Pace: Success In Iraq Based On Whether Iraqis ‘Feel Better Today Than They Did Yesterday’
Pace: Success In Iraq Based On Whether Iraqis ‘Feel Better Today Than They Did Yesterday’
During a press conference last week, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace said that “the recent rise in U.S. troop deaths in Iraq is the ‘wrong metric‘ to use in assessing the effectiveness” of the U.S. military in Iraq. “So it’s not about levels of violence,” he explained. “It’s about progress … in the minds of the Iraqi people.”
Today, Pace made similar remarks. He called the measuring the level of violence in Iraq a “self-defeating approach to tracking results” and added, “What’s most important is do the Iraqi people feel better about today than they did about yesterday, and do they think tomorrow’s going to be better than today?” When asked if he actually knew how the Iraqi people currently feel about the U.S. occupation of Iraq he conceded, “I do not have that in my head.” Watch it:
If Pace did consult the Iraqis about whether they “feel better about today than they did about yesterday,” the answer would be a resounding “no.” As a recent ABC News/BBC News poll found, “The optimism that helped sustain Iraqis during the first few years of the war has dissolved into widespread fear, anger and distress amid unrelenting violence“:
- 39 percent of Iraqis said they feel their lives are “going well,” compared to 71 percent in November 2005.”
- 40 percent of Iraqis said the situation in Iraq will be “somewhat or much better” a year from now, compared to 69 percent in November 2005.
- 26 percent of Iraqis said they feel “very safe” in their neighborhoods, compared to 63 percent in November 2005.
- 82 percent of Iraqis said they “lack confidence” in coalition forces.
- 69 percent of Iraqis said coalition forces make “the security situation worse.”
Whether one measures results in Iraq based on “how the Iraqi people believe they are today,” or on the increasing levels of violence, it is clear the United States is not succeeding in the war.
Transcript:
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, could you give us, now, the latest figures on what’s happening with Iraqi civilian casualties?
And, General Pace, last week, you said that violence was not the right metric to chase to measure success or failure; that it was the attitude of the Iraqi people, whether they believe in their country, believe in their future.
But why isn’t violence what determines the attitude of the Iraqi people? You can’t be very positive about the future if you get blown up when you go outside your house.
PACE: Fair question. And I said it more than last week, I said it in my congressional testimony.
It is certainly a measure. But if you tell the enemy that what’s important to you is the number of bombs that go off, guess what the enemy is going to go do? He’s going to set off more bombs.
So it’s a self-defeating approach to tracking results of what you’re doing.
And I’ll say it again what I said last week: What’s most important is do the Iraqi people feel better about today than they did about yesterday, and do they think tomorrow’s going to be better than today?
PACE: If the answer to those two questions is yes, then we’re on the right path. If the answer to those two questions is no, then we’re not doing it right and we need to adjust our processes.
There are many, many metrics out there. We submit a 90-page report to the Congress every 90 days. So there’s plenty of metrics out there.
I was just trying to make it very specific with regard to if you could only pick one, that I would pick the one that talks about how the Iraqi people believe they are today and how they believe they’re going to be tomorrow.
QUESTION: And do you have new figures, or the latest figures, on what’s happening with the Iraqi civilians?
PACE: I do not have that in my head.
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100 Responses to “Pace: Success In Iraq Based On Whether Iraqis ‘Feel Better Today Than They Did Yesterday’”
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Mr. President. What’s your take on this?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:37 pmScrew the Iraqis!!! This has never been about them anyway. Let ‘em rot!!!
Oil industries and defense contractors are what this is all about.
Thanks for asking Gaydar3000
June 29th, 2007 at 3:39 pm165,000 U.S. Troops were heard to say, “Can we GO HOME now?”
June 29th, 2007 at 3:40 pmHe means after we’re done nation building via occupation, of course.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:41 pmAn Iraqi’s answer
Yes. The bomb on my head hurt worse yesterday than it does today..
watching my 14 year old son hauled off with a plastic sack over his head, hurts worse today then it did yesterday…..
Yes, the beating I have been taking in Abu Ghraib hurts less today then they did yesterday
June 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pmSo basically, he’s telling us how we are to judge the success in Iraq, then he tells us that he has no data on it, yet we’re supposed to believe we’re doing a good job?
