Things might start to get intteresting in Iraq

[The Sponge]

Now from the beginning i thought this was a war profiteering agenda and an oil play. I also believe there are still billions to be made in this hell hole by our wonderful thieves. Bush and Cheney are trying to push a law on the Iraqi's and it looks like they are having no part of it. This could get very interesting.


Maliki raises possibility that Iraq might ask U.S. to leave

By Leila Fadel and Mike Tharp | McClatchy Newspaper


BAGHDAD ? Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki raised the possibility that his country won't sign a status of forces agreement with the United States and will ask U.S. troops to go home when their U.N. mandate to be in Iraq expires at the end of the year.

Maliki made the comment after weeks of complaints from Shiite Muslim lawmakers that U.S. proposals that would govern a continued troop presence in Iraq would infringe on Iraq's sovereignty.

"Iraq has another option that it may use," Maliki said during a visit to Amman, Jordan. "The Iraqi government, if it wants, has the right to demand that the U.N. terminate the presence of international forces on Iraqi sovereign soil."



==============================================

McCain is in a tenuous position:

1) If he condemns Maliki, he is, in effect, condemning the very same democracy he voted to install in Iraq

2) If he supports Maliki's efforts, then he admits that an American presence in Iraq is bad and that the only viable solution is to withdraw (which would put him in agreement with Obama)

 

[The Sponge]

What our neocons want the Iraqi's to sign
The Imperial Security Scam:

Grants the U.S. long-term rights to maintain over 50 military bases in their California-sized country

* allows the U.S. to strike any other country from within Iraqi territory without the permission of the Iraqi government

* allows the U.S. to conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting with the local government

* allows U.S. forces to arrest any Iraqi without consulting with Iraqi authorities

* extends to U.S. troops and contracters immunity from Iraqi law

* gives U.S. forces control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft.

* places the Iraqi Defense, Interior and National Security ministries under American supervision for ten years

* gives the U.S. responsibility for Iraqi armament contracts for ten years

* gives foreign oil companies 90% control of Iraqi oil

 

[THE KOD]

Al-Sadr: New force to fight U.S. in IraqStory Highlights
Sources: Muqtada Al-Sadr apparently embracing what U.S. calls rogue militants

Shiite cleric's Mehdi Army has operated under cease-fire since last summer

Al-Sadr says there'll be no stop to resistance in Iraq "until liberation or martyrdom"

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is establishing a new fighting force to battle U.S.-led troops in Iraq, he said in a letter read in Iraqi mosques Friday.

Muqtada al-Sadr says his new group will focus exclusively on battling U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

Al-Sadr's letter said that "the resistance will be exclusively conducted by only one group. This new group will be defined soon by me."

Al-Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army, has a strong and ubiquitous presence in Shiite cities, towns and neighborhoods.

Sources familiar with al-Sadr said they believe he's trying to embrace what the U.S. calls "Special Groups" -- Iran-backed Shiite militants, including rogue Mehdi Army members, who have been fighting U.S.-led troops despite a cease-fire that the cleric declared in August.

The mainstream Mehdi Army has operated under the cease-fire, which dramatically reduced violence in Iraq. During that time, however, there has been fighting between U.S. and Iraqi troops and members of the Mehdi Army, with many of the battles this spring in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.

In the latest fighting overnight, American-led coalition forces killed five and arrested two Special Groups members near Hilla, south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

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In the letter, al-Sadr said, "The weapons will be held exclusively by this new group, and they should be pointed exclusively at the occupier," adding that he will forbid the group "to target anyone else."

The letter added, "We will not stop resisting the occupation until liberation or martyrdom."

Al-Sadr is transitioning much of the rest of the Mehdi Army into a civilian movement dealing with "religious, social and cultural affairs," according to the letter.

That part of the Mehdi Army will not be involved in militancy but will "fight the Western ideology and liberate the minds from domination and globalization."

The letter said al-Sadr would disown anyone in the Mehdi Army who disobeys his new command. It was read at mosques affiliated with the cleric's movement.

Iraqi and Western intelligence sources have said that Iran, over the last few months, has pressured al-Sadr to promote its interests, which include getting the United States out of Iraq.

Al-Sadr's letter didn't explain why he decided to issue his command.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials, frustrated by the lack of success in negotiations with the United States over a long-term security agreement, are contemplating a new tack -- pulling out of security talks and developing their own legislation that would dictate the shape of the American military presence in Iraq.

Haidar Abadi, an aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, announced the move in remarks Thursday.

The talks have sparked concern among Iraqis that a bilateral security pact will compromise their country's sovereignty.

