Situation In Iraq Has Worsensed Since Last Bush-Maliki Mideast Meeting
Situation In Iraq Has Worsensed Since Last Bush-Maliki Mideast Meeting
On June 13, President Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki. “We discussed the security strategy,” Bush said at the time. “And all of it makes sense to me.” The following day, Maliki announced Operation Together Forward, “his government’s new plan to improve security conditions in Baghdad.”
Five months later, Bush will travel to Jordan to meet with Maliki again. Since their June meeting, the situation in Iraq has continued to deteriorate:
- 370 American soldiers have died since mid-June.
- Last month, 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed, “the highest monthly toll since the March 2003 U.S. invasion and another sign of the severity of Iraq’s sectarian bloodbath.”
- Maj. Gen. William Caldwell admitted Operation Forward Together had failed and had “not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence”
- 7 out of 10 Iraqis want U.S. forces to leave within a year.
- An October classified Pentagon briefing found violence in Iraq was “at all-time high” and “spreading geographically.”
No wonder the White House has been “quick to talk down expectations” for Bush’s trip to Jordan.
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33 Responses to “Situation In Iraq Has Worsensed Since Last Bush-Maliki Mideast Meeting”
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I wonder what the meat puppet will say to explain the new situation to us?anyone want to bet it deeply moving and thoughtful?
isn’t there any law enforcement official willing to arrest this traitor?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:12 pmNotice that Chimpy is not going to Iraq to serve plastic turkey this year…
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:20 pmWhy are they meeting in Jordan?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:22 pmIs Bush afraid Maliki might have him squashed like the bug he is, en route to the Green Zone?
I wonder what the meat puppet will say to explain the new situation to us?
GDumbya will probably say “we’ve turned the corner in Iraq…mission accomplished…9-11…the evil-doers and suiciders…9-11…we’re spreading democracy in the Middle East …9-11″. Or something like that.
The main salvation in all of this is that nobody listens to GDumbya anymore. He is irrelevant. His Poppy and James Baker have taken over the show in the White House. Cheney will thankfully remain in an “undisclosed location” for the next two years . . . he proved to be a rotten babysitter for GDumbya. And, of course, the Congress has been rid of the braindead, rubber-stamp Republican majority with such notable morons as Allen and Santorum.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:22 pmGood point, Cerious. Clearly if (as Rep. King has frequently said) conditions are safer in Iraq than in D.C., why would the Prez. be afraid to set foot in the Green Zone?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:24 pmWhen do they name a boulevard after Bush and erect his statue in downtown Baghdad?
When do the flowers get thrown like its the Champs Elysees in 1944?
When do the oil proceeds start to pay for the reconstruction?
And when do our troops get greeted as liberators?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:29 pmIraq’s fate hanging on a new axis
By Kaveh L Afrasiab
While the US is actively exploring alternative options to salvage its intervention in Iraq, regional realities are dictating their own dynamic, not necessarily in tune with the United States’ objectives. Slowly but surely, a new realignment is shaping up that is making Washington nervous - a Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus axis.
SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD HAASS
“Iraq Is Not Winnable”
What happens next in the Middle East? SPIEGEL spoke to Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, to find out. A widely respected foreign policy expert, Haass warns that the Middle East could become dangerous for years to come.
[snip]
Haass: Visions of a new Middle East that is peaceful, prosperous and democratic will not be realized. Much more likely is the emergence of a new Middle East that will cause great harm to itself and the world. Iran will be a powerful state in the region, a classical imperial power. No viable peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is likely for the foreseeable future. Militias will emerge throughout the region, terrorism will grow in sophistication, tensions between Sunni and Shia will increase, causing problems in countries with divided societies, such as Bahrain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Islam will fill the political and intellectual vacuum. Iraq at best will remain messy for years to come, with a weak central government, a divided society and sectarian violence. At worst, it will become a failed state racked by all-out civil war that will draw in its neighbors.
SPIEGEL: How long will this dangerous period last?
