40% Want Congress to Cut Off Funds Unless President Commits to Troop Withdrawals

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2228690,00.html

http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/one-step-forward.htm

Michael Yon takes on a little bit of this tripe.

Khalaf may be accurately quoted here, and the paper has at least disclosed that his interview was part of a television show being filmed, but that’s not the problem either. The problem is that all that might be true, but the British forces did not cause the “chaos” (and, violence in Basra is way down, in fact, most of the recent violence in Basra was directed at British soldiers). The tension between local groups vying for power is not a situation close to mayhem, and was only being prolonged by the presence of troops at the Palace. There is no way any sized contingent of British troops could resolve the conflicts, because what Khalaf has on his hands is an Iraqi problem that requires a political solution. There are thousands of British forces remaining in southern Iraq performing overwatch and other duties that Khalaf can call on if needed, but first he needs to find another uniting force for the gangsters or militias, who have, after all, demonstrated their ability to stick to a cease-fire.

[dude1394]

Pigs do fly.

On the NewsHour tonight, Sen. Reid allowed that the surge has “helped.”

“We sent other troops over there, and there are a lot of reasons the surge certainly hasn't hurt. It's helped. I recognize that.”

(The Newshour With Jim Lehrer, PBS, December 21, 2007)

But it wasn’t that long ago when Reid infamously said that the war was "lost" and the surge wasn’t “accomplishing anything.”

“Now, I believe, myself, that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense — and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows — that this war is lost and that the surge is not accomplishing anything…”

(Sen. Harry Reid, Press Conference, April 19, 2007)