The United States has said it hopes to secure a status of forces agreement by the end of July. At present, a U.N. mandate governs the American military presence through the end of the year.
...............................................................



It dont matter anyways. As soon as we pull out Al Sadr is stepping in from Iran and killing everyone he needs to , and will install himself as the new Allatollah of Iraq/

Why didn we kill/arrest this Ad Sadr when he was Iraq and we had the chance ?

Iran protects him along with Bin Laden and the boys.

The current US installed leader will not have a fawking chance if he has to defend the country against Al Sadr.

And for the US, all the trillions down the drain for nothing. When Al Sadr is running the country, all our efforts to put a democracy in Iraq is out the window.

:SIB :shrug: :SIB

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Going to get real interesting bout election time
--from Mr Krauhammer

What Obama's Been Missing in Iraq
By Charles Krauthammer

WASHINGTON -- In his St. Paul victory speech, Barack Obama pledged again to pull out of Iraq. Rather than "continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians. ... It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future."

We know Obama hasn't been to Iraq in more than two years, but does he not read the papers? Does he not know anything about developments on the ground? Here is the "nothing" that Iraqis have been doing in the last few months:

1. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sent the Iraqi army into Basra. It achieved in a few weeks what the British had failed to do in four years: take the city, drive out the Mahdi Army and seize the ports from Iranian-backed militias.

2. When Mahdi fighters rose up in support of their Basra brethren, the Iraqi army at Maliki's direction confronted them and prevailed in every town -- Najaf, Karbala, Hilla, Kut, Nasiriyah and Diwaniyah -- from Basra to Baghdad.

3. Without any American ground forces, the Iraqi army entered and occupied Sadr City, the Mahdi Army stronghold.

4. Maliki flew to Mosul, directing a joint Iraqi-U.S. offensive against the last redoubt of al-Qaeda, which had already been driven out of Anbar, Baghdad and Diyala provinces.

5. The Iraqi parliament enacted a de-Baathification law, a major Democratic benchmark for political reconciliation.

6. Parliament also passed the other reconciliation benchmarks -- a pension law, an amnesty law, and a provincial elections and powers law. Oil revenues are being distributed to the provinces through the annual budget.

7. With Maliki having demonstrated that he would fight not just Sunni insurgents (e.g., in Mosul) but Shiite militias (e.g., the Mahdi Army), the Sunni parliamentary bloc began negotiations to join the Shiite-led government. (The final sticking point is a squabble over a sixth Cabinet position.)

The disconnect between what Democrats are saying about Iraq and what is actually happening there has reached grotesque proportions. Democrats won an exhilarating electoral victory in 2006 pledging withdrawal at a time when conditions in Iraq were dire and we were indeed losing the war. Two years later, when everything is changed, they continue to reflexively repeat their "narrative of defeat and retreat" (as Joe Lieberman so memorably called it) as if nothing has changed.

It is a position so utterly untenable that John McCain must seize the opportunity and, contrary to conventional wisdom, make the Iraq War the central winning plank of his campaign. Yes, Americans are war-weary. Yes, most think we should not have engaged in the first place. Yes, Obama will keep pulling out his 2002 speech opposing the war.

But McCain's case is simple. Is not Obama's central mantra that this election is about the future not the past? It is about 2009, not 2002. Obama promises that upon his inauguration, he will order the Joint Chiefs to bring him a plan for withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months. McCain says that upon his inauguration, he'll ask the Joint Chiefs for a plan for continued and ultimate success.

The choice could not be more clearly drawn. The Democrats' one objective in Iraq is withdrawal. McCain's one objective is victory.

McCain's case is not hard to make. Iraq is a three-front war -- against Sunni al-Qaeda, against Shiite militias and against Iranian hegemony -- and we are winning on every front:

-- We did not go into Iraq to fight al-Qaeda. The war had other purposes. But al-Qaeda chose to turn it into the central front in its war against America. That choice turned into an al-Qaeda fiasco: al-Qaeda in Iraq is now on the run and in the midst of stunning and humiliating defeat.

-- As for the Shiite extremists, the Mahdi Army is isolated and at its weakest point in years.

-- Its sponsor, Iran, has suffered major setbacks, not just in Basra, but in Iraqi public opinion, which has rallied to the Maliki government and against Iranian interference through its Sadrist proxy.

Even the most expansive American objective -- establishing a representative government that is an ally against jihadists, both Sunni and Shiite -- is within sight.

Obama and the Democrats would forfeit every one of these successes to a declared policy of fixed and unconditional withdrawal. If McCain cannot take to the American people the case for the folly of that policy, he will not be president. Nor should he be.