What an a** hole. Can we get a new talking head please??? This one is broken.
What matters is if the Iraqi people ARE better off now than before, not if they feel good about it.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pmPace made similar remarks. He called the measuring the level of violence in Iraq a “self-defeating approach to tracking results†and added, “What’s most important is do the Iraqi people feel better about today than they did about yesterday,
I dunno. Has it been proven you can feel when you’re dead?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pmDamn partisan Iraqis! They’re just trying to help the democrats get elected. How dare they play partisan politics with the future of their own country! I can’t wait to see how supids (aka conservatives) try to spin this one. Why do Iraqi’s hate America?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pmClinton’s Fault?!?!?!?!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pmI wonder what he does have in his head.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pmThe Iraqis feel worse every day, so time to pull the troops out of Iraq.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:43 pmGee, almost 70 percent of the Iraqi people say our presence makes security worse, not better.
But what would they know. They’re just the ones LIVING it.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:43 pmOr should I say, DYING it?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:43 pmHe meant the heterosexual, non al kayduh Iraqis. Of course there aren’t any of those. But we’re working on it! More time! Gonna be a big ol party like South Korea! TONG TING TONG TING TONG
June 29th, 2007 at 3:45 pmNice logic though…
so as long as the Iraqi’s feel like crap, we have to stay?
We must make them feel better before we leave?!?!?!?
HUH?!?!?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:46 pmPace, you vapid twit-and-a-half.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:46 pmWelllll, we have to come up with some definition of victory. This is as good as any. At least we can spin this one.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:46 pmBeings that death is philosophically considered to be the ultimate “peace”, what the general is saying is that he feels great about bring peace to millions of Iraqis.
May the general rot in hell for eternity. And may the Complicit Enablers, the USA citizenry, avoid the same fate by finally doing something.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:46 pm“What’s most important is do the Iraqi people feel better about today than they did about yesterday, and do they think tomorrow’s going to be better than today?†- - And the vast majority of Americans don’t feel good about the track the US is on and has grave doubts about the future. Gosh, the Iraqis are as stable as the US then, ehh Peter Putz?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:48 pmWhat the surveys aren’t telling you is that there are at least 900,000 Iraqi’s who are resting in PEACE!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:50 pmJust called my Senator, (Harry Reid), to let him know that the time is now to bring the Iraq war to an end. I also offered my support for his and Speaker Pelosi’s plan to launch an offensive to bring this madness to a conclusion. If you all can spare a minute or two, google your rep’s and senator’s phone number and leave them a message.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:52 pmCome on, he thought he could buy a few more months if he switched the metric. He really wishes that you’d wait until sometime in 2008 to pwn him on the new metric. He needs some time to come up with the next spin.
It’s like the public is trying to pin this on the Bush administration, when the Bush administration clearly knows our defeat will be the full fault of whichever Democrat wins in 2008. You’ve just got to ignore the issue until then.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:52 pmAs of this moment this collective, TrollsForZooey, will be disbanded as requested by Zooey’s friend Shane. By a unanimous decision, the members of the collective will refrain from further contact with Z.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:53 pmThey need to know that we support ending this war immediately!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:53 pmI would pick the one that talks about how the Iraqi people believe they are today and how they believe they’re going to be tomorrow.
And if it’s going to rain tomorrow, does that mean our troops have to stay an extra day or two?
What kind of measurement is that? The president has often said that the troops won’t come home until the job is done (without saying which job). And that they might be there for decades (without saying how many). And his outgoing JCS Chairman says we should be measuring how the Iraqis feel today versus yesterday (without saying how they feel now).
I hope the new guy has more of a clue than this one.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:54 pmthere are plenty of chemical additives they could add to the iraqis’ water to make them feel better today than they did yesterday. then again, having access to clean drinking water would also make them feel better too.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:58 pmCan we apply this success criteria to the bush presidency?
“*I* don’t feel better today than I did yesterday (pre-bush); therefore the bush administration is a failure.”
