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POPSUS-IRAQ: Obama Withdrawal Decision It was Keane who protected Petraeus's interests in ensuring the maximum number of troops in Iraq against the efforts by other military leaders to accelerate troop withdrawal in 2007 and 2008. As Bob Woodward reported in "The War Within", Keane persuaded President George W. Bush to override the concerns of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the stress of prolonged U.S. occupation of Iraq on the U.S. Army and Marine Corps as well its impact on the worsening situation in Afghanistan. Keane had also prevailed on Gates in April 2008 to make Petraeus the new commander of CENTCOM. Keane argued that keeping Petraeus in the field was the best insurance against a Democratic administration reversing the Bush policy toward Iraq. Keane had operated on the assumption that a Democratic president would probably not take the political risk of rejecting Petraeus's recommendation on the pace of troop withdrawal from Iraq.
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POPSDon't Look Now--but the Surge is About to Backfire as Iraq poised to Explode
The first is the brewing crisis over Kirkuk, where the pushy Kurds are demanding control and Iraq’s Arabs are resisting. The second is in the west, and Anbar, where the US-backed Sons of Iraq sahwa (”Awakening”) movement is moving to take power against the Iraqi Islamic Party, a fundamentalist Sunni bloc. And third is the restive Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which is chafing at gains made by its Iranian-backed rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) The final crisis-to-be is the Sadr vs. Badr one. The Times today suggests that Sadr is weakening: The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq. Don’t believe it. Sadr’s rivals, ISCI, don’t have anything like the popular base that Sadr has. And underneath Sadr is a volatile mix of neighborhood, local and regional militias, mosques, and econom
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POPSMcCain whiffs on Shi'ites & Sunnis yet again! "and repeated the false claim that Muqtada al-Sadr declared the ceasefire in Basra last week." Would your average armchair news-watcher make that mistake? Again and again? This is important, friends, not as a put-down of McCain, but as an essential part of the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of candidates for the most powerful elected office on earth. Does he have it together on the basics of foreign policy?
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POPS Iraqi Sheikh "Evicting Iranian Regime" The groups demand the United Nations "dispatch a delegation to investigate. The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran The organization has been labeled a terrorist group by the United States, Iraq and Iran -- all for different reasons -- but it continues to operate in Iraq under the U.S. military's protection. The United States considers the group a source of valuable intelligence on Iran. Some signs suggest tensions are easing: Iraqi and U.S. officials have indicated recently that Iran is using its influence to improve security in Iraq by restraining cross-border weapons flow and militia activity, and U.S. commanders released nine Iranian prisoners in Iraq this month. Iran has blamed the group for supporting Shiite insurgents, but the organization has said "these allegations are only to cover up the crimes of the Iranian regime and its mercenaries in Iraq," according to the Shiite group's statement.
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POPS Iraqi Shiite Leaders Seeks US-Iran Talks "We will do our best not to allow a permanent (foreign) military base on our land," al-Hakim told hundreds of supporters gathered outside the party's headquarters in Baghdad's Jadriyah district. In the sermon, al-Hakim also urged the region's Arab countries to support the political process in Iraq by opening diplomatic missions here and he appealed on "other nearby Islamic countries" -- a reference to Iran -- to support Iraq and its people.
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POPSAnother Nation To Islam Sadly, as Le Monde reports, the nation of Morocco is about to vote an Islamic Party into power on Friday -- for the first time. Iran went that way long ago. Turkey just went Islamic. Iraq would, too, if its people could ever stop shooting each other. And it would likely go Shiite, just like Iran. America and the West are losing this battle, the truly central one for the safety of democracy and security of oil and natural resources on which our economies and democracy depend. Still, we are unable, somehow to find the words to address radical Islam, but we must do so before it is too late.
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POPSIran-Iraq relations Our intoduction of Democracy saw the Shiite majority ruling Iraqi gov. Unfortunately, Shiites are the majority in Iran, so relations between the two are stronger than ever. The U.S. will definitely have it's hands in the Iraqi gov. for some time to come to prevent Iran's tyranical influence in the region from spreading. This is why the U.S. set up a new gov. in Iraq more based on the ideology of money from oil, not to stablize unrest in the region as reported in the news in the U.S. The current Iraqi gov. is causing unrest in the country because it's not representive of the Iraqi general public. Wow, Democracy, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Who'd a thunk?
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POPSIrani Minister backs brief marriages to curb illicit sex Sunni Muslims say it is illegal and akin to prostitution, but some Shiites scholars say it reflects the reality of human nature and provides for the rights and responsibilities of both the man and the woman Sixty per cent of Iran's population is under 30 years of age and the average age of marriage has risen to 30 for men and 26 for women, according to unofficial estimates
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POPSWhy do the Islamo-fascists hate us? Therefore, the argument goes, the chants of “Death to Israel. Death to America” from hundreds of thousands of Shiites marching in Baghdad last week had nothing to do with U.S. foreign policy but were motivated instead by hatred for American principles and lifestyles. This article cuts right to the chase & clearly draws the line between liberal & neo-conservative thinking. It reminds me of the Bush-Kerry debate in '04 when Jim asked, "What criteria would you use to determine when to starting bringing US troops home from Iraq? BUSH: ... ... A free Iraq will be an ally in the war on terror, & that's essential. A free Iraq will set a powerful example in the part of the world that is desperate for freedom. A free Iraq will help secure Israel. A free Iraq will enforce the hopes & aspirations of the reformers in places like Iran. A free Iraq is essential for the security of this country.
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POPSIran doesn't provide the weapons, RPG-29, to Iraqi terrorists Response to the USA Today's article : "Iran has never been known to manufacture the RPG-29, so the military could not have captured one with an Iranian serial number. The RPG-29 has always been a Russian-made weapon." add: changed the title by specifying the sort of weapons.
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POPSIs Iran Harming or Helping Us in Iraq? It seems that we are not getting the entire story from Fox and most of the other main stream media pundits and reporters or the White House. Iran might actually be helping our allies rather than harming "the cause" as our president would rather have us believe. More disinformation, just like the first time.
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POPSThe "Fundamentalist" part 1 of 2. The latest news out of Iran is that the long awaited Messiah, the Mahdi, is returning soon to bring peace and a New World Order, and harsh judgment upon those who refuse to go along with his kingdom accompanied by his sidekick, Jesus himself, who will be to the Mahdi what Tonto was to the Lone Ranger. Jack Hook is an author and interpreter of Revelations who ties today's events to the Bible's predictions. His works are vastly interesting and deadly accurate to date. Anyone truly interested in Bible prophecy should be familiarized with his work...for knowledge's sake.
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POPSSaudi Arabia gears up to welcome Haj pilgrims "Overcrowding is a perennial worry but this time, regional tension between Shiites and Sunnis has heightened security concerns while authorities remain on the look-out for Al Qaida-linked militant violence - a fear in recent years."
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POPSSaudis: Will Back Sunnis This public posturing is no surprise. There is now jockeying to see who will take control of the situation in Iraq. Iran, Saudi Arabia, or al Qaeda. There is a lot of talk about how the Saudis are worried about Iran but this is not the case as much as they are worried about an al Qaeda friendly Iraq (on their border). The Saudi royals know that an al Qaeda's goal is to take them down and they need to show some "street cred" in Iraq to head off this challenge.
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