***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - 28 APR 03/Day 40 - LIVE THREAD***

Everywhere! | 28 APR 03 | An.American.Expatriate

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Operation Iraqi Freedom

Link to the previous thread

Good Morning.

This is the Daily Thread of Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - LIVE THREAD.

It is designed for general conversation about the events of the day. In depth discussion of events should be left to individual threads - but links to the threads or other articles is highly encouraged. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information.

[sheikdetailfeather]

I liked it when the press asked about whether we found any WMD yet and I believe it may have been Rummy or Tommy Franks who said Hans Blix spent 5 months hunting for it. Come back to us in 5 months!

[TexKat]

When people whine critically on how long it is taking to have an 'Iraqi Govt' just remind them that americans watch TV shows that take longer to find a winner.

Just tell them Rome was not build in a day or tell them look how long it took to get Bill Clinton out and a real President (GWB)in. And to those complaining tell them either put up or shut up. There, theres my 2 cents.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

President Bush in Romulus, MI. - addressing Iraqi Americans:

 

"The windows are now open in Iraq."

 

"We called each other and we were shouting. We never believed that Saddam Hussein would be gone. " - said Naja, an Iraqi girl.

 

"A lot of Iraqis feared the dictator, the tyrant would never go away. He's gone." (crowd roars to it's feet....chants "USA, USA")....

 

"We love free speech in America." (more cheers from crowd)

 

"I talked to Tariz Dowd (sp) a Catholic from Basrah who now lives in Bloomfield Hills...'' (Tariz said) "I am more hopeful today than I have been since 1958. We need to take the little children in Iraq, take them by the hand and really teach them what Democracy is all about."

 

"Iraqis have helped in their own liberation....Iraqis helped the Marines locate the 7 American POWs (who) were then (freed)..."One courageous Iraqi man gave the Marines detailed layouts of the hospital in An Nasiriyah that led to the rescue of soldier Jessica Lynch."

 

"In Basrah - 100s of (local Iraqi) police volunteers joined coalition to patrol the streets....(Iraqi) residents are also working (with coalition) to find munitions..repair telephones...improve the lives of average citizens in Iraq."

 

One IRaqi man said - "We are very glad to work with the American to have power for the facilities...the Americans are working to help us."

 

"Iraqi-American are building bridges to help our troops...as translators, delivering humanitarian aid..."

 

"One of these who fled Iraq in 1991 recently returned w/ the 101st Airborne....when (his Iraqis saw him)...people could hardly believe what was happening...he said, "beleive it. Liberation is coming."

 

"There were some in our coutnry who doubted the Iraqi people wanted freedom...they were mistaken and we know why - the desire for freedom is not the property of one culture,  it is the universal hope of human beings in every culture..Whether you are Suni or Shia or Turkamen, or Jew or Christian or Muslim"...(crowd roars, standing O!)

"No matter what your faith...freedom is God's gift to every people in every nation."

 

"As freedom takes hold in Iraq, the Iraqi people will choose their own government...yet we will assure that all citizens have their rights protected."..

 

"In the city of An Nasiriyeh (historic meeting opened with a declaration) ''Iraq must be Democratic." (Standing O! Chants of USA USA USA USA!)

 

"That historic declaration expresses the comittment of the Iraqi people and their friends - the American people. The days of oppression are over. Iraq will be Democratic." (more cheers!)

 

"The work of building a new Iraq will take time. That  nation is recovering not just from weeks of conflict, but from decades of totalitarian rule..(before our efforts..in Iraq under Saddam)...4 out of 10 citizens did not even have clean water to drink....more than half a million Iraqi children were malnourished...over 200 million $ of medicine and supplies (in warehouses) while 1 in 8 Iraqi children were dying before the age of 5."

 

"Saddam's regime impoverished the Iraqi people in every way."

 

"Today Iraq has only about half the hospitals it had in 1990. The Iraqi people did not have a power system they could depend on. "These problems plagued Iraq long before the recent conflict...we will stand with them  (the Iraqi people) until they defeat the dictator's legacy."

