Our Ambassador Held Hostage (by Us!) in Baghdad

/in /by

  1. Anonymous says:

    Reportedly, on Meet The Press Rep Murtha refered to the GOP Iraq policy as â€stay and pay†when the Dems were accused of â€cut and run.†That is a good phrase, deserving of more play. it really does reframe the issue.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Baghdad with 115 degree heat and only intermittent electricity; motorists waiting 12 hours in fuel lines; and, in a move not seen even in Iran at its worst, women now being forced by some groups to cover their faces. All of this and more in our own ambassador’s eloquent cable, no doubt leaked because of the preposterous misrepresentations of Bush’s recent visit.

    Murtha points out this is a venture costing the U.S. $300,000,000 a day. Most of that note is borrowed from China. Notwithstanding all the other reasons to object to this war, why are conservatives not grumbling about the cost? Why aren’t more Dems using the sheer fiscal irresponsibility of it all against the Republicans?

  3. Anonymous says:

    QS, good point, especially when Murtha has given them cover and a good frame with â€stay and payâ€. Again, when I was researching candidate web pages for this post I was pleasantly surprised with the number of challengers willing to call for something like the Murtha strategy or â€repositioning†aka withdrawal in 2007. I think the equivocation/silence is from the DC Dems, especially the ones who voted for the war. But it is by no means universal.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I like your choice of vocabulary to describe Blackdot. Khalilzad deserves all of the humiliation and ignominy the administration can dish up.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Allow me to be nit-picky:

    I don’t at all think the story of the cable has been â€widely reported.†Some blogs have picked it up, but I don’t think it’s appeared in too many major papers other than the original Wash Post story. Maybe tonight’s evening news casts and cable shoutfests will refer to it, though.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Jim E.

    Ut oh, reflecting my monoblogovision again, I guess. Yes, you’re right. No one seems to give a damn that Iraq is officially at Hell and a Fundamentalist Handbasket stage.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I trust you have seen the picture of the construction zone where the embassy replacement building, and outbuildings, are taking final shape on the Tigris. It looks like 5,000 office workers and other personnel will be part of the new micropolis. Some folks know how to place a thumbnail image in a thread comment, but I only link to the NBC photograph here. What a difficult outpost in these turbulent times. I think the embassy inauguration is within a year; certainly the embassy compound seems very built out. Partly, my assessment of the incompleteness of many other reconstruction projects in Iraq, is that there is timeline certain for needing to have all the infrastructure functioning for this micropolis; likely trusting that between US micropolis and the Iraqi government proper some semblance of a stable civilized society might emerge on a timeline appropriate for drawdown of US presence, likely end date set for the US Democratic Party president to finalize during the 4-year term timeframe which follows Bush’s last term, that is, 2009-2013.