I like this idea. Let’s impeach.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:01 pmI know the families of the troops who gave their lives will be glad to hear that. The soldiers lives lost based on what the White House says Iraq people think. Let’s see the White House tells the world what Americans think and their wrong/lying. Now Iraq people have asked the Americans to leave yet we’re told different. How long will these so called leader lie to the Americans people’s face. I guess this is what’s called SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. This is a sad day for the soldiers who followed the orders of these lying Generals and the Liar-in-Chief. As the facts come out we see how many more once respected leaders have lied to our faces. Can Americans handle the fact that
June 29th, 2007 at 4:06 pmthat they believed liars and some families of dead soldiers still support liars even knowing the truth now.
If this is really all about the Iraqis, why not hold a national referendum: should we stay or should we go?
If the people we’re fighting over there really are “a minority” or “foreign terrorists”, they would have little ability to skew such a vote. A referendum like this will never happen, of course, because this administration already knows what the answer would be…and as they say, if you don’t like the answer, don’t ask the question.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:07 pmWhich Iraqis would Pace be talking about?? The Sunni? The Shia?? This conversation sounds like pure fiction to begin with so nothing credibly can or will be ascertained. It’s another Bushitco “set-up”. Congress needs to shut these war mongers down right now.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:08 pmthat’s the kind of talk you would expect from ted haggard after a nice blow
June 29th, 2007 at 4:09 pmSure, and the Iraqis absolutely LOVE the fact that we’re spending our money on THEIR WAR….losing the lives of OUR military on THEIR WAR.
WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THAT SET UP??
June 29th, 2007 at 4:09 pmI’m with you, mongo.
Impeach Already.
By a unanimous decision, the members of the collective will refrain from further contact with Z.
Comment by TrollsForZooey
Trolls for Z-
Yah. Nice idea. Now extend the same courtesy to the rest of the TP posters, and things will be fine.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:09 pmObviously we need to up our forces to better secure Iraq for its populationl. We owe them then chance at Freedom, Democracy, and Free Markets.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:09 pmOil industries and defense contractors are what this is all about.
Thanks for asking Gaydar3000 Comment by Mr. President
Mr President is this Operation Iraqi Freedom just another Orwellian term for war? It seems to me Mr President that Venezuela is a much smaller country that has plenty of oil. Perhaps even Aruba. Wouldn’t it have been better to free the Venezuelans?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:10 pmveritas > Pace probably means the Kurds in the north, but car bombs have begun blowing them up too now.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:10 pm#27 Don’t you just love the patent disenfranchisment of the american people by the likes of this remark by Gen. Pace? Sure, we’ll ask the Iraqi’s how they feel about our spending of time and lives on “THEIR WAR”…. yet the very people who are funding this war and losing their lives are not listened to? Bull$hit!! It’s time that the american people throw this nonsense right back into their faces - if they can listen to the Iraqi people, then they sure as hell can begin to listen to the american people upon whose backs this war is being funded. Sick - all of them!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:11 pmI wonder if he plans to ask the dozens of Iraqis killed in the sectarian civil war over the past week how they feel?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:13 pmHi Jay!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:13 pmI just love the fact that what we think is flagrantly overlooked yet we need to solicit the opinions of the Iraqis as to whether the americans should continue to die in their Civil War…paid for fully by the american taxpayers who have absolutely NO voice in any of this dialogue. Amazing how idiotic this concept is! If Congress buys into this crap, then they all need to be run out of office - dems and rethugs alike!
#Obviously we need to up our forces to better secure Iraq for its populationl. We owe them then chance at Freedom, Democracy, and Free Markets. Comment by Roger_Roger
This is what we refer to as the Pottery Barn rule. You break it you buy it. Unfortunately the employees seem to have tired of fumble fingered customers.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:13 pmThere’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that they will include dead people in their polling results! You can’t put any behavioral nadir beyond this group of thugs.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:14 pm#40 Isn’t it amazing how we thump our democratic chests even in light of the fact that this democracy has not existed for 6 years!! Uttlerly and pathologically amazing.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:15 pmHmm, do the Royal Dick of Cheney and his Queen, the Royal George of Bush feel better about spreading torture, treason and tyrany around the planet for the last six and a half years?
Before the Cheney-Bush war criminals began their illegal invasion and occupation of the sovereign Republic of Iraq, it was a quiet brutal dictatorship under Saddam. Now, a half-million dead Iraqis later, it has been transformed into Hell on Earth. Less electricity, less running water, less food, far fewer jobs, poorer medical care, more torture, more imprisonment and more maimings and death, thanks to Cheney-Bush gang.
