Shocking Memo from Bahgdad Embassy

[leftyladyfrommo]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com

Was. Post got ahold of this - re: state if Iraq right before Bush's surprsie visit.

Interesting.

[Minnesota Libra]

1. couldn't get link to work nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. I fixed it. I got the words backwards.

[Minnesota Libra]

3. Thanks for fixing the link, that is a completely different report than....

.....what the American public is getting. No wonder Idiot Boy went to Iraq on the sneak - he needed to try and shore up what little confidence is left over there. OMG, I feel so sorry for our Military.:cry:

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. I'm not sure we ever get anything straight anymore.

I usually go over to the Iraqi News to see what is going on - or British news.

[Virginia Dare]

4. More proof that Rove has been turned loose again...

the lies get more ridiculous and dangerous. It's going to be a rough ride between now and November.

[Supersedeas]

13. time to Tony to Snow them out.

[panader0]

6. So much for exporting democracy FUBAR

[livvy]

7. Here is a direct link to the full article, and one for the cable.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690071

What a mess. The news is not good for anyone in Iraq, civilians or our military. I cannot imagine living under such conditions. It must be absolutely horrendous, like a living hell.

:kick: and recommend

edit: link to the pdf. cable:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/graphics/iraqdocs_061606.pdf

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. How the hell is this shocking?

It's only shocking if you actually bought the administration's bullshit about Iraq up to this point.

[Vogt]

11. Ding ding ding ding ding

Noone but noone should be in any way shocked by this. "Upbeat" in terms of this prez means nothing more than terrified shitless of the coming demise of his party in Congress due to his outstanding failure in Iraq. However "turning a corner" does mean just that. We have indeed turned a corner, and are now heading down yet another hot, dark, filthy I.E.D-laced alley on the glorious march toward defeat and humiliation. Yea rah boom! Way to go Georgie! Way to stand tall -- and brave. Things are looking up!

[ellenfl]

9. marking for later. eom

[Trajan]

10. I wish there was a rule ...

that ALL such threads must contain at LEAST 4 paragraphs of the story presented .... so we can get the gist of the story without opening another browser/website .....

'Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Details Increasing Danger and Hardship

By Greg Mitchell

Published: June 18, 2006 6:20 PM ET

NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in Iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its Iraqi employees."

This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S. government."

It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's rights, and "ethnic cleansing."

A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name at the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador, though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely approved it.

-snip-

[maxrandb]

12. Typical of a Bush/Repuke run government

Read this and tell me you couldn't say the exact same thing in the wake of Katrina.

from the memo: "Punishing populations as Saddam did (but with Sunnis and very poor Shiites at the bottom of the list"). Otherwise, she says, the allocation of power and security would not be so arbitrary."

Even in Iraq, Bush's government favors the "haves" and screws the "have-nots".

Take a good look Amurika, this is us in a few years if you allow the Repukes to remain in power.

[magellan]

14. One to bear in mind whenever they raise the specter of al Qaeda in Iraq

-- "Personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most neighbors."

These neighborhood takeovers started right after we invaded because there weren't enough troops to secure the streets. Sectarian Iraqi mobs have been running things on their 'turfs' ever since because no one has attempted to rein them in. Imagine 1930s Chicago-style gangland warfare only deadlier -- that's what life's been like in Baghdad for three years, and it's only getting worse, and spreading.

You could remove the relatively small contingent of foreign terrorists from the equation altogether and the above would still be true.

[annabanana]

15. Here it is everybody

"...a few staff members approached us to ask what provisions would we make for them if we evacuate."

Look familiar?

caption: "A U.S. helicopter pilot tries to maintain order as panicky South Vietnamese civilians scramble to get aboard during evacuation of Nha Trang in April, 1975. (AP Photo)"