Chris Allbritton: It's Worse Than You Think (Western Iraq in rebel hands)

[Barrett808]

Chris Allbritton: It's Worse Than You Think...
TIME weighs in on the FUBAR situation in Iraq, and it ain’t pretty (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040920-695820,00.html).

Important parts of the country, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers said, are controlled by rebels. Principal cities and major roads west and north of the capital are ruled by Sunni insurgents. Al-Sadr’s men launch uprisings at will across the wide Shi’ite belt, and even parts of Baghdad are no-go zones for U.S. troops and the frail forces of the interim Iraqi government. All this has helped make the peace much bloodier than the war: last month anti-U.S. attacks climbed to 87 a day, more than double the rate in 2003 and the first half of 2004. The U.S. death toll since sovereignty was returned to Iraq on June 28 has eclipsed the number killed in the invasion, and the total tally just passed 1,000. The wounded number more than 7,000. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld estimates that coalition forces killed up to 2,500 suspected insurgents in August, but the will of the rebels shows few signs of cracking. Attacks on U.S. troops increasingly come in the form of direct fire from small arms and suicide bombs, the tactics of a more sophisticated and in-your-face foe.

I don’t know if I can really put into words just how bad it is here some days. Yesterday was horrible — just horrible. While most reports show Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra as “no-go” areas, practically the entire Western part of the country is controlled by insurgents, with pockets of U.S. power formed by the garrisons outside the towns. Insurgents move freely throughout the country and the violence continues to grow.

I wish I could point to a solution, but I don’t see one. People continue to email me, telling me to report the “truth” of all the good things that are going on in Iraq. I’m not seeing a one. A buddy of mine is stationed here and they’re fixing up a park on a major street. Gen. Chiarelli was very proud of this accomplishment, and he stressed this to me when I interviewed him for the TIME story. But Baghdadis couldn’t care less. They don’t want city beautification projects; they want electricity, clean water and, most of all, an end to the violence.

And in the midst of all this violence, most of the Iraqi Interim Government is out of town. Security Advisors, heads of important ministries and the chief of the new Mukhabarat are all mysteriously absent. The Iraqi security forces are a joke, with the much talked about Fallujah Brigade disbanded for being feckless and — worse — riddled with insurgents who were being paid and trained by the U.S. Marines.

Thousands of Iraqis are desperate to get a new passport and flee the country. These are often the most educated Iraqis — they have the money to get new passports and travel — so the brain-drain will accelerate.

The poor and the disenfranchised are finding their leaders in the populist and fundamentalist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr or in the radical Islam of the jihadis, who are casting a long shadow on this formerly secular country. Iraq has its own home-grown Wahhabists now, something it didn’t have 18 months ago.

In the context of all this, reporting on a half-assed refurbished school or two seems a bit childish and naive, the equivalent of telling a happy story to comfort a scared child. Anyone who asks me to tell the “real” story of Iraq — implying all the bad things are just media hype — should refer to this post. I just told you the real story: What was once a hell wrought by Saddam is now one of America’s making.

http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000818.php

[amber dog democrat]

1. But what happened to letting freedom reign?

Ungrateful wretches.

Well at least we still have nukes.

[ClintonTyree]

3. They have a nice new park.......................

what more could they want> They just don't get this "Democracy thing" I guess.

Bush's fuck up is rapidly coming to a head. Within a few weeks the entire country will again be out of control and exploding. Will the U.S. press report it? No way, they don't want anything to impede Bush's coronation. We'll get swift boat veterans out the ass.

[amber dog democrat]

5. This is where it gets REALLY interesting.

I honestly wonder how long the lid can stay on the pressure cooker.
The message is going to get out if it has to do it sideways, explosivly, or what ever.
Those well dressed talking head whores on the commercially owned media will only parrot out what they are told to say. They are going to be caught looking the wrong way - deny it as they will.

But as more passengers notice water rising, the list increasing and frantic goings-on
up on the bridge it will eventually dawn on all but the most ideologically brain dead that things are NOT adding up the way we are being told.

I kind of hope the media does NOT report it. It will undermine their credibility that much more. We seem to be on the verge of a civil war, ( culturally speaking ).
The consent of the governed will be a looming issue if the Chimp manages to steal this one too.

I have no idea what direction this is going to take, but it is volatile as any political siutation in American history.

[whistle]

2. Indiscriminately blow up all Iraqis then show compassion...

...by sending American troops back in to provide aid and materials to fix up the damage. What a totally fucked up policy! How many dead innocent Iraqis can appreciate those good will intentions?

[annxburns]

4. Why does Time hate America?

Don't they know they are supposed to protect the President against any accusations?

Were in a time of war according to Tom Delay. Bad news should be outlawed, un-whorish media should be jailed ...