 

"It was not that long ago that the statue fell and now we're seeing progress." (cheers)..."Rail lines are re-opening, fire stations are responding to calls...Iraqi oil - owned by the Iraqi people - is flowing now to fuel the power plants...water is flowing ..."The oppulent presidential  palace in Basrah will now serve a new and noble purpose - we've established a water purification plant there."

 

"Day by day, hour by hour, life in Iraq is getting better for the citizens."

 

"Yet much work remains to be done...I have directed Jay Garner and his team to pursue (specific goals) and they are doing a terrific job."...."We're dispatching teams across Iraq to assess the needs of Iraqis....we're clearing land mines..(we are finding the stolen loot.....re. the antiquities looters:) "we will work with the Iraqi citizens to find out who they were and to bring them to justice." (cheers!)

 

"We're working toward a time (when Iraqis, for the first time, have reliable power...17 major power plants in Iraq are already functioning...and we are assessing and working to bring other back on line)...working to make Iraqi water clean and dependable..."Throughout the country medical specialists from many countries are identifying the needs...we're working to help Iraqi schools...fund teachers, supplies...bring children back into clean and safe schools..."We will make sure that the schools are no longer used for military bunkers....and that the schools teach reading (writing and arithmetic - not regime propaganda.)..

 

"Because the regime is gone, economic sanctions are pointless (standing O!).  "It is time for the UN to lift the sanctions so that the Iraqi people can (build ther own economy)..

 

"Liberation for Iraq has been a long time coming, but you never lost faith. You knew the great sorrow of Iraq. You also knew the great promise of Iraq and you share the hope of the Iraqi people. You and I both know that Iraq can realize that hope...Iraq can be an example (of freedom, prosperity) for ...the entire middle east."

 

"It will be a hard journey, but every step of the way, Iraq will have a friend in the American people."

 

"May God continue to bless the United States of America, and long live a free Iraq." (Standing O! BIG cheers!)

 

[TexKat]

Thanks for the info, Jaded.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Yeah. I saw that report on the Egyptian with Anthrax who died on his way to Canada. DUH! Has a light bulb gone off in their heads yet?

[prairiebreeze]

Here's the thread on the Egyptian:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/901851/posts

Prairie

[abnegation]

They are French, they don't have light bulbs.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Oregon resident today charged with Federal terrorism charges. Tried to join the Taliban...Fox News alert. (His name is too long for me.)

[Trust but Verify]

Excellent post. You're right. Only when they give up their blind hatred will they have a life worth living.

[Lauratealeaf]

Hey, do you remember Robert Taylor? A very goodlooking man. He was my late father-in-law's commanding officer during World War ll and kept in touch with my father-in-law until his death in the sixties. Robert Taylor was a very nice man. We still have some of the letters and notes that he wrote my father-in-law.

[TexKat]

Bush in Michigan President Bush told Iraqi-Americans today that he is confident democracy can flourish in Iraq and said people who were skeptical about the war were wrong.

Bush Courting Michigan Arab Community

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DEARBORN, Mich. -- President Bush told Iraqi-Americans Monday he is confident democracy can flourish in Iraq and said people who were skeptical about the war were wrong.

"There were some in our country who doubted the Iraqi people wanted freedom or they just couldn't imagine they would be welcoming a liberating force. They were mistaken," Bush said. "We know why: The desire for freedom is not the property of one culture, it is the universal hope of human beings in every culture."

Bush pledged to let the people of Iraq chart their own course on the shape of a new government, but also promised that "Iraq will be democratic."

"You are living proof the Iraqi people love freedom and living proof the Iraqi people can flourish in democracy," he told hundreds of Iraqi-Americans who interrupted his speech often to applaud and shout support.

Bush quoted an Iraqi woman who said she never believed Saddam Hussein would be forced from power.

An audience member yelled, "He's gone!"

"A lot of Iraqis feared the dictator, the tyrant would never go away. You're right, he's gone," Bush said.

Bush spoke in this Detroit suburb where about 30 percent of residents claimed Arab ancestry in the latest census.

Before the speech, he promised 17 Iraqi-Americans in a meeting that the United States would bring stability, freedom and democracy.

