Betsy Newmark read Amir Taheri’s Commentary article about the situation in Iraq and found some information I certainly have not heard reported. This is just one example of some news that does not seem to be getting much attention:
Amir Taheri has a long article in Commentary reflecting on the situtation in Iraq based on his years of covering Iraq. He finds that the media has done a poor job of covering the present situation there because of the scope of the story, their own prejudices and antipathy to the war. He looks at five different criteria to compare how Iraq has been doing since the war to before and finds all four show marked improvement. First he looks at the refugee situation and notes that there is none, not what anyone expected before the war began.
When things have been truly desperate in Iraq–in 1959, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1980, 1988, and 1990–long queues of Iraqis have formed at the Turkish and Iranian frontiers, hoping to escape.
Since the Saddam regime was toppled, however, there have been over one million Iraqis who have returned to Iraq from abroad.
Read it all.
Excellent article and impossible to refute by the BDS’ers. And, though while I’m sure they will try, Mr. Taheri’s points make too much sense to be undone by talking points.
Things are great in Iraq. Just look at all the new routes that AA, United, Delta and others are running to Baghdad. MTV, I hear is going to do a spring break thing in Baghdad.
Don’t listen to the media. They have a vested interest in lying about Iraq. They know that if they actually told the truth even more people would go to Iraq. And then, you know, the lines for free beer at the the local Irish pub in Baghdad, Abdul O’Doul’s would be too long.
The media is completely lying about Iraq because they want all the naked chicks running around in Basra to themselves. Yeah, Iraq is like New Orleans during Mardi Gras, but with better food, trashier women, more booze and free gas.
Oh, I think the fMSM and the moonbats are only too aware that things are really progressing in Iraq – where, despite the front-page quality of every new violent act, one is statistically less likely to die violently than in Washington DC or Milwaukee WI.
They must be of mixed mind now, after their steady drumbeat of negativity has driven Bush’s approval ratings so low, that we are on the verge of being able to reduce troops levels by the end of this year. They want us to leave, but they also want us to leave in defeat, with only chaos in Iraq to show for the war.
Noting the lack of refugees would also require them to realize, if not report, that Iraqis must believe they are better off in their homeland with the level of violence there than in any neighboring Muslim nation, where the violence comes only from the regime – just as it did in Iraq before OIF.
TV has not been a net plus for society. I agree with Dennis Prager. So many useful idiots expect immediate, easy solutions to difficult problems. There’s little if any historical understanding or perspective, or any consideration of human nature, character, context – America.
Don’t like history? Rewrite reality!
Lost an election? Say you didn’t and repeat that lie!
Or create a movement out of whole cloth and hot air, a complete feelgood fantasy that negates human nature and has never worked in the real world.
Or just silence the truth, surrender your soul to the collective, appeal to America’s enemies for votes, power, funding, customers,
right lint?
This enemy isn’t going away. And make no mistake, the President and the military understands that fighting the enemy in Iraq is keeping them off of US soil.
And well-trained American heroes might one day be able to salvage civilization, even if they have to hide out in the hills and wait out the coming dark ages in the wake of chaos now being sown by the left in America, and jihadists around the globe.
And, no, it isn’t Bush’s fault.
as usual, true progress comes from actions of real leaders and conservative policies….the complete opposite, “regression” happens with policies from those that call themselves “progressives”…..its an upside down world and you can think philosophies such as postmodernism for it.
Actually, Northwest is seriously considering a Detroit to Baghdad route, once things chill out a bit more.
Lorie
Apparently you will swallow all kinds of bilge from any source if it furthers a deceitful point.
This Taheri is the same LYING ASS who made up the story about the new Iranian dress code law which turned out to be a fraud and which had all of you extreme right loonies braying for an invasion of Iran..
You clearly have no problem using whatever propaganda that comes from a liar.
Thought that you might have had just one little shred of Intellectual Honesty, but then I remembered where it is that you write.
I’m curious mak44 … are you saying that one million exiled Iraqis have NOT returned to Iraq?
PS: Did Saddm Hussein have anything to do with Terrorism?
No, Martin
I am not saying anything other than that Taheri is a demonstrated liar & that I would take anything that he said w/ an immense grain of salt, based on his prior fraudulent stories.
