais until they can break the citizenry.

Generally a failing tactic.

 

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"Generally a failing tactic."

Specifically, a failed one. There can be no salvaging Iraq for any US government designs from here on. Not that this attack is any different from many others. Americans do need to experience, as graphically and personally as possible, what is being done in our names, with our taxes:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2004/09/14/ghthttckaa.gif

 

Seattle P-I: The Cost of War

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer offers a full-page .pdf: "The Cost of War". Just lots of little data bits assembled according to someone's priorities of relevance.

 

Grisly Morning at Baquba

Source: New York Times
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/international/middleeast/24BODIES.html
Title: "Dozens of Iraqi Soldiers Found Shot to Death"
Date: October 24, 2004

A Grisly Morning at Baquba

According to police officials in Baquba, the soldiers appear to have been taken from a bus returning from Kirkush and executed them with shots to the head. The bodies were then arranged into four rows.

An Iraqi government spokeswoman, however, told the AP that insurgents fired rockets at the buses; an AP reporter at the site said the charred vehicles remained, as did human remains and pools of blood.

It seems unclear, as well, whether these soldiers were part of the Iraqi National Guard or the new Iraqi Army. The attack and its outcome have raised questions of why the soldiers were unable to defend themselves, and also whether or not they were sufficiently protected for travel.

In other news, Ed Seitz, a State Department security officer, perished in a rocket attack at Camp Victory near Baghdad International Airport, and a car bomb exploded near an American convoy at Mosul, with no reported casualties.
______________________

Notes:

Wong, Edward. "Dozens of Iraqi Soldiers Found Shot to Death". New York Times, October 24, 2004. See http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/international/middleeast/24BODIES.html ​

See Also

Vick, Karl. "Bodies of 49 Iraqi Troops Found Dead in Eastern Iraq". Washington Post, October 24, 2004. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58312-2004Oct24.html

Al-Mahdawi, Faris. "Rebels 'Execute' 49 Iraqi Troops, Kill U.S. Diplomat". Reuters, October 24, 2004. See http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....QHSQECCRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=6590092 ​

 

Aftermath: Barbs fly in wake of ING recruit deaths
Allawi: Shows "gross negligence"

The headlines around the world are ... unsettling.

• Iraqi PM accuses US-led military of negligence in Iraqi soldier massacre (Channel News Asia)
• Iraq blames US-led forces for massacre (SwissInfo)
• Allawi accuses U.S. for soldiers' massacre (Aljazeera)
• US to blame for massacre: Allawi (news.com.au) ​

Hey, at least this time Aljazeera was nicer about it than the Australians. ( :bugeye: )

So ... just so we have the story straight, though, the general consensus seems to be that Iraqi National Guard recruits being transported from a training session, left unarmed and without an escort, turn up dead--executed--along the way.

I am aware of the saying that strategy is for the armchair generals while logistics is what the professionals worry about. It seems to me there's a failure of some sort on the part of the US-led coalition, but whose decision was that failure? The American war planners at home? American officers in Iraq? Was this decision somehow made by the Iraqis?

And why was the decision made? Was it a "strategic" oversight or a logistical necessity? Is this one of those things that comes about in part because, for all our might and numbers, we're still short manpower for logistical necessity?

As the folks at news.com.au have it translated, "The killings represent the epitome of what could be done to hurt Iraq and the Iraqi people." A much more gripping translation, but how "spectacular" is this ... uh ... "victory" (I feel so dirty!) for the people who killed these forty-nine ING recruits? They simply murdered forty-nine unarmed people. Calling this the epitome of what could be done to Iraq and the Iraqi people might be an overstatement, though if that translation of the PM's words is the more accurate, that's certainly Mr. Allawi's right.

But ... I think the bombing of the children was a little more sinister. That's just my opinion, though, and from the far side of this side of the Pond. Given that certain parts of the insurgency depend on a specific form of irrationalism, is there not some risk, in making this the "epitome" of anything, of encouraging the less rational?

