Grateful Iraqis

[Comrade]

You've all heard the news, and Iraqi bloggers (I mean, CIA propoganda machines, right?) have been saying nice things.

http://asmallvictory.net/archives/007112.html

There's a few quotes. But I'm sure its the government lying to us, because, according to Enready and Bishop and Henry and guiliano and roxdog, the Iraqis hate us. And they know better than the Iraqis do.

[giuliano]

what you have their is hope.

[Comrade]

you mean, What I have there is hope?

So now that we can't call this a CIA fabrication, it is just Iraqis on opium dreams? You people never cease to amaze me.

[giuliano]

yes i spelled 'there' wrong, shoot me.

it is hope. their country is at this time in a state of disarray. the no. of americans who look at iraq and say 'wow there's a place i want to live' is approximately 0.0.

time will be the judge of whether bush's plan for reviving iraq was successful.

[The Dunedan]

Comrade,
Any blogger in a country like Iraq is going to be somebody -loaded- by their neighbors' standards. In Iraq right now, the only people wealthy enough or well-connected enough to put up a weblog are those who were put there by the US. They, therefore, have a vested interest in putting up nice things ( which yes, the US has doen ) and ignoring the bad things. This does not mean they're CIA plants or anything of the kind; just that, in this case as always, vested interest rules. If/when ordinary Iraqis are able to start putting up 'blogs, I suspect you'll get a more complete picture.
Judging the attitude of Iraqis vis a vis the US, using these blogs, is comperable to trying to judge American attitudes about taxes based upon the 'blogs maintained by a dozen IRS agents.

[Comrade]

It bugs me.
I doubt their country is in as much disarray as it seems on TV. Even if there were a dozen suicide attacks a day, they are mostly in the Fallujah region. That would be like saying all of California is under seige if there were bombings in the San Francisco area.

If they got internet access, it means they have electricity, and none of them seem to be hurting for food or water.

As for time being the judge, I don't want this to be trusted to history. I want an active American or NATO/UN involvement in Iraq for a long time to come, to make it as secure as possible.

Do you think isolationists in the 1940s would be angry to learn that we are just now removing our troops from Germany?

[Osborn F Enready]

Wow Comrade, even I didn't expect you to sink to these levels, and just blatantly put words in my mouth. You have outdone yourself in your pettiness, and I don't think I will waste my time AGAIN explaining what I mean, from what you can't infer from PLAIN ENGLISH.

Do whatever it takes to discredit me in your mind comrade, the truth will still haunt you, and if you want you can blame that on me too.

[PatrickHenry]

Originally posted by Comrade,
, according to ...Henry ...the Iraqis hate us. And they know better than the Iraqis do.

This is a lie. You must provide proof for your statements or you get a label around here. You have also changed the argument and named me in your confusion. Stick to the argument or I'll drop a dime on ya'.

That said, would you hate an occupying force that raped your mom, your wife or your daughter? Probably not if they had Bush/Cheney bumperstickers on their humvees, Comrade. Heh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/stor...220673,00.html

[Comrade]

So we bring up the prison again?

Enready, you are threatening an atheist with hell. And by the way, nice post, you know, with all the facts and sources. Or should I say, Enready, THANKS for the NICE POST, you know, with all the FACTS and SOURCES.

I'm putting words in your mouth? Since when have you believed the Iraqis wanted us there?

Henry, you say I mistakenly said you believe Iraqis hate us, then you bring up the prison scandal as proof that the Iraqis hate us. Because obviously every single Iraqi was raped and humiliated by every single American there.

[giuliano]

the biggest threat to iraq comes from its economy. it has been shown that oil revenue is not enough to dig iraq out of the massive debt they incurred under the saddam regime, and UN sanctions.

[Comrade]

Originally posted by The Dunedan,
Comrade,
  Any blogger in a country like Iraq is going to be somebody -loaded- by their neighbors' standards. In Iraq right now, the only people wealthy enough or well-connected enough to put up a weblog are those who were put there by the US. They, therefore, have a vested interest in putting up nice things ( which yes, the US has doen ) and ignoring the bad things. This does not mean they're CIA plants or anything of the kind; just that, in this case as always, vested interest rules. If/when ordinary Iraqis are able to start putting up 'blogs, I suspect you'll get a more complete picture.
  Judging the attitude of Iraqis vis a vis the US, using these blogs, is comperable to trying to judge American attitudes about taxes based upon the 'blogs maintained by a dozen IRS agents.

How can you prove these aren't ordinary Iraqis?

guiliano, actually, the oil WOULD be enough, but the terrorists have been bombing the pipelines daily, cutting exports by quite a bit.

[giuliano]

the oil is not enough.

link
Agreement to cut Iraq's debt is critical because a resumption of Iraq's oil sales at prewar levels of 2.4 million barrels a day won't be enough to finance a reconstruction that may cost as much as $100 billion, according to Hormats (managing director of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration).

``Not even close,'' Hormats said in an interview.