Cab drivers feeling the pinch in Iraq?
Got to give the MSM points for persistence. Just a few days ago we got a hearty laugh out of the report about ditch diggers at Iraq’s largest cemetery. Seems like the dramatic drop in violence was bad for business.
Now, we have yet another story that twists itself into a pretzel trying to bring “context” to the situation on the ground. Yes, the violence is plummeting, but there are still “victims” like the now helpless cab drivers that used to idle their cabs outside the morgues.
Taxi driver Ahmed Khalil Baqir used to station himself outside Baghdad’s main morgue, waiting for grieving families who went there to claim their relatives’ dead bodies.
“I was totally dependent on them for my living,” Baqir, a 44-year-old father of four, said.” I never thought about picking up people in the street as I was being hired five to eight times a day by these families. But now it is a waste of time to wait there and these days I wait only for about three hours in the morning and I continue my work picking up passengers in the street.”
When will this parade of bad news end? Oh the humanity.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:15 pm
The disconnect between reality and the right wing today is, in a word, stunning. The right wing is apparently composed of members of a religion that repeats mantras they hope and pray will create a certain reality without any regard to the way things actually are.
Years ago, it started with these: “The Iraq War will be a cakewalk,” and “We will be greeted as liberators.”
As things fell apart in Iraq, into the civil war that many, many opponents of the invasion had predicted, you apparently learned no lessons regarding the clear limits of your own predictive powers.
Instead, the mantra became, “the liberal media is skewing the news” about Iraq.
Other irrational mantras espoused by the right wing include your slogans regarding climate change (”It’s nothing but liberal media bias” and “it’s not really happening”) and the health care in the US (”we have the best system in the world” and “socialized medicine will cost us more money”). As during the Dark Ages, you turn your back on science, you ignore reason, you bypass logic.
Back to Iraq. Let’s cut the bullshit and look at the body counts in Iraq:
Monday 22 October: 81 dead
Baghdad: roadside bomb in Zafaraniya, Karrada kill 7; during clashes with insurgents, 7 National Accord members have been killed, Fadhil; the driver of Radio Free Europe journalist has been found murdered, while the journalist is missing; 5 bodies.
Mahaweel: roadside bomb kills 2.
Iskandariya: an engineer is killed by gunmen; a man dies when a mortar hits his house.
Mosul: roadside bomb kills policeman; 6 bodies.
Kirkuk: 3 bodies.
Baquba: 3 bodies.
Anbar: mass grave containing 25 bodies is found.
Near Falluja: 15 bodies.
Sunday 21 October: 35 dead
Baghdad: 17 reported dead in US raid (ground and air attack) over Sadr City -among the dead 3 children; mortar kills 3 inside a car, east Baghdad; 3 bodies.
Mosul: gunmen kill coach; 2 policemen are killed in clashes with gunmen; a former officer in the Iraqi Army is shot dead; a cement factory worker is shot dead.
Saklawiya: suicide car bomber attacks police checkpoint, kills 2 policemen, near Falluja.
US forces have killed 67 Iraqi civilians (including 19 children) so far in October.
Saturday 20 October: 31 dead
Baghdad: roadside bombs kill 2, Ghadir, Tobchi; 3 policemen killed during operations; 5 bodies; also 3 decomposing bodies of women found buried in Amiriya.
Iskandariya: roadside bomb strikes minibus, kills 3; roadside bomb strikes police patrol, kills 4 policemen.
Mosul: child killed in clashes between gunmen and Iraqi Army; 2 bodies.
Muqdadiya: US forces open fire at car, kill the driver.
Baquba: 3 bodies.
Basra: body found.
Baiji: body found.
Friday 19 October: 16 dead
Baghdad: 6 bodies.
Mosul: 2 bodies.
Muwailha: 2 bodies.
Mussayab: mortars kill 3 women.
Thursday 18 October: 26 dead
Baghdad: 5 bodies.
Baiji: US forces kill 4 civilians inside their car.
Basra: bomb blows up at school, kills 2 pupils.
Mosul: 2 policemen and a civilian killed by roadside bomb; another policeman shot dead by sniper; 2 bodies.
