Newsweek..."Iraq has become a desperate excercise in damage control"

[Clarkie1]

Good Intentions Gone Bad
NEWSWEEK's Baghdad bureau chief, departing after two years of war and American occupation, has a few final thoughts.

By Rod Nordland

...Since April 2004 the liberation of Iraq has become a desperate exercise in damage control. The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib alienated a broad swath of the Iraqi public...

...Electricity is especially vital in a country where summer temperatures commonly reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet only 15 percent of Iraqis have reliable electrical service. In the capital, where it counts most, it's only 4 percent...

The most powerful army in human history can't even protect a two-mile stretch of road...Now their primary mission is self-defense at any cost--which only deepens Iraqis' resentment.

The four-square-mile Green Zone, the one place in Baghdad where foreigners are reasonably safe, could be a showcase of American values and abilities. Instead the American enclave is a trash-strewn wasteland of Mad Max-style fortifications. The traffic lights don't work because no one has bothered to fix them. The garbage rarely gets collected. Some of the worst ambassadors in U.S. history are the GIs at the Green Zone's checkpoints. They've repeatedly punched Iraqi ministers, accidentally shot at visiting dignitaries and behave (even on good days) with all the courtesy of nightclub bouncers--to Americans and Iraqis alike. Not that U.S. soldiers in Iraq have much to smile about. They're overworked, much ignored on the home front and widely despised in Iraq, with little to look forward to but the distant end of their tours--and in most cases, another tour soon to follow. Many are reservists who, when they get home, often face the wreckage of careers and family....

...The question isn't "When will America pull out?"; it's "How bad a mess can we afford to leave behind?" All I can say is this: last one out, please turn on the lights.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8101422/site/newsweek/

[Cha]

1. Oh, really..

when did they first notice that? Poor things!

[alittlelark]

2. They finally came to the OBVIOUS conclusion....

good for them.


I hope they continue their research....

[mom cat]

58. Just a little bit too late I might add. 100,000 or more Iraqis dead.

While I appreciate the author's honesty, why is it that we are only hearing such a frank description of the abysmal situation all money as this journalist is making his exit. Certainly the situation has been this bad for the last two years when he was there. This is a terrible example of too little and too late. I just hope that the author of the article has the courage to continue writing about this appalling situation. I'm not holding my breath. :cry:

[oxbow]

3. Poor soldiers. Poor Iraqi's!

I wish Bush would just admit he made a big mistake and ask the int'l community to help out. A heartfelt apology still goes a long way in my book.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. He can't

That's why he's always been so stubborn. It would look bad on him, his administration, the country (heh) and the republican party. He will go down in history, according to them, as a failure and someone who "lost" the Iraq war and couldn't handle the leadership. Plus his base and followers will be pissed off at him and might not vote in the next two elections (midterms and 2008). Plus, I don't think Bush has ever admitted HE ever has done anything wrong. Remember the second debate? He said he might've appointed people wrongfully and THEY did the mistake but never him. :mad: So if he admitted failure this would prove him wrong to his base and followers.

[The Doctor.]

7. Amen...

Not while he can still pick the brand of 'incompetent' history will saddle him with.

[tinrobot]

11. Pass the buck...

They will let it drag on for three more years, countless lives and billions of dollars, just so they can dump the mess on whoever is elected in 2008 and place the blame for 'failure' on them.

All in the name of pride.

Asswipes.

[ogradda]

14. I really don't see how we can sustain this for 3 more years.

I don't see where we have the lives or the money for it.

[tinrobot]

48. Do they care?

The lives and money spent up until today is already WAY too much.

Do you think they really give a hoot about wasting even more?

[still_one]

16. your optimistic

[slor]

32. I caught the tail end, on CSpan, of Doris Kearns Goodwin(?)...

discussing A.Lincoln, and how he always admiited to mistakes, and how he believed this made one a better person, and improved one's ability to face adversity. Of course, she was much more eloquent than that, but that is the gist, and it is pretty common sense stuff. But to hear her, and comtemplate what the smirking chimp has done, really heightened just how dangerous having * leading our country is.

[Javaman]

47. Wouldn't be amazing if someone in the press bores...

Asked a question, paraphrasing what you just said.
Example:

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, a republican, willfully admitted his mistakes, stating how he believed it made him better person. Given that, do you feel you have made any mistakes during your time in office and concerning Iraq?

