Posted on 02/29/2008 11:38:39 AM PST by PurpleMan
The Joint Chiefs chairman has a word of warning to Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: A rapid of withdrawal from Iraq would lead to a "chaotic situation" and would "turnaround the gains we have achieved, and struggled to achieve, and turn them around overnight.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.abcnews.com ...
This “end the war” rhetoric plays well to the far-left crowd from Madison, Berkeley and Amhurst, but the rest of the country won’t buy it. I can’t see how O’Bambi can move to the right, though. I guess he’ll just lie or obfuscate. He’s good at that.
Wake up and smell the coffee ping lol.
Memo to the Joint Chiefs; They don’t care.
If elected, Obamalama will simply leave the troops there.
It’s just reality, morality, national interest. All things democrats are immune from.
I guess Obama will just fire the Joint Chiefs and replace them with like minded idiots.
I think the two of them would listen to Angelina before they would listen to a General.
If you saw the online conmments, I think the first one was “Replace Mullen on 20 Jan 2009.”
Dem nutroots
Buy I would only consider Hillary's relative qualifications if she divorced Bill. I simply cannot consider putting him near the levers of real power again. I voted for Obama. It was one of my most empowering votes ever. Here in Texas we might end the hold that Billary has had on the Democratic Party and the threat that Bill will once again be able sell us out to the highest bidders.
Polls in Texas say the 15% of Texas Republicans have, or will, cross over to vote for Obama.
They don't care.
Get it?
You’re more optimistic about him than I am.
Mullen, however, also made it clear that the large commitment of U.S. forces in Iraq is coming at a steep price.
He said that another 3,000 to 4,000 trainers are needed in Afghanistan. But those trainers cannot be sent, he said, until there are further drawdowns in Iraq. There simply aren't enough available troops.
In the past, the argument that Iraq was diverting troops needed in Afghanistan was weak, but it's getting stronger. The Republicans will have to be more specific about what gains a rapid pullout in Iraq would be lost or President Obama will be able to use Afghanistan as an excuse to pull out of Iraq and then claim that any gains lost in Iraq were ephemeral and not worth the heavy price we paid for them.
Obama: “I will give inspirational speeches to all of the jihad terrorists in the world. They will swoon and faint in ecstasy, just like so many of my other fans. In no time at all the new era of world peace will dawn and I will feel just like the beauty pageant queen who has had her most fervent dream fulfilled: WORLD PEACE!”
Just call him Miss Congeniality!!
Iraq has ‘more crude oil’ than Saudi Arabia
Emirates 24/7 ^ | February 29 , 2008 | staff
Posted on 02/29/2008 1:42:40 PM CST by saganite
An initial investment of $40 billion (Dh146.8bn) is needed to put Iraq’s oil industry back on track, according to a new book.
The country is an oil superpower with the world’s third largest proven reserves – and development programmes could add billions of barrels within a few years, catapulting it to the number one position.
But three major wars and more than 12 years of crippling UN sanctions have reduced the Arab state to a minor crude exporter despite the fact it is one of a handful of countries with super-giant oilfields. Meanwhile, other countries with much smaller hydrocarbon resources have become major oil exporters.
“Plans were prepared in the early 1980s to increase the production capacity to six million barrels per day (bpd) had three wars not taken place in 1980-1988, 1991 and 2003,” say the authors of the book, Hydrocarbon Exploration and Field Development in Iraq.
“The looting and vandalism that followed the two Gulf wars caused great damage to oil installations. UN sanctions against Iraq added further damage due to the difficulties created in getting spare parts and in performing well services. The pre-2003 production capacity has not recovered.”
Between 1980 and 2005 Iraq suffered a loss of more than $400bn in oil revenues as a result of a massive decline in crude exports.
The total loss has risen sharply over the past two years as exports remain far below target, says Fadhil Chalabi, Executive Director of the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), which published the 600-page book. The centre is owned by former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Al Yamanai.
The losses reflect only the decline in oil exports calculated on a monthly price basis since the start of the Iraq-Iran war in 1980 – they do not include damage to the sector caused by conflicts, the UN embargo and looting.
Chalabi, a former senior Iraqi oil ministry official, believes the country has huge undiscovered reserves on the grounds but no major development projects have been undertaken for more than two decades.
The proven reserves were officially put at 112 billion barrels in 2007 but Chalabi believes the final figure could exceed 300 billion barrels. “Iraq could have this figure, there is no exaggeration in this,” he said.
His view is supported by a Western oil analyst who goes even further by saying Iraq’s real oil potential could surpass that of Saudi Arabia, which controls nearly a quarter of the world’s proven oil deposits.
Colin Lothian, a senior analyst at United Kingdom-based energy consultants Wood Mackenzie, says Iraq has many giant oilfields that have remained undeveloped.
“Iraq’s remaining reserves, particularly in the south, are of considerable scale, high quality and most are at a relatively immature stage in their respective development cycles,” said Lothian.
“There are many fields that each contain billions of barrels of oil.
“On the whole their depletion rate is very low and in several cases these fields have never been in production. If you add to that the possible results of exploration in the Western Desert and in established areas, the potential is enormous. As for whether Iraq’s reserves are larger than those in Saudi Arabia, I would certainly not rule out that possibility.
”The new book, written in English, was prepared by a number of oil experts from Iraq and other countries.
One comment I saw was. “Our military leaders do not insert themselves into political campaigns.”
He sure seems to have done so.
Does he think that fellow Naval Academy Grad McCain is gonna win or is he telling it like he feels it is?
Keep sending that money this way, folks...for the next 99 YEARS...at least. And don't ask too many questions, please...Top Secret...all that, you know! Jolly Good! We're busy over here...could use another Surge or two...write when you can!!
We'll see what the voters say in 2020, when they have to cancel Social Security to keep this going...
On the southern border, they will have to get behind the "surrender" line, already filled with the GOP.
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