...Or would you rather wait until it's "outside your front door?"

Ramblings' Journal / Project 21 ^ | 5.11.04 | Michael King

[IoCaster]

I would think so, especially when they quote Colin Powell, and Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy. How strange that you wouldn't want to read what they said.

"We want them to exercise as much sovereignty as they are capable of exercising," says Secretary of State Colin Powell.

That's the only Powell quote they reference in that article.

What's your game?

As far as Brahimi is concerned, there is plenty of relevant info on his background and probable motives available on this site as you can possibly digest in one sitting. What are you implying?

[petercooper]

great post!

[Capt. Tom]

In memory of their son, the family may choose to keep quiet.

AP-Berg's father, Michael Berg, blames the U-S government for creating circumstances that led to his son's death. In addition to the war itself, which Michael Berg opposes, he contends that the U-S military held his son illegally from March 24th to April Sixth. He says if his son hadn't been detained for so long, he might have been able to leave the country before the violence worsened.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? Looks like the DNC memo arrived! Too bad.

I'm sorry they lost their son, but I have no sympathy for their ignorance.

[CyberAnt]

Unfortunately, it looks like the DNC got to him first!

[StarCMC]

bump

[mhking]

I didn't have the ping list at work where I posted this from...

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Born Conservative]

Very well written; thanks for posting your thoughts on this terrible event.

[MonroeDNA]

Muslims slowly cut your head off.

[MonroeDNA]

Welcome to FR.

(cough, cough, TROLL, cough cough).

:)

[paul51]

You want to stop it now? Or wait until it's "outside your front door?"

Look around your neighborhood

[antonia]

Allah demands blood sacrifice.

Islamofascist; Radical Islam is an insane death cult, and "moderate" Islam is its Trojan Horse in the West. 

 

[Grampa Dave]

Excellent essay Michael.

Please send your friend Sean Hannity a copy.

Thanks for the ping.

[some guy in the mountains]

As far as Brahimi is concerned, there is plenty of relevant info on his background and probable motives available on this site as you can possibly digest in one sitting. What are you implying?

I am saying that the new Iraqi government may be be sovereign at all. Calling it sovereign doesn't make it sovereign. It looks like they will still be tightly controlled by the US and the UN, by the design of their constitution. If that's the case, then we (and the Prez) shouldn't refer to Jun 30 as the time we return sovereignty back to the Iraqis. It's doublespeak.

[Zack Nguyen]

Ok, this gets back to my original question: will Iraq always be a police state? If they can't correctly govern themselves, then I guess we must always rule them.

That's a good question. In WWII, we took a country (Japan) with no history of democracy at all and we gave them one. But this happened only after we had almost totally destroyed the country. We forced them to surrender unconditionally. Therefore we could pretty much do what we wanted.

In Iraq we didn't come close to this. We left most of Iraq's infrastructure (what there was of it anyway) intact. We did not kill a huge number of people.

It may still be possible to make a democratic Iraq, but we will be there a long time. I seriously doubt that anything will change by June 30th.

[mc5cents]

arrived at work (in a high rise building), worked out in my gym, and reported to a great job at a great desk, with great co-workers, able to earn a living, of which the government gets a small percentage

The "gets a small percentage" lost me. I loved the rest of your post however.

[Christian4Bush]

"...arrived at work (in a high rise building), worked out in my gym, and reported to a great job at a great desk, with great co-workers, able to earn a living, of which the government gets a small percentage
The "gets a small percentage" lost me. I loved the rest of your post however."


The amount of my taxes averages out to 22% of my gross pay. The taxes are a little less than what they would be, due to my pre-tax medical and 401k. I can still live on the remaining 78%, though. That's what I meant.

Thanks for the "props" on the rest of the post!

[mc5cents]

Got ya. But I still think that 22% is not what I would call a "small percentage". BTW. Don't look now but that is just the tip of the "taxation iceberg" so to speak. It is the part we can see. The rest, most, is hidden in other ways. Listen, don't get me wrong I love what you said, I am just a fanatic about taxes and how much of them we don't even see. Out of sight, out of mind. Next time you fill up at the gas pump look up and see how much in tax you are paying with each gallon. What? It's not there? Well, well, well. No of course it's not. You might just get MAD! That's my point.

[dcwusmc]

Nice rant, Michael. Thanks.

[IoCaster]

Is that what you're concerned about?

The level of sovereignty that the Iraqi interim government will have?

The July turnover is just another step on the long road to representative government for them. Did you seriously expect a full-fledged democratic system to materialize like a McDonalds Happy Meal or something?

The plan seems to be that the Iraqis start to prepare themselves for a general election while the US continues to train the Iraqi security forces to take control of their country. They still need to complete a country wide census. A national election takes logistical planning and preperation to ensure that it's a legitimate exercise of the popular will. These things take time to accomplish. If we don't safeguard and help control the process then you can rest assured that anarchy will reign. We're in this for the long haul.