The Surge Was A Failure And Here Is The Proof

John McCain and his Republican cheerleaders say the surge has worked in Baghdad. While our troops have done their best, the truth about the "peace" in Baghdad is much different from what George Bush tries to claim. This reporter went into Baghdad to see what life is really like in the city, and what he found is horrifying.

Baghdad Dreamin'

Apparently all the fowl have been killed in Iraq, because no can count their chickens before they hatch. The latest ridiculous story out of the war-torn country tells of a massive upscale development in the Green Zone . The multi-billion dollar plan is like a mirage in the desert sand. Hotels, shopping and condos are a part of a complex that the Pentagon and others see as the future of Iraq.

From the AP:

BAGHDAD (AP) — Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.

That's all part of a five-year development "dream list" — or what some dub an improbable fantasy — to transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone from a walled fortress into a centerpiece for Baghdad's future.

But the $5 billion plan has the backing of the Pentagon and apparently the interest of some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development, the lead military liaison for the project told The Associated Press.

For Washington, the driving motivation is to create a "zone of influence" around the new $700 million U.S. Embassy to serve as a kind of high-end buffer for the compound, whose total price tag will reach about $1 billion after all the workers and offices are relocated over the next year.

So billions in investment so that our ridiculously oversized embassy has friendly neighbors? Do people in the Pentagon really believe this will work? Before you can build anything you need services (sewer, water, power, etc) that do not exist because the area is in complete chaos. This is wild fantasy of a few rich people that clearly are not rooted in reality. If they want to know what that is, all they need to do is look at what is going on there today.

24 Hour Curfew = Progress In Baghdad

As Republicans in Congress and the White House have been telling us for sometime now, progress is being made in Baghdad. At first it meant we were to be greeted as liberators. Then it was about how many things we rebuilt (that we blew up when we went in initially). Then it was the violence about to go down. Then it was purple fingers and voting. Sometime later the surge came and now the morons who led us into the war say we need to stay there and leave our troops to die save Iraq from itself. Well things are looking pretty bad, so I thought I'd help them out and use the new curfew as a possible advantage.

From The UK Independent:

The fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the toppling of the statute of Saddam Hussein – a symbol of US victory and might – was marked yesterday by death and destruction across the country and an admission from the White House that projected troop withdrawals would have to be delayed.

The Iraqi capital remains under curfew after another round of bloodshed in which mortar rounds landed in Sadr City, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 24 others. Further gunfights in the sprawling Shia slum led to six more dying and 15 others being wounded.

The area is a centre of support for the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and came after days of clashes between his militia, the Mehdi Army, and Iraqi government forces in which 55 people have been killed and more than 200 injured. The Shia fighters vowed last nightthat retribution would be taken for the "unprovoked attack" in Sadr City which they claimed was the responsibility of the US forces.

See, its progress. Only dozens killed and hundreds injured. In the fantasy land Bush lives in, that's good news. They'll take whatever they can get and hey, whatever it takes to keep the war machine going, right Mr. President?

Creating Lakes In Baghdad, Now Thats Real Progress

The city of Baghdad is in the desert. Of course it is in between two rivers that create an incredible fertile plain but still, its a hot place and people need to be able to cool off and relax by large bodies of water. Its a required thing to do if you're from Texas, so why not send some American ideals over to Iraq, eh? So what kind of lake should we help build? For boating, fishing, kayaking, or ........

From National Nine News:

Baghdad is drowning in sewage, thirsty for water and largely powerless, an Iraqi official said in a grim assessment of services in the capital five years after the US-led invasion.

One of three sewage treatment plants is out of commission, one is working at stuttering capacity while a pipe blockage in the third means sewage is forming a foul lake so large it can be seen "as a big black spot on Google Earth," said Tahseen Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.

Sheikhly told a news conference in the capital that water pipes, where they exist, are so old that it is not possible to pump water at a sufficient rate to meet demands -- leaving many neighbourhoods parched.

Now thats progress, or at least to George Bush it is. He loves lakes, being the Texan that he is. Maybe he should go over and take a nice long swim.

When Hell Freezes Over

The cliche above is often meant for one person to use a certain type of sarcasm against another, implying that something will never happen. Well to be fair, nothing froze in Baghdad, but it did snow in the Iraqi capital today. No one can really recall anything like this happening for decades. Is it just a freak and bizarre occurrence, or a sign from up above?