Dhuluiya: gunmen kill 3 tribesmen, members of ‘Awakening’ council.
Wednesday 17 October: 21 dead
Baghdad: bomb explosion kills 2, Zafaraniya; 4 bodies.
Baquba: bombs kill 2.
Efach: roadside bomb kills 7 policemen.
Qaim: bomb kills 5 people in market.
Riyadh: policeman’s body found.
Tuesday 16 October: 37 dead
Baghdad: car bomb kills 5, Al-Naser square; roadside bomb kills 1, Arasat; gunmen fire at police checkpoint, kill 3 policemen, Maysaloon square; gunmen open fire at group of cleaners, kill 1; 4 bodies.
Mosul: suicide bomber blows up truck at police station, kills 7; policeman is shot dead; 2 bodies thrown out of a car.
Falluja: gunmen shoot dead member of ‘Awakening Council’, his son and his nephew.
Baquba: roadside bomb kills father and 2 sons; 2 bodies.
Kirkuk: 2 bodies.
Abbasi: body found, beheaded and loaded with explosives.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/recent
October 24th, 2007 at 8:13 am
The first line of your comment shows who is denying the reality of the current situation in Iraq.
Keep on wishing the worst for America, it obviously makes you feel better.
Kevin
October 24th, 2007 at 10:01 am
News bulletin: “Wishing” doesn’t do anyone any good at all.
“Wishful thinking” is for kindergartners. It does not add up to a political philosophy.
Pretending that things are OK - in Iraq, with the climate, with health care - will not make them so.
At best, it is childish to assume that wishing for something is enough to lead to a successful outcome. At worst, it leads to death, suffering, and endless what-ifs.
The right wing “wished” that the Iraq War would be a cakewalk. Wishing didn’t work. We are now on target to spend $1 trillion there, tens of thousands of Americans crippled for life, thousands dead, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, and for what?
Now you “wish” that things are looking up there. It won’t do any better now than it did then.
I don’t think we can just get up and walk away from Iraq. It’s not that simple, unfortunately.
But it is a tragic mistake of historical proportions that we ever went there in the first place. Our military is shattered and will take years to recover. We are less safe now than we were before the invasion. And it is “wishful thinking” that got us there.
Let’s get practical, for once. Let’s wake up and smell the coffee. Let’s create a long-term plan to extricate ourselves with a minimum of US casualties, learn from this mistake, vow never to repeat it, and just as important, pledge never to revise history again (as the right wing did with Vietnam).
The real tragedy in Iraq is that we already had this lesson with Vietnam. Colin Powell knew, and that’s why he came up with the Powell Doctrine, which said justification of military action required both overwhelming force and a clear end game. This war had neither.
Historical revisionism - failing to learn from the lessons of history - is what got us into this mess. Failing to face reality. Wishful thinking.
Let’s stop being children.
October 24th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Tim,
Thanks for the lecture. Let\’s take just one of your statements shall we,
\”…tens of thousands of Americans crippled for life\”
Nice try Tim, you\’re only off by \”tens of thousands\”. The actual number is more like 600. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1580531,00.html
And don\’t give me any BS about that being 600 too many. I know that all too well from visiting these heroes at Walter Reed.
http://www.punditreview.com/2007/05/07/the-walter-reed-interviews/
Yes, we\’ve made enormous mistakes in Iraq, but we have a new strategy that is working in profound ways, large and small. All honest people admit that.
I\’ve never understood why people like you think they support the troops by pissing all over their mission. The fact is, you\’re more interested in bashing Bush than succeeding in Iraq.
That\’s fine, its a free country. I just want nothing to do with people like you.
I\’m pro-mission, pro-soldier and pro-victory in Iraq. You, well, you\’re none of those things.
Kevin
October 24th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Kevin, give me a break. 600 permanently injured soldiers? What are you smoking, dude?
The trademark injury of this war is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I don’t know about you, but I’d rather give up an arm or a leg than have a piece of my brain go out the window forever. Dr. Brian Greenwald, the associate director of brain injury rehabilitation at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said recently that 22 percent of wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from brain injuries.
