The Belgravia Dispatch: "Doing Something Like 50"

June 08, 2006

"Doing Something Like 50"

Clearly it’s our desire to draw down forces. It’s clearly the Iraqi people’s desire to have foreign forces drawn down. And, on the other hand, no one wants to do it in a manner that allows any instability. We’ll see. But I don’t see any reason why -- as the Iraqi security forces continue to grow in size -- that they’re not going to be able to take over more responsibility. We’ve already passed over, I don’t know, thirty bases to the Iraqis. We’ve passed over three or four provinces to the Iraqis. They’re currently doing something like fifty percent of Baghdad. [emphasis added]

An American friend of David Ignatius currently in Baghdad:

The civil war rages in Baghdad, regardless of what the PC word currently being used in Washington to describe the killing is these days. Each morning when the sun comes up, the bodies of the killings from the night before are gathered up and sent to the hospitals where they try to figure out who they are. While the new government, all of the ministries, the coalition and the bloated embassy bureaucracy all sit frozen in the Green Zone, this civil war rages on just outside the wire and concrete barriers.

But Iraqi forces are "currently doing something like fifty percent of Baghdad" says our Secretary of Defense. The battlespace is under control! So what of Ignatiuses correspondent? Well, perhaps all the stuff happening must be happening in the other 50% of town? Or something like that. Meantime, one wonders, is the Decider even aware that Baghdad is capsizing into tribalistic anarchy? One fears not, particularly if the Browniesque situational awareness manifested by his Secretary of Defense is any indication.

Posted by Gregory at June 8, 2006 03:17 AM | TrackBack (0)

Comments

"While the new government, all of the ministries, the coalition and the bloated embassy bureaucracy all sit frozen in the Green Zone, this civil war rages on just outside the wire and concrete barriers."

It's a bit like Masque of the Red Death - the privileged few holed up in relative comfort, while Death walks outside the walls.

Posted by: Jon H at June 8, 2006 04:29 AM | Permalink to this comment

Obviously, that American in Baghdad hates America and wants us to lose.

Posted by: LL at June 8, 2006 05:30 AM | Permalink to this comment

This makes me naseous.

Apparently, the US is willing to virtually ignore the murders of gay people in Iraq in order to avoid offending the locals...

"It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, when we're in a fledgling time like this, to go in and say, 'Here's these issues that are going to repel 80 percent of the population and this is what we want to inflict on you,'" he said. "We're trying not to get into too many values judgment type issues and just do the right thing."

http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=7336

apparently, slaughtering gay people is a "values judgement type issue".... its not a crime against humanity, its not lethal discrimination, its just "different value systems" at work.

Basically, that's it for me. Its "cut and run" time. If we've reached the moral and ethical depths where we won't intervene in this kind of atrocity, we've lost all moral authority -- and every day we remain in Iraq makes us more and more morally culpable for these murders. Forget phased withdrawal, just get the hell out, because WE HAVE LOST OUR SOULS in Iraq.

Posted by: plukasiak at June 9, 2006 01:18 AM | Permalink to this comment

Speak for yourself plukasiak. I haven't left anything in iraq.

Posted by: J Thomas at June 9, 2006 06:01 PM | Permalink to this comment

Is Boy George aware of what is going on in Iraq? Hard to say for sure. No other President I can recall ever made such a point that he does not read criticism of his & his Administration's actions and that he just wants positive reports saying everything is going fine.

Yesterday, I was at the Pentagon Concourse around 1:30PM and happened to go past a table where Charles A. Stevenson was suppose to be signing copies of his new book about Rumsfeld, "SECDEF: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense". I say supposedly, because there was nobody there! Stevenson & a PR lady were there by themsevles with numerous unsold copies and looked like they had been that way for some time. Usually these booksignings attract enough people so they go untill all the copies are sold, but not with this book about Rumsfeld.

