paulitician
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- Oct 7, 2011
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Lots of discussion on this as we complete our withdrawal from Iraq. The Iraq War is now over. So were the goals achieved? Are they now a friend and new Democracy? What do you think?
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Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia country's Sunni vice-president, leading to fears of the government's collapse and an increase in sectarian tensions.
The Al-Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, which represents most of Iraq's Sunni Arab community, had already withdrawn from parliament, accusing Shia Arab Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of monopolising power. Mr Hashemi has been an outspoken critic of Mr Maliki.
President Jalal Talabani's office issued a statement saying he was "surprised" at the announcement of the warrant.
"Making hasty decisions and announcing them in the media will complicate the political solutions needed in this delicate stage in Iraq's history
Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi
Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia country's Sunni vice-president, leading to fears of the government's collapse and an increase in sectarian tensions.
The Al-Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, which represents most of Iraq's Sunni Arab community, had already withdrawn from parliament, accusing Shia Arab Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of monopolising power. Mr Hashemi has been an outspoken critic of Mr Maliki.
President Jalal Talabani's office issued a statement saying he was "surprised" at the announcement of the warrant.
"Making hasty decisions and announcing them in the media will complicate the political solutions needed in this delicate stage in Iraq's history
I see it becoming quite tenuous...but hope our blood and treasure wasn't wasted.
Iran is licking thier chops...Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi
Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia country's Sunni vice-president, leading to fears of the government's collapse and an increase in sectarian tensions.
The Al-Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, which represents most of Iraq's Sunni Arab community, had already withdrawn from parliament, accusing Shia Arab Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of monopolising power. Mr Hashemi has been an outspoken critic of Mr Maliki.
President Jalal Talabani's office issued a statement saying he was "surprised" at the announcement of the warrant.
"Making hasty decisions and announcing them in the media will complicate the political solutions needed in this delicate stage in Iraq's history
I see it becoming quite tenuous...but hope our blood and treasure wasn't wasted.
Yea i hear ya on that. This arrest warrant is a very bad sign.
Iran is licking thier chops...Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi
I see it becoming quite tenuous...but hope our blood and treasure wasn't wasted.
Yea i hear ya on that. This arrest warrant is a very bad sign.
Depend upon whom the POTUS is I suppose...I don't think Obama has the stones...Iran is licking thier chops...Yea i hear ya on that. This arrest warrant is a very bad sign.
Maybe but i tend to think we'll intervene in their Civil War at some point. We'll likely use it as cover to go to War with Iran. I could be wrong though. Just my own observation.
Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi
Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia country's Sunni vice-president, leading to fears of the government's collapse and an increase in sectarian tensions.
The Al-Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, which represents most of Iraq's Sunni Arab community, had already withdrawn from parliament, accusing Shia Arab Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of monopolising power. Mr Hashemi has been an outspoken critic of Mr Maliki.
President Jalal Talabani's office issued a statement saying he was "surprised" at the announcement of the warrant.
"Making hasty decisions and announcing them in the media will complicate the political solutions needed in this delicate stage in Iraq's history
I see it becoming quite tenuous...but hope our blood and treasure wasn't wasted.
Depend upon whom the POTUS is I suppose...I don't think Obama has the stones...Iran is licking thier chops...
Maybe but i tend to think we'll intervene in their Civil War at some point. We'll likely use it as cover to go to War with Iran. I could be wrong though. Just my own observation.
We'll see...Depend upon whom the POTUS is I suppose...I don't think Obama has the stones...Maybe but i tend to think we'll intervene in their Civil War at some point. We'll likely use it as cover to go to War with Iran. I could be wrong though. Just my own observation.
I don't think it's in his hands. The Military Industrial Complex makes these decisions. Obama is just an Employee. These decisions will be made for him. But then again,what do i know?
Who other than you gives a tinker's damn what that loser has to say?Funny? We wanted their oil and they wanted our political and military support. Now if that's the going definition of Ally and Democracy, sobeit. Otherwise, forget about it. At least they won't end up Communist, like Viet Nam. We have damned few allies in the Middle East and the margin narrows daily.
As Bill Maher suggests the next time we go to war for oil, let's make sure we get some!
I voted no...and I stated why I am skeptical earlier.Looks like most don't believe they are an ally or a Democracy. Hmm?
Most Americans would just as soon forget all about the Iraq War, the eight-year conflict that some who promoted it now say was a great mistake. Still, Iraq remains in the headlines, but not in a positive way. Every day since the last American troops pulled out in December, the situation on the ground seems to grow bleaker. In an interview last week, a former United Nations official who worked there during the war offered the view: Were now at the nadir, politically, no question about it. But then just a few days later, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, hiding out in Kurdistan because Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wants to arrest him, proclaimed on television that his bodyguards and other employees are being held in secret prisons and tortured.
Looking over all of that, R. Nicholas Burns, who was undersecretary of state, the departments third most senior officer, during former President George W. Bushs second term, said: The war was a mistake, the biggest strategic error since Vietnam. In an interview, he cited among other issues the many thousands of Americans and Iraqis who were killed and the high cost, both political the tremendous damage to our image in the Arab world and financial. A recent comprehensive academic study put the actual costs of both the Iraq and Afghan wars at $4.4 trillion so far, counting expenses such as veterans medical benefits that no one in Washington seems willing to acknowledge. By contrast, the Congressional Budget Offices most recent estimation was just $1.5 trillion.
After Bush negotiated an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq near the end of his term in 2008, his politicians and generals began warning of three large potential problems: growing Iranian influence in the Iraqi state, increasing sectarian violence and the possibility that Al Qaeda in Iraq will continue to grow in capacity, as Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, who commanded U.S. forces there, put it during a news conference last fall. In interviews, several former officials and experts acknowledged that most, if not all, of that has already happened, in just the few weeks since the last American troops left. Last week, for example, Iran agreed to increase the electric power it supplies to Iraq by as much as 30 percent.
Some Sunni leaders, under sometimes lethal pressure from the Shiite-controlled government, have begun talking about breaking away from Baghdad and creating their own state. That has started talk of a possible civil war. And in the past week alone, about 70 people have died in bombings and other attacks. But no one seemed to anticipate what is arguably the biggest problem: The nation seems to be relapsing rapidly into brutal dictatorship.
Read more: Iraq outlook looks dim after pullout - Joel Brinkley - POLITICO.com