Reid is Correct - We can not WIN the Civil War in Iraq

As an outsider I have viewed the occupation with sceptism. However, after the carnage of this week I wonder whether anyone can put a lid on the insurgency. I have my doubts. Until the US can find a way of preventing suicide bombing, car bombing et al, It may get worse.

The problem is basically that the US cannot withdraw until a semblance of calm prevails and it's not going that way. If all US troops withdrew now, Iraq would crumble into further civil war and be incredibly unstable. I personally regret that there seems to be no-one in control.

My point is no matter when we leave the fight to control Iraq will take place between the factions in Iraq. I agree the fighting will most likely increase when we leave but that will be the case if we leave in 6 months or two years. The only difference is the additional casualties, injured and money it will cost the longer we stay. We can not win this Civil War with 160,000 U.S. troops. To end the fighting would require a level of U.S. military we do not have and be at a cost the American People will not support. Thus we need to get out and prevent the violence in Iraq from spilling into any other country in the region!

My point is no matter when we leave the fight to control Iraq will take place between the factions in Iraq. I agree the fighting will most likely increase when we leave but that will be the case if we leave in 6 months or two years. The only difference is the additional casualties, injured and money it will cost the longer we stay. We can not win this Civil War with 160,000 U.S. troops. To end the fighting would require a level of U.S. military we do not have and be at a cost the American People will not support. Thus we need to get out and prevent the violence in Iraq from spilling into any other country in the region!

The point is...you buddy "Dingy Harry" is already backtracking on his statement about Iraq.

drmiler


WE ARE NOT WINNING THE CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE NO BUSINESS TO HAVE OUR MILITARY IN A CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ! CONGRESS NEVER APPROVED THE UNITED STATES TO FIGHT A CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ! BUSH IS THE REASON WE ARE IN THIS CIVIL WAR WITH NO END IN SIGHT!BUSH and CHENEY NEED TO BE IMPEACHED NOW!!!!!

drmiler WE ARE NOT WINNING THE CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE NO BUSINESS TO HAVE OUR MILITARY IN A CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ! CONGRESS NEVER APPROVED THE UNITED STATES TO FIGHT A CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ! BUSH IS THE REASON WE ARE IN THIS CIVIL WAR WITH NO END IN SIGHT!BUSH and CHENEY NEED TO BE IMPEACHED NOW!!!!!

IMPEACHMENT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN, SO GIVE IT UP! and this not what your headline was quoting. Your headline reads "Reid is correct we're not winning the war. And I'm telling you Reid is already back-tracking on that statement! And SHOUTING at me ain't going to change it.

And BTW...Rudi Gulliani who is running as a republican is beating the pants off of "every" demmocratic candidate wanna be. Some don't plan on the dems winning the white house back in 08.

drmiler

WE ARE NOT WINNING THE CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ!

Today Adm. Fallon, CENCOM Commander said things are not going well in Iraq. Sec of Defense Gates told the Iraqi leaders the U.S, is running out of patience with the lack of progress in controlling the violence in Iraq. Attacks killed another 70 people after a week that produced one of the highest number of casualties in the war. Only the Bobsey Twins, Bush and Cheney seem to think we are making progress in Iraq. How can our two top leaders be so out of touch with the facts? It is dangerous to have leaders that will not accept reality and their attitude is putting our troops in greater danger each day! Congress needs to tell Bush that this and every funding bill will require a date to begin removing U.S. Forces from engagement in this Civil War in Iraq! If Bush veto’s the funding bill with these requirements then he and he alone will be responsible for cutting off the funding in Iraq! The latest polls shows only 38% of Americans support Bush in Iraq.

drmiler WE ARE NOT WINNING THE CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ!

I "really" don't care what you think! Harry Reid is a BIG BAG OF HOT AIR, as are you.

drmiler

I guess you also do not care what the CENCOM Commander and Sec def had to say as well. You are just like Bush You will not look at the reality of what is taking place in Iraq!

More evidence Bush does not know what he is doing:

Suicide bombings around Iraq kill 46 people, wound more than 100
By SAMEER N. YACOUB (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
April 23, 2007 10:04 AM EDT
BAGHDAD - Suicide bombers attacked five different locations in Iraq on Monday, killing 46 people and wounding more than 100, police and politicians said.

Two parked car bombs also exploded outside the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, killing two civilians, and a drive-by shooting wounded two guards at Tunisia's Embassy in the capital, police said.

The deadliest suicide attack occurred at about 2:30 p.m. near a restaurant on a highway close to Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding 35, said Ramadi police Maj. Fuad al-Asafia.

one month ago all of those attacks would have been in baghdad

but your right we need to pull our troops out of iraq and carpet bomb iran

danielost

I believe you are correct. All the Surge has accomplished is to change the location of the attacks. Yesterday the 82nd lost 9 more with 20 injured. This is the worst single attack on that unit of the war. We have Bush and Cheney still telling us how the surge is succeeding. HOW can these leaders be so blind? It is time for Congress to END this war!!!!!!! I wonder when Gen. Petraeus will begin telling the truth about the surge?

I wonder when Gen. Petraeus will begin telling the truth about the surge?

You mean the truth as "you" see it!

drmiler

The results on the ground prove the fact we are NOT winning. Look at what CENCOM Commander and Sec. Def. said: Today Adm. Fallon, CENCOM Commander said things are not going well in Iraq. Sec of Defense Gates told the Iraqi leaders the U.S, is running out of patience with the lack of progress in controlling the violence in Iraq.

There were over 200 killed two weeks ago, 70 last week and the worst attack on American troops yesterday. There was a report that over 3 Million Iraqi people have fled Iraq because of the ever increasing violence. It is not what I am saying it is what the facts on the ground show. Bush and Cheney will not accept the reality and like you live in a dream world. About 70% of Americans DO NOT agrees with Bush and it is time for Congress to stick to the plan that requires us to begin withdrawal from this civil war. If Bush Veto's the funding then he will have to explain why there is no money. Congress has provided the funding and it is the right of Congress to impose the restriction that has been included in this legislation. It is Congress not Bush that passes our laws and provides the funding for ALL Federal Government operations including the military!

drmiler The results on the ground prove the fact we are NOT winning. Look at what CENCOM Commander and Sec. Def. said: Today Adm. Fallon, CENCOM Commander said things are not going well in Iraq. Sec of Defense Gates told the Iraqi leaders the U.S, is running out of patience with the lack of progress in controlling the violence in Iraq. There were over 200 killed two weeks ago, 70 last week and the worst attack on American troops yesterday. There was a report that over 3 Million Iraqi people have fled Iraq because of the ever increasing violence. It is not what I am saying it is what the facts on the ground show. Bush and Cheney will not accept the reality and like you live in a dream world. About 70% of Americans DO NOT agrees with Bush and it is time for Congress to stick to the plan that requires us to begin withdrawal from this civil war. If Bush Veto's the funding then he will have to explain why there is no money. Congress has provided the funding and it is the right of Congress to impose the restriction that has been included in this legislation. It is Congress not Bush that passes our laws and provides the funding for ALL Federal Government operations including the military!

Paladin77 is correct you are a political hack! Nothing more, nothing less. You say we are "not" winning, while a general that is on the ground says the opposite. CENCOM AND Sec Def are NOT on the ground. I would tend to belive the Gen more then some stinking col.

And you're right it is the right of the Congress to impose the restrictions. Just like it's Bush'e right to veto it. And Get a clue will ya? Congress don't pass spit for laws without presidential approval.
I suggest you check out this link: Link

that is what the surge was supposed to do get most of the fighting out of bagdad then secure the city and then remove it from another city one at a time

so tell me again how isn't the surge working

by the way this is what we should have done in the first place

take a strong hold and deny them access to it again

it is the congress that provides the funding

it is the congress that passes the laws

it is the president that decides military stratigies

it is the president that decides if a law is just

why do you think we have a president and not a prime minister

our president answers to the people at voting time

a prime minister answers to the congressional body at any time

all countries that have a leader king, president, whatever and a prime minister

the leader has no real power think i am lieing look at england, look at japan, look at iran

it is the congress that passes the laws

This is incorrect. I refer you to the link in reply #15. All congress can do is put a hopeful law in front of the president and hope he signs it. The final power lies with him.

Apparently you've never heard of a veto override? Sorry, drmiler, but as you and I know the president generally has the final say because an override is difficult to pass. But it CAN be done.

Gideon

A 2/3 majority in both houses is hard to obtain on any bill. However, if Congress continues to pass funding legislation with the dates to withdraw from Iraq and Bush continues to veto those bills, he will be forced to bring the troops home when he no longer has the authorization to expend money in Iraq! Just wait for the debate for the 2008 Budget!

Some more PROOF the Iraq war is not being won:

UN: Iraqi Gov't Held Casualty Figures
April 25, 2007 7:12 AM EDT
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government withheld recent casualty figures from the United Nations, fearing they would be used to present a grim picture of Iraq that would undermine the coalition's security efforts, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

Working with its own figures, the U.N. released a new human rights report Wednesday saying that sectarian violence continued to claim the lives of a large number of Iraqi civilians in Sunni Arab and Shiite neighborhoods of Iraq's capital, despite the coalition's new Baghdad security plan. Begun Feb. 14, it has increased U.S. and Iraqi troops levels in the capital.

The Iraqi government quickly responded by calling the U.N. report "inaccurate" and "unbalanced."

The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq report said civilian casualties in the daily violence between Jan. 1 and March 31 remained high, concentrated in and around Baghdad.

The agency also expressed concern about the treatment of detainees under the U.S.-Iraqi operation to pacify the capital, saying that families and other people often were randomly taken into custody, with more than 3,000 people in detention by the end of March.

For the first time, UNAMI said, its assessment of the human rights situation in Iraq did not contain overall death figures from the Iraqi government because it refused to release them, omitting what many had viewed as a rare, reliable indicator of suffering in Iraq.

The Iraqi government announced in a statement its deep reservations about the report that is "inaccurate in presenting information" and that "lacks credibility in many of its points. Also, it lacks balance in presenting the situation of the human rights situation in Iraq."

"The publication of this unbalanced report ... puts the credibility of the U.N. office in Iraq on stake and it aggravates the humanitarian crisis in Iraq instead of solving it," the statement said.

U.N. human rights officer Ivana Vuco said the government did not officially given a reason for refusing to release the numbers but it apparently "was becoming increasingly concerned about the figures being used to portray the situation as very grim."

"Inofficially, however, in a number of follow up meetings to their decision we were told that there were concerns that the people would construe the figures to portray the situation negatively and that would further undermine their efforts to establish some kind of security and stability in the country," she said at a news conference at the mission's heavily fortified compound in Baghdad.

"We found the decision to be rather unfortunate because the figures were helping us ... to understand the scope of the problem," she said. "In our view it is the government's responsibility and they are probably the only one with the real capacity to gather the figures in a systematic manner."

Mission spokesman Said Arikat said the reason appeared to be that after the publication of its last human rights report on Jan. 16, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office told UNAMI its mortality figures were exaggerated, "but our figures were taken credibly they are probably among the most carefully screened figures."

He urged the government to reconsider its decision, saying the figures it could provide could "actually show what is going on in Iraq. Otherwise there will be a great deal of speculation."

Numbers for Iraqi civilians killed since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003 vary widely and are believed to be vastly underreported, in part because of political pressure.

The last U.N. report was issued in January found that 34,452 civilians were killed last year, including 6,376 in November and December, based on information from the Iraqi Health Ministry, hospitals across the country and the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad. Iraqi officials have complained that the numbers were too high.

The current report cited many examples of deadly attacks by insurgents and militias across Iraq during Jan. 1-March 31, but it often relied on media accounts of such killings and does not provide overall numbers for the period.

On Feb. 14, U.S. troops began stepping up their presence in outposts and police stations in Baghdad and areas surrounding the city, as part of the security crackdown to which President Bush has committed an extra 30,000 troops. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers also are being deployed in the streets of the capital in an attempt to pacify it.

"While government officials claimed an initial drop in the number of killings in the latter half of February following the launch of the Baghdad security plan, the number of reported casualties rose again in March," the UNAMI study said.

danielost

"it is the president that decides if a law is just " Where in the Constitution does it say that?

VETO

Apparently you've never heard of a veto override? Sorry, drmiler, but as you and I know the president generally has the final say because an override is difficult to pass. But it CAN be done.

Quite the contrary! I know very well what it is. It "requires" a 2/3 majority vote. Think that's gonna happen any time soon?

This is incorrect. I refer you to the link in reply #15. All congress can do is put a hopeful law in front of the president and hope he signs it. The final power lies with him. Apparently you've never heard of a veto override? Sorry, drmiler, but as you and I know the president generally has the final say because an override is difficult to pass. But it CAN be done.

And Gideon....congress "still" doesn't pass laws.

The use of a presidential VETO only shows what the president opposes It does NOT say a law is just. The Courts fill that task!