Signs That We Are Winning
From al-Reuters via My Way News:
Iraqi leaders cut a face-saving deal Tuesday with the United States and United Nations on a president and government to lead the country out of occupation.
A car bomb that tore through the nearby offices of a Kurdish political party, killing and wounding several, underscored the scale of the challenge the interim administration faces in organizing Iraq's first free elections in the new year.
Several rockets also landed around the U.S. compound as officials were meeting, wounding one Iraqi, and a suicide car bomber killed 11 Iraqis outside a U.S. base north of Baghdad.
New President Ghazi Yawar, an influential tribal chief appointed to succeed Saddam Hussein in defiance of Washington, called for the United Nations to give Iraq "full sovereignty" when the U.S.-led occupation authority is wound up on June 30.
From the New York Times:
Senior American commanders here say they are writing new orders to shift the focus of the military's mission from offensive combat operations to protecting a new Iraqi government and parts of the economy while building up Iraq's own security forces.
The decision reflects the commanders' assessment of how best to support the transition to an Iraqi government on June 30. But the shift away from combat operations may be viewed by some Iraqis as a further step back from disarming Iraq's insurgents before the transfer of sovereignty, although American policy remains that the militias are illegal.
The American commanders say there should be no doubt that they will continue to respond forcefully to challenges from insurgents between now and June 30, and then beyond to Iraqi elections scheduled for six months later.
Matt's Chat
How about those imperialist American pigs, huh?We've managed to put together a fairly good plan for the transition. Is it the best possible arrangement for us? Probably not. The best for Iraqis? Probably not. Best for the UN? Probably not. But that's democracy. Democracy is a terrible system of government, but what it has going for it is that it is a thousand times better than anything else that has ever been tried.
One last thing...no thanks to France, Germany, Russia and uber-liberal hippies everywhere.
Mark's Remarks
If America were truly the brutal tyrants the Liberal Hate America First Crowd says we are, then why did we 'allow' the Iraqi leadership to criticize us? Why did we allow them to speak their minds? Of course! This must just be a super top secret Halliburton snow job, right? Come on!
I am sick and tired of people like John "I don't need the electorate to Declare myself President" Kerry, Hillary "Darn, I Should have Ran" Clinton, Michael "I make Fat B@st@rd look skinny" Moore, or Ted Drunken Murderer Kennedy trashing America and talking about how brutal we are, or how imperialist. We have pulled back our forces, we have allowed the Iraqis to choose their own leaders, with some assistance in logistics. It is amazing that people can continue to believe the out and out garbage proliferating in the press about the Imperialist Americans and their mission of Oil Wars and such. If it was about the oil, why are we turning it over to the Iraqis? If it were about oil, then why don't we have lower prices? If people would quit sticking their heads in the sand or in some other place and look at the facts, you would see that the liberal screed of War for Oil, Imperialist America, and the like is nothing but a bunch of garbage.