Due to medical advance, more soldiers than ever are surviving this war. But many of them them are going to live the rest of their lives with permanent injuries, including brain damage. If, against the clear intentions of the Bush Administration, the US government does the honorable thing and supports these soldiers and their families for the rest of their lives, it will cost taxpapers billions of dollars over the course of their lifetimes.
You say you are “pro-mission.” What exactly is the mission this week? It used to be to rid Iraq of WMDs, except there weren’t any WMDs (as Scott Ritter, Hans Blix and others had said all along). As US soldiers were getting blown up, Bush made light of all this in a skit for reporters, pretending to look around the Oval Office for WMDs (”I know they’re in here somewhere,” he said with a grin).
The Bush Administration sold US soldiers a bill of goods and sent them down the river.
I’d argue that supporting the nebulous “mission” and supporting the troops are mutually exclusive.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Tim,
You didn\\\’t say permantly injured, you said, \\\”tens of thousands of Americans crippled for life\\\” for which I thought you meant amputees. Even if your talking brain injuries, you are still off by tens of thousands. Either way, your flat out wrong.
The number of wounded is 27,000. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
Using your own guestimate from NYU, 22% of 27000 is 5940. So, let\\\’s be clear here. You\\\’re lying, or at a minimun, exaggerating to make a point. Either way, you\\\’re flat out wrong, by tens of thousands.
\\\”If, against the clear intentions of the Bush Administration, the US government does the honorable thing and supports these soldiers and their families for the rest of their lives, it will cost taxpapers billions of dollars over the course of their lifetimes.\\\”
Do you really believe Bush wants the soldiers to suffer? Why do so many families of the injured who meet with him come away so impressed, including Cindy Sheehan? Because he cares deeply.
\\\”Due to medical advance, more soldiers than ever are surviving this war.\\\”
I\\\’ve said this repeatedly. I\\\’ve also said we have to do a better job of taking care of returning soldiers, no matter what the cost is. The country called on them, and they answered the call, now it is up to the gov\\\’t to take care of them, period.
I\\\’m done parsing your lies and dealing with your BDS symptoms.
Kevin
October 24th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Kevin, regarding your reference to BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome): just as war isn’t peace and ignorance isn’t strength, there is nothing deranged about opposing a president who has done great harm to our nation and to the world. On the contrary.
I have no doubt about your good intentions. Unlike the conservatives who openly and repeatedly questioned the patriotism of opponents of the Iraq War, I would never question yours.
But I believe that it’s important to consider all sources of information, not just the ones that support preconceived notions of the way things ought to be.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Tim,
You say that “there is nothing deranged about opposing a president who has done great harm to our nation and to the world.”
That is no doubt true, that’s what makes this country so great.
Here comes the BUT, but, you went quite a bit beyond “opposing a president”. You exhibited the classic symptoms of BDS by going too far. For example, the ‘tens of thousands’ line, used twice, and way wrong in both instances. Second, this statement,
“If, against the clear intentions of the Bush Administration, the US government does the honorable thing and supports these soldiers..”
That is classic BDS. Criticize him, disagree with his funding of vets care (I do), etc. But to say his intentions are not to support them, that goes too far.
Your making another classic liberal mistake. Libs like to say “dissent is patriotic” but they whine when we critize said dissent. You have a right to say it, I have a right to be sickened by it. Dissent is a two way street. You (libs) cannot say anything you want without rebuttal.
Your BDS makes it near impossible for you to see where the line between rhetoric and ridiculous is.
Finally, this little nugget,
“…it’s important to consider all sources of information, not just the ones that support preconceived notions of the way things ought to be.”
Is that so? Read any milblogs lately Tim? Didn’t think so.
Kevin
October 24th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Like all of us to one degree or another, Kevin, by design, is a victim of psychological warfare and long-term brainwashing.
Case study - 9/11
Internally executed attack, major act of psychological warfare. Greatly damaged the American psyche. Repercussions felt to this day. From childhood, extensive educational and media brainwashing stripped Americans of the ability to reason, instilled a sense of patriotism to government, not so much country and fellow citizens. As such, rational explanations of government involvement in 9/11 dismissed as irrationality, seen as unpatriotic.