Haass: I don’t know if this will last for five or 50 years, but it’s going to be an incredibly difficult era. Together with managing a dynamic Asia it will be the primary challenge for US foreign policy.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:29 pmNo wonder the White House has been “quick to talk down expectations†for Bush’s trip to Jordan.
Expectations? I don’t think anyone has any expectations for Bush, other than speculation about what he is going to f*ck-up next.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:36 pm#8 Wayne,
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:41 pmI have a hopeful expectation he’ll meet a pretzel that has his name on it.
Notice that Chimpy is not going to Iraq to serve plastic turkey this year…
Comment by New Yorker
Wasn’t that Rumsfeld who served the fake turkey for the troops in Iraq?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:41 pmsomething to celebrate, the death of american soldiers. Keep up the good work Think Progress!
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:42 pmhttp://www.jewwatch.com/ jew-occupiedgovernments-usa.html
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:44 pmWasn’t that Rumsfeld who served the fake turkey for the troops in Iraq?
Comment by dlet
It was the plastic bush with a plastic turkey, link below =)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ ac2/ wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A33090-2003Dec3¬Found=true
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:45 pmsomething to celebrate, the death of american soldiers. Keep up the good work Think Progress!
Comment by greg wirth
Please show me where TP is celebrating the deaths of American soldiers?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:48 pmI think you in advance for taking the time and effort to provide such information
Thanks Wayne. I just can’t keep track of who did what stupid thing in this administration anymore.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 pmaphrodite:
No one here is ‘cheering’, thanks…and your attempt to insinuate such speaks volumes about your character.
Instead of attempting to ascribe fictitious motives to us, you might try actually addressing the subject at hand…but perhaps that’s asking too much of you.
Don’t strain yourself.
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:10 pmWho cares that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed last month! The news of the day is GW pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey!
How does Bush sleep at night knowing he’s responsible for killing so many people?
I get upset when I accidentally kill a bird and it bothers me for sometime after. Murdering innocent humans doesn’t bother GW at all.
There isn’t a word to describe the evil of this man.
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:13 pmsomething to celebrate, the death of american soldiers. Keep up the good work Think Progress!
Comment by greg wirth
So, we have to celebrate iraqi children´s deaths so you dont feel so offended? You are one sad, little lunatic.
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:21 pmJohnny-
From the WH site: “An alternate [turkey] is chosen in case the National Thanksgiving Turkey cannot fulfill the responsibilities of being the National Turkey.”
Or in case the first turkey doesn’t agree with Bush….
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:22 pmWho cares that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed last month!
What, with important news like the possibility of a K-fed/Brittany Spears sex tape and the non confession confession of OJ, who has time for innocent Iraqi civilians being murdered?
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:25 pmGeez, it’s not like they’re being slaughtered over here, and they’re not even Christian, for crying out loud. Now leave me be, and quit interrupting my (insert reality based TV program here)
Who cares that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed last month! The news of the day is GW pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey!
Comment by johnny
If Bush took an axe and chopped the head off the turkey it would make bigger news than the deaths of the servicemen that he is responsible for. Kill a turkey and people would call him a butcher and insane but send 10s of thousnads of people to their graves and he is a Defender of Freedom.
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:32 pm9/11 + Iraq = Bush’s Islamic Republic
WTF ?
Iraq: Bush’s Islamic Republic
By Peter W. Galbraith
[snip]
Real power in Shiite Iraq rests, however, with two religious parties: Abdel Aziz al-Hakim’s Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Dawa (”Call,” in English) of Iraq’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari. Of the two, SCIRI is the more pro-Iranian. Both parties have military wings, and SCIRI’s Badr Corps has grown significantly from the five thousand fighters that harassed Saddam’s regime from Iran in the decades before the war; it now works closely with Iraq’s Shiite interior minister, until recently the corps’ commander, to provide security and fight Sunni Arab insurgents.
