THE BOOM OUTSIDE BAGHDAD

December 26, 2006 -- UMQASR, IRAQ

WHILE the American political elite is using Iraq as an ex cuse for fighting internal political wars, a different reality is taking shape in parts of this war-torn nation. Wherever some measure of security is assured - that is to say in more than 80 percent of Iraq - towns and villages long left to die a slow death are creeping back to life.

Nowhere is this slow but steady return to life more startling than in Um Qasr, in the southeast extremity of Iraq on the Persian Gulf. Four years ago, this was a jumble of rusting quays, abandoned houses and gutted buildings. By the spring of 2003, its population had dwindled to a few dozen, along with hundreds of stray dogs. There was even talk of abandoning it altogether.

Today, however, Um Qasr is back in business as a port with commercial and military functions. Hundreds of families that had left after the first Gulf War in 1991 have returned - joining many more who have come from all over Iraq.

The boom in Um Qasr is part of a broader picture that also includes Basra (the sprawling metropolis of southern Iraq), the Shi'ite "holy" cities of Najaf and Karbala, Mandali on the Iranian border and much of Baghdad.

When the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reported two years ago that the Iraqi economy was heading for a boom, skeptics dismissed it as misplaced optimism. Now, however, even some of those who opposed the toppling of Saddam Hussein admit that many Iraqis share that optimism.

Newsweek has just hailed the emergence of a booming market economy in Iraq as "the mother of all surprises," noting that "Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are." The reason, of course, is that Iraqis know what is going on in their country while Americans are fed a diet of exclusively negative reporting from Iraq.

The growing dynamism of the Iraqi economy is reflected in the steady increase in the value of the national currency, the dinar, against the three currencies in direct competition with it in the Iraqi marketplace: the Iranian rial, the Kuwaiti dinar and the U.S. dollar, since January 2006.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12262006...mir_taheri.htm

HMMMMMMM..........The exchange rate of the dinar has also went from 1460:1 to 1325:1 just as of recent. :D Seems to me that a couple of dumbasses with car bombs doesn't make a civil war.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

Ok Psycho I went along with the article. I even found it interesting until you made this remark.

Seems to me that a couple of dumbasses with car bombs doesn't make a civil war.

How could you say something so stupid? A couple of car bombs does not shoot the arms off of our soldiers. In the last 2 weeks our soldiers have suffered more injuries than in all of the war! The ICUs are all full and they have had to turn another wing of the hospital into an ICU. The head wounds have tripled and amputations have become routine. Of course Um Qasr is quiet it is the Naval strong hold! The damn generals live there!

The boots on the ground are in a civil war!!

I read yours now you read mine, please because you do not know what you are talking about and you are not helping our guys.

http://hiddenmysteries.net/geeklog/a...61129002325590

...soldiers at Fort Campbell KY...returned Thanksgiving..from their 2nd or 3rd tour in Iraq..

..5 have died very unnatural deaths since returning..(since Thanksgiving)....various forms of suicide...

..these deaths won't go on the offical war casuality lists...

Yeah my son treated 2 of them. The gun shot wounds to the head...

There were 3 more over Christmas and several others were questionable

There are literally thousands not going on the casuality list because they put them on life support machines and ship them to Germany. They say it is so the parents can say goodbye. It is really because they will go on a different unofficial list. Sound familiar?

Oh sorry Dutch you are talking about the guys state side ....I read it wrong
I have read about the kid that hung himself when he got back....there are a lot of suicides going on down range right now so thats what I thought you were talkking about. There were several last month too. It is all really sad :(

They are seeing more that a couple of car bombs over there! :rolleyes:

BTW Psycho where were you when this kind of crap was being posted here?

I expected you to chime in with a little support at least say something as you had or have a kid over there too.

From Swirlymass:

soldiers are just the pawns for corrupt idiots like rumsfeld.

so i don't like soldiers because of their "lets grab a gun and kill somebody" attitude. I've seen it over and over again in my former friends and people my age. people who enlist are
usually pretty brainless, the ones that are normal get put into intelligence positions. if you can be bossed around 24/7 and are just aching to give up all free will you ever had then go run and join the marines. they even give you dumb brutes a gun WOOOHEEE

its like children at school, one kid beats up another kid because some girl told the bully that the kid was doing something she knows the bully will dislike.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlueCat

Ok Psycho I went along with the article. I even found it interesting until you made this remark.

Seems to me that a couple of dumbasses with car bombs doesn't make a civil war.

How could you say something so stupid? A couple of car bombs does not shoot the arms off of our soldiers. In the last 2 weeks our soldiers have suffered more injuries than in all of the war!

Do you have ANY link to support this claim?? Doubt it!

The boots on the ground are in a civil war!!

I read yours now you read mine, please because you do not know what you are talking about and you are not helping our guys.

http://hiddenmysteries.net/geeklog/a...61129002325590

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You read my five paragraphs now I'm compelled to read a short story? I'll wait for the movie if ya don't mind.....made it though a few paragraphs but hell, I got things to do.

