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ANALYSIS: Blair's pull-out plan signals British endgame in Iraq
By Anna Tomforde Feb 21, 2007, 13:51 GMT
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Partner in 'crime' is abandoning his friend. Guess, tired of crying wolf in UK.
Maybe we should ask Tony Blair to send those 1600 British troops to our southern border since Bush doesn’t have the guts to do it.
I admire PM Blair for his courage to do a pullout strategy. The US needs to determine such a plan. We clearly cannot just tell Iraq we are going home, but it's clear we cannot win, in the general and normal venacular of what WIN means. Saddam is gone and Iraq is working/struggling to establish a government. What we, the US, need to come to grips with is Iraq is in a state of Civil War which we cannot help with AND we need to start understanding that the US version of democracy doesn't fit for everyone else in the world - it works for America but we cannot expect cultures steeped in Centuries Old traditions to just throw that out and adopt what the US does. Can't and won't work.
Hopefully our Military and political leaders will come together and get a new strategy in place related to Iraq which most likely needs the input and support of other Middle East countries. The US won't solve this regardless how many people we send to Iraq and how many of our soldiers give the ultimate sacrifice.
Blair is a career man. For the sake of getting any kind of respect later, he knows he must set the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq in motion before he leaves office (later this year). He will never admit that the original invasion was both immoral and unwise. He has said 'God will judge me'. I (and many others) hope an international criminal court will get hold of him before he meets his maker. Yes, it'll be a blow for Bush. But Bush is even more culpable than Blair for the ruin of Iraq and the misery of its people. While the Americans would like to pull out, they should pay the (financial) price to set Iraq to rights, before following Blair.
I agree cut and run there is no saving Iraq at this stage. Should have left after they got what they wanted to begin with. It would have saved trillions of dollars and thousands of US and Friendly's lives. You can't save a country that kills its own neighbors because of there race. It's just a tragedy but Darwin’s theory will prevail and hopefully the lesser of the two evils will as well.
I guess Blair is finally understanding that democracy cannot be imposed, as that is a flagrant contradiction. People and nations have to evolve by themselves, not by military interventions of countries who do not understand their culture.
Tony Blair should be hung, castrated, and shot for pulling out of the war. My great country, the USA never pulled out of any of the World Wars to save his countries ass and the rest of the world. Wow, he thinks 132 dead is some great deal? How many men have this great country lost? 2 or 3 thousand? Maybe we should pull out and let his shitty Army, if you want to call it that, would be up shit's creek without a paddle, wouldn't they? I used to oppose the war, and i still do, I care about the troops loss', but we are fighting against terroists who kill innocent people and won't stop hiding and come get what they have coming to them. I will say this, if the USA and it's so-called Allies don't win this war and get Osama, the whole world better be ready to be destroyed because these terroists will come after them sooner or later. The UK owes the United States for the freedom they enjoy, because it was the USA that came in during the World Wars and kicked everyone's asses and made it so the Axis powers are no longer in existense, it's been the United States that have stood up for every countries freedom and rights throughout history. So world, you owe it to the United States for being free and you owe us for the lives that have been given up in your struggles for freedom.
Liberals Suck!
Cut and Run = their foreign policy.
Michael - You are living proof our government and media has been misinforming the American public. Your opinions were given to you, and you make the Neocons proud.
People just don't get it. US had its own selfish motives for invading Iraq and the plans that they had did not succeed. Now they are in their own filthy dirt which they can not get out off. Because, if they do get out, it would bring shame to them and would wound their ego! America you are in deep shit!! You better get out of Iraq sooner to save billions or trillions of tax-payers money!
World, Please disregard Micheal's statements and views about the United States. His views do not reflect the way everyone in the U.S. thinks. He is just one(of many, sadly) who have no ability to think for themselves and question the information spoonfed to them. There are others in the U.S., like myself who feel that the world does not owe the U.S. anything except for many horrible problems. The war is wrong, period. It was started for the wrong reasons, and it continues to go on for the wrong reasons.
Here's the summary of the situation in the U.S. Most citizens are now in disapproval of the war, and what is Bush's response? Send more troops!!! What a joke. Let me say that I as an American am extremely appalled and embarrassed that the leader(s) of my country are doing this to the rest of the world. I am ashamed at having a leader who can barely speak properly. I am ashamed at the way the United States has handled diplomacy and strategy.
