McCain Republicans' anti-War Candidate;
Sunnis Fear Return of Baghdad Violence;
In the US, here is an irony. John McCain, "Mr. Surge," who dreams of a century-long US occupation of Iraq, was the anti-war candidate for Republicans in Iowa. Yes:
' Exit polls found 64 percent of Tuesday's Republican voters still support the conflict -- and Romney, whose criticism of President Bush's management of the war has been muted, outpolled McCain in that category.
But among the 34 percent who said they disapproved of the war, McCain had a wide advantage over the GOP field -- even over Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the sole advocate of a U.S. withdrawal in the Republican field. '
Likewise, nearly half of New Hampshire Republicans are anti-Bush, and they went for McCain big time. How long-serving Senator McCain who supports the Iraq War became the ' non-Washington' candidate, I'll never know.
CNN also found that something like 93 percent of those who voted in the Democratic primary were opposed or strongly opposed to Bush. The Dems have a shot at repeating the landslide of 1964.
Back in the real world, in Iraq:
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports in Arabic that the Iraqi Accord Front [Sunni fundamentalist] has expressed severe anxiety about the return of violence to Baghdad neighborhoods, the targeting of members of the Awakening Councils, and the failure of the Nuri al-Maliki government to provide the latter with sufficient security.
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees is seeking over $200 million to alleviate the suffering of displaced Iraq. The US Congress should fund this initiative. The Democrats in Congress could at least point to that as a victory in their Iraq policy-- i.e. if they couldn't de-fund the war, at least they could fund the effort to help the people the war has kicked out of their homes. The US is spending $15 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan at least . . . $200 million is chump change in comparison. Please contact your senators and your congressional representatives and urge them to fund the UNHCR to help the Iraqis. The US is responsible for displacing some of them, after all.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports in Arabic that the Iraqi minister of agriculture is saying that a drought threatens the area around Mosul in the north, endangering food supplies.
Turkey has arrested 7 persons in connection with a bombing in Diyarbakir several days ago. The alleged ringleader is said to have received training in a camp of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Bush is trying to pull off a disappearing act in making the US complicity in a renewed Kurdish separatism vanish. Although visiting Turkish president Abdullah Gul appeared happy with Bush's words, it is unlikely he is actually happy with Washington policy, which involves coddling Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. As for Bush's method of dealing with the PKK? It appears to be to keep his hands off the problem and to let the Turks try to resolve it by bombing Iraqi villages. I.e. Bush is encouraging yet another war to be fought in Iraq!
Seumas Milne of the Guardian is unimpressed with the US troop escalation or 'surge' as long as it does not yield political progress.
Shell and Total are competing for rights to develop the Akkas natural gas field in al-Anbar Province near the Syrian border. But without a law on the sharing of oil and gas revenues, this foreign involvement is going to look like bank robbery.
A poll of over 4,000 serving US diplomats (out of over 11,000 altogether) found that nearly half of those who said they did not want to go to Iraq deeply disagreed with the policies toward that country of George W. Bush. These were not political employees, just the rank and file. Nearly half also felt that Secretary of State Condi Rice is doing a poor job in securing for them the resources they need.
McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Tuesday:
' Baghdad
- Around 7 a.m., gunmen assassinated an officer of the ministry of interior “ Mohammad Aziz Al-Gatia in his car in Zafrania neighborhood ( east Baghdad) .
- Around 7 30 a.m., gunmen assassinated the deputy of Mansour taxes department in Diragh district in Mansour neighborhood ( west Baghdad).
- Around 11 a.m., an IED was planted inside the car of the head of Yarmouk council ( Dr.Falah Mansour Hussein ) who was killed in the incident with two other people who were injured .
- Around 3 p.m., a suicide bomber wearing a vest filled with explosives targeted a police check point at Al-Medain district ( south of Baghdad) killing one policeman and injuring three ( one policeman and two civilians).
- Around 3 p.m., two mortars hit Medain district ( south of Baghdad ) injuring 2 people.
- Around 3 .30 p.m., a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Rashid camp neighborhood ( south east Baghdad) . No casualties reported.
