Iraq: Spiegel bravely reports the good news
This is highly recommended reading—Spiegel reports on the possibly turning tide in Iraq, and the fact that many just don’t want to hear it.
I plan to write at greater length on the subject some time soon.
[ADDENDUM: Oh, no! Could it be there’s political progress in Iraq, too?]
SpIEgel.
I’m impressed with this Der Spiegel reporter. Even though he is obviously anti-Bush, far on the left, and a war skeptic: he wrote the truth as he saw it. Commendable. Many American reporters might’ve written far more negative articles.
I expect Spiegel to be setting us up for a fall. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Red Pencil: oops! Haste makes waste. Corrected.
190 dead in Kurdish Iraq today. 9 US troops dead today. Yes it’s all turning around. Hail the surge! Just six more months is all they ask. Oh yeh, America is going to get behind that. Uh huh, uh huh.
Is this the political progress? Or should we all wait another six magical months.
NYTimes today.
To find the kind of contorted thinking that goes on here one usually has to go to a Creationism conference.
You sure you’re not Nancy Boyda, “shirley”?
Contorted thinking, moi? Never been to Daily Kos, have you: “Shut up, sergeant! we’re not here to listen to the truth, we’re here to support the troops!”
Neo is normally so dismissive of the msm; except when some note of agreement with her pro war ideas can be found.
“By July 31, 3,659 American soldiers had died in Iraq war; but none died on the day of my meeting with Petraeus. Early that evening, he walks around his desk, bends over a computer screen, scans graphs and columns of numbers, and says, “Still no casualties. It’s good news, outstanding news, we don’t get that a lot here”
Such optimism, if you want to support the troops get them out of this mess.
Or….
Perhaps you could try saying “good job” and “thank you”.
Okay, “Shirley,” what do you suggest we do? Abandon Iraq to chaos and murder? Hand its people over to the tender mercies of Iran and Al-Qaeda?
If war isn’t the answer here, let’s hear yours.
Mr. Douglas asked that this be passed around. It offers some perspective into changes over the years.
http://burkeanreflections.blogspot.com/2007/08/civilian-casualties-and-us-conduct-in.html
Those of you better in historical detail can check the article but all in all, it does show some of the deep changes that’ve occurred over the decades.
Uh, shirley, those civilians were killed by the bad guys, likely Al Qaeda. Us going away and hiding under our beds would not change that, nor would it change the fact that those bad guys want to destroy us (in their own words). You and elvis have your own distorted thinking to sort through.
Help: Someone is criticizing neocons on another blog. If you know the definition and are well-veresed in the topic, please go over to. (read the post and then the comments). Thanks.
http://kamangir.net/2007/08/13/godfather-seeks-support-from-the-islamic-republic/
Hey Shirley, are you comparing Iraq political progress, in a new democracy, with US political progress on, earmark reform for instance, after 200+ years of democracy?
Or maybe immigration reform?
Or health care?
Or maybe Bush haters have the TV Hollywood schedule idea that 90 minutes should be about enough time to fix any problem.
On the Der Spiegel article, he often wrote that the Americans were the Iraqi enemies. I don’t think that’s ever been true — we were always the terrorist enemies, and have been the enemies of Baathists who fought against us. Since many of these are Iraqis, we were the enemies of anti-freedom Iraqis.
Most Iraqis want to avoid becoming a target, I think.
No, really.
Terrorists in Iraq.
Neo is normally so dismissive of the msm
Not as dismissive as I am of the main sewer mind.
# shirley Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 2:20 am
To find the kind of contorted thinking that goes on here one usually has to go to a Creationism conference.
Try reading stormfront once in awhile.
shirley Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 2:12 am
190 dead in Kurdish Iraq today.
See, what did I say about the other shoe dropping?
Shirley? Must be one heck of a plan if it’s taken you a whole day to write it up. We’re all waiting!
I predict we’ll see snow in hell before we hear from “shirley”(a.k.a. Nancy Boyda) again.
The reason why my reaction to Spiegel’s… article is so nonplus is because of their history. Described here.
Link
This all stems from last week’s Der SPIEGEL magazine cover feature article by Ullrich Fichtner: An enormous, fascinating and remarkably honest report on the complex situation in Iraq. (The first link above in bolded-italics leads to the English translation of that report.) SPIEGEL ONLINE is also publishing Fichtner’s report that US troops are in a remarkably good mood and have high morale. That also flies directly in the face of past SPIEGEL reporting that consistently depicted US troops as demoralized, depressed, defeated, prone to suicide and suffering from low morale.
As a long-time observer of the publication, my first reaction to reading this on SPIEGEL ONLINE was: Are they on drugs?! – this directly contradicts everything they’ve reported for the past four years! My second reaction was: Have they finally gotten off the drugs?! Maybe reality is finally starting to sink in!
Keep in mind that less than a year ago, Der SPIEGEL published a magazine cover (depicted below) declaring Iraq a “Lost War”.
I always must watch out for enemy propaganda operations designed to upset US or international morale. One method is to raise expectations and then gut us while we’re looking up.
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