Monday, June 18, 2007

Petraeus sees 10 years in Iraq: A gross underestimate unless they are needed elsewhere there!

It isn't funny but yesterday being Father's Day my sons called to check in. including the one that is EOD and just got back from Afghanistan who wants to volunteer to lead a team of Explosive Ordinance experts in Iraq again. Of course I started getting angry but not at him but Bush.
Knowing that it is only a matter of time until Bush attacks Iran with the Army he has not the Army he wants I was disturbed as Jim said many dedicated friends are getting out but he was going to stay in and fight this out. I told him he better worry about going to Iran instead or other middle east points.
Knowing that this is still just getting under way I am concerned what Iraq will look like a year from now. Not just that, that is only the beginning! I have said before here that I am concerned at what helping Palestine will eventually mean as Hamas is now in control of Gaza.
The emergency government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas installed after Islamic militants seized control of Gaza reaped its first windfall on Monday, with the European Union promising to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in crucial aid. Israel and the U.S. also plan to lift crippling economic sanctions on the Palestinians, now that President Mahmoud Abbas has formed an emergency government without Hamas, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Hundreds of millions of dollars will now flow to the Abbas government enabling him to pay the long overdue salaries of civil servants and police. http://www.cbsnews.com/...
I cannot possibly see Hamas and other so called Islamists at this juncture allow Israel and the West to unseat their recent gains. I have to wonder at what point this is going to ratchet up and I told my son that he better also be concerned about being sent to Palestine too and he can thank his idiot savior Bush.
Then the Lebanese army has resumed shelling a besieged Palestinian refugee camp, a day after it said important militant positions had been destroyed. Troops targeted suspected hideouts of the Fatah al-Islam group, as fighting entered a fifth week in Nahr al-Bared.
More than 150 people have been killed, including at least 20 civilians, in the worst internal violence in Lebanon since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. The government is currently tackling militants on two fronts, after gunmen on Sunday fired rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon.
Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers were put on full alert as they increased patrols in border areas. http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
I have to wonder if we will get pulled into this too and point out again to Jim the mess the middle east is in and the role his buddy Bush has played in this. He just said don't worry Dad!
Then I thought about the Pentagon surge report and how it is failing as we expected and knew it would. THIS SHOULD COME as no surprise. A Pentagon report released Wednesday shows there has been no decrease in violent attacks since the so-called U.S. troop surge began in Iraq. What has happened is a shift in the geography of death. http://www.beloitdailynews.com/...
The surge is succeeding to Bush as policy makers in Washington including Republicans setting the stage for a September showdown over Iraq policy, the man in charge of implementing the "surge" suggested yesterday that it could take up to a decade defeat the insurgents. Gen. David Petraeus is scheduled to report on progress in Iraq this September, and even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on CBS's Face The Nation, said "most members of my conference in the Senate believe" that presentation will be "the critical point to evaluate where we are. http://www.usnews.com/...
Meanwhile, a humanitarian crisis is looming in the Gaza Strip after last week's violent takeover by Hamas. Israel supplies most of the food and medicine to Palestinians in Gaza, but the main border crossing has been closed since the civil war erupted last week. So shortages are imminent, reports Berger. Israel is prepared to reopen the crossing to resume the flow of essential supplies, but there's no one to talk to now that Hamas controls the border. You know I have said many times that the surge troops will be in Iraq until they are needed elsewhere in Bush's new middle east order. I thought it would be Iran but as I watch the rapid developments in the middle east I am increasingly worried for one son who insists on staying in this and wonder where he will be misused and abused next. I hope his luck holds out!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

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