Exit strategy from Iraq

[Mouse]

It seems to me that whenever a country fails to roll over and have it's tummy tickled on being presented with the obvious superiority of western liberal democracy/capitalism, the leaders of the West are totally at a loss as to how to react.

Perhaps it's time to revive the old Soviet solution. As it was patently obvious that Communism was the perfect system, it logically followed that opponents were mentally ill if they were incapable of recognising this. Therefore they could be incarcerated in "treatment" facilities and "re-educated" until they saw the light.

Once enough Iraqis are converted, we could disengage our peacekeeping forces and let them get on with running their own country.

[Skunk]

Well, if the Iraqi peope are going to resist the U.S. at every turn maybe we should just leave the place "as is". I mean , if they are going to strip wires for the copper in them, break the water system just as soon as we fix it , and break a previosly undamaged pipeline we should just leave them to it. When they have to find the people and the money to fix all of this stuff themselves then maybe they will cut out the monkey busniess.

1. People are stripping wire for the copper in them because they have no other way of getting food and currency. There's a new kid in town - and he insisted on making 1.5 million unemployed - and won't paid them social security nor do anything towards creating work for them. Thus theft is their only means of support.
2. People are damaging the oil pipelines to prevent 'someone' looting their country's oil - that's rather understandable.

[Donut]

Originally posted by Skunk: 1. People are stripping wire for the copper in them because they have no other way of getting food and currency. There's a new kid in town - and he insisted on making 1.5 million unemployed - and won't paid them social security nor do anything towards creating work for them. Thus theft is their only means of support. 2. People are damaging the oil pipelines to prevent 'someone' looting their country's oil - that's rather understandable.

I may agree with point 1 but point 2 is way off base. The damage is done purely to hinder the rebuilding of the country.

[Sir Taliesin]

Originally posted by Skunk: quote: Well, if the Iraqi peope are going to resist the U.S. at every turn maybe we should just leave the place "as is". I mean , if they are going to strip wires for the copper in them, break the water system just as soon as we fix it , and break a previosly undamaged pipeline we should just leave them to it. When they have to find the people and the money to fix all of this stuff themselves then maybe they will cut out the monkey busniess.

1. People are stripping wire for the copper in them because they have no other way of getting food and currency. There's a new kid in town - and he insisted on making 1.5 million unemployed - and won't paid them social security nor do anything towards creating work for them. Thus theft is their only means of support.
2. People are damaging the oil pipelines to prevent 'someone' looting their country's oil - that's rather understandable. [/QUOTE]And the blowing up of the only waterline into Baghdad was what? To prevent someone from looting their water? NO! It was to make the people mad at the Americans. All they want to do is destablize Iraq for the own ends. Saddom and his cronnies don't care about making life better for their people, they just want their power back so they can go back to raping, killing and being rich again.

[WillowIX]

Originally posted by Donut: I may agree with point 1 but point 2 is way off base. The damage is done purely to hinder the rebuilding of the country.

Yes but to the Iraqi people Skunk's point is correct. I think you would also believe that if you had suffered brain washing and propaganda from the day you were born.

Anyway, I have no idea how to solve this problem. The only thing I can come up with is to put almost all the resources on the civilians. Make them happy and proud of their new country. The partisans wouldn't have too much support then. As it is now with soldiers firing (granted that the troops are fired upon themselves) into civilian gatherings you lose more support than you gain.

I also haven't heard anything about the police force that was sent down to Iraq. More police on the street, less military (in the citys of course). I'm surprised England hasn't pushed that point more with their experiences from Northern Ireland.

[Donut]

More trouble. There has been a major explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

[Donut]

Blast hits Baghdad UN building

An explosion has ripped through the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.

The US military says the blast caused "scores of casualties", the Reuters news agency has reported.

The United Nations says its special representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was injured in the explosion.

The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad says the blast tore away part of the building.

She says there are suggestions that the explosion could have been caused by a car bomb.

A plume of black smoke was seen pouring out of the building.

Hundreds of people work in the building, which used to be a hotel.

[ 08-19-2003, 09:21 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

[Timber Loftis]

Ugh... I was hoping to avoid bad news today. Maybe I need to move to another planet.

[Donut]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Ugh... I was hoping to avoid bad news today. Maybe I need to move to another planet.

Some good news from Iraq

Soldiers save baby in bullet box

Two young British soldiers have saved the life of an abandoned newborn Iraqi girl after finding her in an ammunition dump.

Private Damien Kenny and Private Jonathan Hunt were searching a house in Basra in the south of the country after rounding up five terror suspects when they made their amazing discovery.

There, in a dusty 3ft-long padlocked metal box and nestling among rocket-propelled grenade launchers, AK47s and ammunition, was little Rose.

Tightly swaddled and barely two days old, she was no longer breathing.

Putting down their own weapons, the squaddies began giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

A few minutes later they were rewarded for their quick thinking when Rose - named by the soldiers after the red rose of their Lancashire regiment - squeezed Private Kenny's finger.

We couldn't believe it when we saw it was a baby girl and we had to try something

"We were expecting to find weapons hidden in the box," said Private Kenny, 18, from Wigan.

"We couldn't believe it when we saw it was a baby girl, and we had to try something."

Their commanding officer Major Paul Davies praised his men's speedy intervention.

"It is a testament to the professionalism and adaptability of my men that they dealt with this situation so effectively. I hope this young girl will have a happier future."

Happily, the Army was able to track her down and mother and daughter have been reunited in hospital.

Lieutenant Craig Rogers, who is in charge of the unit which found Rose, told LBC radio that the baby's father had been arrested.

He said: "The mother has actually said that it was the father who put the young child inside the ammunition box. He has been arrested by ourselves."

The soldiers believe the girl may have been in the box for at least 10 minutes.

"The pair immediately initiated first aid and were rewarded for their efforts when the baby began breathing and grasped Private Kenny's finger," said a spokesman at the British command centre in Basra.

"It is unclear why the child had been placed in the locked container, although it has been established that the baby had been born prematurely," the spokesman added.

Four soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment had chased armed Iraqi men into the house in the Al Jubaylah area of Basra early on Sunday following reports of looting at a local water treatment plant.

They were arrested and the baby was found - along a large white bag containing one million Iraqi Dinars - in the subsequent routine search of the house.

[Timber Loftis]

http://maddox.xmission.com/bomb_iran.html