Cost of Iraq Occupation (CBO)

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-09-06 05:59am

Alex Moon wrote:. If the report turns out to be true though, all it means is that Iraq had contacts with Al-Qaeda and was willing to meet with/ possibly help terrorists in some manner. This is still a serious issue however.

It was debunked ages ago, no matter what the Weekly Standard says- The FBI says it's bunk. The Czechs say it's bunk. Note most of their bullshit depends on unnamed 'administration sources'- seething nest of neocons that the rag is, they have little concern for objective analysis or mentioning inconvenient facts- like cherry-picking CIA statements; or outright falsehoods- like calling Ansar Al Islam an 'Al Qaeda cell'. Not that the regular readers of the Weekly Standard will bother with that anyway- it's a preaching to the choir rag in the first place.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-09-06 09:19am

And I eagerly await hearing Europe bitch when we pull peacekeepers out of Bonsnia/Kosovo. If you guys want to play the screw you game, fine. Just remember it works both ways.

The troops have to come from some where and if Europe and the UN won't help then we'll find the troops somewhere. Just don't expect to like it.

The French will just love that, it will give them all the ammunition they need to convince more countries to agree to there independent EU military with the final aim of side lining NATO for good.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-09-06 11:47am

You know, I think the the general opinion of the war and the occupation would be a lot higher if the Administration released some public, obvious, goals and produced results. I.e. Month One: Power restored, whatever.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-06 11:49am

HemlockGrey wrote:You know, I think the the general opinion of the war and the occupation would be a lot higher if the Administration released some public, obvious, goals and produced results. I.e. Month One: Power restored, whatever.

That would require that they have results to post. Do they?

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-09-06 12:11pm

Darth Wong wrote:
HemlockGrey wrote:You know, I think the the general opinion of the war and the occupation would be a lot higher if the Administration released some public, obvious, goals and produced results. I.e. Month One: Power restored, whatever.
That would require that they have results to post. Do they?

Bush is supposed to address the nation tomorrow evening about the war in Iraq. I wonder what he has to say.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-09-06 12:23pm

TrailerParkJawa wrote:
Bush is supposed to address the nation tomorrow evening about the war in Iraq. I wonder what he has to say.

"We have achieved great success in Iraq but the War On Terror(TM) continues, our brave forces are under attack from Saddam loyalists, foreign terrorists, Ba'athists, and Al Qaeda types, we are winning the fight against terrorism, we must be patient, I will not retreat in the face of terror ..."

blah, blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-09-06 12:30pm

Vympel wrote: "We have achieved great success in Iraq but the War On Terror(TM) continues, our brave forces are under attack from Saddam loyalists, foreign terrorists, Ba'athists, and Al Qaeda types, we are winning the fight against terrorism, we must be patient, I will not retreat in the face of terror ..."

blah, blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum.

You forgot the fix or six references to God that any such sentence would contain if it was being spoken by Bush.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-06 12:47pm

TheDarkling wrote:You forgot the fix or six references to God that any such sentence would contain if it was being spoken by Bush.

Not to mention the word "evildoers".

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-09-06 12:59pm

TrailerParkJawa wrote: Bush is supposed to address the nation tomorrow evening about the war in Iraq. I wonder what he has to say.

"The enemy has been obliterfried."

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-09-06 04:28pm

I've just plain stopped caring about Iraq. I know some of my friends were "omg we shouldn't have gone into Iraq it's so wrong" but I haven't heard much of anything out of them now.

*shrug* If I had to guess, I'd call the general attitude apathy.

Post by **Edi** » 2003-09-08 03:41am

Stormbringer wrote:And I eagerly await hearing Europe bitch when we pull peacekeepers out of Bonsnia/Kosovo. If you guys want to play the screw you game, fine. Just remember it works both ways.

The troops have to come from some where and if Europe and the UN won't help then we'll find the troops somewhere. Just don't expect to like it.

Afaik the number of US troops in Kosovo isn't all that great anymore, less than ten thousand. The majority of the peace-keeping there is done by Europeans already. I don't know the numbers for Bosnia, those probably add up to more.

The point here is that if the US went to war against the great majority of the UN, it has no right to expect those countries to help put Iraq in order just to line the pockets of American corporations and pull the US out of a mess it created itself, if the US is going to firmly insist on calling all the shots.

If my brother gets it into his head to bet €10,000 on something that is probably turn out badly, I'll tell him not to do it, and if he goes ahead and does it anyway and then demands me to give him some €3000 so that he won't have to bear the loss alone, I'll tell him to piss off. The situation in Iraq is completely analoguous. Why the hell are you surprised that most nations haven't exactly been eager to get in line to pour money and men into Iraq as things currently stand?

Like Stuart said, we'll be glad to help sort Iraq out, but we will not do so for US interests under US direction. If you want the whole cake, then you get to bake the whole of it yourself too.

Edi

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-09-08 05:32am

Vympel wrote:
TrailerParkJawa wrote:Bush is supposed to address the nation tomorrow evening about the war in Iraq. I wonder what he has to say.
"We have achieved great success in Iraq but the War On Terror(TM) continues, our brave forces are under attack from Saddam loyalists, foreign terrorists, Ba'athists, and Al Qaeda types, we are winning the fight against terrorism, we must be patient, I will not retreat in the face of terror ..."

blah, blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum.

"We gotta whup some more ass. Heil Bush!"

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-09-08 08:11am

Edi wrote: Afaik the number of US troops in Kosovo isn't all that great anymore, less than ten thousand. The majority of the peace-keeping there is done by Europeans already. I don't know the numbers for Bosnia, those probably add up to more.

They total 5,200, but draw on alot of resources based outside of the province and since those troops must be rotated its acutally taking up more like division.

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-09-08 08:19am

But in any case USA withdrawing its troops from KFOR would not create severe problems.