Colin Powell admits his own naievety

[taranaki]

Did he seriously expect the Iraqis to just let their country be colonised?



US shocked at Iraq hotel attack

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3216141.stm

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted that the US did not expect that American forces would face such intense and sustained attacks in Iraq.
Mr Powell was speaking after rockets hit the Rashid hotel, used by US officials and one of the most heavily guarded sites in Iraq's capital.

US officials say they are facing increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Late on Sunday, just hours after Mr Powell's comments, two blasts detonated near the US-led coalition's HQ.


A military spokesman said the explosions had gone off in the capital's Green Zone, which also includes the Rashid hotel.

Early on Sunday morning, several rockets had slammed into the hotel, killing a US soldier and wounding 17 other people. These included 11 Americans and nationals from the Czech Republic, Italy, Britain, Nepal and India, coalition officials said.

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was staying there, escaped unhurt.

Mr Wolfowitz vowed that the US would not be cowed into abandoning Iraq.

The attack was likely to have been planned well in advance and not targeted at Mr Wolfowitz, according to the US general in charge of security in Baghdad, Brigadier General Martin Dempsey.

Hotel attack divides Iraqis
"There is no question that it required some degree of preparations, probably lasting over a couple of months," General Dempsey told a news conference.

The attackers appear to have driven a van into a nearby park where they dropped off a trailer containing a rocket launcher, disguised as a generator, about 400 metres (1,312 feet) from the hotel.

They then set off a timing device and fled, leaving the rockets to launch at the hotel a few minutes later.

General Dempsey accused the attackers of trying to "discredit" recent moves by the US-led coalition to improve security, including the opening of a key bridge and the lifting of a night-time curfew for the start of Ramadan.

He insisted he "absolutely" stood by comments that security had improved.

Nevertheless, the attack has brought what the BBC's Jon Leyne describes as remarkably frank comments from members of the Bush administration about the challenge they face in Iraq.

"We did not expect it would be quite this intense this long," Mr Powell told NBC television.

"We are still in a conflict and I don't think the president ever sought to minimise that," he said.

"So we have much work ahead of us and we will not shrink from this work," Mr Powell said, insisting that the security situation would be brought under control.

The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said there was evidence that what he described as terrorist groups were getting better organised and using more sophisticated approaches.

Mr Bremer, who is in Washington for consultations, said he had ordered a full investigation into the attack.

Both he and Mr Powell made a point of stressing positive developments in Iraq, including progress in restoring electricity supplies and easing the Baghdad curfew.

But our correspondent says the Bush administration is clearly worried about the growing number of attacks on US forces, especially as American public opinion appears to be turning against the operation in Iraq.


MAJOR BOMB ATTACKS

12 October: Suicide car bomb outside Baghdad Hotel - six killed
9 October: Suicide car bomb hits police station in the northeast Shia district Sadr City - at least 10 killed
29 August: Car bomb at mosque near Najaf - 125 killed including Shia Islam top cleric
19 August: UN headquarters, Baghdad - 23 killed, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, veteran official
7 August: Jordanian Embassy - at least 14 killed

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If George wants to stand any chance of going the distance in a second term,he needs to rethink his position on Iraq.He may have won the battle,but he's certainly going to lose the war.

[freakray]

Were'nt they warned this could turn into another encounter similar to the Russia/Afghanistan affair?

[Cbass]

Who would have thought that in a country of some 23 million people and even more weapons, there would be a large number of well armed Iraqis who object to being invaded and conquered by a foreign power? People who would object so strongly, they would be willing to kill themselves to get that foreign power out of their country...

What's really naive is thinking that the Bush administration didn't know this was going to happen. They didn't expect the Iraqis to throw down their arms and greet the soldiers with flowers and kisses!

Or maybe they did

[blindside.AMG]

We should just leave and let the Iraqis figure it out. The US should be like every other country and say "Fuck it, who gives a shit about these poor countries". We should let them kill themselves off. If religious extremists all die we would be living in one big happy euphoria!!!!!!!!

Uh oh, I'm feeling some backlash coming............

[taranaki]

Originally Posted by blindside.AMG

We should just leave and let the Iraqis figure it out. The US should be like every other country and say "Fuck it, who gives a shit about these poor countries".

This is close to the truth.

However,the reast of the world tends to say,Fuck it,they are Iraqis,they are in Iraq,it's their fucking country,why don't we just mind our own fucking business?"