Yes, it's sick. And it's pretty big. But in the end, somebody murdered forty-nine unprotected, unarmed people. In a country teeming with warfare, that's not particularly hard to do, or at least when you consider the alternative of attacking American troops and wondering whether you're putting up a fierce enough fight to get airplanes to drop bombs on you.
____________________

Notes:

Spinner, Jackie. "Allawi Blames U.S. for 'Gross Negligence'". WashingtonPost.com, October 26, 2004. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63772-2004Oct26.html

news.com.au. "US to blame for massacre: Allawi". October 27, 2004. See http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11201063%5E1702,00.html
​

 

"Kill Zone" - The Unnecessary Beating of a Dead Horse
Tillman revisited: Friendly-fire casualties result of various factors

From the armchair perspective, reading the Washington Post's summary of the events leading up to the death of Pat Tillman is a little like recalling any of a number of video games I've played in my day. There is something surreal about it, but perhaps that's just the armchair.

Additionally, let me say that the Post's series title, "In the Kill Zone", is just a tad extraneous, or just another excuse to run Tillman's Arizona Cardinals pictures on the website.

The Post has taken pains to get us the gory details.

To read the account does seriously remind me of the insanity of a dozen hyped-up freaks shooting the hell out of everything that moves in a video game. Unfortunately, in war, there is no respawn. I almost can't wait to read part two; it's starting to look like a draft treatment for something better than a movie-of-the-week. (Like if Bruckheimer hired Zwick, or maybe Noyce; maybe cast Keanu Reeves, or drag Johnny Depp back from France.)

But that, of course, could simply be the armchair.
____________________

Notes:

Coll, Steve. "Barrage of Bullets Drowned Out Cries of Comrades". Washington Post, December 5, 2004; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35717-2004Dec4.html
​

 

Chicken Tenders
Throw enough darts ....

If you throw enough darts while wearing a blindfold, you will eventually hit something important. You might even strike a bulls-eye. Perhaps there is a law of averages in effect.

A suspected rocket attack on a U.S. mess hall at Mosul, Iraq, has left 24 dead, including U.S. military, contractors, and Iraqi military. More than 60 were wounded in the attack, which came at about noontime, Tuesday.

The 276th Engineer Battallion, with about 500 troops, suffered its first casualties in the attack, which came a month before the unit was scheduled to leave Iraq and return home.

The attack, while specifically unanticipated, was expected of sorts. CNN reports that personnel who have visited the base remarked on the lack of hardened protection about the dining facility, and that soldiers had raised concerns that they could be targeted during meal times. One soldier told CNN it was merely a matter of time.

Mosul has, of course, been a hotbed in recent weeks, and the mess hall at the camp has been targeted more than 30 times this year. The new facility under construction is concrete and steel, hopefully affording more protection than a tent.

Jaish Ansar Al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility for the attack, and promised video of the incident would be made available. CNN, for its part, was unable to verify the authenticity of the claim. Scott McClellan spoke to reporters after the attack, and said that President Bush "mourns the loss of life and prays for the families of those killed".

In the meantime, it's another day in Iraq.

____________________

Notes:

Redmon, Jeremy. "Mess call leaves the dazed and the dead". CNN.com, December 21, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/21/iraq.scene.ap/index.html

CNN.com. "24 dead in attack on US base". December 21, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/21/iraq.main/index.html ​

 

How is America supposed to win this? What is the Plan? I hope they don’t think a sectarian election will help…

 

The enemy is getting more sophisticated and everyone agrees that they’re going to try to unleash hell between now and the scheduled elections. What happens when & if the elections take place at the end of January? Declare democracy and mission accomplished? Iraqi elections (anytime soon) does not mean anything except more bloodshed. How the hell can anyone secure the safety of the voters at the polling stations. Would you go out and vote? There is absolutely no reason to have (or try to have) elections in Iraq under these circumstances. Right now, it’s actually counterproductive to achieving “freedom” for Iraqis.

 

If anything the election should lead to sectarian civil war.