By "helping" do you mean support.....which I do.....or do you mean help your own agenda? If they need something, they should have it.....but as for the "boots on the ground", I'm sure from all the interviews that I've seen, articles read, they DO NOT want to "cut and run" from the folk that took out their friends over there.

What do ya think would happen to Iraq if we left in a trail of daffodils like some of the tree huggers would like to see? First off it would be a shooting gallery on us as we left. Second, we would lose COMPLETE respect from that entire region not to mention various other places in the world. You all were so, so worried about the opinions on France, Germany, Russia, and China during the last presidential elections and during the invasion.......what would be their opinion of us if we did cut? "Hey, the U.S. is full of tree huggin' pussies".........Now THAT'S a nice opinion?

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

By the way, my son joined FREELY.......NO DRAFT....he signed his name on the line and I SUPPORTED that decision. I don't care if he would have been in Iraq, Afghanistan, wherever.......I would have gave him SUPPORT and let him know that I felt that his station was a worthwhile cause. THAT is how we are suppose to help our troops from state side.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

ITS NOT A CIVIL WAR UNTIL THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION SAYS SO, , DONT MIND THE 100S OF DEAD IRAQIS A WEEK, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND GO SHOPPING...MY BAD ONLY 50 DIED THIS WEEK..

At least 54 dead in Baghdad bombing
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
LAUREN FRAYER
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A string of car bombs and other blasts killed at least 54 Iraqis on Tuesday, including 17 outside Baghdad's most venerated Sunni mosque, while U.S. troops battled Shiite militiamen in Baghdad.

Seven more American soldiers died, the U.S. military said, pushing the December death toll to 90 in one of the bloodiest months for the American troops in Iraq this year. Some 105 troops were killed in October.

President Bush is weighing whether to send thousands more troops to Iraq, but a senior Democratic senator, Joseph Biden, said Tuesday he would fight such a move.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnew...340.xml&coll=2


23 Iraqis, Four U.S. Service Members Killed; Kidnapped Americans Believed
BAGHDAD â?? At least 23 Iraqis were killed in attacks on Thursday, and the U.S. military announced the deaths of three American soldiers and one Marine.

In addition, The U.S. Embassy said Thursday it believes four American security contractors and an Austrian remain in captivity after a video surfaced this week. They were kidnapped in southern Iraq six weeks ago.

Two bombs exploded shortly after 10 a.m. opposite a park in the South Gate area, killing nine civilians and wounding 43, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. South Gate is often crowded with commuters and shoppers.

A bomb planted under a car killed 12 civilians and wounded 26 others near al-Sha'ab stadium in eastern Baghdad, police said. The bomb exploded among a group of people lining up to buy kerosene.

Another blast targeted a police patrol in western Baghdad but missed, killing two civilians instead, police said. Four others were wounded and taken to Yarmouk
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,239463,00.html

War's toll: 12,000 dead Iraqi policemen
By Lauren Frayer, Associated Press
Article Launched: 12/24/2006 03:33:36 PM PST


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Some 12,000 Iraqi policemen have been killed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the country's interior minister said Sunday, as clashes, a suicide bomber and weekend explosions killed more than a dozen Iraqi officers and four American soldiers.

At a news conference in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said despite the thousands of police deaths "when we call for new recruits, they come by the hundreds and by the thousands."

Among the deaths Sunday were seven police officers killed when a suicide bomber hit a police station in Muqdadiyah, northeast of the capital. The bombing was followed by six mortar rounds. In Mosul, a drive-by shooting killed two policemen.

Though police have been targeted by insurgent attacks, they have also been blamed for violence. Gunmen in Iraqi army and police uniforms have been responsible for recent bank robberies in Baghdad and the kidnapping of more than 40 workers and volunteers at the Iraqi Red Crescent.

Al-Bolani vowed to rid his ministry of rogue officers.

"We formed committees to clean and purge ... to dismiss the bad elements from the ministry and build our institutions," al-Bolani said. http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4896744

So you refuse to read an article because it is too long. I see your intellect appears to match that of your president! It would seem to me IF a person has a loved one involved in this war NOTHING would be too long. I would think you would be reading anything and everything about this war. That article covered the war from its beginning. If you lack reading skills or refuse to devote the time then skip to the the closing paragraph.

Is it you very own ego that refuses to let you see the truth about this war? I honestly can't see how you can STILL say there is no civil war when our very own generals have stated that Iraq is slipping into civil war and that was back in JUNE!

What agenda is it that I am trying to promote here Psycho? A treehugging agenda? How lame is that? Could it be I am promoting the SAME agenda that swept through both the house and senate a few weeks ago?

I guess you will continue to support your president's agenda no matter how many US soldiers die including your own child. I will NEVER understand this type of blind reasoning. How disappointing.

As I have stated before the term "he volunteered" no longer works unless of course you have an alternative to volunteering and you want everyone to be drafted. So by saying your son "volunteered" it is as if you are saying he made his bed and now he can lie in it. That is pretty sad IMO :(