Iraq would not be a poor country if they were allowed to extract,refine,and sell their oil for the benefit of their country.They don't need some jumped-up Yank telling them who can and can't have contracts to operate the oil industry in their country.

[Cbass]

The rest of the world mostly cares about making a buck off of poorer countries.

The US wants to have a more active role, namely in running the country and squeezing every last drop of oil/blood/money out.

[blindside.AMG]

Originally Posted by taranaki

This is close to the truth.

However,the reast of the world tends to say,Fuck it,they are Iraqis,they are in Iraq,it's their fucking country,why don't we just mind our own fucking business?"

Iraq would not be a poor country if they were allowed to extract,refine,and sell their oil for the benefit of their country.They don't need some jumped-up Yank telling them who can and can't have contracts to operate the oil industry in their country.

How is it even possible for you to think that Iraq would be better off if we just let Saddam Hussein run things? Let him control all the oil, all the money. I would like nothing more than to see Iraq on its feet, on its own, and doing well. I would love to see $87 billion of my, not your, tax dollars going to fight the fires here in LA and upgrading power grids across the US. Hopefully our investment in this war will payoff for the US and Iraq. The US saw a chance to tap the diamond in the rough. It's too bad all these countries bitching about the war never had the balls or willpower to do so themselves. I guess you're all kinda screwed now since, in the end, the US will have such a close relationship with a huge player in the oil industry.

[T4 Primera]

Originally Posted by blindside.AMG

......I guess you're all kinda screwed now since, in the end, the US will have such a close relationship with a huge player in the oil industry......

Counting your chickens a little early aren't you? - one word reply - AFGHANISTAN.

[Cbass]

Originally Posted by blindside.AMG

How is it even possible for you to think that Iraq would be better off if we just let Saddam Hussein run things? Let him control all the oil, all the money.

Well, maybe if we think back to the eighties when Saddam Hussein DID run things, before the UN sanctions and daily US/British bombings which crippled his electrical and water infrastructure. These were the days when oil rich Iraq, under Saddam himself, had free health care and post secondary education for all of it's citizens... Gee, the US doesn't have either! Hell, in Canada, I still have to pay to go to college.

Yes, he was a dictator. Yes, he was brutal. No, he's not any worse than the scores of corrupt and vicious dictators the US continues to support to this day. The difference was, Mr Hussein was sitting on the worlds richest low sulphur oil reserves.

Originally Posted by blindside.AMG

I would like nothing more than to see Iraq on its feet, on its own, and doing well. I would love to see $87 billion of my, not your, tax dollars going to fight the fires here in LA and upgrading power grids across the US. Hopefully our investment in this war will payoff for the US and Iraq. The US saw a chance to tap the diamond in the rough. It's too bad all these countries bitching about the war never had the balls or willpower to do so themselves. I guess you're all kinda screwed now since, in the end, the US will have such a close relationship with a huge player in the oil industry.

Those statements show both immaturity, and a poor grasp of the situation in Iraq. In case you haven't noticed, which I'm sure you haven't, there isn't any oil coming out of Iraq, and American GI's and civilian(CIA) personell are coming home in body bags every week. The death toll is getting pretty high at 410 soldiers with the majority being killed after Bush declared the war over. That doesn't even count the ones who lose arms, legs, eyes, spend the rest of their life in a coma, etc... Those number 2100 currently...

http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

[taranaki]

Originally Posted by blindside.AMG

How is it even possible for you to think that Iraq would be better off if we just let Saddam Hussein run things? Let him control all the oil, all the money. I would like nothing more than to see Iraq on its feet, on its own, and doing well. I would love to see $87 billion of my, not your, tax dollars going to fight the fires here in LA and upgrading power grids across the US. Hopefully our investment in this war will payoff for the US and Iraq. The US saw a chance to tap the diamond in the rough. It's too bad all these countries bitching about the war never had the balls or willpower to do so themselves. I guess you're all kinda screwed now since, in the end, the US will have such a close relationship with a huge player in the oil industry.

Well,if you are comfortable with having a thief and a liar for a President,good luck to you.What part of 'It doesn't belong to you' don't you understand?What the greedy bastards that run the U.S.government saw was an excuse to grab a slice of something that doesn't belong to them,and never will.Weapons of mass destruction?BULLSHIT!Links between Iraq and the World Trade Center?More bullshit!

Too bad that people like you don't have the balls to admit that America has got it badly wrong and should have listened to the civilised world a bit more closely.

as for your 'close relationship' theory......Hitler had a 'close relationship ' with the industry of many countries,and the bastard got what he deserved in the end.