Comments Posted By Misty
Displaying 11 To 14 Of 14 Comments
DID OBAMA JUST SAY WHAT I THINK HE SAID?
Of those who returned to Iraq, many found their property occupied and suffered secondary displacement. UN High Commissioner for Refugees is the primary international agency responsible for refugees. (http://www.unhcr.org)
July 4: Daniel Endres flew to Baghdad in March to take up his demanding new post as UNHCR's representative in Iraq, managing a team of around 100 staff – most of them in Iraq.
Have you ever ventured outside the Green Zone?
Only once, when I went to present my credentials to the Minister of Foreign Affairs [Hoshyar Zebari]. I was sitting in a Humvee. It looked like we were going into combat and they blocked the roads for our convoy. I did not feel good about it as we were getting a lot of angry looks from Iraqi men walking in the street. We appreciate the strong security, but I hope in the long run we find a way [to get around] more suited to a humanitarian agency.
What is UNHCR able to do currently in Iraq?
There are 1.8 million recent internally displaced people in Iraq and at least a third are extremely vulnerable and need emergency assistance. Then there are 42,000 refugees and many of them also live in precarious conditions. So, there is a need for emergency type interventions and that's provided through non-food item packages, including a tent, blankets, plastic sheets, jerry cans and so on. They have been given to 300,000 individuals – quite a substantial intervention.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/iraq?page=news&id=486e36fc4
Comment Posted By Misty On 17.07.2008 @ 15:23
Journalist Jonathan Steele early this year is still right: Although Sunni tribal leaders are taking US arms and cash, ostensibly to confront al-Qaida, they see value in getting organized to protect their suburbs from Shia raids. The Americans may be temporarily helping to reduce violence, but their tactics help to build up Sunni militias for possible attacks on Shias in the future. Once again the Americans are looking for a military solution to what is essentially a political problem. Without National reconciliation and dialogue between Sunni and Shia community leaders - a process which neither the government of Nuri al-Maliki nor General Petraeus seems able or willing to broker - the underlying issues remain unresolved. And the 4 million Iraqi's under greatest threat of having their throats cut have fled the country, there are far fewer targets. That's why there is less violence now. The surged worked militarily, but not politically. The US military buildup has brought some relief from bombs and bullets to shattered neighborhoods, but it has failed so far to reach its overarching purpose: getting Iraqi's to agree to the political compromises that Washington considers crucial for lasting stability. The purpose was to improve security, but to improve it to lead to a political breakthrough, and that political breakthrough has not happened.
That's the danger of using a 6 month old piece of analysis to describe what is happening today.
Yes the Sunnis could turn those guns on Shias when we're gone. But that possibility is much less now than it was 6 months ago. And you way underestimate the political progress (you're listening to one of the harshest conservative critics of the war here). Tens of thousands of Sunnis have ben released from prison. Sunnis are being allowed to join the army and police. (The Iraqis have begun taking over as paymasters by the way for those security units we created.)
Apparently, Iraqis are returning to the country at the rate of about 120,000 a month according to the UN (I think that pace has slowed recently) partially because they are getting kicked out of Syria. The return to their old homes is going much slower - around 10,000 a month but clearing out the militias may increase that number.
Just like there will be no definitive "end" to the war there will be no "breakthrough" moment politically. Many, many things are happening in the central and southern provinces at the street level that taken together, add up to a promising beginning.
But it all could go south if we or the Israelis hit Iran. I see that as the biggest danger right now. I think the rest is just grinding effort to improve security, bring basic services back, rebuild the country, and forge a nation out of several separate parts. There is movement across the board on all these fronts - slow, steady progress.
I would be very surprised if all but a residual force of 40,000 or so were in the country by January 2011 - slightly longer timeline than Obama's (24 instead of 16 months) but very doable as long as things keep improving.
ed.
Comment Posted By Misty On 17.07.2008 @ 12:35
RUMBLINGS FROM BELOW THE MOUNTAINTOP
"Whatever the outcome in November," McCain told the crowd Wednesday, "Senator Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and for his country, and I thank him for it. ... Don't tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways." - John McCain
Comment Posted By Misty On 16.07.2008 @ 17:21
The lead conservativism had over liberalism is the smallest it has been in decades. Self proclaimed conservatives believe "liberal" is a bad thing while holding quite liberal views, in all sorts of areas. American people taking care of each other is also gaining popularity and talking about safety net issues. We have opened our country to the global marketplace, but not before assuring our largest corporations that their contracts will be honored, and their manufacturing plants protected. No similar safeguards were created to protect the American workers from the onslaught of having to compete with billions of underemployed workers around the world. And, in the 2000 Republican "homeownership" policy had no safeguards.
Excerpt from the Republican 2000 party platform:
“Homeownership is central to the American dream, and Republicans want to make it more accessible for everyone. That starts with access to capital for entrepreneurs and access to credit for consumers. Our proposals for helping millions of low-income families move from renting to owning are detailed elsewhere in this platform as major elements in Governor Bush’s program for a New Prosperity. For those families, and for all other potential homebuyers, low interest rates make mortgages affordable and open up more housing opportunities than any government program."
“Implement the ‘American Dream Down Payment’ program, which will allow a half million families who currently draw federal rental assistance to become homeowners, and allow families receiving federal rental payments to apply one year’s worth of their existing assistance money toward the purchase of their own first home, thus becoming independent of any further government housing assistance. This approach builds upon our long standing commitment to resident management of public housing and other initiatives.”
So, voting for Republicans will holds no purpose or meaning, this time around.
Comment Posted By Misty On 16.07.2008 @ 13:43