Extensive and intended conditioning left Americans unable to fathom that their own government would not serve their best interest and/or could be capable of acts of slaughter against them.
It is this crafted conditioning and created reality that is soon to be shattered. This will lead to more shock - an open mind is needed. Major revelations on the doorstep pertaining to more than just world affairs.
October 24th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
John,
Any chance you see the irony in this statement,
“Like all of us to one degree or another, Kevin, by design, is a victim of psychological warfare and long-term brainwashing.
Case study - 9/11
Internally executed attack, major act of psychological warfare.”
Really John, it’s a thing of beauty. I wish you luck in your comedy career.
Kevin
October 25th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Kevin, tens of thousands of permanently injured is not far off the mark at all, and certainly closer to the truth than your estimate of 600. The Pentagon is being tight-lipped about casualties, but if you add up all the permanent eye and ear injuries, all of the amputations, all of the brain injuries and all of the PTSD cases I’d wager that the number definitely surpasses 10,000 and approaches 20,000.
For most of the war, the White House has opposed expanded coverage for Vets every step of the way. Only when their back was forced against the wall by that liberal rag, The Washington Post, over the outrageously abismal conditions at Walter Reed did the White House begin to change its tune. Even now the White House is being accused of stalling disability reform. Bush doesn’t lead on veterans’ issues. He is dragged kicking and screaming. Crying in front of mothers whose sons have been blown up in the war he called for and promoted - a war that did not have to be - does not equal good policy, nor does it add up to any sort of positive character attribute.
The scope of the recklessness here in lives and treasure is astounding. The latest cost estimate for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
is $2.4 TRILLION, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
I’ll ask you again: 1) What is the mission and 2) are we any closer now to it than we were 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years ago?
I’ll say one thing: I don’t think the Democrats in Congress are any better on this issue than the Republicans, or on any of the substantial issues of the day. If anything the Democrats are worse because at least the Republicans are honest about who they represent. The Democrats are now calling for a decrease in the top corporate tax rate by 5 percent. That’s because they, like the Republicans, are nearly all bought and sold by, who else, corporations.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Tim,
First, I’m enjoying the jousting. On to business, nothing in your first paragraph is even close to accurate. As I showed earlier, the TOTAL casualty count is 27,000. Casualties include every injury that required medical attention, from cuts to double amputees. Now you’ve added eye injuries etc to buttress your claim, but the facts prove it to be over the top (a classic BDS symptom). Keep trying though.
On the veteran’s benefits, I have long said that we need to do more. The system is stretched thin, no question. Bush isn’t sitting on his hands, he’s trying to improve a system that was in horrible condition long before the Iraq war came along. It has been exacerbated by Iraq, no question about it, but the VA was broken long before Bush came along. Ask any vet. Not that you care, but see what Bush is trying to do here, http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/25/veterans.care.ap/
You said, “The Pentagon is being tight-lipped about casualties” Another BDS myth. Every combat death is reported in a press release once the family has been notified. Casualties are also frequently updated publicly. Use Google for ten, maybe fifteen seconds and see for yourself.
On Walter Reed, I went there myself to see it. The condition in those rooms as reported by the Post (the best MSM daily in the country, how’s that!) was deplorable. That being said, and what you lack, thanks to your BDS, is a little context. We are talking about a few rooms in an outpatient facility. Walter Reed is the size of a small college campus. The care the soldier’s receive is tremendous, the best in the world. How do I know that? Because I went there and spoke to over two dozen patients and staff. I will tell you that they were, uniformly, more offended at the subsequent media firestorm over Walter Reed than anything at the facility. Nobody is condoning, nor did I. Bu the impression that was left with the public, which you lapped up hook line and sinker, was that this is how we treat our wounded vets and that’s simpl an overstatement of epic proportions. I said at the time, and I’ll say it again,
“Walter Reed has gotten some bad press lately about the conditions in some outpatient housing. The criticism was deserved, but the story that caught everyone’s attention does not reflect the facility as a whole, but only a few rooms within a sprawling, college style campus. Within the hospital itself, the soldiers at Walter Reed are receiving the best care in the world, and are treated with the respect and dignity worthy of their service and sacrifice.”