Bush cut off a discussion between a founder of the Kurdish National Congress of North America and a Basra, Iraq native who began debating whether Iraq should be carved into two or more autonomous regions.

"We're not going to have a debate on the form of the government," Bush said firmly. "This debate is going to take place within Iraq."

Helping craft an "Islamic democracy," as a White House spokesman pledged, is dicey business. The United States has promised democracy for Iraq, but has ruled out the kind of Islamic government that democracy could yield.

With Shiite Muslims forming more than 60 percent of Iraq's population, a free vote could produce an Islamic-oriented government with close ties to the historically anti-American Shiite clerics who have governed Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the United States will not allow a religious government like Iran's to take hold in Iraq.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said Rumsfeld's position "demonstrates the kind of quagmire that we are potentially going to be in Iraq."

"If you talk about a democracy, which means that people vote and select the political leadership that they desire, then you can't say, `But there are certain segments of the population that are off-limits,"' the 2004 presidential hopeful said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

A group of Iraqis in Michigan wrote a communique outlining their hopes for their native country. It asks that "Iraqis be allowed to be the masters of their own destiny," said Jafar al-Musawi, a Dearborn-based Iraqi writer.

The administration has been trying to build bridges to Arab-Americans in Michigan.

Two months ago, during the run-up to war, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz asked a Dearborn audience to help the U.S. government oust Saddam.

Wolfowitz says about 150 Iraqis who have been living in the United States or Europe have volunteered to go back to help establish a democratic government.

Among the exiles is Emad Dhia, who left Friday. He is an engineer who has been living in Michigan and heads the Iraqi Forum for Democracy, a political action group formed in the United States in 1998. Dhia will be the top Iraqi adviser to retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who is overseeing reconstruction efforts.

But others declined the offer, among them al-Musawi, who said the Pentagon asked him to accompany Dhia.

"What was I supposed to tell the people in Iraq: 'Listen to me, I've lived in America, I know?"' he asked. "No one would listen to me, or to the others, because we don't have the kind of clout the clergy do."

More than 18 months before the next presidential election, Bush is unabashedly making battleground states the focus of his travels.

Bush planned to meet with the chiefs of the Big Three U.S. automakers while near Detroit Monday "to talk about his jobs and growth program, and to get their sense of how the economy is doing," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Bush lost Michigan to Democrat Al Gore and seems determined not to repeat the defeat. His visit Monday is his ninth as president.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bush.html

[Vol2727]

Oregon resident today charged with Federal terrorism charges. Tried to join the Taliban...Fox News alert.

Yeah, and Bob Graham was concerned about paying too much attention to Iraq and losing our focus on terrorism.

[sheikdetailfeather]

I just read that thread you sent me on the Egyptian. Thanks! Very scary indeed! A must read for everyone.

[TexKat]

Interrogators still don't know if they can trust former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.

Aziz says Saddam survived airstrikes mounted to kill him

BAGHDAD — Iraq's former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz has told U.S. interrogators he saw Saddam Hussein alive after the two airstrikes mounted by coalition forces to kill him, a senior Defense official says.

[NormsRevenge]

He's coming to FRee the oppressed people of Californistan later this week and getting ready for 2004 .

He'll be Overnighting Thursday on the Abraham Lincoln and disembarking in San Diego Friday..

Then head North to Santa Clara, CA for a speech somewhere as yet to be announced.

Expect a raucous crowd to be at the bay Area location.. on both sides! ;-)

[sheikdetailfeather]

Mentor, Ohio..major brush fire per Fox news. Looks terrible and near homes.

[cyncooper]

Yeah. I saw that report on the Egyptian with Anthrax who died on his way to Canada. DUH! Has a light bulb gone off in their heads yet?

My guess is the anthrax was ultimately destined for the United States. Delivered to Canada and then brought in over the border somehow.

[Howlin]

This does not appear to me to be a very good time for Aziz to lie to us.

[cyncooper]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(your tagline!)

[sheikdetailfeather]

Are you saying you think the Anthrax made it to the U.S.? I thought it did not because this guy died bringing it here and people were alerted.