Inexcusable incidents like this make news like that below quite cheering;


Iraq is a disaster because the populace, and the world at large, are never going to forget atrocities such as Abu Ghraib and Falujah. Afghanistan won't forget the callous disregard for civilian life either.

Blackwater? There is no mention of Blackwater in any of your sources. What are you talking about?

Sure there is. Watch the video.
Some of these fighters have even got US army certificates.

I'm not sure what Iraq you're referencing, but it surely isn't the one that exists today as a burgeoning democracy with a nascent market economy and an increasingly professional armed forces.

We've won the battle of Iraq, and your buddy Obama will admit that as soon as its politically expedient for him to do so. AQI and their Shi'ite cousins trained and armed by Iran have been degraded to the point that they are nothing more than organized crime organizations. They can cause a dustup here and there and kill a bunch of civilians with a coward's bomb, but they're strategically defeated and thoroughly discredited. The rejection of AQI by Iraqis has proved a powerful force the world over in defeating that ideology, much more powerful than the left's gullible acceptance of breathless reports from intimidated local officials charging that Coalition forces are blindly bombing women and children (ROE calls for "eyes on target" and bombs don't fly unless collateral damage is limited relative to the objective achieved).

Provincial elections will be held in January and we will witness a largely peaceful transfer of local power all across the country. In December, national elections will be held for the third time. The army is commited to the (flawed by western standards, sure) Constitution and committed to the destruction of extremists whether they be Sunni, Shi'a, or PKK.

The remaining sticking point will be Kirkuk, and bluster will fly on all fronts, especially the MSM as they await their coveted "civil war in Iraq." But in the end, the Iraqi elders will prevail and come up with a suitable compromise as they have done numerous times before when the situation reached a boiling point.

No matter who's elected in November, American forces will be coming home in carefully planned waves over the next three years. They will leave behind not the killing field that would have emerged under the reckless withdrawal plans of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid axis, but rather the best hope the world has had in decades for civilization to re-emerge in the center of gravity of the Muslim world.

I am not worried about afghanistan at all, Iraq is now mop up operation, now we can focus on afghanistan. I imagine it will be a far easier task then Iraq.

__________________
"To those who say what must be said; They lead the way for those who will do what must be done."

Capitalism is Democracy, vote with your dollar.

The audience is asked to remain seated until the end of the recession.

Not really. Terrain and lack of any natural economic base make it hard to prosper there. Heroin is about all they have.

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Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand

You have a vivid imagination shared, historically by the English, The Russians, etc.....

DoctorsBill;
Really.

However, Iraq was mentioned only as a comparison to the spiraling difficulties in Afghanistan. The focus is on NATO disregard for Afghan civilians and the growing numbers of trained Afghan soldiers switching sides.
Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Defections hit Afghan forces

we are better then all these. for one, We stay alive more. and they die more.

We gotta just start acting like Fbi and start arresting corrupt government officials.. once we switch over some more divisions from Iraq into afghanistian. I have a pretty good hunch it will go more smoothly.

__________________
"To those who say what must be said; They lead the way for those who will do what must be done."

Capitalism is Democracy, vote with your dollar.

The audience is asked to remain seated until the end of the recession.

So, some Iraqis don't like the US? Big surprise. Are we losing the War in America because Obama has gathered together thousands of people who oppose George Bush?

Moon, your desperation is showing...in a few years, Iraq may likely be held up as a pillar of American achievement, much like Japan.

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"The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit."
- Milton Friedman

"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."
- George Orwell

Heres another one of those really funny comments

Iraq will one day be like Japan and Germany... I love you guys... where do you come up with BS like this

What you been smoking?

WS.

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"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom"- Malcom X

We keep plodding along and things get better bit by bit. For those who have hitched their wagon to a US failure the standard response is always, "Yeah, but here's 36 guys and a goat that don't like you".

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"You don't have to practice being miserable. Everything else we're gonna work on." - A wise Platoon Sgt.

BDaily;
Underpinning America's failures in Iraq has been the arrogant dispelling of Iraqi opposition. Your diminishment of the strength of anti-American feeling in Iraq is typical of that of the authors of those failures.
You probably don't believe that al-Sadr controls most of the levers of the stumbling automaton which is the US/al-Maliki 'pact'. It's still about the oil and Iraqis know it. Only the fuzzy-headed, mainly American media victims, believe that it's anything to do with 'freedom' for Iraq, the spreading of 'demahcracy' or saving peace-loving christians-in-waiting from the evils of an 'invading' Islam.
However, I repeat the gist of post #8;
Now where have we heard that before ?

Yeh..uhhuh...they'll dance in the streets.

I'll believe it when they're all back, right here at home, boats can turn around, you know

Interestingly, the pro-Taliban posters here have managed to ignore this: Officials: Taliban fighters ambush, kill bus passengers - CNN.com

Faux-outrage when civilians are killed by the NATO forces, and silence when civilians are killed by the Taliban.

Matt