 

Source: Washington Post
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20775-2004Dec22.html
Title: "Iraq Base Was Hit By Suicide Attack, U.S. General Says"
Date: December 23, 2004

I have a question:

Now, what I'm wondering--and I've never been in the military--is just how secure is a place called "Forward Operating Base"? It isn't that I wish to argue with General Myers on this, but I admit it doesn't seem clear how just anybody could strap on a bomb and walk up to a military base like this.

That vulnerability, that roof--at the time, they thought it was a rocket attack. Mortars, according to one embedded reporter, have come at the mess hall more than 30 times this year. What is "good protection" if someone can get that close and detonate a suicide bomb?

Obviously, I'm missing something. Is it the degree of tragedy, or is there not an issue of how this happened?
__________________

Notes:

Vick, Karl. "Iraq Base Was Hit By Suicide Attack, U.S. General Says". Washington Post, December 23, 2004; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20775-2004Dec22.html

CNN.com. "Rocket attack on U.S. base kills more than 20". December 22, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/21/iraq.main/index.html ​

See Also -

Redmon, Jeremy. "Mess call leaves the dazed and the dead". CNN.com, December 21, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/21/iraq.scene.ap/index.html ​

 

Source: Los Angeles Times (LATimes.com)
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-pullout22dec22,1,2035372.story
Title: "U.S. Contractor Pulls Out of Reconstruction Effort in Iraq"
Date: December 22, 2004

Sounds about right¡

(Sorry, I just had to test it. I'm still not sure it's a good thing, that sarcasm mark.)

At any rate, everybody involved is trying to put a good face on the situation:

Some think the move ominous nonetheless. The Brookings Institute raised concerns that Contrack's problems might extend to other firms involved in the reconstruction. Contrack's enterprises in Iraq have come under insurgency fire, including mortar fire at construction sites and an attack by gunman at the company's headquarters in Iraq. An Egyptian driver working in the company's employ was executed by insurgents for collaboration. Security costs ran as high as 60% of any one project bill.

This is probably a good move for Contrack. Note the lack of sarcasm mark.
__________________

Notes:

Miller, T. Christian. "U.S. Contractor Pulls Out of Reconstruction Effort in Iraq". LATimes.com, December 22, 2004. See http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-pullout22dec22,1,2035372.story​

 

News From the Colonies: Christmas Eve, 2004 Edition
Iraq energy crisis; technocrats in Afghanistan

In a country floating on a sea of oil, there is a fuel crisis. Beyond authority, beyond money, there is the real power, the fundamental energy required for human endeavors in the twenty-first century. While Americans bemoan two dollars for a gallon of gasoline, one of the few things Iraq has in common with the United States is gas lines to dazzle the wildest nightmares of the 1970s.

So, unfortunately, not all the news coming out of Iraq is good. Despite completing voter registration and looking forward to a January election that nobody but the strictest optimist thinks will actually stabilize Iraq, challenges still have a way of presenting themselves.

And it's not just gasoline, either. Electricity shutoffs last for entire days, and cooking fuel prices have skyrocketed ninefold. The gas lines themselves are becoming dangerous; disputes about places in line and watered-down gasoline have left two men dead in Baghdad.

Insurgent attacks against fuel tankers has left Babil province scarce of gasoline, and while the Oil Ministry has bought 60 new gas stations, the security situation throughout Iraq makes it too difficult to transport the equipment from Syria.

The Iraqi government shares in the blame, however:

While the price is set at about 80 dinar per gallon (US$0.05/g) prices are all over the place. Less than two weeks ago, people were handing over US$2.70.

There is some finger-pointing, though it only goes so far:

The situation is having its effect:

• • •​

Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, the government is well under way. President Karzai, fresh from his October election, has selected his cabinet. The controversy seems minor from this side of the Pond, with or without Iraq to compare to:

The dual-citizenship issue affects at least seven other ministers, as well.

The good news, of course, is easier to see at that level. There's still rough patches in Afghanistan to be sure, but at least they have this heading toward the new year.

