by Nick on July 28, 2008
Apparently things are going fantastically in Iraq these days. Thank you John McCain! We couldn’t have stopped the violence without you.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, at least 24 people were killed and 187 wounded, after a female suicide bomber blew herself up amid thousands of Kurdish demonstrators who had gathered near the provincial headquarters building, said Brig. Gen. Burhan Tayyib Taha of the Iraqi police in Kirkuk.
And:
In the attacks in Baghdad, three women used suicide vests and a bomb in a bag to make strikes just minutes apart, killing 24 people, all apparently Shiite pilgrims marching in a festival, according to an official at the Interior Ministry. The dead included at least four children, one of them an infant, and there were at least 62 other people wounded, according to police officials and witnesses.
Can’t we get out of this mess already?
by Nick on July 24, 2008
Posted By: Nick
Iraq has been banned from competing in the Olympics. This is a real shame. Iraqi’s have had a tough time the past few years and something like the Olympics gives them something to enjoy and take pride it. I think it helps the country come together and gain a sense of national unity as well. Apparently this is a result of problems with Iraq’s Olympic Committee, which was disbanded in May by the Iraqi government, and replaced by a temporary committee.
I suppose it’s too late at this point for this decision to be changed, but I really hope the International Olympic Committee reconsiders.
by Nick on July 16, 2008
Posted By: Nick
Barack Obama is starting to take some real heat over his position on the Iraq War. The biggest reason for this is that the surge (which he opposed) seems to have made some real gains in Iraq. The Washington Post hit him for this today in an editorial. Jack Tapper at ABC News says the success of the surge has put Obama on the defensive.
John McCain went after him yesterday as well. He makes the point that:
Where Senator Obama and I disagreed, fundamentally, was what course we should take. I called for a comprehensive new strategy — a surge of troops and counterinsurgency to win the war. Senator Obama disagreed. He opposed the surge, predicted it would increase sectarian violence, and called for our troops to retreat as quickly as possible. Today we know Senator Obama was wrong. The surge has succeeded.
I have made my own position clear. I think the war in Iraq has been a major distraction from our efforts in Afghanistan. It has strained our military, driven us further into deficit, and has hurt our credibility around the world. Osama bin Laden is still at large, almost seven years after the 9/11 attacks.
However, I think Obama is walking on very thin ice right now. And I’m not sure how he can improve his situation. The reality is that violence in Iraq is down significantly since the beginning of the surge. Arguments can be made about the reasons for the decrease in violence (it should be pointed out that a major factor may not be increased American presence, but rather increased American cooperation [bribery] with Sunni tribes, among other factors). But with the simplistic way the average voter sees the war, Obama may be in some trouble here. With the media beginning to turn against Obama on the war, McCain has a real opportunity to pick up some extra votes.
