SOTU: Iraqi Security Forces May Not Be Ready For Another Decade
SOTU: Iraqi Security Forces May Not Be Ready For Another Decade
Bush said: “American troops are shifting from leading operations, to partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission.”
FACT — IRAQIS ANTICIPATE TAKING CONTROL OF SECURITY BY 2018:
Iraqi defense minister Abdul Qadir “that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.” [New York Times, 1/15/08]
FACT — CORRUPTION AND SECTARIANISM PLAGUE SECURITY FORCES: “Rampant corruption and lingering sectarianism” within Iraqi security forces are “major hurdles that Iraqi defense and police leaders must overcome in order to take responsibility for Iraq’s security,” according to Gen. James Dubik, head of the Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq. “[S]hortages of key personnel, equipment, weaponry and logistical capabilities mean that Iraq’s security forces will probably require U.S. military support for as long as a decade.” [Washington Post, 1/18/08]
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The 3 words I want the next Prez to say as his/her first words after being sowrn in…
January 28th, 2008 at 9:48 pmARREST THESE MEN.
Iraq will never be ready to take on this problem while we are willing to stick around and do the dirty work for them.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:54 pm325,000 trained troops and they still aren’t ready, yet the Iraqi tribes have kept Al Qaeda at bay?
Good Lord, what a disaster.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:55 pmWhitehouse IS TAKING CALLS NOW.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:11 pm1-202-456-1111
not ready? that’s unpossible! petraeus was in charge of training, and he said everything was going great back before the 2004 election.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm‘Bush said: “American troops are shifting from leading operations, to partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission.‒
You said that 4 years ago. Excuse me if I call you a lying POS.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:04 pmText of Pvt. 1st Class Jason Scheuerman’s Suicide Note
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17...
When Chris Scheuerman found out his son had died in Iraq, he says, he knew something was amiss.
snip
“Eventually, that evening, they said it was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At that point I asked them, ‘How could that be?’” Scheuerman says.
Because the Army was reluctant to provide details, it would take Scheuerman the good part of two years to answer that question. Only after filing numerous Freedom of Information Act requests and appealing to a local member of Congress for help, was he able to fit the puzzle pieces together, he says.
The resulting image would haunt him and leave him revving to change the military’s mental health system. snip
On the day of Jason’s death, he was issued an Article 15, a form of nonjudicial punishment.
“They gave him that for being out of uniform. During those proceedings, his first sergeant told him that if he was faking his illness he would go to jail and become someone’s ‘butt buddy,’” Scheuerman says.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×2632391
Text of Jason Scheuerman’s Suicide Note
Includes misspellings and blacked out names.
This I leave as my last message to those who I leave behind. I know you think Im a coward for this but in the face of existing as I am now I have no other choice. As the 1st Sgt said all I have to look forward to is a butt-buddy in jail, not much of a future.
I dont want to know what you people think I have going for me to think I should want to live, trust me, I have nothing. I have done nothing but bring dishonor to this unit, myself, but most importantly my family. I wanted one last chance to say goodbye to them but that was taken away like everything else.
Id like also to say goodbye to (blacked out) and (blacked out) the two people that have held me together until now. Split my things up amoung the platoon, after all that why people tolerated me, it’s funny how getting your things taken away brings out the truth in people.
Maybe finaly I can get rid of these demons, maybe finaly I can get some peace.
Scheuerman
I am so sorry..
This just brought me to tears..
I am a member of the reserves and to think that something like this could happen is beyond tragic.
That something like this could happen is an abomination..
My heartfelt prayers are with the soul of this fine young man..as well as his family..
—- It should never have happened…
That 1SG should be brought up on charges for his negligence.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:48 amEvery man, women, and child killed in Iraq from here till sometime in the very distant future will be AL QAEDA, AL QAEDA! Right! The insurgency is old news, everyone is a “suspected militant” now.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:13 amExactly how many Friedman units will another decade make?
A∞Ω
January 29th, 2008 at 3:19 amThe fallout from this insane and avoidable war will be felt for years or more likely decades to come. Suicides, homocides, cancer from depleted uranium…
January 29th, 2008 at 3:21 amWe’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg. Thanks Bush, you cock fu@*ker!!!!!!
…will be AL QAEDA, AL QAEDA! Right!
Comment by buzzbomb
Yep; and they’ve been saying that for a while now.
Think about it; how else can they justify such a clusterfuçk?
A∞Ω
January 29th, 2008 at 3:24 amWe will be there, in some capacity, until the oil is effectively gone. This has been the neocon plan all along and is quite well documented.
January 29th, 2008 at 8:38 amEventually. Def: period of time lasting up to a decade or so. See McCain’s “hundred year occupation” for critique of this definition.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm