source: http://ebird.osd.mil/ebfiles/e20090107648553.html
I apologize for the source being on a military-only network. If you are in the US military, you can see the source yourself, but otherwise you can't get access.
^Shows that real progress is being made in making Iraq safer and more free.
What's this? A sensible plan for withdrawal? With Bush still in office? Really, it is.
And pulling out of the cities first, while remaining close by in case Iraqi police are overwhelmed is an excellent plan.
Very, very nice for a change.
^And they're already experiencing some of the problems of an established democracy! Bad news, but it may be a good sign.
We may have gone in on false pretenses, but that goes a long way towards justifying the war in my opinion.
(On a side note, Somehow I don't think that mostly good news like this will get much coverage in the major news networks, especially since in contradicts some liberal views of Iraq.)
I apologize for the source being on a military-only network. If you are in the US military, you can see the source yourself, but otherwise you can't get access.
| Quote: |
| The nation’s provincial elections on Jan. 31 are the first in which the government has deemed it safe enough for the names, instead of simply the political affiliations, of officeseekers to appear on the ballot. |
| Quote: |
| It is also the first time that large numbers of candidates like Mr. Kareem have decided for themselves that Iraq is sufficiently safe to campaign publicly and put their oversize pictures on posters and banners around the city. It sometimes seems that every square inch of blast wall in Baghdad is covered with them. |
^Shows that real progress is being made in making Iraq safer and more free.
| Quote: |
| The provincial election also takes place against the backdrop of a wave of departing foreign troops, most significantly from Britain and the United States. The United States has agreed to pull its combat troops, now numbering about 145,000, from cities by June 30, and to withdraw entirely from Iraq by the end of 2011. |
What's this? A sensible plan for withdrawal? With Bush still in office? Really, it is.
And pulling out of the cities first, while remaining close by in case Iraqi police are overwhelmed is an excellent plan.
| Quote: |
| While Mr. Maliki is not running, his Dawa Party has organized a group of political organizations into a coalition called State of Law, which is playing down Dawa’s Shiite roots and emphasizing improved security, nationalism and economic development. |
Very, very nice for a change.
| Quote: |
| “I won’t participate in the election, because those whom we elected last time failed us,” said Iman Karkaz, a 50-year-old academic from the war-torn city of Falluja. “Most of the parties used religion and Islam as a cover and then created sectarianism and riot in our society.” |
^And they're already experiencing some of the problems of an established democracy! Bad news, but it may be a good sign.
| Quote: |
| “I won’t elect any of the religious lists,” he said. “The lists that think art is forbidden, that sports are forbidden and that freedom of expression is forbidden won’t be elected by me because it ties me up with the chains I’ve always been with, and I want to be free now from those chains.” |
We may have gone in on false pretenses, but that goes a long way towards justifying the war in my opinion.
(On a side note, Somehow I don't think that mostly good news like this will get much coverage in the major news networks, especially since in contradicts some liberal views of Iraq.)