Everything Bush touches turns to shit.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:16 pmZep Tepi: You’ve got a nice bookshelf at home, dude. :-)
June 29th, 2007 at 4:16 pmUnfortunately, Pace was sorted and personally culled by Bush when no one else would participate in his brand of thuggery. Unfortunately, the american people know that Pace has no credibility at this point.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:16 pm#43 All I know is that the Hague is going to tear both of them a new one even if the whimped-out Congress fails to do their job in bringing them to justice.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:17 pmPipe in some of that poppy/heroin stuff from Afghanistan, they’ll feel great!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:18 pmveritas > we are not OIL Cartel CEOs, so Bush and the Congress ignore us. They want Iraq’s OIL and nobody is going to stand in their way.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:18 pmMy question here is what makes this news, this site and these comments in any way progressive?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:19 pmRoger really needs to go see the situation on the ground in Iraq, with 100 soldiers, 2 blackhawks, and 2 apaches.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:21 pmA Confession
June 29th, 2007 at 4:21 pmOnce in a while,
I’m standing here, doing something.
And I think,
“What in the world am I doing here?”
It’s a big surprise.
Hague?
You people really believe that Americans could be tried in Hague?
Nonsense. The well cultured sense of American exceptionalism amongst our people will take care of that. Even if the President or Vice President got impeached and indicted, they’d never be sent over to Hague because - well, they’re Americans. Americans can only be judged in a system that operates under our Constitution.
That’s why there’s a law letting us to use deadly force to free American citizens from Hague.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:21 pmDAMN!!!! the mission changed again?? WHere the hell was I when this happened?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:22 pmFreedumrings,
So you are an authority on what is progressive and what isn’t? How would you know?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:22 pmMy question here is what makes this news, this site and these comments in any way progressive?
Then why the fu(k do you hang around here? There’s plenty of good sites for you to scream on besides this one. Feel free to browse to the nearest site of your choice.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:25 pmZep Tepi: You’ve got a nice bookshelf at home, dude. :-)
Comment by Bdge #552A221
The Firewall Fairy knows who you are. Heh. Besides those are just for show, that is to make idiots think just because I have a few books I actually read or believe them.
Hey, did you like looking at my ass while you were peeping Tom. I hear you did.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:25 pmEvery Marine is a Rifleman. Got a problem with that?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:25 pmZep Tepi: You’ve got a nice bookshelf at home, dude. :-)
Comment by Bdge #552A221
I’m going to go take a crap in a few minutes, I’m sure some nosy Cretin like yourself will want to watch. I’ll leave the door unlocked and the bathroom door open for you.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:27 pmIt isn’t called Operation Iraqi Freedom, It’s called Operation Iraqi Liberation. (OIL for short) they named it this on purpose. One of those Republican witty things.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:28 pmI guess it’s time to break out the top secret mind reading machine so we can get a handle on this Iraqi problem.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:28 pmProblem is… the mind reading machine is made by Diebold.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:29 pm#58: Check the upper left roof corner while you’re at it. There’s a crack/color flaw near it…
June 29th, 2007 at 4:29 pm“Got to admit it’s getting better, getting better all the time (can’t get much worse)”.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:31 pm# Zep Tepi: You’ve got a nice bookshelf at home, dude. :-)
Comment by Bdge #552A221
You have a nice, well nothing.. I wouldn’t however drink from any open containers in your fridge. You know how them trolls like to pee in stuff. =)
And you really should stop molesting your sister and making her cry. Idiot.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:31 pmAnd you really should stop molesting your sister and making her cry. Idiot.
Comment by Zep Tepi — June 29, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
But I like it when he teases me. The crying is just an act.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:34 pm#57,
Depends how you use the weapon, soldier.
If you can read, look up the following definitions:
- Honor
June 29th, 2007 at 4:34 pm- Valor
- Compassion
Zep Tepi: You’ve got a nice bookshelf at home, dude. :-)
Comment by Bdge #552A221
But I like it when he teases me. The crying is just an act. Comment by Troll’s Sister
HAhaha. That must be why you called the police, right? Your pathetic and will never amount to anything but a worker at the car wash.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:36 pm#52,
Look up what the Constitution says about honoring foreign treaties and agreements.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:36 pmZep: so, did you dig into the crack/color flaw and find one of our devices?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:37 pmOh and Mr Badgeman, could you please stop leaving your used condoms behind the house?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:38 pmI would laugh if Pace wasn’t so obviously serious. He now has changed the system of measurement to the perception of the Iraqis instead of such pesky benchmarks as violence, fatalities, education, infrastructure, health care, economy, public utilities, commerce, etc. etc.
