Petraeus: Life In Iraq Showing ‘Astonishing Signs Of Normalcy’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/14/petraeus-normalcy/

Petraeus: Life In Iraq Showing ‘Astonishing Signs Of Normalcy’


In an interview with USA Today yesterday, Gen. David Petraeus, top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, claimed that he sees “astonishing signs of normalcy” in Baghdad:

“I’m talking about professional soccer leagues with real grass field stadiums, several amusement parks — big ones, markets that are very vibrant. … The Iraqi army has, in general, done quite well in the face of some really serious challenges.”

Petraeus painted a similarly rosy picture of progress in Iraq last week, when he declared on CNN that “what is taking place in Anbar is almost breathtaking.”

Yet, a report released yesterday by the Pentagon — “the first comprehensive statistical overview of the new U.S. military strategy in Iraq” — directly contradicts Petraeus’ optimistic assessments:

Overall, however, violence “has increased in most provinces, particularly in the outlying areas of Baghdad province and Diyala and Ninewa provinces,” … In Diyala’s restive capital of Baqubah, U.S. and Iraq forces “have been unable to diminish rising sectarian violencecontributing to the volatile security situation ,” (the report) said. … (I)t cited “significant evidence” of attacks on Sunni Arabs by the predominantly Shiite government security forces, which have contributed to the displacement of an estimated 2 million Iraqis from their homes.

Patraeus’s unrealistic and misleading talk of “professional soccer leagues” and “markets that are very vibrant” mirrors the rhetoric of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who recently claimed that strolling through an Iraqi market with an escort of 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawk helicopters, and 2 Apache gunships proved that one could “walk freely” in areas of Baghdad.

Additionally, Marwan Ja’afar, a prominent Iraqi soccer player, was killed in a mortar attack last month, and 21 Iraqis who worked in the Baghdad market visited by McCain were ambushed, bound and shot dead the day after he left.

UPDATE: Spencer Ackerman at TPMmuckraker has more on Petraeus’s comments here:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003431.php

[kurth]

1. Yep, nice place for anybody to take a walk

without heavily armed bodyguards or helicopters hovering overhead.

[EFerrari]

2. @sshole. And wtf is WRONG with our press that they give this bull a pass?

:shrug:

[babylonsister]

4. Excellent question-same as it ever was. nt

[EFerrari]

9. Where is the American press? Where? You are worse failures than Bush.

Because it is your job to report the news and you have failed miserably. MISERABLY.

I will NEVER trust you again -- you who are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq.

You, who polished the Katrina crime.

YOU.

[sutz12]

3. Yep....

Left Hand: Life is grand!

Right hand: This place sucks....get me outta here.

Left hand: What the fuck are you doing?

Right hand: None of your fucking business. I'm running this show!

Left hand: You are supposed to tell me what is really happening!

Right hand: Pound sand! Nobody's on my side! I'm going my own way.

Left hand: Can't we just get along?

Right hand: Sure. You lie to the people. I'll kill me some mop-heads. Life is good.

[NJCher]

28. and then there's the famous bush quote

Goes something like this: "The right hand doesn't know what the right hand's doin'."



Cher

[alfredo]

5. Mentioning the soccer team probably signed their death sentence.

[acmavm]

6. They lie, and they know that we know they're lying. And they just don't

give a damn. They are so confidant in their lies it's sickening.

[bdamomma]

33. they are just selling us BS again and again and again,

people are dying and getting killed, yea sure, things are going great, what total BS!!

[MadMaddie]

7. Whatever soccer fields, markets and playgrounds that are still

standing will surely be destroyed......

[Gabi Hayes]

20. believe it or not, Country Joe Scarborough had something very much like this to say

about this story tonight:

''and our reporters aren't covering stories like that because they'd get KILLED on the way to cover them''

he and the guests agreed that something happens to "good men" like Petraeus and others who go to work for the Bush administration

of course, they didn't linger for one second on that ominous thought....just accepted it as if it were obvious

funny how the media haven't EVER concentrated on that meme before.

guess it's "old news," like all the similar stories they claimed to have covered so assiduously over the last seven years, including before that idiotic slob even got the nomination

[durrrty libby]

8. I think he found some good mushrooms out in the desert

[ixion]

10. several amusement parks...

that run on what electricity? and use what supplies? and how can the people afford to go there when they can't go to work? and can they go there during the curfews?