Follow up question: If you believe that you haven't made any mistakes, do you believe you are perfect?

These questions would get the person asking a one way ticket out of the press bores...

[still_one]

15. oh, I'mmmm sorry

I have killed over a 100000 civilians, 1700 American soldiers, and wounded over 12000, based on a lie, and because Iraq was never really a threat to us

How does that sound?

Forget the international community. Why the hell would they want to put their soldiers in the middle of a civil war?

In Viet Nam the killing stopped when we left

I suspect no matter who wins in 2008, they will still commit Americans to this insanity.

Pull out of Iraq now!!!

Very little difference between Iraq and Viet Nam, except there are more groups who hate us

[natrat]

38. but me and my cronies scored some major $$$ for our Cayman accounts

[lonestarnot]

17. Poor PEOPLE! Poor Country!

ALL of it for fucking lies!

[AuntiBush]

61. He's too Drunk w/O-I-L Power! In too deep. Just my opinion.

Agreed. Poor soldiers. Poor Iraqi's, is right!

Sad... unrepairable.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Good intentions??

Haha! Please excuse me while I laugh uncontrollably.

[glitch]

45. Thank you. That one leaped out at me as well.

What is the hell is wrong with these people? Either they are genuine morons, the real thing, and we know they exist, or they are so corrupt their hearts, and their eyes, look like lttle bits of charcoal.

[Bluebear]

5. "No shit, Sherlock"

[Frederik]

8. Good, Newsweek

Growing some balls and telling some truth. Now continue doing that and don't let the Bushistas threaten you.

[still_one]

18. i wound't count on it

how much has anyone covered the downey street memo?

[Frederik]

25. Now you're being unreasonable

The public can't handle too much truth, or they might collectively crap their pants.

[CrispyQ]

56. All that crap still wouldn't stink as bad as the mess we've

made in Iraq.

[The Magistrate]

9. Though Said In Another Connection, Sir, It Is Quite Appropriate Here

"It is his life's work to announce the obvious in terms of the scandalous."

[enigmatic]

10. Bingo

This has been a complete disaster all the way around. Bring them home now.

[Daphne08]

24. If Mencken were alive today,

one can only imagine what he would think. He might be able to provide us with a measure of dark wit in these strange days.


I would love to see him at a McClellan Press Briefing. :popcorn:

[saltpoint]

12. Abu Graib, for me anyway, was the most pointed indication of failure.

The photographs were disgusting at all levels. All the world saw them at once and those images of U.S. troops tormenting & humiliating detainees were burned into the world consciousness like a brand.

Red voters who returned this administration to power are complicit in the failure because their votes helped sanction torture.

I do not believe instructions to torture and humiliate other human beings would ever have been generated from a John Kerry or an Al Gore White House.

The Iraq "war' is a disaster. Finally a few press vultures are saying so.

[Pachamama]

19. Wait till the latest batch of Abu Ghraib Pix are released to the ACLU from

their win in court demanding these photos and videos from the Pentagon under the FOIA request....

I bet these photos will make them even sicker than they were already....Hopefully America will be sick too...and start demanding accountability and some changes...

:puke:

[saltpoint]

21. I hope you're right about the release, Pachamama, but I am sad to --

-- believe that such pictures exist in the first place.

What a sad time it is to be a U.S. voter.

[Pachamama]

22. Make that a sad time to be a US Citizen - & even sadder that not only that

these things were done by people in Uniform representing the United States, but also sad that many of those citizens voted for the people who brought us this war based on lies, and justify torture techniques...And lest I forget, the citizens who DIDN'T VOTE....wonder what they all would do now, given the choice? :eyes:

[saltpoint]

23. In my view, you are right on all counts.

:thumbsup:

[ktowntennesseedem]

63. You ask a great question:

They're always asking "if the election were held today..." before we head to the polls; what if some pollster dared to ask that question NOW?!?! I'd love to digest the results of that one.

On edit: instead of registered voters, likely voters, etc., one could take the poll based on those who actually voted and those who didn't vote for whatever reason.

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. "GOOD intentions"? The neocons NEVER had good intentions.

Whoever chose this title, whether it was the author or not, is not telling it straight.

GOOD intentions? Meaning, I suppose, GOOD for the Iraqis? Suuuuuurrre. You bet.

