Quotes, Iraq and other
Maybe I've caught the stupid bug, but I'm not seeing "the deep" today, so just an odd collection of quotes that caught my eye.
(LATimes) After meeting with Pelosi, Murtha: "I see that the Democratic ideas are more related to reality," said Ammar Tuma, a lawmaker who serves in Maliki's ruling Shiite coalition. "They talk about the real problems that the Iraqis are facing every day.".....
"Before, Bush used to order Iraqi officials to do this and that," said one member of Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The Republicans were dictating the political process in Iraq. With the Democrats in control of Congress, the Republicans are now less influential than before. It helps us in a sense to breathe a bit more and to have more freedom."
(LATimes) (From the "nonsectarian" Iraqi forces) "Although Iraqi officers emphasized their support for the U.S. forces' methodical approach to clearing villages, many of their men grew impatient. They repeatedly asked in broken English, "When we kill Wahhabis?," a reference to adherents of the fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam practiced by many Al Qaeda members.
(AP) ""The new Iraq is one that hopes to be at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbors," he said from a gilded chair in the ornate entrance hall of his Green Zone office compound."
(Guardian) (From an admitted Shia death squad member) "In this case, he said, the men were taken to Sadr City, the Shia slum to the north-east of Baghdad, where they were interrogated by a "committee" which ordered their execution. "We ask the families of the terrorists for ransom money," said Fadhel. "And after they pay the ransom we kill them anyway."
(NYTimes) "When American officials were debating whether to send more troops in December, I went to see an Iraqi government official. The prospect of more troops infuriated him. More Americans would simply prolong the war, he said.
“If you don’t allow the minority to lose, you will carry on forever,” he said.
(AFP) (Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov) "I have not seen any change in the rather aggressive rhetoric from Washington. It continues, as does the growing military presence in the region. This will be one of the questions that we want to clear up in Washington."
(LATimes) (From a list of "battlefield slang" from Iraq.) "Embrace the suck. Translation: The situation is bad, but deal with it. "
(LATimes) After meeting with Pelosi, Murtha: "I see that the Democratic ideas are more related to reality," said Ammar Tuma, a lawmaker who serves in Maliki's ruling Shiite coalition. "They talk about the real problems that the Iraqis are facing every day.".....
"Before, Bush used to order Iraqi officials to do this and that," said one member of Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The Republicans were dictating the political process in Iraq. With the Democrats in control of Congress, the Republicans are now less influential than before. It helps us in a sense to breathe a bit more and to have more freedom."
(LATimes) (From the "nonsectarian" Iraqi forces) "Although Iraqi officers emphasized their support for the U.S. forces' methodical approach to clearing villages, many of their men grew impatient. They repeatedly asked in broken English, "When we kill Wahhabis?," a reference to adherents of the fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam practiced by many Al Qaeda members.
(AP) ""The new Iraq is one that hopes to be at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbors," he said from a gilded chair in the ornate entrance hall of his Green Zone office compound."
(Guardian) (From an admitted Shia death squad member) "In this case, he said, the men were taken to Sadr City, the Shia slum to the north-east of Baghdad, where they were interrogated by a "committee" which ordered their execution. "We ask the families of the terrorists for ransom money," said Fadhel. "And after they pay the ransom we kill them anyway."
(NYTimes) "When American officials were debating whether to send more troops in December, I went to see an Iraqi government official. The prospect of more troops infuriated him. More Americans would simply prolong the war, he said.
“If you don’t allow the minority to lose, you will carry on forever,” he said.
(AFP) (Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov) "I have not seen any change in the rather aggressive rhetoric from Washington. It continues, as does the growing military presence in the region. This will be one of the questions that we want to clear up in Washington."
(LATimes) (From a list of "battlefield slang" from Iraq.) "Embrace the suck. Translation: The situation is bad, but deal with it. "
posted by mikevotes at
8:15 AM
2 Comments:
(NPR)Pakistani Critics Decry Musharraf Re-Election Ploy:
"In Pakistan, the president is appointed by an electoral college made up of the provincial and national legislatures.
Musharraf's aides make little secret of his plans to seek re-election from these bodies, even though their five-year terms also expire at the end of the year. Doing it that way, Musharraf knows that he will get the simple majority he needs.
'This has never happened before and it is probably what we feel is unconstitutional and undemocratic,' says Iqbal Zafar Jhagra. He is a member of the PML-N, the party of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister ousted by Musharraf's coup."
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Isn't it ironic that possibly our strongest ally in the war to spread Freedom and Democracy to the Middle East is led by a man who seized power in a coup and maintains power by manipulating the law? Actually, maybe Musharraf is the poster boy for Bush's idea of "Freedom and Democracy."
While democratic coutries continue to distance themselves from Bush's actions in the Middle East, monarchies and military strong-men back him. Odd.
By
-epm, at 10:42 AM
I would add, isn't it grimly ironic that our most important "ally" in the war on terror is maintaining that his power by allowing the Taleban and Al Qaeda to reside in his country?
Also: None of our major "regional allies" are even remotely democratic. Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi, Jordan.....
The "flowering of democracy" was always aimed at Syria and Iran.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 11:22 AM
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