- Police found 5 unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhood in Baghdad: ( 3 ) dead bodies were found in west Baghdad ( Karkh bank ) ; 1 in Doura , 1 in Bayaa and Amil . While ( 2 ) were found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank) ; 1 in Ubaidi and 1 in Fudhailiyah.
Diyala
- Tuesday morning, a roadside bomb exploded at a house in Jalwla ( east of Baquba) killing a woman who was the owner of the house. . .
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 1/09/2008 12:30:00 AM
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12 Comments:
McCain is less pro-war than the Democrats. He qualified his desire for the troops to remain by not having them shot at or harmed, which is virtually impossible. In contrast, the Democrats will keep the troops in Iraq regardless.
The surge has failed, but it was a gamble worth taking. Having few troop is the worst of all worlds: the losses mount, with any chance of achievement diminishing.
BTW, there is already a valid Iraqi oil and gas law. It is the pre-2003 one. No one in Iraq has any problem with Western companies developing fields, as long as there is no production sharing.
I must admit to being baffled by the relatively poor showing of Dr Ron Paul in New Hampshire. I guess that most of those who claim to be "antiwar" must not be all that committed to their beliefs. By buying into the "he can't win" lies from the major media, they make it so.
Another All the King's Horses and All the King's Men story out of Iraq. For all practical purposes we have been "surging" in Iraq for almost five years - one titanic (and smartly named) offensive after another.
We would be better off getting out right now and giving the Iraqis a cash gift equaling the amount our military would spend the next year. That 60 billion or so, if well distributed, should provide a rewarding diversion from violence.
We pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall and cannot put him back together again. All we have to show for it is lots of egg on our face.
Nothing should amaze me anymore, but still it amazes me that any hint from the administration that Iran is involved in Iraq (which it is anyway since Iraq has invited its involvement) is shouted from the mountain tops; meanwhile, Turkey ACTUALLY INVADES Iraq and regularly bombs inside Iraq and it's somehow little noticed.
Just one of life's little ironies, I guess...
Would the US Iraq policy under McCain be materially different than that under a Clinton or an Obama? All entail rather vague time frames, which might as well say "100 years." Any post 2008 US president will promptly pronounce an end to the "war," but keep enough US troops to prevent collapse of the post-surge stassis. Defense of the mega-bases becomes a compelling reason to keep troops and planes in iraq, independent of any (thusfar scant) political progress in Baghdad.
The only real conclusion to draw from the IA or NH primaries is that a distinctly anti-war stance gets little voter traction. Branding and labeling trump any concise positions or promises.
Were a coherent nationalist government to emerge in Iraq and award major oil contracts to Chinese, Russian, and French firms to spite the occupier, then indeed there might be some upheaval in US opinion about the costs of Iraq occupation. But fat chance of that. Iraq seems more likely to remain the foggy stage of phantom claims about how the US must remain on the ground to avenge 9/11, fight al Qaeda, and validate the lives and money already spent. If Medieval Crusaders could remain obsessed for centuries with protecting the Holy Sepulchre, it sould be easy for Evangelical America to stay in Baghdad a mere 100 years. Besides, there is oil.
John Koch is saying that the American people see colonialism as a valid form of economic development for themselves, and are only upset if the price is too high.
I agree.
Japanese colonialism, Russian colonialism, French colonialism, have all been limited, almost entirely by violence, in the last century... Anglo-American colonialism, on the other hand, is alive and well and culturally transmitted.
With regard to:
The Dems have a shot at repeating the landslide of 1964.
Never underestimate the ability of Dems to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Die-hard Dems with partisan blinders on just assume dissatisfaction with Bush will swing the election their way. Dems desperately need to set aside their partisan blinders. The Dems have failed to capitalize on their momentum from the 2006 election. They have not stood up to Bush in any meaningful way, and many voters have reached the conclusion that voting Democrat will not bring real change.
If McCain wins the republican nomination, he will choose Joe Lieberman as his running mate. This is a no-brainer. They will probably present themselves to the voters as a "National Unity" ticket. If the Democrats nominate Hillary, they could very well lose to McCain and will have completely squandered any high ground they had against the Republicans.