As for the cost of the war, it’s cheap by historical measures, and I would argue, a great long term investment. Am I nuts? How can I say it’s cheap? By looking at the facts. This is not my opinion, but the analysis of Robert Hormats, the Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, who is the author of a new book called The Price of Liberty, Paying for America’s Wars. Here an excerpt,
“But let me just skip to the current war. I think the current problem is this. It’s not so much that this is an expensive war, relatively speaking. At its peak, World War II cost 40 percent of GDP annually; 40 percent of the GDP was involved in the war. That was unprecedented. We had never had anything like that. We didn’t keep GDP records during the Civil War, but in the modern era nothing has come close to 40 percent. Korea was 15 percent. Vietnam was 10 percent.
This war is 1 percent of GDP. The entire defense budget and homeland security budget is below 5 percent of GDP. So it is manageable from a fiscal point of view, if you look at it only in the context of the portion of the economy tied up in the war.”
http://www.cceia.org/resources/transcripts/5435.html
And before you go and tell me that Robert Hormats must be some evil neocon nut, Goldman is a major Democrat firm and he served in the State Department for both Jimmy Carter and Reagan.
What is the mission? A secure Iraq that can defend itself from extremists and is an ally to the United States.
Are we any closer now to it than we were 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years ago? We are closer than we were six months ago. The progress in Iraq right now is nothing short of a miracle. We need to maintain the current strategy to secure the country, root Al Qaeda and allow for the critical political progress to happen. We have made more progress in 2007 than we did in 2004, 2005 and 2006 combined. Yes, that is a black mark on the Bush presidency. As I said earlier, we screwed this up massively. Still, we are in it, and we need to win it. I am confident that we are and we will, if allowed the opportunity. Too bad so many in this country are more interested in a political defeat for George W. Bush than they are for a victory for America.
Kevin
October 25th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Kevin cannot fathom that the Iraq war is being fought for reasons far less virtuous than the ones he’s been sold by the controlled media. He may see areas of the war that were not executed properly, but he views these as generally honest mistakes on the part of the military, intelligence and administration. He cannot perceive America and its leaders as acting in any manner outside the general interest of the citizenry. Kevin will support any war in which “Al Qaeda” is invoked. Kevin would support strikes against Iran if they happened tonight. He would be able to look past innocent Iranian deaths because he has been told they are “collateral damage”. Anything that seriously challenges his understanding of the world, of his reality, is very quickly dismissed as “conspiracy”. The contemplation of “conspiracy” as perhaps fact is too psychologically devastating. Kevin is victim to extreme propaganda and brainwashing; his mind is conditioned. He is controlled. To certain degrees, we all are.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
“Kevin is victim to extreme propaganda and brainwashing; his mind is conditioned. He is controlled. To certain degrees, we all are.”
Wow … this from a guy claiming 9/11 was an “internally executed attack, major act of psychological warfare.”
No irony there, huh?
October 25th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
In many minds, the corporate media/administration explanation of 9/11 that we’ve been told HAS to be true. The implications of it not being true are powerfully disturbing, utterly overwhelming. Think about the consequent actions that have been justified because of the attacks. They are immediately rendered illegitimate, illegal, and immoral should the official explanation fall apart. This is the psychological grip that we are under.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
“In many minds, the corporate media/administration explanation of 9/11 that we’ve been told HAS to be true.”
Who says you have to reach your conclusions based on what the media says?
Common sense tells you that for it to be an “inside job”, the level of secrecy necessary (not to mention the number of people involved in its execution) to maintain the ruse is simply too large for any reasonable person to believe such a secret would be kept.
Now, you can believe whatever you want about whatever you want and make any number of silly claims about “inside jobs”, but anyone with even a fragile hold on reality is going to laugh you off. That’s because they know that if more than one person knows about something, it’s no longer a secret … if you get my drift.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Bruce,
He doesn’t get your drift, at all.
Kevin