wrote:
>
> > What deteriorating situation in Iraq are you referring to? It never was
> > good. The administration is just a little slow at understanding what their
> > friends and allies were telling them when they lied about the WMDs to give
> > themselves an excuse to invade. They should have finished the job in
> > Afghanistan before starting a bigger conflict in Iraq.
>
> There were obviously some underlying ethnic tensions in Iraq that were
> kept in check by Sadam's dictatorship. Removing that power structure
> and not being able to stabilize the country (in any sustainable sense)
> allowed the tensions to erupt.

Which was exactly what most the friends and allies of the US suggested.


>There was an initial period of
> stability in Iraq post invasion, but it has steadily deteriorated
> since.


There was never a period of stability. It was always bad and it continues
to be bad. Look at the fatalities listed per month since the invasion 4
years ago. There are a few peak months, but the overall trend is not for a
major increase:

http://icasualties.org/oif/US_chart.aspx

Mar-03 65
Apr-03 74
May-03 37
Jun-03 30
Jul-03 48
Aug-03 35
Sep-03 31
Oct-03 44
Nov-03 82
Dec-03 40
Jan-04 47
Feb-04 20
Mar-04 52
Apr-04 135
May-04 80
Jun-04 42
Jul-04 54
Aug-04 66
Sep-04 80
Oct-04 63
Nov-04 137
Dec-04 72
Jan-05 107
Feb-05 58
Mar-05 35
Apr-05 52
May-05 80
Jun-05 78
Jul-05 54
Aug-05 85
Sep-05 49
Oct-05 96
Nov-05 84
Dec-05 68
Jan-06 62
Feb-06 55
Mar-06 31
Apr-06 76
May-06 69
Jun-06 61
Jul-06 43
Aug-06 65
Sep-06 72
Oct-06 106
Nov-06 69
Dec-06 112
Jan-07 83
Feb-07 80
Mar-07 54
Total 3218




> It increasingly appears that the main concern for US interests
> in the region East is Iran, and we have destroyed their mortal enemy.
> The Shite majority in Iraq appear increasingly influenced by the Shite
> Iran, and we may be headed for a much broader regional conflict. Of
> course, finishing the job in Afghanistan and installing some puppet
> government would have made more sense.

Bush the Smarter and his administration had the good sense to realize that
it was in their best interests to leave Saddam in place in order to cancel
out the Iranian threat.




> > At the time we said that we were reserving the
> > right to say we told you so. The US was not highly regarded in the Middle
> > East to begin with, personal freedoms are an affront to the Moslems,
> > support for Israel is a major thorn in their side, but now they have the
> > added morale of holding the moral high ground. Lying about the WMDs,
> > referring to documents they knew were forged, blaming Germany and France
> > for supplying material and technology for WMDs when most of it came from
> > the US, abducting people and sending them to limbo land like Gitmo,
> > outsourcing torture, using banned weapons in civilian areas, lying about it
> > and an attempt on the life of the journalist who exposed it have all
> > served only to diminish the moral stature of the US.
>
> I am more concerned about the assault on person freedoms in this
> country than anything else that is going on. I am happy to see
> Gonzales finally taken to task.

As a non American I really don't care about the rights of Americans. I am
more concerned about the US invadeion of other countries, feeling free to
identify and attack enemy forces and then taking captives and labelling
them as "illegal combatants" and sending them to places like Gitmo where
they thing they can deny them the rights afforded by American law, or
deporting citizens of foreign countries to third countries to which they
have outsourced torture.


> >
> > Bin Laden was Number One most wanted when he was initially blamed for the
> > 9/11 attacks. This week they were proudly showing off the confession of
> > Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who confessed to having masterminded, organized and
> > supervised the operation,
>
> I have that most wanted flyer on the wall of my office, I promised I'd
> take it down once they caught him. It has gotten rather worn and
> tattered in the past five years.


Curiously, the rest of his family have a good working relationship with the
US administration.