Posted on 03/28/2008 12:29:32 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
fyi
If Hillary or Obama is our next President, the U.S.A. will be the next great democracy to be intimidated by political terrorists.
Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra
I don’t see how the Brits have enough combat troops left to do much here. Looks like the US will have to help the Iraqis clean up the mess.
more damning evidence it seems...
The fact that whole districts of Baghdad and formerly controlled US towns in South-Central Iraq have been falling under Shiite militia control in recent days suggests that the US has not been any more successful in persuading Shiite people to turn away from militia allegiances than Britain.
Bomb attack hit crucial Iraqi pipeline
*************************EXCERPT***********************
March 27, 2008
The Zubair-1 pipeline attacked earlier today is used to transport crude oil from fields in Southern Iraq to the country's two main export terminals in the Gulf at al-Umaiya and Basra.
The attack is expected to cut oil exports from the Basra region - which were around 1.54 million barrels per day in February - by roughly one third until the pipeline can be repaired.
The incident helped lift global crude prices close to highs of nearly $107 per barrel in London trading this morning.
Iraq's total average production for February was 2.4 million barrels per day - roughly 80 per cent of which was accounted for by fields in the the Basra region.
Basra’s Rumaila South and North oil fields together produce around 1.3 million barrels per day. Several smaller fields in the region including Suba, Luhais, West Qurna and Zubair, account for most of the rest of the region’s output.
Iraq’s Southern Oil Company (SOC) operates the fields and has its headquarters in Basra. One of Iraq's three big oil refineries, the Shuaiba refinery, is also in Basra. It has a capacity of 160,000 barrels a day but is currently functioning below capacity.
Iraq’s fragile economy relies heavily on oil exports to help fund reconstruction efforts.
Really? As reported by whom?
Iran is behind the Shia militia. You can bet their signature is on all the arms and support, not to mention insurgents joining their brigade.
Ahmadinejad’s latest visit was probably aimed at just that. And America has already begun drawing down our troops in a big hurry to prove the surge is working.
Now the American public will look at this as a waste of time and troops during an election year. This is not looking like what we have been hoping for.
As is the fact that Sadr City, Hilla et al (all under US control) have had whole areas seized by Shiite militias in recent days...
Wow.
Here is an explicit empirical comparison of Bush’s war policy versus his reactionary opponents: Basra versus Bagdad.
Despite the powerfully positive results of Bush’s vision, the public continues to prefer failed policies— sad.
dude, seriously give it up - the evidence is overhwelming.
Actually, what it means is that the media has been successful in getting enough people to believe that hyperbolic BS.
Evidence of what? Maliki has decided to strengthen the hand of his particular Shiite governemnt before the October elections by leading a crackdown in Basra. The violence in recent days has exposed that even in post-surge Baghdad, Shiite gunmen can just walk onto the streets and demand Iraqi government forces go away. They haven’t been disarmed. US or formerly US controlled areas in Iraq have hd whole districts taken over by the Shiite militias. How then is it just to criticize the existance of Shiite militias in Basra as unique when they appear just as stronge elsewhere?
{Shaking head...laughing...} Zrabbat biha!
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