Posted on 09/10/2007 3:48:52 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The Associated Press asked Iraqis for their reactions to some of the key points raised by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker about the situation in Iraq. ___
Abdul-Salam Ibrahim, 52, retired army officer and Sunni in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown:
"What is new today is the American's frank admission, even if they knew that before, of their monumental failure. This is what made them acknowledge that there is Iranian intervention in Iraq. If they stay in Iraq, it will be a catastrophe. Anbar is not the place to judge. That place should be the capital Baghdad, where militias emptied it of Sunnis ... (Baghdad) has become for one sect."
___
Mohammed Mubarak, 44, Sunni bookshop owner in Baghdad:
"I listened to the report with little interest. Anbar should not be the symbol. He (Petraeus) spoke about reducing troops and this is repetition. They are justifications. They are talking about patience and time. I don't know what they have been doing for four years. The report did not mention the suffering of the Iraqi people. The Americans are in a big dilemma and they don't know what to do."
___
Hadi Hassan, 35, a Shiite and Oil Ministry employee in Baghdad:
"The report includes false accusations about Iran and says it is behind the major problems. We are bored of these justifications. A superpower should not deal with tribes. They are repeating the Taliban experience in Iraq. They dealt with them and then turned against them. They (Americans) spoke about federalism and de-Baathification. We don't care about these matters. We want solutions to the problems of the Iraqi people. Lots of my friends did not pay attention to this report and ask where were the Americans in the past four years."
___
Ari Harsin, 51, Kurdish university professor in Irbil:
"I was expecting them not to make the mistake by indicating to the American army's withdrawal from Iraq. This is in the interest of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups to whom Iraq has become a field ... The government will improve when the Americans stays to monitor the political and military process in order for Iraq to reach peaceful shores."
___
Radwan Talabani, 37, a Kurdish civil servant in Kirkuk:
"The Americans should achieve security and political stability in Iraq and then they can withdraw. If they withdraw without that, it will lead to a civil war from northern to southern Iraq."
Uhmmm... So Baathists and Islamists want us gone, while Kurds and good Arab Iraqis want us to remain until it’s stable.
BIG surprises here AP. The entire press is so utterly worthless.
LLS
krAP reporting at its finest...
AP reporters (and others)are known to obtain their interviews either from the cocktail lounge of the hotel within the Green Zone where people they have identified as ones they want to speak appear, or later in front of their laptop fabricated from their imagination.
They did the same thing in Vietnam.
what’s the saying about you can’t teach old dogs new tricks..
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