surge update - More than 50 killed in clashes in Iraq- condi's a big hit!!!

[spanone]

2:00 PM PDT, April 20, 2008

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military in Iraq announced today that at least 59 Shiite militants were killed in clashes over the weekend as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blamed Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's militia for violence in Baghdad and the southern port city of Basra.

Rice, on an unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital, praised the Iraqi government for taking on Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters the day after the cleric warned that continued operations against his militia would spark open warfare. Her trip to Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, where the Iraqi government and the U.S. Embassy are located, was punctuated by at least three rocket attacks from eastern Baghdad, a stronghold of Sadr's. One explosion came just minutes before she unveiled a plaque to U.S. Embassy employees who had died in Iraq.

"They want the entire country to be a place where the legitimate security forces of Iraq are in control, not the militias," Rice said of the Iraqi government and singled out the Mahdi Army for criticism. At least 700 people have died in the fighting in southern Iraq and Baghdad since the Iraqi offensive was launched last month. Rice held Sadr's militia responsible for chaos in the oil-rich province of Basra and attacks against American and Iraqi forces. "The Jaish al Mahdi and particularly special groups . . . had completely destroyed law and order in Basra and somebody had to deal with that."

She blamed Sadr's militia for the recent unrest in Baghdad. "It's also the fact you've seen attacks even on the Green Zone that have emerged from these forces," Rice said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq21apr21,0,616639,print.story

[jtrockville]

1. Why was Rice's visit unannounced?

Why doesn't she announce her visits, so Iraqi's can give her the welcome she deserves?

I won't believe things are going well in Iraq until Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Gates make an ANNOUNCED visit to Iraq.

[spanone]

2. it's too dangerous...they would target her plane...things are not going well in iraq whatsoever

[Botany]

3. But President I'am in a dinner jacket of Iran ....

.... flies in takes a car from the airport into Baghdad and travels all over
and inspects the troops. Bush flies to Jordan and Maliki makes him wait
24 hours.

:hi: Agent Mike or Freeper ... you have picked the wrong team to play on.

The Pentagon's own think tank .... we are f***ed .... and Rummy helped

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34101.html

WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute.

The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.

The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.

(Dept. of Thanx Rummy)

Rumsfeld, who was closely allied with Vice President Dick Cheney, bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the report says, and became "the direct supervisor of the combatant commanders."

" ... the aggressive, hands-on Rumsfeld," it continues, "cajoled and pushed his way toward a small force and a lightning fast operation." Later, he shut down the military's computerized deployment system, "questioning, delaying or deleting units on the numerous deployment orders that came across his desk."

[theoldman]

4. Did Sadr have an army before we attacked Iraq?

If he did, did they kill people before we attacked Iraq? IMHO, Rice and Bush are responsible for the chaos in Iraq.

[Botany]

5. Good Question! Did Sadr have an army before we attacked Iraq?

That would be No.

Now for $1,000 and control of the board how did we make
a small time thug like Sadr into a real power?

That would be; stoppped him from printing a Newspaper ..
Kinda like the American Revolution when the Brits stopped
our press. And then you had a revolution run by Liberals ..
who founded this country.

Any Freeper is welcome to "bug out" now least his head
explode.

[malaise]

6. But but but

Bush was with Sadr's army before he was against it.
What a clusterfuck!

[Botany]

7. And a few weeks ago Maliki sent his Army against Sadr's .....

.... and he lost.

:bounce:

[spanone]

8. bu$h* is gonna walk away from this...that really pisses me off