Rightly or wrongly, Hillary is viewed as a hyper-partisan. Rightly or wrongly, McCain is viewed as a maverick who has always fought against the corruption, cronyism and hyper-partisanship in Washington. How will Hillary distinguish herself from McCain? She hasn't opposed the Iraq War; she only criticized the conduct of the war. But so has McCain. She hasn't stood up to the neocon drive for war with Iran; she voted for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment. She can't make a distinction on global warming and environmental issues; McCain's stance is pretty much in line with Democrats on those issues.
The only way Hillary can win is if the Republicans nominate someone who is more polarizing than Hillary, and McCain is considerably less polarizing than Hillary. Many Democrats are supporting Hillary just because they think she's "a winner". Partisan Dems are living inside an ideological bubble just as much as the Republicans, and they may be stumbling toward a situation where Republicans outflank them with a McCain-Lierberman ticket. That would really be pathetic.
Shell and Total are competing for rights to develop the Akkas natural gas field in al-Anbar Province near the Syrian border. But without a law on the sharing of oil and gas revenues, this foreign involvement is going to look like bank robbery.
Thanks for the tip... I posted that little piece with an addendenum.
The title of the post is sort of self-explanatory:
Shell and Total Preparing To Loot Iraqi Oil Field Near Syria… What That Garners For The Rich, Who Are Not Like You & I
My addition:
This is unlikely to make the cost of the gas for your automobile even one penny cheaper, but it DOES provide benefits for a select few, who you don’t know, and WILL NEVER have the ‘privilege’ of meeting:
Dubai unveils ‘fashion island’ United Arab Emirates
January 9, 2008
Dubai Infinity Holdings has unveiled Isla Moda, a mixed-use development that will be located on The World, which it claims to be the world’s first dedicated fashion island. The development will combine a fashion resort, themed residential villas, haute couture boutiques and luxury hospitality facilities.
World-renowned fashion designers will be instrumental in designing each element of the development. [In Full]
It will be located here, on Dubai’s new ‘Continent’:
Design of new “continent” finalized
Monday, June 18 2007
It’s not every day we get to tell you the final design phase of a new continent is underway, but today’s one of those days.
The architects of Dubai’s “The World” project, a series of man-made islands in the shape of Earth’s continents, announced today that OQYANA-WORLD FIRST, the island community in the shape of Australasia, is undergoing its final design steps.
Over 50 consultants from around the world have been working on issues from engineering and ecology to security and water quality. [In Full]
"How long-serving Senator McCain who supports the Iraq War became the ' non-Washington' candidate, I'll never know."
I've had the same thought about Hillary Clinton. She's been one of the biggest supporters of the Iraq War from either party since 2002, and has continued to shill for it in the years since. Yet some Democrats naively see her as someone who would bring the troops home?
Oh, and all this, while Hillary is getting major campaign contributions from armaments manufacturers and other war profiteers?
I'd vote for almost any Democrat in 2008-- Obama, Edwards, Richardson, any of them. But I won't vote for Hillary. If the Democrats do their quadrennial Kool Aid-drinking routine and nominate Hillary, then I'll have a gift-wrapping session to be held on Election Day in November of 2008 that will be taking precedence.
Re voters dsisatisfied with the war voting for McCain: It may be that the ones who said they are dissatified with the war and suport McCain think the war is being prosecuted too weakly, and believe McCain will be tougher. A crazy position, I admit, but one I belive some R's do hold.--Jay C. Smith
I agree with all of the above who noted that NH/MA voter have in fact embraced the war(s) in the Middle East by voting in Grandpa and Grandma War and the War Party.
I admit I was shocked. I had thought Americans had finally seen at least the practical "dificulites" of American imperialism... but no. They voted for 100 more years.
Americans love war. At least those who don't pay taxes in NH/MA do.
It is eye-opening and truly shameful.
A telling point here is that once again Ron Paul was out of step with the rest of the republican candidates, and once again Ron Paul got it right while the rest of the republican candidates got it wrong.
The American people would be doing the rest of the world a huge favour, if next time around they elected someone to the office of president capable of smelling a rat when they saw a rat, instead of a leader always shooting from the hip at the wrong target, because they merely thought it was a rat.
Won't happen of course. It never does. The longer I live, the more I live in dread of who it is America is next going to foolishly appoint as their sovereign.
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