Give the speech, senator. Give it now.

letters@charleskrauthammer.com

 

[gardenweasel]

What our neocons want the Iraqi's to sign
The Imperial Security Scam:

Grants the U.S. long-term rights to maintain over 50 military bases in their California-sized country

* allows the U.S. to strike any other country from within Iraqi territory without the permission of the Iraqi government

* allows the U.S. to conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting with the local government

* allows U.S. forces to arrest any Iraqi without consulting with Iraqi authorities

* extends to U.S. troops and contracters immunity from Iraqi law

* gives U.S. forces control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft.

* places the Iraqi Defense, Interior and National Security ministries under American supervision for ten years

* gives the U.S. responsibility for Iraqi armament contracts for ten years

* gives foreign oil companies 90% control of Iraqi oil

quote your source article for this specific information please,spongy....

look...if you`re gonna cut and paste,at least have the decency to attribute this stuff to a source article....

`cause it`s worded to obviously make it look like we`re oppressing them...

man up,will ya?...

 

[AR182]

quote your source article for this specific information please,spongy....

look...if you`re gonna cut and paste,at least have the decency to attribute this stuff to a source article....

`cause it`s worded to obviously make it look like we`re oppressing them...

man up,will ya?...

sit tight gw....he has to e-mail the guy who was just banned & find out where the article came from (that is where he gets most of his cut & paste articles)....thank you for your patience..

 

[gardenweasel]

sit tight gw....he has to e-mail the guy who was just banned & find out where the article came from (that is where he gets most of his cut & paste articles)....thank you for your patience..

lol.....:grins: ....ar....you have the patience of jobe ......and this place suffers greatly due to your "way to frequent" extended absences.....

my brotha`....:toast:

 

[Skulnik]

Sometimes it seems like our American Brothers should use Osama Bin Laden for their Avitar, seems like they can only root for their country if the President has a D (DEMOCRAT) behind their name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7CsH_5UTkw&feature=related

:nono: :nono: :nono:

 

[Skulnik]

I really believe the war in Iraq would have gone a lot better if the Democrats would have stood behind the President instead of using it for political gain. Al Qaeda saw the desent and used it to their advantage.

JMHO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7CsH_5UTkw&feature=related

 

[The Sponge]

quote your source article for this specific information please,spongy....

look...if you`re gonna cut and paste,at least have the decency to attribute this stuff to a source article....

`cause it`s worded to obviously make it look like we`re oppressing them...

man up,will ya?...

Does it really matter Garden? It could be handed to you by Cheney and notorized by Bush and you still wouldn't believe it.

 

[The Sponge]

sit tight gw....he has to e-mail the guy who was just banned & find out where the article came from (that is where he gets most of his cut & paste articles)....thank you for your patience..

It doesn't matter where i get stuff if its honest and of course way over your head.

 

[AR182]

Does it really matter Garden? It could be handed to you by Cheney and notorized by Bush and you still wouldn't believe it.

of course it matters where you got it from...& the fact that you don't understand that makes you the simpleton that you are....

 

[WhatsHisNuts]

Sometimes it seems like our American Brothers should use Osama Bin Laden for their Avitar, seems like they can only root for their country if the President has a D (DEMOCRAT) behind their name.

What about those of us that are Independents and don't support the President? If the Democrats are only against him because he's not one of them, why do you think people without an affiliation to either party criticize his policies/actions?

 

[AR182]

It doesn't matter where i get stuff if its honest and of course way over your head.

how do you know it's honest...because that banned guy told you it was honest.....

i assure you that if it isn't over your head...it isn't over anybody's head....because you are on the bottom of the heap when it comes to intelligence......

 

[kosar]

Big Al mixin' it up this morning.

 

[djv]

It seems to me the word WAR in Iraq is used to much. No one declared WAR but Bush. I do not remember congress doing that.
And I do not remember Iraq inviting us or asking us to stay 100 years Mc Cain. Fu//ing nation builders. Cost us to much in lifes and money. For those that think we have right to do this. They use the word WAR. I guess it makes them feel better.
Sorry for ragging subject is getting old. We do need change.

 

[Skulnik]

DJV, then we should kick the UN out of our country, how many Resolutions were there before Iraq was invaded?

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/01fs/14906.htm

 

[IntenseOperator]

of course it matters where you got it from...& the fact that you don't understand that makes you the simpleton that you are....

simpleton=pathetic

 

[IntenseOperator]

Big Al mixin' it up this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g82y...logspot.com/2008/01/spock-fight-to-death.html

 

[The Sponge]

how do you know it's honest...because that banned guy told you it was honest.....

i assure you that if it isn't over your head...it isn't over anybody's head....because you are on the bottom of the heap when it comes to intelligence......

Feel better now? Have a nice day AR.