From Yahoo News:

Although the white flakes quickly dissolved into gray puddles, they brought an emotion rarely expressed in this desert capital snarled by army checkpoints, divided by concrete walls and ravaged by sectarian killings — delight.

"For the first time in my life I saw a snow-rain like this falling in Baghdad," said Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, a 63-year-old retiree from the New Baghdad area.

"When I was young, I heard from my father that such rain had fallen in the early '40s on the outskirts of northern Baghdad," Abdul-Hussein said, referring to snow as a type of rain. "But snow falling in Baghdad in such a magnificent scene was beyond my imagination."

It snows up in the north in the Kurdish areas, but never down in the desert. For once, the snow actually brought calm to the city. No violence was reported late into the afternoon. Isn't it amazing that little water crystals falling from the sky can bring peace where the U.S. military and Iraqi government has miserably failed.

I only wish it snowed more often there.

When Is Enough Enough For Blackwater?

While we pay our troops shit for serving over in Iraq, Blackwater mercenaries have been making ridiculous amounts of money with no shortage of controversy. First it was the four contractors killed in Falluja and then we found out they killed civilians without a care in the world. Plenty of outrage was expressed, by the American people and even some in the Congress. At one point even their overlords at the State Department said they'd do something about the problem. Of course that was just a bunch of hot air.

Now we have discovered that Blackwater "accidentally" gassed our own troops. You want outrage? You got it. Accusations? They're coming. You want something to actually be done about it? We'll see.

From The NY Times:

Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.

“This was decidedly uncool and very, very dangerous,” Capt. Kincy Clark of the Army, the senior officer at the scene, wrote later that day. “It’s not a good thing to cause soldiers who are standing guard against car bombs, snipers and suicide bombers to cover their faces, choke, cough and otherwise degrade our awareness.”

Gassing our own troops with a chemical that has been banned by international treaty is a war crime. Forget "uncool," these mercenaries should be tried in the Hague. So should the people that give them political cover from the Bush Administration. Blackwater's PR machine was quick to react of course, saying “It seems a CS gas canister was mistaken for a smoke canister and released near an intersection and checkpoint.”

Excuse me? They mistook them for smoke canisters? Are you f*%ing joking? What about the armored vehicle on the ground? Looks like that press release forgot to address ALL of the facts.

I'm sure there will be a modification to that statement, so that they can escape blame and "earn" some more of those billion dollar contracts. Where the hell is the accountability here? Congressman Waxman, these killers need to be stopped, the privatization of our military is going to destroy the institution. Put Blackwater, CACI, Halliburton and the rest out of business and let the military do its job.

Look At All The Progress In Baghdad, Wow!

Man, I had Petraeus pegged wrong. Not only are things going well, non-Iraqi civilians don't even have to go out anymore. Actually, they are being banned from traveling outside the Green Zone but hey, whats the difference? Apparently that little Blackwater incident that ended up killing several civilians angered the people of Iraq to such a degree that it is too dangerous to be anywhere in the country, except for maybe the Green Zone.

From The Huffington Post:

BAGHDAD — The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting public outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the U.S. Embassy's security provider Blackwater USA.

The move came even as the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country _ depriving American diplomats of security protection essential to operating in Baghdad.

"We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefinitely but we do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.

Details of the weekend shootings haven't been released, but the New York Times reported late Tuesday that a preliminary review by Iraq's Ministry of Interior found that violence erupted as Blackwater security guards fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman's call to stop, killing a couple and their infant.

Imagine that happening here? We'd be attacking every country in sight. Over there, its just another day, another atrocity committed by forces that aren't accountable to anyone. The Iraqis tried to look tough and expel Blackwater, but now they are being pressured to sit down and behave. How pathetic.

Mayor Wolfowitz

Now that Paulie is being kicked out of the World Bank at the end of June, he is going to need to have something to do. Although he doesn't need anymore money than the neo-conservative establishment has thrown his way, that hasn't stopped antiwar Republican Walter Jones from offering him some advice. Since Paul helped craft the policy that led us into Iraq, why shouldn't he go and try to manage it himself?