Taheri is a shill for Daniel Pipes and his organizations that have as their purpose the fommenting of the kind of propaganda swill that led the untutored and unweaned knuckle-walking Chimp to invade Iraq.
Taheri is a bold liar whose Commentary
(AJC) co-operation would render him expendable to both Shia and Sunni. The next government will not
recognize Israel, regardless of what proportion
of Shia and Sunni control it. Iraq’s professonal class is exiting in alarming numbers.Offficers in Iraq, as Capitol Hill Blue reported today, have conceded the war is lost.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8790.shtml
looking bleak
CapitolHillBlue, huh?
Yeah, that’s credible…speaking of swallowing bilge.
It’s a great article, which will, as already demonstrated above, be dismissed by the, “quagmire,” fanatics. They can’t face the truth, as it will destroy their delusions.
JannyMae
Are you such a douche bag that you think simple rightie extremist pejorative and invective are counterpoints to an argument? What do you have to contribute other than your typical chyme?
No one but you righties have delusions about victory in Iraq. “Mission Accomplished” was but the first of your delusions, soon to be followed with “Bring it on.” Where are all the delusional bouquets as promised by Der Cheney? Or the rolling-in oil revenues to pay for the war by that Great Delusionist, Wolfowitz?
You are too accustomed to slinging swill to the Choir. Try an argument the next time. But then, argument and reasoning are not often seen in salivating Pavlovian Puppies like you.
You’re wrong, Mak. I just came back from Iraq. The situation is not as the NYT and WaPo describe it.
Here are a few of the wonderful things happening in Iraq, things which I personally witnessed.
1. Friday intramural Shia-Sunni tug of war.
2. Free beer on wednesdays.
3. Free tylenol on Thursdays.
4. Under-the-burka, a specialty lingerie showroom recently opened up in Umm Qasr.
See, you just don’t know what you’re talking about.
Lint
Thanx for your tip. Just found a bargain excursion to Baghdad on Travelocity. Leaving for Paradise in 2 weeks-got asuite in Rumsfeld Towers-just steps away from the pub you highlited.
Personally, I’ve had enough of mak44’s grade schoolyard vocabulary when it comes to personal attacks.
If mak44 were on my lifeboat, mak44 would be sharkbait.
Ah, epador
The man of reason & intellect. You have destroyed my point with your lucid comments.
BTW epador, were it up to you & your fellow conservatives, tenaciously resisting any progress in human civilization, you would still be grunting for communication. Course that would solve your problem about “English Only” for immigrants because a grunt in any language is still just a grunt.
OOOOooooo
An almost logical and eloquent argument.
I am almost postless.
Mad Muhammad’s 5 and 10 (a newly opened venture in the heart of Baghdad) is having a special on lifeboats. Two for one. And he throws in a can of republican repellent for free.
More signs of all the great things happening in Iraq.
“Are you such a douche bag that you think simple rightie extremist pejorative and invective are counterpoints to an argument? What do you have to contribute other than your typical chyme?” —
mak44
Honeybunch, you made no argument.
Asserting your opinion, as if it’s fact, is not an argument. Wishing something to be so, in spite of no evidence to support your viewpoint, is also not an argument. Let me know if you find any facts, ‘kay?
…and, by the way, thanks for so conclusively reinforcing the point of my post….
By the way, did someone question Taheri’s credibility?
doug thompson of capitolhillblue
JannyMae
What the hell does that T.O. article have to do w/ Taheri???
Me thinks “lint” (is that the same thing as “fuzz”?) and mak44 (is that the same as “fake22”?) still like to hide behind their nannie’s skirt. Now I could be wrong but they don’t sound like someone that has the gonads to be a member of the arm forces.
“He looks at five different criteria to compare how Iraq has been doing since the war to before and finds all four show marked improvement.”
looks at FIVE criteria but all FOUR are improving?
didn’t anybody else see this?
jhow66
I doubt that you have anything but gonads since you have difficulty proofing your bilge before posting.
It’s “Armed Forces” unless you’re some immigrant still at the “English as second language” stage.
model_1066
Don’t tell me-you’re a blonde.
Don’t like history? Rewrite reality!