Trees & Greedies,
'Tis the Season
____________________

Notes:

Vick, Karl. "Iraqis' Dismay Surges as Lights Flicker and Gas Lines Grow". Washington Post, December 24, 2004; Page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23297-2004Dec23.html

Kazem, Hamila. "Karzai Keeps Key Rivals Out of His Cabinet". LATimes.com, December 24, 2004. See http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghans24dec24,1,6736676.story ​

 

Iraq Notes
Iraqi intel says insurgents number 200k; U.S. General concerned Army Reserve is becoming "broken force"

Let's think about this for a moment:

• Gen. Eric Shinseki told advised the Senate Armed Services Committee that occupation of Iraq would require "something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" (see Houston Chronicle); Gen. Tommy Franks, in his memoir American Soldier, said he had advised as many as 250,000 troops (see The New Republic).

• Coalition forces number perhaps a bit over 160,000, not counting Special Forces (see GlobalSecurity.org, Burton, and do some basic subtraction for troops withdrawn).

• Gen. Muhammad Shahwani, head of Iraq's intelligence service, numbers the insurgency at 200,000. 40,000 are said to be actively fighting, with the remainder in support (see BBC).​

Now, while the idea that the United States and its allies could possibly be outgunned is rightfully considered laughable, what is this hint that we're officially outnumbered?

• • •​

Political cartoons, commentary, and even stand-up comedy have all remarked on the idea that American actions abroad could serve as impetus for many to join anti-American organizations. Does the Bush administration, then, admit that it completely failed to account for 200,000 "America-haters" in Iraq, or is it time to consider that our war policies have in some way contributed to some folks' decisions to work against the Coalition effort?

• • •​

Meanwhile, in the City of The Hill, a December 20 memorandum from General James R. Helmly, head of the United States Army Reserve, voiced criticism of deployment policy:

The memo, addressed to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker is available for viewing in .pdf format from the Baltimore Sun; click here to download (1.8 mb). According to Army spokesman Col. Joseph Curtin, the concerns expressed are not new: "The Army is moving to resolve them."

And, of course, Congress is making sure to have its say. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), released a statement asserting that, "By consistently underestimating the number of troops necessary for the successful occupation of Iraq, the administration has placed a tremendous burden on the Army Reserve and created this crisis". Arkansas Democrat Rep. Victor F. Snyder noted, "The memo presents more questions than answers".

Helmly's computations assert that of over 200,000 soldiers in the Army Reserve, only about 38,000 remain ready for deployment.

• • •​

Were life and death and war as simple as a video game, the essential question would be a matter of when to spend how much. To mix metaphors, it is theoretically possible to expend the same amount of water fighting a fire according to two different methods, and see entirely different results in terms of damage area. A BBC correspondent writes of General Shahwani's estimate of the insurgency, "These figures do not represent an insurgency. They represent a war."

As an election approaches in Iraq, the country seems to be getting even more violent than it has been. While Gen. Helmly doesn't wish to be alarmist, BBC News correspondent Paul Reynolds seems to have fewer reservations about his expression:

• • •​

While searching through links regarding troop numbers, I did come across an excerpt of an old article in a QandO.net discussion; in May, 2003, the Bush administration was talking about its plans to reduce troop levels in Iraq over the course of months, aiming to have that number as low as 30,000 by autumn, 2003.

The questions of what happened and who's to blame are debated enough in the public arena, but we might as well ask one nobody's really saying much about:

• Who's in charge?​

_____________________

Notes:

Associated Press. "Postwar troops estimate 'sobering'". HoustonChronicle.com, Feb. 25, 2003. See http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/iraq/1795114

Ackerman, Spencer. "Iraq'd". New Republic Online, August 10, 2004. See http://www.tnr.com/blog/iraqd?pid=1916

GlobalSecurity.org. "US Forces Order of Battle - early December, 2004". See http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm

Burton, Michael P. "Coalition Troop Count in Iraq". See http://www.mpburton.com/troops.html

Reynolds, Paul. "Blistering attacks threaten Iraq election". BBCNews Online, January 5, 2005. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4145585.stm

Graham, Bradley. "General Says Army Reserve Is Becoming a 'Broken' Force". Washington Post, January 6, 2005; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51687-2005Jan5.html

