No end to US troubles

[Say_What]

Drip, drip, drip...

<clips>

WASHINGTON - Despite a two-week public-relations offensive designed to persuade the world and the US public that it knows what it is doing in Iraq, the Bush administration appears increasingly at sea.

That was made clear by a number of developments last week, which were capped Saturday by the killings of two US soldiers in an attack near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, and four others killed on Friday, bringing the number of US troops slain since President George W Bush in May declared the end of major hostilities in Iraq to 103.

Passing the particularly disturbing benchmark number of 100 led the television news Friday night, dashing administration hopes that the week would be remembered more for the unanimous United Nations Security Council approval Thursday of a new resolution that officials in Washington depicted as international endorsement of the US-led occupation.

But even that achievement proved anticlimactic, as countries voting for the measure, including France, Russia, Germany and even Pakistan, made clear that they were not yet ready to contribute troops to Iraq and remained doubtful that Washington's strategy for restoring security to the country - if it actually had one - was working.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EJ21Ak06.html

[Dhalgren]

1. Killer article!

Man, this is what real journalism looks like! This reporter hit each nail squarely on the head. If our media cannot see the spin into chaos that this "war" is taking, then we need to fire our media. It's really pitiful, I don't even watch the "news" anymore - what's the point.

[Brucey]

3. Me too.

It is so difficult to get anything reasonable on media news; I have given up and only use the Internet to get information.

[Say_What]

4. They haven't censored the internet, YET

Pretty soon ISPs will be like the present US media--a handful who control and disseminate what they want us to know--and they'll block any sources where we might find the truth.

From the article:

A survey based on almost 2,000 questionnaires distributed by the Pentagon-funded Stars and Stripes newspaper in August found that one-half of those questioned described their unit's morale as low, their training irrelevant or inadequate, and their re-enlistment plans non-existent.

The troops also complained about the tours provided by the Pentagon to visiting dignitaries, including top military officers, congressmen and senators. They said visitors were generally shown only hand-picked troops who could be relied on to show enthusiasm for their mission and who did not represent the views of most troops.

[LizW]

11. Unfortunately, though, they give the number of dead Americans

wrong, and without qualification. 201 Americans have died in Iraq since May 1.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Guaranteed]

5. Yeah...

....you know, people ask "How could they have let Hitler do such a thing?" Well....we're seeing it right now. This is how those kinds of things happen.
Someone's gotta stand up and break through this crap, expose these fascists for who they are.

[Say_What]

6. Well, if things aren't bad enough in Iraq, China is the new economic giant

<clips>

...In 2001 the Chinese authorities launched regional free trade areas with South and North East Asia, to be complete by 2010: negotiations over these continue. In contrast with sliding global trade, trade and investment flows between China and the rest of Asia have boomed. This has been a factor in South East Asian post-crisis recovery. Exports by the Association of South East Asian Nations to China rose 55% in the first half of 2003 to $20bn out of $70bn. In fact regional Asian trade with China has been growing far faster than Asian trade with the US. Japan's imports from China already exceed those from the US and Japanese exports to China have been steadily rising. This tendency is also apparent in South Korean, Thai, Malaysian, and Singaporean bilateral trade (16).

These trends imply that we are seeing the first steps in the construction of a Chinese regional political economy. For China, this has advantages: over time it will reduce trade dependency on the US market and decrease its vulnerability to external pressure or shocks. It also creates webs of interdependence between the rest of Asia and China, a buffer between China and the West.

For the rest of the region, the consequences are more ambiguous. Japan, by far the most technologically and economically advanced of the countries, is now in a race with China over regional economic influence, even as its multinationals invest ever more heavily in China. This competition may benefit South East Asian countries that hardly desire to trade a strategic dependency on the US for one with China. Given their productive profiles and narrow specialisation in low value-added sectors (electronics, textiles), China represents a major challenge for the developing countries of the region.

Japanese regionalism generated shallow rather than deep modernisation in South East Asia. Given the sharp differentials between developed countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) and less developed countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam), as well as interstate rivalries, a coherent Asian regional system is still a long way off. But longer-term trends point toward it. This is a structural phenomenon that can be compared to the rise of the US as a core economic power, a process that was interrupted but not stopped by the Great Depression. As the row about the yuan suggests, it will take a Copernican revolution in the West to accept this fact graciously.

http://mondediplo.com/2003/10/08china

[cliss]

7. You are absolutely right, Bull Goose.

It's absolutely chilling to watch these people. My blood runs cold when I listen to Bush on the radio, or have the great misfortune of watching a glimpse of him on TV. I don't think I've ever been so upset about political matters in my life. This must be exactly what the Germans and the rest of the world felt like 60 years ago. The stuff that nightmares are made of.

Meanwhile, the people at my office just carry on with their little lives, with their little flags hanging, in support of this administration.

The Internet (and in particular this web site) is my only place of refuge now. If they come in with their dirty fingernails and try to censor it, I will keep typing away until I'm shut out.

[julka]

8. at sea? whatever do you mean?

[Judi Lynn]

9. In case there was any doubt

see this snippet from the article:

A survey based on almost 2,000 questionnaires distributed by the Pentagon-funded Stars and Stripes newspaper in August found that one-half of those questioned described their unit's morale as low, their training irrelevant or inadequate, and their re-enlistment plans non-existent.

The troops also complained about the tours provided by the Pentagon to visiting dignitaries, including top military officers, congressmen and senators. They said visitors were generally shown only hand-picked troops who could be relied on to show enthusiasm for their mission and who did not represent the views of most troops.

Remember the glowing reports being broght back from Iraq and brandished triumphantly by Republican Congresspeople, and administration officials.

Remember we read last week, near the weekend, that DEMOCRATS ARE BEING KEPT OUT!

[0007]

10. ......and it will get worse!

Even Saddam paid a high price for peace.