Green Zone is ‘no longer totally secure’: Financial Times.

[milkyway]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e0214956-074f-11d9-9672-00000e2511c8.html


______

US military officers in Baghdad have warned they cannot guarantee the security of the perimeter around the Green Zone, the headquarters of the Iraqi government and home to the US and British embassies, according to security company employees.

At a briefing earlier this month, a high-ranking US officer in charge of the zone's perimeter said he had insufficient soldiers to prevent intruders penetrating the compound's defences.

The US major said it was possible weapons or explosives had already been stashed in the zone, and warned people to move in pairs for their own safety. The Green Zone, in Baghdad's centre, is one of the most fortified US installations in Iraq. Until now, militants have not been able to penetrate it. But insurgency has escalated this week, spreading to the centre of Baghdad. The zone is home to several thousand Iraqis, and on Sunday it came under the heaviest attack since it was established. Up to 60 unexploded rockets were found inside its perimeters after a five-hour barrage.

______

Iraq seems to be getting worse by the hour. I think it's time to just get the fuck out. Yeah, we would leave them with their infrastructure destroyed and little government, but every day we are there just makes things worse. We can longer believe--as Kerry, Dean, many Dems, and myself once did--that it is our responsibility to stay until we fix what we broke. That won't happen with American troops occupying the country. We need to pull out immediately. It might very well get even worse for a while, but then the U.N. and other international organizations, along with billions of dollars of U.S. reconstruction dollars, might have a slim chance of helping Iraqis get their country back and functioning. As long as we're there, Iraq just falls further down the spiral, with no end in sight.

[cthrumatrix]

1. "catostrphic success"...that's what the chimp says

[enough]

2. This is the news Bushco will do anything to suppress.

snip>

The US major said it was possible weapons or explosives had already been stashed in the zone, and warned people to move in pairs for their own safety. The Green Zone, in Baghdad's centre, is one of the most fortified US installations in Iraq. Until now, militants have not been able to penetrate it.

snip>

[milkyway]

3. The Green Zone is a fortress guarded by the most powerful military the

world has ever known...and it's not safe? The war is over. bush lost. Get the troops home now.

[pa28]

4. More evidence the draft will come

We don't even control the green zone anymore. The choices are down to: leave Iraq to chaos now or draft 200,000 Americans to restore order. Thanks Bush. America and the world will be paying your debts long after you've crawled back into your bottle.

[necso]

5. You cannot have a secure area

without controlling it and the area around it, fully, and to the range of your opponents weapons.

Simple as that.

[geek tragedy]

6. Why does this image come to mind?

[DavidDvorkin]

10. The very image I was thinking of!

I've been thinking of that one since our invasion of Iraq began.

[Jacobin]

13. A scene to be re-played in a few years, after a few tens of thousands

of American and hundreds of thousands of Iraq lives are lost and untold numbers maimed and psychologically scarred for life.

I cannot believe I'm living through two of these disasters. I simply cannot belive its happening again. It was sooo obvious from the very start.

[More Than A Feeling]

7. I am firmly convinced that we are screwed either way.

I believe it was Jonathan Alter in this week's Newsweek who said "If we stay, Bin Laden's delighted. If we leave, Bin Laden is delighted." After reading this article, I am leaning toward getting out as the least bad choice.

Edited for punctuation.

[necso]

8. You got that right.

It is going to go bad either way, no sense delaying the inevitable.

Punctuation is no friend of mine.

[Disturbed]

9. "Freedom is marching in Iraq."

This is accordidng to the glorious Leader of Amerika.

Iraq is now a sovereign country.
All who oppose the Govt. of Iraq are terrorists who hate freedom.


The Hand-Over That Wasn't: Illegal Orders give the US a Lock on Iraq's Economy
by Antonia Juhasz

Officially, the U.S. occupation of Iraq ended on June 28, 2004. But in reality, the United States is still in charge: Not only do 138,000 troops remain to control the streets, but the "100 Orders" of L. Paul Bremer III remain to control the economy.