Now that we are going by this new “benchmark”, all we have to do is wait until the Iraqis have been beaten up enough they’re used to it.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:42 pmMy question here is what makes this news, this site and these comments in any way progressive?
1)So you are an authority on what is progressive and what isn’t? How would you know?
Comment by ForTruth — June 29, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
2)Then why the fu(k do you hang around here? There’s plenty of good sites for you to scream on besides this one. Feel free to browse to the nearest site of your choice.
Comment by RUCerious — June 29, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
Those are some progressive replies so I guess I could postulate that the progressive movement is simply a bunch of yelling and screaming idiots living back at home in mom’s basement based on those 2 replies? Completely useless diatribe and defamatory rhetoric that goes on 24/7
June 29th, 2007 at 4:43 pmZep: so, did you dig into the crack/color flaw and find one of our devices?
Comment by No-one in particular.
Didn’t have to. See I knew about these things along time ago when the FBI investigated me because of some nitwit who sabotaged some aircraft. Ever since them I just sling a bunch of crap and watch you ding-dongs repeat it back to me. Your not very good at this headgame are you? I laugh and laugh and laugh at you guys.
When are you gonna give up messing with an innocent person with your silly games?
June 29th, 2007 at 4:43 pmZep > they are trying to say they have bug cameras in your house.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:44 pmUh, Freedomfries,
You are comparing 1 and 2 and they are apples and oranges.
I asked you a legit question.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:44 pm“We shouldn’t measure troop deaths or violence. We should measure something that can’t be measured”.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:45 pmWe owe them then chance at Freedom, Democracy, and Free Markets.
Comment by Roger_Roger
and Snapples. WE cant deny them Snapples.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:46 pmIf the spies put bug cameras in bathrooms, then that is just plain gross.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:46 pm#Zep > they are trying to say they have bug cameras in your house.
Comment by Jay Randal
Yeh, I know. They expect me to get all freaked out and stuff. They never thought of that. Heh. They haven’t learned a damn thing except what I want them too.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:48 pmScrew the Iraqis!!! This has never been about them anyway. Let ‘em rot!!!
Oil industries and defense contractors are what this is all about.
Thanks for asking Gaydar3000
Comment by Mr. President — June 29, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
This is a fake…
Is that you Cheney?
You’ll have to wait until ‘08
My REAL response is:
Screw the Iraqis!!! This has never been about them anyway. Let ‘em rot!!!
Oil industries and defense contractors are what this is all about.
CHENEY 2008!!!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:50 pmZep > they used to tap my phone, but got bored stiff since I hardly talk on the phone much.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:50 pm#If the spies put bug cameras in bathrooms, then that is just plain gross.
Comment by Jay Randal
They seem to enjoy it =) for some odd reason. They will eventually get bored and take out these devices, especially since they got nothing to go on. Except maybe a speeding ticket.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:50 pmThis post came first and asked…
My question here is what makes this news, this site and these comments in any way progressive?
Then you try to address a simple question with another question
Then you post this…
You are comparing 1 and 2 and they are apples and oranges.
I asked you a legit question.
Comment by ForTruth — June 29, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Yet you never responded to the question so I owe you nothing!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:54 pmZep > they used to tap my phone, but got bored stiff since I hardly talk on the phone much. Comment by Jay Randal
Me either. I don’t watch TV or listen to the Radio either. You would think they could go find some terrorists or something better to do. Hell I don’t have a car nor belong to any groups. I expect they will come and apologize to me one day for what they have done. If they thiink they are doing GODs work, then it’s not me who is the sinner, but them. But I suppose they knew that.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:54 pmHow did an @ssclown like this ever get to be the highest ranking Marine in history?? After seeing this Tony Snow clone, I have lost respect for the Corps.
I hope some REAL Marines will speak up on this. Your Corps is rotting!!!