Helmly, Lt. Gen. James R. "Memorandum: Readiness of the United States Army Reserve". December 20, 2004. See http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/acrobat/2005-01/15715020.pdf (Note: Link begins .pdf download)​

 

At Last ... A Familiar Challenge In Iraq
But no better hope of resolution

In a manner that borders on the perverse, the latest challenge facing organizers of Iraq's scheduled January 30 election, Iraqis scattered abroad by the Hussein regime find the upcoming exercise in democracy confusing. The Iraqis are facing a question that plagues even the foremost allegedly-free society in the world: absentee voting.

While absentee drama continues to play out in one corner of the United States, criticism regarding the upcoming Iraqi election is harsh. Najmaldin Karim, president of the Washington Kurdish Institute, said he thinks the organizers are "totally ignorant or incompetent or both".

Imam Husham Al Husainy, a Shiite cleric at the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center in Dearborn, Michigan, cited hundreds of calls complaining about the election process:

Jeremy Copleand, who heads U.S. external relations for the Iraq Out-of-Country Voting Program, expressed his sympathies. It is only possible, given the circumstances, to run a limited election.

Iraqi voters in the U.S. have only five voting centers nationwide, in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Washington. Each voting center will have several polling places. The sites were selected because they are near the highest concentrations of Iraqis in the country. "We hope that through picking these five cities, we will make it easy for the majority of the Iraqis in the United States to take part in this historic election," said Copeland.

Some Iraqis living in the U.S. will have to either schedule a vacation or make two trips to the voting center; registration occurs Jan. 17-23 at polling places, and the vote will take place Jan. 28-30. Voters will be fingerprinted against fraud, and ballots will be available in Kurdish and Arabic.

Despite the frustrations, enthusiasm seems high. Jamal Fadel, 47, a physician from College Park, Maryland, pointed out, "We don't want the terrorists to win." A high turnout, said Fadel, "will give ... a message for al Qaeda that the Iraqi people don't want them."

Alyaa Mazyad, 26, a homemaker from Reston, Virginia, said she wants to vote, "because it's the first democracy election for the Iraqis." She could not say who her chosen candidate was: "I don't know all the names of the candidates."

• • •​

Ms. Mazyad ought not worry; most Americans have a hard time naming candidates in a field of under a dozen, speak nothing of over a hundred. Nonetheless, as the Washington Post reflects its community in speaking with Iraqi voters from Maryland and Virginia, none of the voters the newspaper spoke with face a week's worth of travel in order to merely participate.

And while we might note, tongue-in-cheek, that long lines and confusing registration procedures are prevalent enough to surface in our own elections, Iraqis don't yet have a fraudulent public figure like Kenneth Blackwell to excoriate; they get to look to this election process with guarded hope at the very least.

And yes, WKI's Karim has a valid point, at least in ignorance: Americans have a hard enough time pulling off their own elections, as events in Ohio and Washington state have revealed this year; two states--Pennsylvania and Georgia--were targeted by U.S. Department of Justice lawsuits complaining about the timing of overseas ballots. It seems almost an insane challenge to blindly presume that we Americans can pull off for 28,000,000 Iraqis what it cannot do for eleven million in Ohio, or six million in Washington state. Only the 35,000,000 people in California have ever faced a ticket nearly so diverse, as over 100 people declared their intent to run for governor in the wake of Gray Davis' recall. And we can be reasonably sure that few Iraqi pornographers or ex-wives of gay politicians will be on the ticket.

To the other, though, I think perhaps Imam Al Husainy might be a little too critical. Yes, I can imagine how long lines and inadequate polling services may be reminiscent of Hussein's Iraq, but that's about as much akin to the deposed regime as the fact that both the Imam and the fallen dictator breathe. It's going to be a private ballot, for one thing. At least, in theory. Um ... yeah. And it's not like the U.S. is going to shoot people for voting for the wrong candidate. At least, not in this country. Er ... hmmm. I suppose we can only ask the Imam to give this process a chance to show itself so sinister as the Hussein regime before condemning it as such. Whether or not this opportunity is ideal, it is the opportunity at hand.

