[NormsRevenge]

Crisis Group's Board
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1139&l=1

Guess who is on the executive committee of the board?

quite the collection.. across the board

[NormsRevenge]

fyi , the 'group' per its site is..

The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, with nearly 120 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

[Jack Hammer]

"The warning from the International Crisis Group came amid lawless chaos in Baghdad, where police were hunting for 16 kidnapped aid workers and a former minister who escaped from jail, allegedly with the help of US hired guns."

Sounds like an average day in Philadelphia. Guess this "disintegration" thing is pretty widespread.

[samtheman]

Will the economy continue to improve after the collapse? (Just curious.)

[Jhensy]

I didn't make it past Soros and Solarz.

[fhlh]

George Soros
Chairman, Open Society Institute

[tobyhill]

Media Shocker: Newsweek Reports Iraq Economy Booming

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1755381/posts

[NormsRevenge]

al-Reuters whack at report

Iraq on brink of becoming failed state: report
Ross Colvin

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical action is needed to save a "hollowed-out and fatally weakened" Iraqi state and ease violence that a new Pentagon report says is at an all-time high, a prominent think-tank warned on Tuesday.

The report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said an international effort was needed to prevent Iraq collapsing into a "failed and fragmented state" whose Shi'ite- Sunni Arab conflict could draw in its neighbors in a proxy war.

"Hollowed-out and fatally weakened, the Iraqi state today is prey to armed militias, sectarian forces and a political class that, by putting short-term personal benefit ahead of long term national interests, is complicit in Iraq's tragic destruction."

In a report on Monday, the Pentagon said the Medic Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Montana al-Sadri had replaced al Qaeda as the "most dangerous accelerant of potentially self- sustaining sectarian violence in Iraq."

While the statement came as little surprise to many Iraqis, especially minority Sunnis, it was the bluntest statement yet by the Pentagon on the militia. U.S. commanders in Iraq have previously been reluctant to blame the Medic Army by name.

The U.S. and Iraqi military have also avoided large-scale strikes on his Sadri City stronghold, although they have staged raids to seize suspected Medic Army death squad leaders.

Shiite Prime Minister Nora al-Malice, who owes his position to Sad's support, has vowed to dismantle the militias but has done little so far to rein them in. The Pentagon report said the Medic Army exerted "significant influence" over the government.

"It is likely that Shiite militants were responsible for more civilian casualties than those associated with terrorist organizations. Shi'ite militants were the most significant threat to Coalition presence in Baghdad and southern Iraq," the Pentagon report said.

'POLITICAL COMPROMISE A MUST'

The Pentagon's findings were given added urgency by Tuesday's ICG report, which took issue with a call by a high- level Washington panel, the Iraq Study Group, to speed up the handover of security control to the Iraqi government.

"This is not a military challenge in which one side needs to be strengthened and another defeated. It is a political challenge in which new consensual understandings need to be reached," the ICG said.

Washington has been frustrated by the inability of Iraq's leaders to reach a political compromise that would take the heat out of the Sunni insurgency and ease sectarian tensions between Shi'ites and Sunnis that have sparked spiraling violence.

"All Iraqi actors ... must be brought to the negotiating table and must be pressured to accept the necessary compromises. That cannot be done without a concerted effort by all Iraq's neighbors," the ICG said, calling for an international conference on Iraq that included all political players.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed that Iraq's neighbors, who include Syria and Iran, must play a role in resolving the crisis that threatens to tear the country apart. The United Nations says 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing each month.

"All of Iraq's neighbors should help because all ... would have to deal with (it if) the situation does not resolve in Iraq. If I were a neighbor I would be especially interested to help bring stability in Iraq," she told al-Arabiya television on Tuesday.

President Bush is expected in January to announce a new strategy for Iraq, where nearly 3,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003.

"You will not see this president desert Iraq. You will see this president remain strongly committed until Iraqis can govern themselves and sustain themselves," Rice said.

[jveritas]

An assortment of left wing loons and America haters lead by George Soros and Wesley Clark. Anyway, this stupid report is similar to the Iraq Surrender Group which is now DEAD, the President politely killed it.

[Ron2]

"Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility and endanger Americans for decades to come,"

If this is true, then send in 500K more troops and get this thing settled. Other than that, let them wipe each other out. Then we can go in and sort out what we want to keep and what we want to throw away. Remember, during WWII, we were loosing most of the time......until we wised up. I say again.....we need another Patton.

[Brilliant]

Again?

[tobyhill]

They've been claiming it's been in collapse for 3 years now but now it's just on the brink? Sounds like it's getting better to me.

[DustyMoment]

The warning from the International Crisis Group came amid lawless chaos in Baghdad, where police were hunting for 16 kidnapped aid workers and a former minister who escaped from jail, allegedly with the help of US hired guns.

When we put this in perspective against the millions of felons and illegal aliens currently on a wanted list in the US or listed as missing/kidnapped, this is pretty small potatoes. So far, I don't think that the U.S. is "disintegrating".

Perhaps the "International Crisis Group" (stupid name for a group of Chicken Littles) should review their criteria for what constitutes a "disintegrating" democracy!

[NormsRevenge]

U.S. Senator John Kerry arrives on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 at Damascus airport, Syria . U.S. Senators John Kerry and Christopher Dodd arrived in Syria on Tuesday to discuss how Damascus could help bring about stability and security to neighboring Iraq. The two Democratic lawmakers declined to speak to reporters after landing at Damascus airport on a U.S. military plane. The diplomatic push from Congress comes on the heels of a recommendation by a bipartisan panel that the U.S. engage Iran and Syria on the war in Iraq.(AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi).

[Killborn]

I guess America's next because of all the gang banging scum and liberals? We certainly have more traitors, criminals, and idiots per capita than Iraq could ever have in its wildest nightmares.

To the Idiot Cruds Group: Nuts.

[Centurion2000]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq is on the brink of total disintegration and could drag its neighbors into a regional war

Okie Dokie ...

[xuberalles]

Lord...the sky is falling and we're to blame. I'm amazed how al Qaeda, who carried out 9/11 and has been trying to ignite a civil war in Iraq, is never implicated as the real culprit...it's solely us...blood thirsty America. Not surprisingly, Liberals have totally forgotten who we are supposed to be fighting.

"I Pledge Allegiance To God & Country"
Bumper Sticker/T-Shirt
http://www.cafepress.com/titillatingtees.66420155

[NickatNite2003]

International Crisis Group//another
name for 'World Class Pantie Wetters'

"We manufacture Crisis out of thin air!"

[agincourt1415]

Reuters at it again, trying to "create news" on a slow news day before Christmas.