Report: US no closer to Iraq goals

[ckramer]

Source: YN

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States is no closer to achieving its goals in Iraq than it was a year ago but a quick military withdrawal could lead to massive chaos and even genocide, according to a report released Sunday by a U.S. think tank.

The U.S. Institute of Peace report was written by experts who advised the Iraq Study Group, a panel mandated by Congress to offer recommendations on U.S. policy in Iraq in 2006.

The report was released two days before top commander Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker brief Congress on the situation in Iraq and prospects for American troop reductions. Their recommendations, which President Bush has signaled he will accept, could largely determine the course of action in Iraq for the coming year.

The report cited security improvements in Iraq since the buildup of U.S. forces in 2007, but credited factors outside U.S. control, such as help from mostly Sunni fighters who turned against al-Qaida and a truce by a Shiite militia.

"The U.S. is no closer to being able to leave Iraq than it was a year ago," it concluded. "Lasting political development could take five to 10 years of full, unconditional U.S. commitment to Iraq."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_no_closer;_ylt=Ap3O31BNNUvyvFE0sXPN38FvaA8F

[AzDar]

1. The ONLY solution : GET. OUT. NOW.

[ckramer]

2. Topple Saddam == massive chaos and genocide

Who would have thought?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Yea, who would have thought that pulling the pin

from a grenade would cause such havock...

[kentj44]

4. quick withdrawl

please.

[jimshoes]

5. When he says 5 to 10 years

you can be sure he means 50 to 100.

[scarface2004]

7. set a 100 year timetable!

that should be enough time...oh it's not...headlines 100 years from now...President Buttplug pleads with few amerikans remaining for another 100 years to stablize irakistan!

[GetTheRightVote]

8. while our nation goes down into our next great recession/depression

and have nothing for our soldiers to come home too, no jobs, no banks and no health care, etc.
Time for us to put this country and its soldiers first...there are enough of our people dead as well as the many civilians in Iraq whose lives have been taken from them due to the demand for oil. Enough time has gone by to fill up the pockets of various corporations whom profit from this war. Time for us to leave and bring our children back home. Their honor deserves to be served at this point in time and the lies need to be brought to an end at last.

[grytpype]

9. We can't accomplish anything by staying, and we can't leave.

30+ dead Americans and $15 billion a month, to accomplish nothing. And we can't stop.

Bush has screwed us pretty good.

[doubleplusgood]

10. "The U.S. Institute of Peace" ?

NOT a legitimate peace group, the "U.S. Institute of Peace" is a right-leaning organization created during the Reagan administration to promote "peace through strength" ideology as a propaganda counter to anti-war & anti-nuclear groups around the world.

From Wikipedia, check out who some of the board of directors are:

- J. Robinson West, (Chairman), Chairman, PFC Energy, Washington, D.C. - Before founding PFC Energy in 1984, he served in the Reagan Administration as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Budget and Administration (1981-83), with responsibility for US offshore oil policy.

- Chester A. Crocker, James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University - As chairman of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential election campaign's "Africa working group", Crocker sought to change US policy on apartheid South Africa away from what he saw as the confrontational approach adopted by the Carter presidency and towards a new policy which he termed "constructive engagement."

- Charles Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Washington D.C. - General Charles A. Horner was Commander in Chief of North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Space Command; and Commander of Air Force Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado from 1992 - 1994. He was responsible for the aerospace defense of the United States and Canada, and the exploitation and control of space for national purposes through a far-flung network of satellites and ground stations throughout the world.

- Ron Silver, Actor, Producer, Director, Primparous Productions, Inc. - Silver, who was a Democrat for many years, has recently been an outspoken supporter for President George W. Bush, citing the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Democrats' policies regarding terrorism as his reasons for becoming an independent. He spoke at the United States 2004 Republican National Convention and has staunchly continued to support the President. Silver was appointed Chairman for the Millennium Committee by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He currently has a blog on the Pajamas Media website. On October 7, 2005, Silver was nominated by President Bush to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace. On September 8, 2006, it was announced that Silver had joined an advisory committee to the Lewis Libby Legal Defense Trust

- Judy Van Rest, Executive Vice President, International Republican Institute - Nuff said.

I haven't had a chance to check out the others, but I sense a trend.

- Laurie S. Fulton, Williams and Connolly, Washington, D.C.
- María Otero (Vice Chairman), President, ACCION International, Boston, MA
- Holly J. Burkhalter, Vice President of Government Relations, International Justice Mission, Washington D.C.
- Anne H. Cahn, Former Scholar-in-Residence, American University
- Kathleen Martinez, Executive Director, World Institute on Disability
- George E. Moose, Adjunct Professor of Practice, The George Washington University
- Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor, George Mason University School of Law

Oh, and Condoleeza Rice is a member ex officio, also.

On Edit: It would have been nice if the original news story had mentioned some of the facts about the "Peace Institute".

[Supersedeas]

11. Billions upon Billions and all we have to show is more of the same quagmire

[Nickster]

12. But John McCain told me that the surge is working!

[gratuitous]

13. Oh, but there HAS been improvement

The war apologists are no longer talking nonsense out their collective ass about how it's all going to turn around "in the next six months" (or, as it's come to be known, a Friedman Unit, abbreviated FU). Now it's all going to be all better in five or ten years.

If that's not an improvement, then by golly I don't think those people know what improvement is!