Iraq
(TimesOnline) In a sign they are preparing to leave Iraq, the British government sets a patriation program for those Iraqis who worked for the British government.
(NYTimes) Maliki's office declares the Blackwater attack "deliberate murder." (Is Maliki pressing this for domestic reasons or as a lever against the US?)
(Reuters) A report by the Oxford Research Group says actions taken by the Bush administration in the war on terror is fuelling Al Qaeda.
(HeraldSun) The Czechs are preparing to pull their 100 troops out of Basra.
(BostonGlobe) African American enlistment in the military was down by more than half through 2005.
(Bloomberg) Powerful Kurd politician Talabani endorses the US partition vote. (It's all the Kurds want.)
(Kuna) The US has cordoned off Al Doura in Baghdad allowing only women and children to leave.
(BBC) The PKK killed 13 Turkish soldiers near the border.
(AFP) The Maliki government launches charges against the anti-corruption chief while he is in the US, replacing him in his job with someone presumably more friendly to Shia graft.
And, in "the other war," (AFP) 50 more Pakistani soldiers are missing and out of contact in Waziristan.
(NYTimes) Maliki's office declares the Blackwater attack "deliberate murder." (Is Maliki pressing this for domestic reasons or as a lever against the US?)
(Reuters) A report by the Oxford Research Group says actions taken by the Bush administration in the war on terror is fuelling Al Qaeda.
(HeraldSun) The Czechs are preparing to pull their 100 troops out of Basra.
(BostonGlobe) African American enlistment in the military was down by more than half through 2005.
(Bloomberg) Powerful Kurd politician Talabani endorses the US partition vote. (It's all the Kurds want.)
(Kuna) The US has cordoned off Al Doura in Baghdad allowing only women and children to leave.
(BBC) The PKK killed 13 Turkish soldiers near the border.
(AFP) The Maliki government launches charges against the anti-corruption chief while he is in the US, replacing him in his job with someone presumably more friendly to Shia graft.
And, in "the other war," (AFP) 50 more Pakistani soldiers are missing and out of contact in Waziristan.
posted by mikevotes at
8:33 AM
4 Comments:
I don't understand why Bush professes to be against partition. It's obviously the best way to get the Oil Law passed.
By
Anonymous, at 1:37 PM
I would play devil's advocate on two levels.
On a real geostrategic level, I really don't think they want the undiluted Iranian client state. We can argue whether that's happening anyway or not, but I really believe they see that as another potential southern lebanon except this time leaning on the oilfields of Kuwait and Saudi.
On a US political level, they don't want partition because it would mark a failure, obliterating the last standing rationalization for this huge disaster of a war.
They might be able to shift the historic case that they invaded to free the people from Saddam, but that only works with a free, whole democratic Iraq coming out the other side.
By
mikevotes, at 2:14 PM
Yes but Bush won't be around much longer. He may want to stick with the fantasy of a sovereign democratic Iraq if only because it's how he wants history to perceive him but there are other forces at work. The Israelis would probably like fragmentation and the oil companies would find a weak Iraq easier to deal with. Your point about Iran filling the vacuum is top of the agenda at the moment...some seem to think a good bombing will fix it.
By
Anonymous, at 4:45 PM
Oh, it definitely won't. At the very best, it sets them back a bit.
More than likely the people will coalesce around the anti-US faction in the government meaning Ahmadinejad grows stronger unless he does something really stupid, and on the int'l scene, the Russians and Chinese will likely seek to get Iran back on its feet fairly quickly because it's their counterbalance.
By
mikevotes, at 6:16 PM
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