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From Everything I Know is Wrong, a roundup of commentary by leading Iraqi bloggers, on the handover of sovereignty in Iraq. Just one example, of many quoted:
I turned to one friend who was a committed Sheat and who distrusted America all the way. He looked as if he was bewitched, and I asked him, So, what do you think of this man [Paul Bremmer]? Do you still consider him an invader? My friend smiled, still touched and said, Absolutely not! He brought tears to my eyes. God bless him.
Don’t miss this.
From Haloscan, inspiring words on pursuing the war on terrorists:
I read that many Americans are now opposed to our efforts in Iraq because they question the high number of American soldiers killed, which now stands at about 850. Is that a large number? During that same time period more than forty thousand Americans died in traffic accidents, AIDS killed over ten thousand and cancer over half a million. Of course we place special importance on the deaths of our heroes, but in the end all deaths are tragic.
If we as a country are ready to surrender after incurring the loss of 850 soldiers, I fear for our future. In the Revolutionary War we lost over 4,000 should we have given up and remained subjects of King George? In the Civil war almost half a million were lost, was that too many to free African Americans from the bonds of slavery? There is a terrible price to pay for freedom and the day we are unwilling to pay it, our freedom will be short lived. What would the world look like today if we had found unacceptable the deaths of several thousand GI’s on D-Day? That is several thousand in one day!
...having suffered historically miniscule war casualties, a significant portion of the American public is ready to retreat. There is a theory that when societies reach a level of wealth and comfort, they become suicidal. For the sake of my children I hope we are not there.
The war on terror is far from over and there will be many more casualties. Choosing not to fight will not save lives.
Moxie kicks Kerry’s butt all over the parking lot:
what ever you believe in, I do too
Look! LOOK at me! John Kerry! John effing Kerry folks.
– You hate guns? They kill people!
– You like guns? Hey, me too!
– You are a redneck? Me too!
– You are a rich capitalist pig? I married one!
– You hate the war? Me too!
– You love war? You may not know this but I served in Vietnam!
Jessica’s Well debunks in detail the absurd contention that parts of Iraq are worse off now than when the residents were in daily fear for their lives under Hussein:
From the Seattle Times comes an article outlining findings in the recent GAO report on the situation in Iraq and how in many areas Iraq is “worse off than before the war began last year”.
Highlights for the Seattle Times (i.e. perceived lowlights for the Bush administration) include:
* In 13 of Iraq’s 18 provinces, electricity was available fewer hours per day on average last month than before the war. Nearly 20 million of Iraq’s 26 million people live in those provinces.
Anyone remember how Saddam used the power grid to punish whole regions for their transgressions? (Beats whole regions punished for their transgressions by, say, nerve gas though, doesn’t it?) Or how whole regions would be dark to ensure Baghdad’s uninterrupted supply?
* Only $13.7 billion of the $58 billion pledged and allocated worldwide to rebuild Iraq has been spent, with $10 billion more about to be spent. The biggest chunk of that money has been used to run Iraq’s ministry operations.
We are going to be there a while. Should we have spent everything already? Given limited manpower and materials, is it even possible to have spent everything already?
* The country’s court system is more clogged than before the war, and judges are frequent targets of assassination attempts.
This is the best one of all. The court systems are clogged. Think about that for a minute. Picture the previous Iraqi “court system” and try to imagine just why they weren’t clogged. This is Mussolini making the trains run on time only it isn’t trains. It is bullets to the brain.