Really, this kind of crap is simply ridiculous. :eyes:

[smalll]

11. lol - "Astonishing Signs of Normalcy" -

good band name, for a certain type of band; even better, the title of some over-long contemporary novel or something. The next David Foster Wallace perhaps.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Or the title of a Dickens novel, perhaps

"Ebeneezer Geezerfield stood at the magnificent bay window on the second floor of the prestigious Drury Lane firm of Geezerfield and Grungeley, admiring the solid gold snuffbox which his late grandfather, Jehosephat Geezerfield, had bequeathed him upon the latter's deathbed. Taking a pinch of the precious weed betwixt his thumb and forefinger and snorting it up through his nostrils, he then turned his attention toward the street below. Gentlewomen in pompadours and hoop skirts scurried hither and yon on their way to the greengrocer's or the hairdresser's, whilst gentlemen in silk cravats and ruffled shirts gathered 'round the newsdealer's or made their way to the tea shops to discuss the news of the day-- the King of France had, for the second time in as many years, been restored to his proper place upon the French throne. A horsecart carrying children-- some no older than 6 years of age-- made its way toward one of the many workhouses of the city, where the young waifs would fetch a few pence for a long day's work to earn their existence in this world.

Geezerfield paused to reflect upon the scene below. "Astonishing signs of normalcy!" he pronounced triumphantly to himself. "This is truly the best of all worlds!"

[NJCher]

29. most excellent

Cher

[Patsy Stone]

32. ...

Will you marry me?

[wtmusic]

12. But...no pictures. Please. Take my word for it. nt

[Theduckno2]

13. Over 4 years of occupation, with all its tragic costs and...

the General commanding U.S. forces in Iraq speaks of "astonishing signs of normalcy".

The Iraqi people are entitled to more than "astonishing signs of normalcy", they are entitled to normalcy.

Never mind the soccer fields you silly nitwit, they need adequate health care facilities that are fully staffed, they need access to drinkable water, they need sanitation and security.

They don't need legislation to privatize their oil reserves and send most of the profits into the pockets of the Big Oil companies.

So General Petraeus, you can speak of "astonishing signs of normalcy" when all those Iraqi refugees start heading for home but not when Riverbend's last posting(April 07) reveals that she is leaving Iraq.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[spanone]

14. These people shit on Congress and the people.

[Rydz777]

15. It sort of depends on how you define "normalcy," doesn't it?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

16. Just booked my vacation for Disney-Baghdad...

I hear its pyrotechnics display is unbelievable. x(

[Horse with no Name]

17. Thing about it is

They can lie all they want. They kicked the photojournalists out and silenced the troops that are there.
Their words are the only witness to what is happening. I'd like to think most Americans know better.

[bdamomma]

34. the only americans that know better are those of us who pay attention.

[MadBadger]

19. I havent even seen the amusement parks on faux

[bling bling]

21. Damn. I believed the headline at first till I read the article.

Stupid me.

I hope the day when that headline is actually grounded in truth comes soon.

[Edweird]

22. Bartender! I'll have what he's having!

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Well now we understand why Petraeus got the job

[flyarm]

24. oh yeah sure ..wasn't someone on the Olympic team already killed??

if memory serves me someone from the Olympic team was killed some time ago!!

what a bunch of fucking liars..any General that lies like this should be subject to treason charges!

fly

[flyarm]

25. BAGHDAD, Sept. 4, 2006 Iraqi Soccer Player Kidnapped

Iraqi Soccer Player Kidnapped
Ghanim Ghudayer, Member Of Iraq's Olympic Team, Snatched In Baghdad

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/04/iraq/main1963974.shtml

BAGHDAD, Sept. 4, 2006

AP) A popular Iraqi soccer player who was a member of the country's Olympic team has been kidnapped in Baghdad, police said Monday.

Ghanim Ghudayer, 22, considered one of the best players in Baghdad's Air Force Club, was snatched on Sunday evening by unknown assailants in the al-Amil neighborhood in the west part of the capital where he lives, said police 1st Lt. Mutaz Salahiddin.

Some of the kidnappers were dressed in military uniforms, Salahiddin said.

Samir Kadhim, head of the Air Force Club, said the player had been preparing to go to a training session when he was intercepted by the assailants in two vehicles. Kadhim said Ghudayer had recently signed a one-year contract with a club in Syria and had been planning to leave Iraq within a few days.

snip:

Iraqi sports officials and athletes have frequently faced threats, kidnappings and killings.

[opihimoimoi]

26. That General sucks ass big time....almost 100 Iraqis die every day...and its Normal? Fuck him and fu

ck Joe L.....and McCain too

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. And a bombing here and tehre right General?

Oh what was the official number? Perhaps you might want to review your stand, 100 civilian deaths are hardly normal (And them are DoD numbers)

[Decruiter]

30. Queue up "Living in the Twilight Zone!". Petraeus, won't you please come home?

Resign with some degree of integrity left or retire forever disgraced for supporting a failed CIC and a failed mission before the mission ever started. What is your integrity and your career really worth?

[babylonsister]

31. .