Posted by: David All at June 9, 2006 10:41 PM | Permalink to this comment

	« Sacrifice, and "Cakewalks" \| Main \| Zarqawi's Death » June 08, 2006 "Doing Something Like 50" Rumsfeld, in Singapore, June 4th: Clearly it’s our desire to draw down forces. It’s clearly the Iraqi people’s desire to have foreign forces drawn down. And, on the other hand, no one wants to do it in a manner that allows any instability. We’ll see. But I don’t see any reason why -- as the Iraqi security forces continue to grow in size -- that they’re not going to be able to take over more responsibility. We’ve already passed over, I don’t know, thirty bases to the Iraqis. We’ve passed over three or four provinces to the Iraqis. They’re currently doing something like fifty percent of Baghdad. [emphasis added] An American friend of David Ignatius currently in Baghdad: The civil war rages in Baghdad, regardless of what the PC word currently being used in Washington to describe the killing is these days. Each morning when the sun comes up, the bodies of the killings from the night before are gathered up and sent to the hospitals where they try to figure out who they are. While the new government, all of the ministries, the coalition and the bloated embassy bureaucracy all sit frozen in the Green Zone, this civil war rages on just outside the wire and concrete barriers. But Iraqi forces are "currently doing something like fifty percent of Baghdad" says our Secretary of Defense. The battlespace is under control! So what of Ignatiuses correspondent? Well, perhaps all the stuff happening must be happening in the other 50% of town? Or something like that. Meantime, one wonders, is the Decider even aware that Baghdad is capsizing into tribalistic anarchy? One fears not, particularly if the Browniesque situational awareness manifested by his Secretary of Defense is any indication. Posted by Gregory at June 8, 2006 03:17 AM \| TrackBack (0) Comments "While the new government, all of the ministries, the coalition and the bloated embassy bureaucracy all sit frozen in the Green Zone, this civil war rages on just outside the wire and concrete barriers." It's a bit like Masque of the Red Death - the privileged few holed up in relative comfort, while Death walks outside the walls. Posted by: Jon H at June 8, 2006 04:29 AM \| Permalink to this comment Obviously, that American in Baghdad hates America and wants us to lose. Posted by: LL at June 8, 2006 05:30 AM \| Permalink to this comment This makes me naseous. Apparently, the US is willing to virtually ignore the murders of gay people in Iraq in order to avoid offending the locals... "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, when we're in a fledgling time like this, to go in and say, 'Here's these issues that are going to repel 80 percent of the population and this is what we want to inflict on you,'" he said. "We're trying not to get into too many values judgment type issues and just do the right thing." http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=7336 apparently, slaughtering gay people is a "values judgement type issue".... its not a crime against humanity, its not lethal discrimination, its just "different value systems" at work. Basically, that's it for me. Its "cut and run" time. If we've reached the moral and ethical depths where we won't intervene in this kind of atrocity, we've lost all moral authority -- and every day we remain in Iraq makes us more and more morally culpable for these murders. Forget phased withdrawal, just get the hell out, because WE HAVE LOST OUR SOULS in Iraq. Posted by: plukasiak at June 9, 2006 01:18 AM \| Permalink to this comment Speak for yourself plukasiak. I haven't left anything in iraq. Posted by: J Thomas at June 9, 2006 06:01 PM \| Permalink to this comment Is Boy George aware of what is going on in Iraq? Hard to say for sure. No other President I can recall ever made such a point that he does not read criticism of his & his Administration's actions and that he just wants positive reports saying everything is going fine. Yesterday, I was at the Pentagon Concourse around 1:30PM and happened to go past a table where Charles A. Stevenson was suppose to be signing copies of his new book about Rumsfeld, "SECDEF: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense". I say supposedly, because there was nobody there! Stevenson & a PR lady were there by themsevles with numerous unsold copies and looked like they had been that way for some time. Usually these booksignings attract enough people so they go untill all the copies are sold, but not with this book about Rumsfeld. Posted by: David All at June 9, 2006 10:41 PM \| Permalink to this comment		About Belgravia Dispatch Gregory Djerejian, an international lawyer and business executive, comments intermittently on global politics, finance & diplomacy at this site. 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