From The Blotter:

Paul Wolfowitz may have been ousted from his post at the World Bank, but a free-speaking GOP lawmaker has an idea to keep the so-called "architect" of the Iraq War from standing in the unemployment line.

"I would like to suggest...that maybe we give Paul Wolfowitz a new job and send him over [to Iraq] as mayor," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., "since the neocons got us in over there."

As deputy secretary of defense from 2000 to 2005, Wolfowitz helped develop the strategy and public rationale for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He publicly stated that coalition troops would be greeted as liberators, and the nation of Iraq would be largely capable of financing its own rebuilding through oil revenues.

We are known as occupiers, not liberators; and the relatively cost-free war has cost us nearly half a trillion dollars. Perhaps Wolfowitz can go in and tackle all of the pressing business of Baghdad. His dreams of a post war Iraq are as likely as finding an oasis in the Sahara, let alone the deserts of Iraq. So the quest of victory should be his to take on and seek out. Let the troops go home to their families and let the neo-con kook handle it himself. Not a bad idea Congressman Jones.

Goin' Down To Baghdad

Antiwar Protest song by the Spicewood Seven of Austin, Texas; Music Video by famed italian post-realist director Antonio Zapanini.

Red Cross: Life In Baghdad Is Unbearable And Unacceptable

From the BBC:

How One Lives In Baghdad

The video shows what looks like a more upscale neighborhood of the city and how to protect what you've got. However, no matter where you live in Baghdad, no area is left unaffected by the general demise of the city. Check out the 'gated community' down below.

From Hometown Baghdad:

Grandma Blogger Goes To Baghdad

Iraq has a brand spanking new American journalist in its sordid midst and she isn't what you would expect to see hanging around the Green Zone. The 64 year old Jane Stillwater has been blogging for more than three years now and has left her home on the west coast to report the news as an 'average person' describing events to people like herself (i.e. the rest of us).

From IslamOnline:

Tired of getting news from TV reporters who fly first-class and produce more of photo-ops, Stillwater survived on peanut-butter sandwiches for a whole year to afford a trip for Iraq.

The Internet-savvy hippy grandmother came with the simple hope of getting the very facts of war for "real people."

In addition to flying to the war zone at her own expense she had to find a sponsoring media outlet to be eligible for embedment with the US troops.

Although Jane won't be able to explore outside the Green Zone, she has come a long way to write in a way that most journalists in Iraq never will. Her reports can be found on her own blog and also by the paper that gave her press credentials, the Lone Star Iconoclast in Texas. She made it there by saving her money, then once getting credentials took a military flight to Kuwait and finally made it into Baghdad. She isn't going to be there for long, so make sure you check out what she was to say while she is there. Godspeed Ms. Stillwater!

Gated Communities To Be Introduced In Baghdad

Congressman Mike Pence's comment about how al-Shorja market was like something in Indiana was an absolutely ridiculous comment. The military's plan to divide Baghdad into secure zones goes beyond the empty rhetoric of a deluded Republican from Indiana. The excellent reporting of Robert Fisk exposes the plan that has failed in the past for our military among others, and what the new troop placements mean for our foreign policy in the region.

From The UK Independent:

The campaign of "gated communities" - whose genesis was in the Vietnam War - will involve up to 30 of the city's 89 official districts and will be the most ambitious counter-insurgency programme yet mounted by the US in Iraq.

The system has been used - and has spectacularly failed - in the past, and its inauguration in Iraq is as much a sign of American desperation at the country's continued descent into civil conflict as it is of US determination to "win" the war against an Iraqi insurgency that has cost the lives of more than 3,200 American troops. The system of "gating" areas under foreign occupation failed during the French war against FLN insurgents in Algeria and again during the American war in Vietnam. Israel has employed similar practices during its occupation of Palestinian territory - again, with little success.

But the campaign has far wider military ambitions than the pacification of Baghdad. It now appears that the US military intends to place as many as five mechanised brigades - comprising about 40,000 men - south and east of Baghdad, at least three of them positioned between the capital and the Iranian border. This would present Iran with a powerful - and potentially aggressive - American military force close to its border in the event of a US or Israeli military strike against its nuclear facilities later this year.

The "genius" behind this plan is none other than General David Petraeus. Why the general would implement this experiment in Baghdad is beyond me. The 'divide and conquer' tactic has never worked in the past and it will not here in the present. The common sense approach would be to pull out and deal with the situation diplomatically, but common sense has no place in the Bush Administration and those that serve at the President's pleasure.