June 29th, 2007 at 4:55 pmWe owe them then chance at Freedom, Democracy, and Free Markets.
Comment by Roger_Roger
No one can GIVE them that chance. They’ve had that choice all along. We tried giving it to them. Look how well that turned out.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:06 pmI honestly don’t know what “Progressive” means. Its been twisted, contorted and turned to who knows what. I don’t like labels and try to avoid using them. Of course labels have great importance, but in politics, I try not to label myself. I don’t like politicians or any of the political parties.
I really am registered as “other”, and I don’t even know what that is.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:08 pmNo wonder we’re losing.
General Pace has his head up his ass.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:17 pmGee…why don’t we ask the millions of Iraqi refugees fleeing for their lives if they feel better today!
June 29th, 2007 at 5:55 pmHe called the measuring the level of violence in Iraq a “self-defeating approach to tracking results”
Translation: The violence is continuing to INCREASE, and our $400 Billion a year Military can’t DO anything to stop it.
June 29th, 2007 at 6:17 pmMorons … the whole bunch are Morons!
We are the laughiing stock of the world because of people like Pace.
bush and cheney and rove … they brought mediocracy into this country.
I can’t wait until the revolution starts!
June 29th, 2007 at 7:53 pmThis may have already been said but, here goes:
Pace is a f*cking idiot!!
June 29th, 2007 at 7:55 pmTranslation: “Success is based on what I say it is, not by any other tangible measurement!”
Lugar, Hagel, Voinovich…..and counting. At least some pay attention to the situation on the ground, but not this guy.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:45 pmBUt in the happier news in the war on terror: Afghanistan Opium sales are up!!!!
At least there is something that may buoy the economy there and provide some modicum of stability.
How’s Iraqi oil doing lately?
June 29th, 2007 at 8:48 pmSince we are told that the United States is in Iraq to promote democracy for their people, why don’t we support the scheduling of another nationwide vote? The United States would need to pledge to the world community to abide by the outcome. The U. S. government could provide the funding for this vote (on paper ballots that could be re-counted, if necessary). A truly independent international organization could carry out the election, along with tabulating and reporting the results. There would be one question on the ballot — Should the United States remain in Iraq or leave? If our government is truly supporting self-determination for the Iraqi people they should have no misgivings about abiding by their wishes. Why isn’t someone in Washington, D.C. placing pressure on elected officials to promote such an initiative?
June 30th, 2007 at 1:26 amI cannot come up with any unit of measure that would show the US is succeeding in Iraq -without ignoring reality, that is.
Unless I define success as the destruction of that country’s infrastructure and murder of its people. If that’s the case, Iraq is an undeniable success.
June 30th, 2007 at 2:16 am26% of Iraqis from the 2005 poll are no longer available for comment, but we marked them as having a better life due to all the virgins etc.
June 30th, 2007 at 4:39 pmThe beauty of pace’s argument is that he can change the metric every week for the next ten years, keeping us in the perpetual meat grinder long enough for our corporate whores to fully capitalize on their misfortune.
June 30th, 2007 at 4:51 pmThe enemy has already responded to pace’s new metric, all Iraqi nationals are under direct order to frown.
Seriously, I think I am starting to get this. The enemy says they are fighting to get us out of Iraq, but that is really a cover, they (not bush/cheney) want us to stay in Iraq to help train and arm them like we did for for alqueada. Cheney/bush want us out of Iraq immediatley, but they don’t want the enemy to know it because that would give them a clear advantage. So we will continue to do exactly the opposite of what we want to eventually meet our objective. Once the freedomfighters are fully trained, then and only then can we leave. They will be so happy for our support, they would never think of attacking us in the future when they realize we took their…….
June 30th, 2007 at 5:22 pmSo OK,
His question to point of situation in Iraq’s progress is that, ” if you ask the Iraqi people if they think today they are safe and the future looks better “.
Then why is it so hard to hear the American people when asked,
” how is the occupation going “, it is not even considered.??
American people occupying Iraq are trumped by those they occupy?
Or maybe, just maybe certain American leaders in positions of power are trying very hard to be a leader without listening to those they lead.
July 1st, 2007 at 2:01 amMany CEO’s are like this. You know the type. The CEO that is always sending down those blank memos to be adhered to.