Iraq: 'We are running out of time,' the officer said (report from Basra)

[Barrett808]

Iraq: 'We are running out of time,' the officer said
The British army view

Richard Norton-Taylor in Basra
Saturday May 20, 2006
The Guardian

Iraq is on a knife-edge. You feel it when the pilot of the Puma helicopter suddenly banks and automatically fires decoys in response to the threat of an attack from the ground. You sense it on the faces of young British squaddies preparing for another night patrol. You certainly hear it when you talk to British military commanders in Basra and Baghdad.

"Everything up to now has been about preparing for this government," says Lt Gen Sir Rob Fry, the most senior British officer in Iraq, referring to the prime minister designate Nuri al-Maliki's expected decision today to present a cabinet to the Iraqi parliament. "The next three to six months will be crucial, absolutely vital."

...

The Guardian accompanied Gen Sir Mike Jackson, head of the army, to Basra after one of the worst weeks for British forces there. Five people were killed - including the first woman to die in combat in Iraq - when their Lynx helicopter was shot down. A few days later, two soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment were killed while patrolling in an armoured Land Rover.

Teenage soldiers from the First Battalion Light Infantry told us how they fought off a crowd of up to 300 Iraqis celebrating the Lynx crash using batons and shields initially before responding to their petrol bombs and mortars with live fire.

Meanwhile the street patrols go on as before. "We are everywhere in the city every day," Lt Col Johnny Bowron, commander of 1 Light Infantry,says. "It's pretty awful at the moment."

(more)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1779378,00.html

[babylonsister]

1. Who Is Paying Attention-Rummy? Rice? Cheney? Il Dunce?

Congress? :cry:

[cyberpj]

3. Murtha is. But now he has to have some support. nt

[babylonsister]

4. He has support, but being in the minority, it's falling on deaf ears.

Biden and Hillary aren't helping, the usual suspects are (Conyers, Kerry, Feingold, Kennedy, etc.). There are not many in the majority party who aren't walking in lockstep with this admin, and that's the problem. When will people wake the hell up?

[cyberpj]

6. I believe his slow and steady will win the race. (((Make it so.))) nt

[lyonn]

7. This lack of support by fellow Dems makes one wonder

what the problem is with our party. Do they approve of this war and how it is conducted? They stand around the halls of Congress and do mostly nothing to protect we the people from corruption and lies. Murtha stands alone speaking for our tired troops!

[cyberpj]

8. It's that "voted for it before I voted against it" curse. Just apologize!

And move on.

Some may be complicit or afraid of scrutiny if attacked.

[babylonsister]

9. Many Dems have invoked their 'mea culpas'. I don't know of

any repugs that have.

[lyonn]

10. Fear to do the right thing seems to be the reason

dems don't vote according to party lines. Fear they may lose their job, fear they will get trampled by the media? Or do many of them vote the way they do because they believe it's right?? True there are bills with trick amendments attached but voting for the bkcy bill, medicare prescription, the budget, most repub. works going through congress are POS. They vote for most of bush's nominations to courts and state, etc. barely a tussle, only weak reasoning as to why they voted the way they did.

I'm bitter, here I became a staunch Dem over 10 years ago and the darn party is still playing wimpy, like they always do and now they have plenty to holler about and don't. But, Murtha gets our attention, Zinni too, Gore, Boxer, Conyer so, well there are some out there shouting and are heard or I wouldn't know about it. Just venting.

[babylonsister]

13. There are some Dems doing the right thing. Check out

Conyers, Kerry, Feingold, Boxer, Kennedy, hell, check them all out. The major problem is we are in the minority. That's why November is so crucial; lots of Dems will turn the current situation around. And that's why repugs are frightened. I still don't understand where their core morals are, or if they have any.
The reason you don't hear is due to the media cozying up to this admin, even now after so much has been exposed.

[saigon68]

15. Joementum and the senator from MBNA are the problem

[Roland99]

2. Iraq has become the new Bosnia (ethnic cleansing takes hold)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article548945.ece

[Lexingtonian]

5. Oh, well, no more throwing flowers....

The end is near, isn't it.

[cyr330]

11. present progressive tense?

I don't think so. We RAN out of time quite a while ago.

[IndianaGreen]

12. These troops are on the verge of breaking

Iraq will break the backs of the US and UK's military. Our troops only had to do one combat tour in Vietnam. Many of our troops are already on their third deployment.

[shadowknows69]

14. I see it every night I drive cab

You can tell a few of them are REALLY messed up by this whole thing. To listen to some of them talk to their squad members is strange too. You can hear a definitive father/son tone between some of them. Youcan pick out the ones who have seen some serious shit and some of them even tell you the horror stories.

P.S. Had a couple more "confirmations", really just opinions, from soldiers about Iran definitely being on the menu. We need to stop these madmen (not the soldiers, GW, Rummy Etc.) I swear there is a concerted effort to destroy our army so they have an excuse to use nukes and usher in the great culling of the world. I don't think they even care that they'll have to live in bunkers for 20,000 years and become the morlocks and they'll be ruling a destroyed planet.

[Disturbed]

16. Until 95% of the Dems stop voting to fund the...

Iraq Occupation, it will continue.