[Junkdrawer]

34. They were looking to create a brutal occupation from Day One.

DemocracyNow did a report once that showed that the DOD specifically scoured the country, looking for the most abusive wardens they could find to setup the prisons in Iraq.

[Nothing Without Hope]

54. If you ever see that report, I'd like to have a link to it. It all fits

together - these people are utter monsters and must be exposed for what they are.

[Junkdrawer]

57. Here you go...

It Happened Here First: Exporting America's Most Notorious Prison Officials to Abu Ghraib

One man ran a prison system in Utah where a 29-year-old schizophrenic died after he was stripped naked and strapped to a restraining chair for 16 hours.
Another man ran the system in Arizona where 14 women were raped, sodomized or assaulted by prison guards.


Another ran Connecticut's prison system where at least two people died after being severely beaten.

All of the men who ran these prison systems were forced out by lawsuits or political controversy. But rather than being sent to prison themselves, these men were sent to Iraq by the US government to set up the prisons there. Actually, one prison - Abu Ghraib.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/02/146211&mode=thread&tid=25

Feel free to start a new thread if you want...

[LynnTheDem]

20. 1 sentence with 3 lies and 4 false insinuations, and a few stupid-ass

remarks;

-"Good intentions"? When did "shock & awe" bombing the shit out of ppl in a nation that hadn't been doing anything to anyone equate with "good intentions"?

-"no real choice but to stay"? So the rapist should help the rape victim get over being raped? Or would that be "white man's burden", the little Iraqis incapable of looking after their own country?

-And the 1 sentence, 3 lies, 3 false insinuations;

"Iraq now has an elected government..."

1. Reassure the sheeple: Now that Iraq "has an elected government", that makes up for almost everything, you see.

2. Even though that "justification" for invading a nation wasn't the reason given for invading that nation.

3. Even though in fact Iraq has had elected governments in the past.

4. Even though the "elected" part of this one is highly debatable; elections under foreign armed occupation, under martial law, under foreign armed occupiers' control, during a raging war. Who elected Chalabi, by the way?

..."popular at least among Shiites and Kurds..."

5. ALWAYS blame the Sunnis for everything. Sunnis = Clinton.

...who give it strong approval ratings.

6. Oh? They do?

"...recent polls conducted by Baghdad University show confidence of the new government flagging sharply, to 45 percent, down from an 85 percent rating immediately after the election.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/19/international/middleeast/19iraq.html?hp&ex=1116561600&en=49f1e36f402e0bd0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Perhaps they mean "strong approval ratings" in comparison to bush's.

[glitch]

46. Good deconstruction - the spin is nauseating. So we give them what for

an attempt at telling the reality between the lines of propaganda?
A "C"?

[pacifictiger]

26. Dear Newsweek and other commercial media,

hate to say we told you so.
You have been so enamoured with the power gang you failed to do your job; listen to dissenting opinions and report. Now pandora's box has been opened and we have a mess. Shame, shame, shame on you all.
"All the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put humpty together again."

[zippy890]

27. "worst ambassadors"

Some of the worst ambassadors in U.S. history are the GIs at the Green Zone's checkpoints. They've repeatedly punched Iraqi ministers, accidentally shot at visiting dignitaries and behave (even on good days) with all the courtesy of nightclub bouncers--to Americans and Iraqis alike.

To America: What is wrong with this picture? Hello?

[KG]

28. 'Good Intentions Gone Bad' - wow, they still don't get it, do they?

[wellst0nev0ter]

29. Good Ole Rod Nordland, The Last Remaining REAL Journalist Left

He recently did an online chat and he did not stand for ANY bullshit from the questioners, whether it is coming from right-wing, flaghugging chickenhawk smear merchants or hyperbolic anti-war types who routinely call random soldiers "war criminals":

Irvine, CA: Newsweek has joined Ted Kennedy as the pro-insurgent party.
Rod Nordland: Another reader who has comprehension problems on the primary-school level.

Hopatcong, NJ: Do you, Masland and Dickey mean "F---ing Murderers" when you say "insurgents" and "fighters" in your STUPIDITY? I've grown sick and tired of you "politically incorrect" reporters. Why don't you have the gumption to call a spade a spade?
Rod Nordland: OK, you're an idiot. How's that?

