Iraq
(WaPo) The UN is talking about taking a larger role in Iraq. (Increasing from 65 people to 95, so not a huge footprint and no increase in responsibilities. I guess this political cover is what the US gets for getting Ban Ki Moon instead of Kofi Annan.)
(Reuters) The surge has peaked at a transitional 162,000 troops in Iraq.
USAToday has an article on the diminishing search for the two US soldiers captured in May.
(USAToday) The US now plans to airlift the MRAP vehicles to Iraq after dithering so long in procurement.
(AFP) The giant Shia pilgrimmage in Karballa is set to begin tomorrow. (This is the event with the bloody self flagellation, and also the event where almost 1,000 people died in an attack and stampede in 2005.)
(Iraqslogger) Militant groups are using the deprivation of the refugee camps, offering clean water for money or "favors."
And, Jesus Christ, what next?
(Reuters) The surge has peaked at a transitional 162,000 troops in Iraq.
USAToday has an article on the diminishing search for the two US soldiers captured in May.
(USAToday) The US now plans to airlift the MRAP vehicles to Iraq after dithering so long in procurement.
(AFP) The giant Shia pilgrimmage in Karballa is set to begin tomorrow. (This is the event with the bloody self flagellation, and also the event where almost 1,000 people died in an attack and stampede in 2005.)
(Iraqslogger) Militant groups are using the deprivation of the refugee camps, offering clean water for money or "favors."
And, Jesus Christ, what next?
As world attention focuses on the daily slaughter in Iraq, a devastating disaster is impending in the north of the country, where the wall of a dam holding back the Tigris river north of Mosul city is in danger of imminent collapse..
"It could go at any minute," says a senior aid worker who has knowledge of the struggle by US and Iraqi engineers to save the dam. "The potential for disaster is very great."
If the dam does fail, a wall of water will sweep into Mosul, Iraq's third largest city with a population of 1.7 million, 20 miles to the south. Experts say the flood waters could destroy 70 per cent of Mosul and inflict heavy damage 190 miles downstream along the Tigris.
posted by mikevotes at
6:46 AM
6 Comments:
I wonder if the Bush people have burned too many bridges at the UN. The crux of the matter, as I understand it, is that the U.S., as the occupying power, is responsible for security under UN charter and the situation is still too insecure for UN aid workers to operate. Indeed, despite momentary pockets where chaos doesn't reign supreme, the security situation in Iraq has consistently degraded, week after week, month after month, year after pathetic year.
I'm not sure the UN General Assembly sees the U.S. as a partner that can be trusted.
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The missing soldiers... The cynic in me [OK, the cynic that IS me :-) ] wonders if the grisly facts about the soldier's fate is already known and Bush is timing the release of this info for political gain. This has been his m.o. in the past.
By
-epm, at 9:31 AM
Don't forget it was the UN that approved 12 years of sanctions and almost daily bombing raids. Well the Security Council did. Iraqis don't forget things like that.
By
Anonymous, at 9:40 AM
True. But I hear that while Shia Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani will not directly engage US or UK government/military representatives, he does talk with the UN representatives. I don't know if the Kurds, Shia, and Sunni all have different attitudes toward the UN. Perhaps the Shai do not begrudge the UN, as the sanctions were aimed at Saddam (ostensibly) and not the Shia or "Iraqis."
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-epm, at 10:16 AM
EPM, good point. Even if Ban Ki Moon says go, that's a long way from a real presence or effort.
And, I'll point out again that we're talking a symbolic raise in presence. 30 extra UN workers is about politics not presence.
...
Anon, there's also a section in the article talking about the Iraqis reluctance to work with the UN. They see the UN as a puppet of the US (I wonder why?)
EPM, The Shia will resist because they're playing for the whole pie. Even UN assistance to refugee camps is bound up in big red tape.
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mikevotes, at 10:47 AM
So Bush's strategy seems to be to latteral pass "Iraq" to the UN, then declare victory, saying "see, I told ya I was right" to the Dems, and blame the UN as ineffective because Iraq is a mess.
The Shia -- as with all factions in Iraq -- are really jockeying to be the new Baathists: complete and unchallenged rulers of the nation. Unity Government and all that group hug horseshit is just a Bushian wet dream. Do I have this about right?
By
-epm, at 11:52 AM
Interestingly, that was the idea being pushed by the Colin Powell Republicans back in 2004.
But again, this UN thing is more about a headline than anything real.
By
mikevotes, at 1:16 PM
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