And still unresolved is the question of whether the United States and its faltering Coalition can make this election stick; that is, who's to stop the insurgency from merely cutting down the elected leaders? After all, media reports from the last week assert that members of the Iraqi Election Commission are stepping down in large numbers after the insurgents threatened them, and last month brought reports that the insurgency is directly targeting the politicians themselves.

Perhaps most chilling is the prospect that Dr. Fadel is incorrect, and that Iraqis will turn out and give anti-coalition politics significant support. Perhaps, as the results are counted and argued over, Iraqis will bring the United States and its Coalition a valentine that says, "Get out!"

And then, of course, well, the occupation will face the prospect of cutting down people who voted for the wrong candidates. However, there won't be nearly so direct a correlation between who votes for whom, and who dies. A mere statistical coincidence, kind of like collateral damage, and therefore something we can wash our hands of.

Like Pilate, minus the dog.
____________________

Notes:

Murphy, Caryle. "Obstacles Plague Absentee Voting For Iraqis in U.S.". Washington Post, January 10, 2005; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61768-2005Jan9.html ​

See Also

Ridolfo, Kathleen. "Analysis: Iraqi Election Workers Resigning Under Threat". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL.com), January 6, 2005. See http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/ad0a2f67-3c07-43ea-b4cf-f16d0a4d8106.html

Allam, Hannah. "Insurgents target Iraqi candidates in next month's elections". SanLuisObispo.com, December 13, 2004. See http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/10407852.htm ​

 

This photo is doctored and there are several aspects of it.

Primarily: The Soldiers' shadows are at 7 o'clock, while the objects' shadows are at 2 o'clock.

This is not unexpected, after-all, Bush reading a book "upside-down" was a doctored image as well. Fooled a lot of idiots who never bothered to check the "front cover" of the book to realize it was inverted and not "up-side down". (difference on which side of the picture characteristics would be found)

 

(Does a lack of a title make this titless?)

Source: Washington Post
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10690-2005Jan14.html
Title: "The Critical Battle for Iraq's Energy"
Date: January 15, 2004

They came. They saw. They're getting better at it, to listen to American officials. Iraqi insurgents challenging Iraq's energy industry have refined their methods:

Iraq's national treasury is feeling the pinch. Oil exports in November fell by $700m compared to the prior month, a 36% decline. The people are feeling the pinch, as well. Subsidized gasoline runs at five cents a gallon; the black market runs several dollars per. Gas lines run three miles on some days, and blackouts have left Baghdad without power, sometimes for over a day.

According to the Electricity Ministry, an insurgent attack against power lines between Baiji and Tikrit actually shut down the entire national grid. An unnamed senior Iraqi official suggested inside knowledge helped the most effective attacks.

• • •​

• • •​

Nonetheless, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is upbeat. The situation should improve within days. The Iraqi government is buying as much refined petroleum product as the Saudis, Kuwaitis, and others will sell.

• • •​

• • •​

Something about this situation just seems wrong. Maybe it has to do with troop numbers, apparent lack of foresight, and the fact of an upcoming election, but to simply rob a fuel queue--while I'm happy that nobody got killed in that one--seems "too easy". Then again, I don't really want to imagine a firefight in a fuel yard.

It seems no surprise, then, that after pinning so many hopes on this month's election in Iraq, the U.S. has tempered its expectations, telling folks to "not focus on numbers" and voter turnout, but the mere fact that any election is taking place.
____________________

Notes:

Vick, Karl. "The Critical Battle for Iraq's Energy". Washington Post, January 15, 2005; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10690-2005Jan14.html ​

See Also -

Wright, Robin and Jim VandeHei. "U.S. Lowers Expectations on Iraq Vote". Washington Post, January 13, 2005; page A01. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5065-2005Jan12.html ​

 

Really? I don't see it.

Of course, if the image is faked, why did the U.S. acknowledge this incident? Why didn't our government argue that the image was a fake?