I really think that someone has been massively aerosol spraying the ‘Mission Accomplished’ meme all over the western media. Newsflash bitches: Iraq is still broken and not getting better.
“At least four people have been killed and dozens wounded in a bombing at the provincial government building in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.
Police sources told Al Jazeera that a female suicide bomber entered the deputy governor’s office and blew herself up.”
I am thinking that people blowing themselves up in your parliament buildings is not usually a sign of peaceable progress toward a democratic state.
“More than 20 people were wounded in the blast.
“At least four people were killed and 23 others wounded, including women and children, by a female suicide bomber at the entrance to the provincial government building,” an interior ministry official said.”
Mission Accomplished, indeed. Is this the climate for any sort of reasonable governance to take place?
“Violence in the region has dropped from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but bombings and assassinations remain common.”
Err. No. The situation in Iraq is like trying to paint your house during a rainstorm and the only solution you can think of is using more paint.
“Many Iraqis worry that the ongoing political impasse, with no one able to form a government four months after parliamentary elections, will lead to increased violence.”
Whoa, no functioning government for four months? You think that little tidbit would be making the rounds on CNN and MSNBC. I would think that a nation’s imperialist conquests would be of utmost concern, or at least page two news once and awhile.
I really wish someone in the massive american military industrial complex had done their homework. Iraq was held together by an authoritarian secular regime that actively repressed the various cultural and religious in the region. Did they think that everyone would just kiss and make up after being repressed for so long? How would a democracy function in a society split along almost diametrically opposed religious and cultural fault lines?
Kinda like a chaotic higglety pigglety mess would be my estimation.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
8 comments
July 8, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Alan Scott
” “At least four people were killed and 23 others wounded, including women and children, by a female suicide bomber at the entrance to the provincial government building,” an interior ministry official said.” ”
Almost as dangerous as Chicago, LA., or Newark New Jersey.
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July 10, 2010 at 8:04 am
The Arbourist
There might be a little confusing between examples here Mr.Scott as Chicago and LA and New Jersey are all firmly under the rule of law. Admittedly there are violent episodes but nothing on the scale that is going on in Iraq. The other important difference is between Iraq and LA, as mentioned above is the rule of law (in the US) and a stable civil society that generally respects civic institutions and standards.
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July 10, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Alan Scott
The Arbourist,
Iraq is not hopeless as you seem to say. It has the same Islamic enemies as the US or you do. With Chris Cristy as Governor, New Jersey has a good fighting chance. LA and Chicago have way too many Democrats in power, for me to agree with you.
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July 11, 2010 at 8:36 am
The Arbourist
I may a bit on the doom and gloom side, but the media coverage of Iraq has really slipped off the radar. Not many things are going right at the moment, and I would think, as your tax dollars are currently subsidizing the carnage that continues in Iraq, more information about the situation would be a good thing.
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July 13, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Alan Scott
The Arbourist,
Even though as you once said we would blow up the Universe were we to meet, being opposites, you always give me openings to change the flow of the conversation/discussion . I am grateful . Here on this side of the Universe where I am always right, it’s been brought up just how many things have slipped from the radar in the media.
The media has an agenda. During the Bush years, anything that could gin up hatred of W. was news. Iraq, the evil oil companies, wire taps on calls to the Middle East. These still exist, but since the agenda is to protect President Obama, they are all down played. Obama and BP seem to have an alliance to hide the real damage from the spill. A few, notably CNN, have complained .
I am rambling, but bear with me . The thing that amazes us right wingers the most is how Gitmo has disappeared. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe it must stay open, but here is the rub. Obama made closing Guantanimo a basic issue during the election. I believe he issued an executive order to close it with in a year of his taking office. Since he used Gitmo to demonize Bush, why isn’t the Left holding him accountable for another failed promise ?
His failures to follow through on what he promised on Gitmo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, after seeing the realities of being President, proves to me that what he said while running for President was just BS . Every day that man is in office, makes George Bush look like a freaking genius.
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July 15, 2010 at 3:35 pm
The Arbourist
The media has an agenda.
I also believe that the media has an agenda, so to speak. But I do think that we differ on which agenda they possess. I am fairly certain that the media has an overtly right wing bias and covers stories and news from that point of view. Now I foresee a finger pointed to MS-NBC and their pundits or the WSJ or something along those lines. What I say to this would be that NBC/WSJ are still reporting from the approved play-book as their opinion still represents elite consensus and therefore is allowed to happen.
Since he used Gitmo to demonize Bush, why isn’t the Left holding him accountable for another failed promise ?
I believe that the American people are not holding Obama to many of his promises he said during the election. Although I am not particularly surprised because most people seem to overlook that fact that Obama is at best a centrist, and probably more accurately described as right of centre. The progressives in the US have been deeply disappointed with his inaction on many important issues, ones that were key to getting him elected.
Every day that man is in office, makes George Bush look like a freaking genius.
I’m thinking that we probably have markedly different views on what constitutes genius. But again, when both major parties represent the business class is GWB’s and Obama’s actions particularly surprising?
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July 18, 2010 at 6:12 am
Alan Scott
The Arbourist,
Your viewpoint astounds me. With the exception of FoxNews, Talk Radio, and the WSJ, all media in the US is far left wing, or so it seems to us on the right. To us that lapdog media is merely a propaganda machine for Democrats.
For you to see Obama as center right is not understandable. Just curious. What is your opinion of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro ?
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July 25, 2010 at 8:16 am
The Arbourist
Your viewpoint astounds me.
Alan, yours does the same for me on a regular basis.
all media in the US is far left wing, or so it seems to us on the right.
Errr…so it it would. The corporate media though, for the most part does have a strong pro-business and often rightwing bias, often simply for no other reason than it is the elite section of society they tailor their writing for.
For you to see Obama as center right is not understandable.
Well he is. See all the US 2008 candidates and where they roughly are on the political spectrum here.
What is your opinion of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro ?
They are both left-wing leaders heading governments with authoritarian tendencies. I am hypothesizing now, but they both would be less authoritarian if the US would cease terrorist operations against them.
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