OMG . . . real news from a real reporter regarding Iraq. The s*** is

[frankly_fedup2]

going to hit the fan. Way to go Newsweek.

(snip)The most powerful army in human history can't even protect a two-mile stretch of road. The Airport Highway connects both the international airport and Baghdad's main American military base, Camp Victory, to the city center. At night U.S. troops secure the road for the use of dignitaries; they close it to traffic and shoot at any unauthorized vehicles. More troops and more helicopters could help make the whole country safer. Instead the Pentagon has been drawing down the number of helicopters. And America never deployed nearly enough soldiers. They couldn't stop the orgy of looting that followed Saddam's fall. Now their primary mission is self-defense at any cost—which only deepens Iraqis' resentment.(snip)

The most honest thing I have seen written in months. It's horrible, but it's the truth.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8101422/site/newsweek/

[mike_c]

1. they'll retract in a couple of days...

...after discovering that a source failed to pay an overdue library fine in 1987.

[DrDebug]

9. Probably after discovering that it's 8 miles

So the whole story was fake :shrug:

[ray of light]

13. figures....

Did you notice it was msnbc? Hmmmm....it only took how many months AFTER an election for the spinmedias to hint at truth. Maybe the media is trying to appease the crowds and draw them back. Too little too late. We all know what they're up to.

[Supersedeas]

2. Iraqi resentment....won't here Cheney address that much at $$ fundraisers

[lady lib]

3. Now there's some honest reporting.

I actually got a sense of what it's like there.

Thanks for posting this.

[frankly_fedup2]

10. This is a person reporting what he actually saw the last two years.

How can they shut this man up OR make the magazine retract the story. Let's wait and see how they can spin this one. Geez I am so tired of the lies and these right-wing people are just plain ignorant. They support Bush no matter what. I think we should have impeached him and Cheney after the (s)election of 2000. After all, wasn't the Supreme Court creating law themselves? Isn't this what the neocons are bitching about now? The courts had been giving them every little thing they wanted until the Schiavo case. Then "suddenly" the courts were trying to create laws.

Well, I agree with the neocons, yes, some judges have created their own laws, laws for the neocons that is.

Oh, you are welcome :-)

[damntexdem]

4. Newsweek is commiting the most-unforgivable sin:

chronically telling the truth.

[goclark]

6. Please hold for the TRUTH Newsweek - don't let them stop you!

[killbotfactory]

5. Thanks to this kind of shallow thought, we are in a quagmire

"Two years ago I went to Iraq as an unabashed believer in toppling Saddam Hussein. I knew his regime well from previous visits; WMDs or no, ridding the world of Saddam would surely be for the best, and America's good intentions would carry the day."

argh....

[rocktivity]

7. And it's NOT in MSNBC's blog section!!!

like their speculation on the Downing Street Minutes.

Of course, now they've been proven right about Quaran-gate, I suppose that Newsweek HAVE taken their gloves off.

:headbang:
rocknation

[cthrumatrix]

8. kind of late NOW..... they have blood on thier hands for letting this

admin lie thru thier teeth and sell a "bill of goods" to America.

Toooooo late. Tell that to the families that lost loved ones as the 14 army bases go up!

[CoffeeCat]

11. Thank you for posting this...

Finally, someone is writing the truth.

What's sad about this is...why aren't more telling the truth. If this is how Iraq is (and I'm positive it is all this--and much worse) there are stories to be written and photographs to be taken. This is a HUGE story--with thousands of additional human interest stories.

Can you imagine the stories these soldiers have to tell?

And what about the Iraqis...why don't reporters interview them?

The truth could lead to Pulitzers. Not that reporters should be motivated by awards. But come on, the current state of Iraq is affecting our domestic agenda, our relations with other countries, our national debt/federal deficit. It's certainly affecting the lives of the Iraqis--people to whom we promised freedom and peace.

Please...reporters...keep speaking the truth. Don't let this story be an anomaly.

The part of the Newsweek article that I found the most shocking:

"The four-square-mile Green Zone, the one place in Baghdad where foreigners are reasonably safe, could be a showcase of American values and abilities. Instead the American enclave is a trash-strewn wasteland of Mad Max-style fortifications. The traffic lights don't work because no one has bothered to fix them. The garbage rarely gets collected. Some of the worst ambassadors in U.S. history are the GIs at the Green Zone's checkpoints. They've repeatedly punched Iraqi ministers, accidentally shot at visiting dignitaries and behave (even on good days) with all the courtesy of nightclub bouncers—to Americans and Iraqis alike. Not that U.S. soldiers in Iraq have much to smile about. They're overworked, much ignored on the home front and widely despised in Iraq, with little to look forward to but the distant end of their tours—and in most cases, another tour soon to follow. Many are reservists who, when they get home, often face the wreckage of careers and family." :( :( :( :(

[unhappycamper]

12. Our ambassadors at work.

I don't know if this has been shopped or not, but it seems about right.

[realFedUp]

14. maybe if it had an oil pipeline running down it....

:shrug:

[LEW]

15. I emailed this to a repub I know

who has continually supported shrub and the war. Last week I emailed and talked to him about the Downing Street minutes. My message with this article was "read this and then tell me that fixing the facts to go to war in Iraq is not a crime"!!

I will never change his mind but I will always make sure he knows what others are saying, instead of the spoon fed crap he gets from Fox.

[Disturbed]

16. The Bush Regime is pleased.

Bush Junta Iraq Successes

Saddam will no longer sell Iraqi oil via the Euro.

A military foothold in the ME.

No countries will be able to buy Iraqi oil that the U.S. disapproves of.

The Multi-Intl. Oil Corps are reaping great profits, esp. Bush Junta fave ally Saudi Dicktatorshit.

“We live a lie when we fail to hold leaders accountable for their lies. By not calling now for impeachment, we are saying that we condone hypocrisy, pseudo-democracy, and murdering thousands of Americans and Iraqis for strategic control of energy resources that we have no right to. Patriotism demands that we insist on the ideals of democracy, not that we support the "leaders" who cynically destroy them.”
Robert Shetterly

[Larkspur]

17. They not totally please. American-bred cannon-fodder isn't being

replaced fast enough.

[fooj]

18. TRUTH IS OUR MOST POWERFUL WEAPON!

:patriot:

peace.

[lostnfound]

19. Pardon me, but this article is actually classic propaganda..

of the Thomas Friedman variety.

What evidence is there to suggest that GOOD INTENTIONS had anything to do with this invasion? That's the big lie.

America's "good intentions" carry us through from decade to decade. War is a RACKET. It is NOT a noble pursuit, with 1 or 2 notable exceptions, perhaps.

This article speaks some truth, but it is couched in a worldview that is safely within the bounds of acceptable American intellectual discourse. That is to say, it does not question the fundamental intentions of our government and how it is being run by and for the benefit of a few oligarchs.

[frankly_fedup2]

21. Only one senator has the balls to call Bush a liar, but he apologized

for calling him a loser, and he stated this morning (during a news conference regarding all the time that has been wasted on Bush's nomination of radical judges), but said that he would come up with something else sooner or later. LOL

Also, the reporter stated that after two years, he was leaving. I wonder if that is the reason he was so blunt with this article, and actually stating facts that would have to be refuted by the administration? Wonder if there will be any comments regarding this article from Scotty the Body???

[eridani]

20. Primary mission = self defense?

Good grief! Self defense can best be achieved by not being there!

[Solly Mack]

22. wars of containment generally are battles of self defense

[DistressedAmerican]

23. Here Comes KKKARL!!!