Lost an election? Say you didn’t and repeat that lie!
Or create a movement out of whole cloth and hot air, a complete feelgood fantasy that negates human nature and has never worked in the real world.
Or just silence the truth, surrender your soul to the collective, appeal to America’s enemies for votes, power, funding, customers, bah
haven’t repubs done some of this themselves? I bolded that line because you seem to be talking about illegals, but are they really America’s enemies? I wouldn’t venture that far considering they want to come to America for a better life for themselves and their children.
I tend to think of America’s enemies as terrorists and authoritarian regimes, which history tells us, Republicans have had closer ties with. Iran-contra, funding bin Laden to fight the Soviets, supplying Iran and Saddam with weapons to kill each other with, basically funding the Saudis due to our unquenchable thirst for oil, supporting (albeit reluctantly) Mubarak and Musharraf because what lies underneath their fists is even worse for America, opening up diplomatic relations with China (simultaneously a great and regrettable Nixon achievement).
I could probably go on, but I think you all get the point.
and your 3rd statment about creating some feelgood fantasy, isn’t that precisely the scenario envisioned in the lead up to the iraq war?
there have been over one million Iraqis who have returned to Iraq from abroad
Does that mean Iraq’s population has now grown to 27million? How many of the returnees are Kurds? Shiites? Sunnis?
I’ve been thinkng that if 6 million or more Kurds could be encouraged to move to Iraq from Turkey, Iran, Syria or wherever, then the total population of Iraq would grow to something over 32 million, so the Kurds+Sunnis would more or less equal the 16million Shiites, enhancing ethnic stability even more.
I’ve been thinkng that if 6 million or more Kurds could be encouraged to move to Iraq from Turkey, Iran, Syria or wherever, then the total population of Iraq would grow to something over 32 million, so the Kurds+Sunnis would more or less equal the 16million Shiites,
Well, in your hypothetical that balance would exist if the Kurds and the Sunnis were on the same side in the first place, and if they were and it was ethnically balanced why would that be a good thing? Anyway in case you didn’t know Turkey wants to hang on its Kurds, and the Kurds in Syria and Iran are better off where they are than in Iraq. In any case the only way there would be a large migration of Kurds to Iraq is to break off the north and create a Kurdish state. Do you think that would be good thing?
Anyway, great idea! My favorite part was:
enhancing ethnic stability even more.
How exactly is stability “enhanced” (even more!)? And further, what ethnic stability?!
One reason there may be less people leaving..It may simply be too dangerous in many areas. There may be No escaping the violence in Iraq“The roads to the border run through Sunni-dominated Al Anbar province. Buses are periodically stopped and looted, their passengers killed. For many Iraqis, boarding the bus is yet another gamble…
Steve,
Escaping VN after 1975 was much more dangerous compared to Iraq. Many people had to cross Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was as brutal. They killed 1/3 of their own population. They wouldn’t have treated kindly the Vietnamest caught escaping VN. Other people had to flee by sea. Half a million died on the sea. Still people were risking their lives to escape the communist utopia.
So in all honesty, if Iraq is that bad, people would escape by the millions.
The bottom line is that we should be on the side of the majority of the Iraqui people against the foreign terrorists and the minority former Sunni Baathists. The Amercian is standing on the right side of history again against the Jihadist terrorists and the modern Nazis just as they did against the communists during the cold war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201112_pf.html
Professionals leaving Iraq in droves
Ken,
EVen peaceful countries like India and Taiwan have been losing their professionals in droves. It is a common knowledge that India spent a lot of resources to educate and screen out the best engineering talents. Then all these best students from IIT (India Institute of Technology) would then go to the US for graduate and stay there.
It is understandable that the terrorists and the former Baathists would want to target the professionals in Iraq. They even resorted to blowing up hospitals and schools to intimidate people and to create news for propaganda purpose. That ‘s the only way they can win this war. The terrorists and the Baathists are counting on the libeal media in the West to give them the propaganda service. That ‘s why decent people in the West shouldn’t help out these evil forces agaisnt the Iraqui people at the very least
Iraq is such a good country now that people can simply leave without much risk. Imagine someone trying to leave Iran, Cuba, or any former leftist communist countries.