These little noticed orders enacted by Bremer, the now-departed head of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, go to the heart of Bush administration plans in Iraq. They lock in sweeping advantages to American firms, ensuring long-term U.S. economic advantage while guaranteeing few, if any, benefits to the Iraqi people.

The Bremer orders control every aspect of Iraqi life - from the use of car horns to the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Order No. 39 alone does no less than "transition from a … centrally planned economy to a market economy" virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat.

Although many thought that the "end" of the occupation would also mean the end of the orders, on his last day in Iraq Bremer simply transferred authority for the orders to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi - a 30-year exile with close ties to the CIA and British intelligence.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-07.htm

[necso]

11. Everything over

there is political and everything over here is political. It is all for the purpose of making a pretense.

Hey, I can tell you that this war is lost unless we take drastic action. And we are politically, economically and militarily unable to do so. (This won't stop the idiots in power from trying other stupid stuff though.)

There is some vague chance that a change of government here will bring in allies and a new spirit in the people of Iraq... And I might hit the Lotto.

The war was lost when we didn't immediately take over the government organs (especially the military) and use them ruthlessly and well. Sure we could have "won" other ways, but not with this level and mix of forces.

Now circumstances are much worse, we have failed to do enough for the Iraqi people, we have basically no Iraqi allies that we can trust, our military is frustrated and run down... and the task facing us grows larger every day.

In practical terms the war is unwinnable and this with virtual certainty.

All this, I think, is apparent to anyone -- what surprises me is that some people actually think that Kerry doesn't know this.

The man is trying to get elected, people, if you can't lift, at least don't drag your feet.

[necso]

12. Let me make clear what I mean by lost.

There are all sorts of levels on which a "war" can be won or lost.

The most important is achieving your war aims. We have lost irretrievably when considered in this way. There will be nothing like we envisioned (pro-Israel, pro-US, etc) in Iraq any time in the foreseeable future... like the next thousand years..

The next most important level is "what you can settle for". When we finally leave Iraq, any such "settlement" will collapse shortly... Just like Vietnam.

The major difference in our strategy between the two wars is that in Vietnam we used the existing government, Army, etc. These weren't tremendously useful for what we had to do there, but the comparable forces would have been much more useful in Iraq as these forces were maintaining a more or less stable state, if a brutal and impoverished one.

But funny thing, I can live with that.

And let me make clear that our Military has not been defeated -- their leadership has.

The actual defeat of our military awaits some further stupidity, like sending them into a real fight with private contractors doing supply and playing other critical roles... and with another completely ridiculous plan.

And of course, we could make still make Iraq a depopulated and ruined country -- and just keep the oil. (There was a nice government report, before the war, detailing how this would be very expensive and difficult, as the fields are in real bad shape, but it is AWOL from what I can tell. If you find otherwise, please then, I would like a link.) But if we are just going to start simply grabbing stuff, then there are easier and more accessible targets... And you can always make up some lie as to why we must invade. Repeat it enough times and the fools will follow.

I should also like to remind everyone that there was a State Department Plan for the occupation of Iraq -- and, yes, it included keeping "alive" the state organs and just replacing the "brains" (as I remember it). But this was from those yucky girls (who have cooties, BTW -- which one can catch) at the State Department, so it understandable that it was thrown out. -- And any traces of this document are also fast disappearing.

Now think about that spy arrest thing, again. How much investigation.... and somebody from where got arrested?

It isn't a pretty picture.

[Aidoneus]

14. freedom IS on the march all over Iraq

trouble is, Freedom is marching towards the occupyers with AKs & RPG7s..

[are_we_united_yet]

15. I have to tell you guys

This is bad. Really, really, really bad. Junior has f#cked this up so bad that I fear the US may NEVER recover.

The only good (and it is a shitty trade) that is coming out of this collosal disaster is it shows what idiots the neocons are.

[leesa]

16. Never has been, even for one minute.

[skooooo]

17. OMFG

I know someone there and I haven't heard from them in 3 days.