Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ...

jimpeel

jimpeel

Well-Known Member
It seems there are a couple of things which belie both of those premises.

Numbah one ...

SOURCE

Poll: Americans Feel More Optimistic About Iraq, Less About Afghanistan

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Americans feel as optimistic about the situation in Iraq as they did in 2003, according to a new CBS News poll.

Sixty-four percent of Americans believe that the U.S. mission to make Iraq more stable is going at least somewhat well, the poll found — the highest level of optimism since December 2003, just after Saddam Hussein was captured.

A year ago, only 43 percent of Americans said they thought efforts were going well in Iraq, and in June 2007, only 22 percent reported feeling that way.

Americans are much more pessimistic about the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, according to the poll. (But isn't Afghanistan where Obama thinks we should be? Isn't that where he is sending our troops? -- j)

More than half of the respondents, or 55 percent, still believe that the U.S. shouldn't have entered Iraq at all.

Click here for more on this story from KDKA.com.
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Numbah two ...

SOURCE

First Tourists Visit Iraq Since War Began in 2003

Saturday, March 21, 2009

BAGHDAD — Ancient ruins aside, touring war-torn Iraq for the last two weeks hasn't been as satisfying as Tina Townsend Greaves had hoped.

Not because of safety fears. To the contrary.

More because some sights that the Briton wanted to explore during her two week visit have been closed.

Greaves was one of eight visitors — including Britons and Americans — on the first officially sanctioned tour of Iraq outside the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region since the March 2003 U.S. invasion.

Click here for photos.

"Sadly, we did not have the chance to see the museum or any of the monuments because they've been shut," Greaves said at her hotel Saturday morning, preparing to sight-see in other parts of Baghdad.

Iraq's restored National Museum, which houses priceless artifacts from the Stone Age through the Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic periods, reopened to the public on a limited basis last month but was closed Saturday.

The trip was organized by a British adventure travel agency in the latest indication of security improvements.

It occurred without major violence but plenty of hassles as the group navigated the omnipresent checkpoints aimed at preserving the drastic drop in violence over the past 18 months.

With dashed hopes for seeing the museum, the group instead set off for the Ctesiphon Arch, a Persian ruin on the Tigris River near Salman Pak — once one of Iraq's most dangerous towns south of Baghdad.

The tourists also went to the International Zone in the heart of Baghdad, where U.S.-led forces and embassies are headquartered, and had their picture taken at the famous Crossed Swords landmark. The arches, depicting two hands holding swords, lead into parade grounds that Saddam Hussein had built after the Iran-Iraq war.

"I think Iraq is safe for tourists," Greaves said. "But I think maybe a few more of the sites need to be open to tourists because if tourists are going to come to Iraq, there has got to be things for them to see when they get here."

Photo Essays

* First Tourists in Iraq

Violence still plagues Baghdad and other areas in Iraq on a daily basis and explosions sounded near the group's hotel in central Baghdad late Friday on the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

The group was due to leave Sunday after a two-week visit that included stops in the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, the city of Basra to the south, the ancient ruins of Babylon and Ur and the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala.

The Americans and Britons even visited the site of the destroyed golden domed shrine in Samarra, one of the holiest sites of Shiite Islam, where a 2006 bombing triggered months of sectarian violence.

Some Westerners have tried to visit Iraq on an unofficial basis but usually have been detained and expelled by the military. Shiite pilgrims from Iran and other regional countries frequently travel to holy sites.

But the current trip marked the first officially organized and sanctioned visit by Western tourists since 2003.

Geoff Hann, managing director of Hinterland Travel, which organized the trip, said Iraq is ready to receive tourists — but just barely.

Getting tourists to come "will take a lot of effort and a lot of hard work," he said.
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So tourism is coming back and more Americans are optimistic about Iraq.

What a failure. I wonder who is responsible for that. Surely someone is to blame.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

It was a colossal blunder. Never should have been there and I'm glad to see most Amaericans agree. Probably should balme the CinC at the time. What a dumbass.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

yeah jim the trillion dollars the a few million displaced iraqis (which is really gonna help build middle east stability) sure was worth getting those opinion poll numbers.

yes, we done good. and you've put yourself on the side of authority and glorious war victory. congrats. you picked the right team to cheer for.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

Yeah, you're right. We should have never taken the pre-emptive fight to the heart of the ME and just should have waited patiently for the next attack in a major American city.

:rolleyes:
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

keep your eye on Al Sadar.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

Cerise said:
Yeah, you're right. We should have never taken the pre-emptive fight to the heart of the ME and just should have waited patiently for the next attack in a major American city.
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ZOMG! Iraq was going to attack a major American city!!!111

:rofl3:
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

spike said:
ZOMG! Iraq was going to attack a major American city!!!111

:rofl3:
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No doubt with those imaginary WMDs that even the previous administration was finally forced to admit never really existed.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

chcr said:
No doubt with those imaginary WMDs that even the previous administration was finally forced to admit never really existed.
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And which the British whose intel we used -- lacking our own due to the wall built by Toricelli and Gorelick -- still insists was accurate.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

We all know who stands where on the war on terror & its various battles. Can we quit re-enacting the last 8 years?
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

Although I disagreed with invading Iraq for reasons that the left could not even begin to fathom, I do have to admit that it did prevent a maniacal dictator from developing nuclear weapons.

200px-Iraq%2C_Saddam_Hussein_%28222%29.jpg


NO!! NOT HIM.......

6439-778393.jpg


Him!!!
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

Yeah, and they sent all of the shit he turned over to Canada. What was with that?

"A spokesman for Mr Berlusconi said the prime minister had been telephoned recently by Col Gaddafi of Libya, who said: 'I will do whatever the Americans want, because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid.'"
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Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

Gonz said:
We all know who stands where on the war on terror & its various battles. Can we quit re-enacting the last 8 years?
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sure. let's not repeat ourselves. ever. you go first.
 
Re: Iraq is a dismal failure and the majority of Americans agree -- um -- but wait ..

jimpeel said:
Yeah, and they sent all of the shit he turned over to Canada. What was with that?
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We're good at processing nuclear waste? That might have something to do with it, eh.
 
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