The following are excerpts from two "news" articles from the mainstream press and an editorial from the terrorist news agency, Al-Jazeera. Can you guess which ones are which?
Iraq-Vietnam comparison inevitable
It has been two years now since the first signs became evident that the US occupation of Iraq would become a bloody fiasco.
Military commanders admitted that US troops were experiencing an increase in hostile engagements, but the Pentagon dismissed these as "acts of desperation by Saddam loyalists".
By early 2004, once it became clear that America was involved in a protracted guerrilla war, the comparison of Iraq to the US experience in Vietnam could no longer be logically denied.
It is hoped that by December of this year the Iraqi police force and army will be sufficiently trained and equipped so as to enable the US military to begin withdrawing the majority of their occupation forces.
However, the Iraqi Security Forces have yet to display any consistency in combat against insurgents and their loyalty has often been called into question.
Next one:
TRAINING IRAQ'S NEW ARMY
Limited successes stand against a backdrop of U.S. disappointment with many of the Iraqi army units, whose effectiveness is crucial to a future U.S. troop withdrawal. Despite the Bush administration's insistent optimism, Americans working with the Iraqis in the field think it could be several years, at least, before the new Iraqi forces will be ready to stand alone against the insurgents.
And this one:
An Insider's Troubling Account of the U.S. Role in Iraq
The failures of the Bush administration to prepare adequately for the postwar period in Iraq are by now well known, underscored by the revelation this week that a briefing paper, prepared for Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain eight months before the invasion, warned that "a postwar occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise" and that "little thought" had been given by the United States to "the aftermath and how to shape it." It is a subject explicated in chilling - and often scathing - detail by "Squandered Victory," a new book by Larry Diamond, a former senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad and a leading American scholar on democracy and democratic movements.
How pathetic is it that they all sound so similair. Why does our media sound just like the terrorist advocacy media?
7 comments:
ENLIST! DANIEL, you are only a chickenhawk if you don't becoming willing to die in a war you support. HUAH!
Oh come on, if Daniel wants to be a middle class white wuss, he should be able to.
That would be HOOAH!, anonymous.
Maybe our "wartime" president should actually start acting like one. In 2000 he ran as a "uniter". It would be nice to see him sit down and actually address the nation, and ask us to set aside our differences and "unite" in support of a collective effort actually end this thing.
A lot of assumtions being made about me by people who don't know me here.
The "united" thing to do to end this war would be to stop being so down on our military, blaming our country first, and painting everything we do as a failure. Let's all unite behind our country, our president, and our soldiers. How about that?
Daniel:
As one posted and reviled even more then Lars, I thank you for being here.
This state and indeed this county and city are lost.
Perhaps we need to unite more like us, and soon, because I think that in less then a year, perhaps two, we will see alot of problems in the streets.
If we cannot take back at least one seat in city, or county, or the top office in the state as a control lever, we will never have the numbers to make a difference.
I support the soldiers, but not the war. I remind you that Bush has been trying to cut combat pay and close VA hospitals. How is that "supporting the troops". Supporting the troops means more than just sticking a damn yellow bumper sticker on your car. People like Rep. Donna Nelson from McMinville for example (I'm picking an R on purpose) are genuinely supporting the troops but peopel like Bush and Cheney who yell "support our troops" and then stab them in the back are cowards and chickenhawks. As are all those who support this war but refuse to die in it.
If you believe in something so strongly, you should be prepare to die for it. I would proudly lay down my life for my country if it were for a just cause.
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