Hartford, CT: If the world were ruled by "Muslim law," what would it look like???
Rod Nordland: You mean by Islamic law? There are many different versions of that, depending on the society, the culture, the sect of Islam, and it's a bit unfair to generalize. But I suppose one quick answer is it would be as unattractive as, say, a world ruled by fundamentalist Christian law.

Yep, I would guess living in a hellish Indian country like Eye-Rack for so many months would exhaust my patience for uninformed psychobabble too.

[Logansquare]

50. Oh yeah, his responses to those nuts were hilarious

I believe I remember him responding to one incoherent rant with "Y tu madre."

[ET Awful]

30. Well shit, wouldn't want someone to go and tell the truth now would we?

The Whitehouse blew their wad early. They attacked Newsweek too soon and Newsweek was proven to be accurate.

Now that that's fresh in peoples minds, this might hit harder.

[shadowknows69]

31. too bad this story

and everything Newsweek does from now on will be instantly discredited.

[Tesla]

33. Com on, lets back the one that on our side.

they are finally were we are, we have nothing to lose but our freedom.

Same with them, they need us also, let's support their efforts!!!

[Disturbed]

37. Impeachment the entire stinkin' Bush Regime!!!

Start with Rumsfailed, Cheney the Bush. Let the world know that there are millions of Americans that are damned ashamed of the Bush Regime War Criminals.

Even if there is little chance of Impeachment Dems must muster the backbone to put it forth.

[southernleftylady]

35. too bad newsweek hates america

:eyes:

[shadowknows69]

36. I support them

but you know the spin machine. Once it locks onto a talking point it won't let go.

[Cooley Hurd]

39. "Now their primary mission is self-defense at any cost..."

"...which only deepens Iraqis' resentment."

Obviously, we're doing little to provide actual security for Iraqis. This is the best argument I've seen for complete withdrawal of US forces. Time to get them the fuck out of there!!!:grr:

[Hubert Flottz]

40. "Not that U.S. soldiers in Iraq have much to smile about."

That's balanced out by the happy smiles at the Halliburton/KB&R share holder's board meetings!

[JHB]

41. But...but...but...

What about all the schools we've rebuilt? And the toys we've passed out? Why do you HATE AMERICA!?!? :sarcasm:

[leftchick]

42. "Who could have predicted"????

Pandora's box and all? :(

:banghead:

[DoYouEverWonder]

43. They can't even pick up the garbage in the Green Zone

that shows you that this whole operation is just another rip off scam brought to you by Bu$hCo.

The real shame of it is to think of all of the good that we could have done with those billions of dollars, that Bush's friends are stuffing in their greedy pockets.

[SpiralHawk]

44. Badda Boom, Badda Bing !

Take that you smirking preppy cheerleader, you and all your radical Theocrat and Oil and Munitions Cronies.

Time to change course before the S.S. ChimPee-Tough-Guy WarShip of State crashes and burns on the ever treacherous Shoals of Reality.

[warrens]

49. Oh, my

This guy is going to end up in Gitmo. Doesn't he know that Freedom Is On The March?????

[fishnfla]

51. Electiricity and AC are the keys in the short term

Look for the insurgency to target power sources to foment civili unrest this summer.

I wonder if the admin has the foresight to realize that? Dumb question.

Without AC, the people will be hitting the streets hot under the coller. Throuout history, lack of basic amenities has always been the final straw in civil war.

[Jacobin]

52. But, I thought the insurgents were 'getting desperate' (tm)....

Why does Newsweek hate our freedoms (tm)?

[ooglymoogly]

53. 5 years late, 400 billion short and over 100,000 lives gone because

m media gung hoe'd (or should i say gang whored) this "president" and this war..stupid idiots...oh dear my bad, so deeply sorry

[leftchick]

55. "Good Intentions"?? Oh Really??

Whose? :shrug:

[kittenpants]

59. If Iraq wasn't hell before, it is now.

we owe it to the Iraqis to get bush out of office

[Maraya1969]

60. Hey they have a lot more guts than most news organizations around

It was just a week or so ago that they had to take back that story about the Koran flushing thing, (and I hope they reprint the actual records from the Pentagon).


The only way I get any real information about Iraq is on the internet. If I were to rely on the television I'd think everything was going fine albeit a little off schedule.

[LuPeRcALiO]

62. finally, truth is kicking in the womb of reality

but as long as I can haul a boat on the back of my RV I'm supporting Dumbya.