Baghdad Is Just Like....Indiana???

Lost amidst McCain gigantic folly while opening his mouth (and endangering the citizens of Baghdad) Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) also had a few brilliant remarks while traveling to Iraq. He mentioned that the al-Shorja market was just like something you could find in Indiana. How an Indiana farmers market could be anything like that found in Baghdad is beyond me. Well I'll leave it to a good citizen from Indiana to make a total fool of Mike Pence.

From The LA Times:

MY WIFE came into the living room wearing a Kevlar vest, helmet and night-vision goggles.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Have you completely forgotten, silly head? We're going to the market."

I placed my hand at my head. I'd been so caught up in stitching a minor wound I'd received earlier in the day after going to an outdoor fruit stand that I had completely forgotten.

"I'm a dope, aren't I?" I said, chuckling, slowly shaking my head back and forth. She chuckled too, also shaking her head. We both chuckled. Then I winced from where a stitch popped.

Carol helped the boys get ready, putting on their sneakers and body armor. I phoned the Indiana National Guard so that they could radio the 434th Special Air Wing at Grissom Air Force Base, which in turn scrambled two F-14 Tomcats. Then we hopped in the wagon.

(snip)

The F-14s flew by low. Each of us activated our earpieces and hand-held mini walkie-talkies, agreed on a frequency, and I slowed the car to 15 mph as Carol and the boys opened the doors and rolled out, taking cover under shrubbery near the Bibb lettuce stand (the boys love salad!).

So far, so good.

I hit the gas and spun the car and parked in a ditch that had once been a Tasty Donut before a tactical nuclear weapon had decimated it. Great parking space, though.

I saw my neighbor, Larry, under his car, from the looks of it a spanking-new Bradley fighting vehicle. "Snipers today," Larry said with a smile.

"Nice ride, Larry," I said as I dove under the car, a sniper's bullet exploding inches away from my foot. "Looks solid."

"The hull is constructed of welded aluminum and spaced laminate armor," he said, burying his head in the dirt as another round came in. "The Israelis use them. I had an Explorer, but it was blown to bits last time I went out for garbage bags."

Giuliani declares Iraq is like New York

Okay, take a deep breath New Yorkers. It seems our former Mayor may have decided to run for President of the loony-bin rather than for the United States of America. An Op-Ed published early this morning by Giuliani and another possible Presidential contender Newt Gingrich in the Wall Street Journal is raising a lot of eyebrows.

First off they realize that civil projects are necessary and that military solutions will not work. Whew, at least they are smarter than the current President. Their main idea is to create a job corps protected by U.S. troops to improve the city with public works and what not. Then they can buy goods with the money they earn and in turn everyone can be happy and peaceful. Why will this work when things have been falling to pieces for the last four years? I'll let them say it in their own words.

There are many lessons from the successful welfare reforms in New York City that can be readily applied in Iraq. In the early 1990s, New York City suffered an average of 2,000 murders a year while more than 1.1 million people--one out of every seven New Yorkers--were unemployed and on welfare. Too many neighborhoods were pervaded by a sense of hopelessness that came from a combination of high crime, high unemployment and despair. "Workfare" proved an excellent method to change this destructive decades-long paradigm. It required able-bodied welfare recipients to work 20 hours a week in exchange for their benefits. In the process, we reasserted the value of the social contract, which says that for every right there is a responsibility, for every benefit an obligation.

Time to wake up boys. Iraq is NOTHING like New York City. Not now, not in the early 90s, not ever! Two thousand murders in a year is a terrible statistic in any city, but in Baghdad the death toll easily top 2,000 each month and is constantly rising! Their solution is utterly implausible because Giuliani and Gingrich are ignoring the reality of what is going on in Baghdad and Iraq.


The picture posted in the WSJ says more than enough regarding the opinion of this piece. Uncle Sam is gloriously bringing aid from the U.S. government (that can't fix it's own cities by the way) to the grateful citizens of Iraq. This is typical 'White Man's Burden' bullshit. The Iraqi people want us to leave as soon as possible. They know we have done far too much in regards to the decimation of their country. It is time to leave now, not to make more of a mess.