SCIRI and Dawa want Iraq to be an Islamic state. They propose to make Islam the principal source of law, which most immediately would affect the status of women. For Muslim women, religious law—rather than Iraq’s relatively progressive civil code—would govern personal status, including matters relating to marriage, divorce, property, and child custody. A Dawa draft for the Iraqi constitution would limit religious freedom for non-Muslims, and apparently deny such freedom altogether to peoples not “of the book,” such as the Yezidis (a significant minority in Kurdistan), Zoroastrians, and Bahais.
This program is not just theoretical. Since Saddam’s fall, Shiite religious parties have had de facto control over Iraq’s southern cities. There Iranian-style religious police enforce a conservative Islamic code, including dress codes and bans on alcohol and other non-Islamic behavior. In most cases, the religious authorities govern—and legislate—without authority from Baghdad, and certainly without any reference to the freedoms incorporated in Iraq’s American-written interim constitution—the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL).
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:49 pm- Last month, 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed, “the highest monthly toll since the March 2003 U.S. invasion and another sign of the severity of Iraq’s sectarian bloodbath.â€
Some math for Exley and the rest of the trolls:
November 2006 minus March 2003 = 44 months
2500 average REPORTED Iraqi deaths per month = 110,000 MINIMUM dead Iraqis.
How do you get 30,000?
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:08 pmwhy doesn’t bush take a stroll in downtown baghdad, let the iraq’s shower their praise on the liberator.
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:37 pmbush is a lying awol coward and deserves his reserved place in hell, as satans right hand man.
“2500 average REPORTED Iraqi deaths per month = 110,000 MINIMUM dead Iraqis. How do you get 30,000?” Comment by
*****Your methodology is flawed - but you’re so intelligent, I’m sure you know that….
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:15 pmI wouldn’t discount the possibility that Bush will zip into a secure military base in Iraq for a photo op. on Thanksgiving
November 22nd, 2006 at 5:44 pm..he will be close in Jordan. Of course even he is not so dumb as to announce this beforehand.
My best hope is that the Iraqi government will ask us to leave. Democracy rules and everyone wins.
The next three months will be critical////
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:22 pmYour methodology is flawed - but you’re so intelligent, I’m sure you know that….
Comment by mighty aphrodite — November 22, 2006 @ 4:15 pm
Obviously it isn’t, or you would have been specific in how it was flawed. But since you offered no evidence of my ‘flaw’, you’ve simply confirmed that 1) there is no flaw, and 2) you cannot ignore me no matter how many thousands of times you threaten to do so.
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:07 pmObviously it isn’t, or you would have been specific in how it was flawed.
Comment by unbelievable — November 22, 2006 @ 8:07 pm
Yeah, Unbelievable, your methodology is flawed. See, 2500×44 is NOT 110,000 in MightyAphroditeLand.
Kevin/Mighty Aphrodite just showed you (s)he doesn’t know how to multiply -which is a good thing, considering we can ill-afford to have too many creatures like her in our planet. Our extinction would be certain ;-)
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:40 pmI think I represent everyone here when I say “no, duh!”
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:40 pmBush’s oil war has de-stabilized a country and created a power vacuum that will not be removed in our lifetime.
as for the (not so) ‘Mighty Aphrodite’ …
Talk about a great choice of screen names! I can’t imagine a more fitting moniker based on your espoused views and most disagreeable disposition.
A Wikipedia excerpt will help to illuminate:
‘Aphrodite… is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. …. Aphrodite seems to prefer Ares, the volatile god of war. … she is the original cause of the Trojan War itself,… start(ing) the whole affair by offering Helen of Troy to Paris…’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite
So, a word to the wise. Ignore the musings of (ALL) the ill tempered and irrational, including the (not so) ‘Mighty Aphrodite’, they do nothing but distract from the issue(s) at hand, serving by extension only to impede grounded, reasoned, discourse.
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:24 pmWhat about Malachi?
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:37 pmGreg, you retarded little shithead. We want our soldiers home. Thus, they wouldn’t die in your pathetic war (which you righties can’t seem to win).
November 23rd, 2006 at 10:50 pm