Some thoughts on Iraq!!

[Navy1960]

Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in March 2009 has been released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1.00 million barrels per day to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 62 percent of United States crude oil imports in March while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 84 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for March were Canada (1.845 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.092 million barrels per day), Venezuela (.949 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (0.944 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (0.860 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Angola (0.644 million barrels per day), Iraq (0.587 million barrels per day), Brazil (0.334 million barrels per day), Columbia (0.254 million barrels per day), and Russia (0.219 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.219 million barrels per day in March, which is an increase of (0.014) million barrels per day from February 2009.
Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank, including outrageous profits from $4-a-gallon gas prices in the U.S.," said Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We should require that U.S. taxpayers be reimbursed for the cost of large projects."

Baghdad had a $29 billion budget surplus between 2005 to 2007. With the price of crude roughly doubling in the past year, Iraq's surplus for 2008 is expected to run between $38 billion and $50 billion, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Iraq's oil-fueled surplus could hit $80 billion, report says - CNN.com

Boerma and his team looked at the period between March 2003 and June 2006, and estimated 151,000 violent deaths in Iraq.

That's a fraction of the more than 600,000 violent deaths reported for the same period by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2006, a survey that continues to be debated in the press and political circles.
WHO Estimates Iraqi Death Toll at 151,000 : NPR

There's no doubt that the reasoning behind going into Iraq was flawed as was the planning, and I have not tried to defend that nor will I. I have made it quite clear that U.S. Military involvement in Iraq was poorly planned, with no goals and a less than clear objective, and to add to that under manned for the overall task assigned leading to even more deaths. What I have tried to point out here, is that the Iraqis have as a result rid themselves of a ruthless former leader and as such even as the mission was not as intended the very fact that the Iraqis can choose their own destiny no matter what that may be is a victory in an of itself. Yes, this nation is going to have problems for the forseeable future, and won't fix iself over night. The fact that it won't be easy and will take a long time for Iraq to realize what path it will choose is not reason enough for the U.S. to simply walk away and abandon Iraq and repeat what we have done in the past.

 

[MaggieMae]

sealy, I've said this to you many times, and willsay it again, as for the name calling, when you resort to name calling you dishonor yourself and your message. So when your ready to engage me in a debate as an adult I will engage you back, Until that time I have nothing but advice to offer you as a child.

The things you say make me want to puke. Sweet Willy can handle you. He said it wiithout cursing.

It just drives me up a fucking wall for a brainwashed right winger to call me partisan. Thanks for proving my point you said? Kiss my fucking ass.

Sorry.

I'm wondering why you seem to angry all of a sudden, too. At least Navy presents excellent arguments worthy of civil debate, unlike some of the others which make MY blood boil too. Everyone should be more selective when tossing around insults--some are deserving, some are not.

 

[GHook93]

The Kurdish issue was a bunch of BS too. The war cry had become, at one time, "HE GASSED HIS OWN PEOPLE !" This, of course, was news to Iraqis and Kurds alike. The Kurds were never "his people", they had actually been denied citizenship and then refused it when offered. They were in pact with Iran, a state enemy of Iraq. So, let's put the shoe on the other foot. The state of Idaho arms it's militia with tanks, grenades and AK 47s and then announces they have entered a pact with Iran and are now an open enemy of the US, inside of the US.

We wouldn't be hostile towards our own people would we? That would make us some kind of monsters.

The Kurds get a rare deal. No one give a shit about them, because its Muslim on Muslim violence. The Kurds also lay claims to land in 4 countries, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Like the Palestinians and Jews they have a legit claim to their own country, but no one gives a shit because is Muslim on Muslim violence with no oil involved!

 

[JBeukema]

[
. My problem with the Iraq war began when once he was captured, there was an opportunity for the U.S. to at least scale back and not get embroiled in the middle of a coming civil war.

Had we left at that time, or decreased our presence
1)We would have created a power void that would be replaces with either a new tyrant or a number of warlords
2)We would have been shirking out duties, and defined by international law, regarding what was considered American property/territory after the military defeat of iraq's forces

We had no business being there and trying to dictate how Iraq's political landscape should be without Saddam Hussein.

We cannnot afford for iraq to become a puppet state for Iran. That is why we are trying to put into place a secure and friendly government

go enlist so you can drive over a roadside bomb. Sacrafice yourself you pussy! Fuck yourself!!!

That's just fucking tasteless. Grow the fuck up