You forgot the refugees. Afganistan and Iraq are number 2 and 3 in the world for refugees.
Posted by jerri at July 31, 2007 09:01 AM"But I’m sure Condi got some new shoes out of the trip."
She wasn't the only one getting something. Our arms manufacturers will get the $63 billion arms package. And, thanks to our failed SW Asian wars, they're already doing well:
"Several of Washington's largest defense contractors said last week that they continue to benefit from a boom in spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as sustained government demand for information technology..."
Defense Earnings Continue To Soar by Renae Merle, WaPo, July 30, 2002
But the Post's William Arkin thinks the arms largesse will accelerate US decline in the region:
"Focusing our moderate allies on conventional war-making and military pomp diverts their attention from the domestic political troubles and internal dissatisfactions that are at the root of their own instability. Even more, it accentuates those dissatisfactions by signaling to the conspiracy-minded and agnostics that the United States is in command."
A New Mideast Military Alliance?, Early Warning by William Arkin, WaPo, July 31, 2007
Should be interesting to see who among our Peoples' Deputies votes to support the useless, big ticket, cash cows of HR 1585 that serve their corporate patrons at the nation's expense. Or, more interestingly, who doesn't.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at July 31, 2007 09:21 AMWOW!!! Two whole days of Mid-East talks...that ought to show those arabs that George is serious about negotiating with them. And sending the Sec. of Defense along really sets the tone, huh. What clowns.
Posted by T2 at July 31, 2007 09:52 AMDick Cheney has come out with a strong endorsement of Gonzo..and why not? Lying, deceitful, smarmy....what's not to like, huh Dick.
Posted by T2 at July 31, 2007 09:58 AMWhy would any Sunni Arab regime, concerned about Iran and about radical Islamism, sign up to cooperate with the administration that seems, despite its rhetoric, dead-set on taking actions that advance the aims of both?
Posted by biggerbox at July 31, 2007 10:12 AMSo, we're concerned about a wider conflict in the ME, the Saudis' are "not being helpful', Iran is looking for Nukes, most of the rest of the ME is somewhat unstable, and some bright spot somewhere thinks that pouring another 100 (ish) billion dollars of weaponry into this region is a good idea?
Really?
Is this an idea that helps build a secure & stable Oil supply for the world, or just a stable income, as mentioned above, for the death merchants.
The utter f'cking idiocy of these people is beyond words.
Posted by pwapvt at July 31, 2007 10:13 AMThe Middle-east talk that got my attention was the report that the US is considering helping Turkey go after Kurds.
Now, as I recall, the Kurds in Iran were our only "friends" in Iran and essentially made it possible for the US to reduce its troop levels there in order to provide better coverage in the South and in Bagdhad.
Now I realize Turkey is an ally and in NATO, and I realize they have problems with "Kurdish-Separatists" in their own country usch that cross-border incursions to and from into northern Iraq have increased.
I also read that about 20,000 more US troops are going to supplement the existing surge (I see that at Huffington Post today).
This is truly a clusterf**k moment.
Posted by gtash at July 31, 2007 10:23 AMSorry--meant to say Kurds in Iraq, not Iran.
Posted by gtash at July 31, 2007 10:25 AMWhy not get one of Sadaam's doubles to do a "Jesus" for the iron-age superstitious population and whip them into compliance in 900 pound gorilla fashion.
They would have peace overnite and feel as warm and fuzzy as we would if Bill Clinton were to take back the reins of abused power.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 31, 2007 10:26 AMThat makes sense; make sure the "insurgents" have plenty of weapons to keep it going until 2009. That will keep those crummy Dems from doing anything productive, like leaving Iraq. That is the most important thing to the braindead 28%; stopping the Democrats. (You wonder where the Arabs get suicide bombers? We have a ready 28% here that would gladly give their life to stop a Democrat, but they would prefer your kids did it for them).
What scares me is; did they stamp "made in Iran" on those weapons so the Big Dick has an excuse to start another war when they all show up in Iraq?
Posted by JohnJ at July 31, 2007 10:43 AMFact: The vast majority of the so-called "insurgents" are pissed off Iraqis who are 1) defending against attacks by occupation forces, 2) trying to get the occupiers out of the country by attacking occupation forces, and their proxies, agents, and collaborators.
Fact: Once the occupation ends the vast majority of these pissed off Iraqis will be able to stop fighting and get down to the business of trying to rebuild their lives and their country.
Therefore, the fastest, and most effective way to end the "insurgency" is for the Americans to go home.
What part of that is difficult for the Bushites and their military geniuses to understand?
Posted by Shirin at July 31, 2007 11:06 AMYou did not ask why should the Arab and other Moslem countries lift a finger, knowing as they do the we are in Iraq solely on behalf of Israel, and having so royally screwed up the Occupation, they are enjoying seeing Israel watch massive numbers of urban soldiers being trained under fire? They also note that the giant Sa'udi is getting 2/3 of what New Jersey-sized Israel is being given.
Funny you do not mention all that.
Posted by maunga at July 31, 2007 11:08 AMJudith,
Are you around? We won! We won!
HomeDepot joined Lowe's and dumped Billo! They won't be advertising on his program.
Yeah, baby! I just got the email.
Posted by Christopher at July 31, 2007 11:50 AMvery good questions steve.
and many thanks to Pvt keepout for those valuable links.
steve: "Why would any Arab country sign on to help when we have made no effort to broker a regional security agreement with Iraq’s neighbors?"
actually i think part of the arms sales scenerio is that it's essentially (another long term) bribe to these arab nations so that they DON'T enter into any regional security agreement/s with...who else?...Iran.
one of the things about the american empire is that as long as the US can (afford to) keep pumping arms and so-called aid to these insecure third world nations, the US gets the benefit that these weaklings essentially go along with the imperial design or don't put up too much resistance to US policies, or in this case don't talk too much to their neighbors like iran. plus this flow of arms into the region keeps the fear and distrust levels at High and thus by nature makes any negotiations more difficult between fearful nations who are all super-armed.
plus the whole thing with the bushivites has been to feed the corporate-state interests, in this case the military industrial technological pinhead-warlords. drive as much public resources into private hands as possible.
one of the worst things about this war, these arms, this short sighted policy of the neo-cons is how badly it is altogether just inflaming anti-american and anti-western sentiment throughout the arab/moslem world. and all of these will someday sure as hell come back, blowback to haunt the US. these arm sales are wicked seeds of destruction.
america's karmic debt is coming due