Let me just reiterate that the post above from Micheal is completely embarrassing as well. It is Americans like him who give the rest of us the stereotype we have in the world...redneck, ignorant(you have horrible grammar and spelling by the way Micheal, please go back to school), etc.
British People want the Terrorists to win.
Bunch of chickens!
BUSH IS THE BIGGEST GOD-LOVING IDIOT IN THE WORLD AND IT BOGGLES THE MIND HOW A MORON CAN LEAD SUCH AN UNDER-HANDED GOVERNMENT IN THE USA, AND HAVE SUCH POWER IN THE WORLD (GRANTED HE HAS MORE MORONS WORKING BEHIND HIM WHO MAKE/DECIDE ON MOST SERIOUS ISSUES ANYWAYS)!!!
WE CAN UNDERSTAND YOU MUST MAKE INROADS TO SUCH COUNTRIES TO FIND RELATED PROBLEMS, BUT YOU CANNOT GO TAKING IT OVER OR FORCING THEM INTO SOMETHING THEY ARE NOT!!! WOW, IT MUST BE NICE TO HAVE YOUR OWN COMPANY FIXING-UP IRAQ, CHASING DOWN THE OIL, HAVING YOUR OWN TROOPS KILLED AND INNOCENT IRAQI'S WITHOUT HAVING MADE MUCH OF A DENT IN TERRORISM, WHICH IS THE TRUE SOURCE OF PROBLEMS YOU SHOULD BE GOING AFTER!!!
BLAIR IS NO BETTER GIVEN WHERE HE STANDS, IT WILL BE NICE TO SEE HIM GO. WHEN THEY BOTH ARE OUT OF POWER, AND NEW FRESH LEADERS (OF DIFFERENT VIWS) CAN STEP IN, IT WILL TRULY MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE!!! ITS FUNNY TO THINK 'NORMAL EVERYDAY PEOPLE' COULD PROBABLY MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE IF THEY WERE IN POWER, AND ALL COUNTRIES COMMUNICATED AND UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER BETTER. I TOO HOPE CANADA CHANGES HARPER OUT ASAP!!!
Michael H,
Me thinks you work for the US immigration department. Your prose has that sort of ring. The next thing we'll hear is that you're a Christian!?
Dan, thanks for the comment about Michael's mail. Michael, I agree the rest of the world owes the US a lot for the help in the WWs. But that doesn't mean the US can't make mistakes. I would support the US in any good cause. But Bush's cause was never good. Iraq was really his war, (to please Dad?) We, that is the rest of the world, owe George W nothing. Dan is right - the US needs to find, again, and show to the world, its genuine and historical moral leadership in the world. The first step, in the eyes of most other countries, (and incidentally the first step for Blair and Britain also), needs to be admission at government level that going into Iraq was one colossal mistake.
Bush is a gorilla, and Blair is a chimp
Now we just need to wait a little for US to remove it's troops too! And then finally and forever the 'west' lost the war and the price is going to be very heavy for both the US and UK. The US is on the verge of a financial meltdown: the mix of the twin deficits with the house market bubble burst will be too much, black Friday is coming, but much worse. This time you won't get 'New Deal', you will get Dictatorship!
The Brits have a history of running away.
They ran during the American revolution and then again in 1812, after attacking and burning our capitol.
Like the song says, 'they ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch em on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico',(Battle of New Orleans) by Jonny Horton.
I'm glad they're fleeing, maybe we can make some progress now.
After all don't they belong at home, sipping tea?
I say good riddance.
One more thing, I question the motives of those posters here that appear to celebrate the defeat of America and the West and support the terrorists.
I hope the FBI keeps tabs on these yellow traitors.
Ever elegant in their phraseology, our American friends. Or perhaps these are the mouthings of trash of the trailer persuasion?
Nice to see that the Neocons hold their supposed allies in such high regard.
The invaders owe the Iraqis the re-building of their country and their lives. Bush and Blair are war criminals and are responsible for the deaths of over 600,000 Iraqi citizens. They are much greater terrorists and threats to world peace than Bin Laden could ever hope to be. Harper and Howard also need to go.
The world is beyond the time when we can get away with waging wars to expand our empires. Its time for peace and unity to deal with the major global threats facing us all and stop this stupid 'us and them' mentality.
The absolutely moronic 'sipping tea' statement earlier demonstrates clearly that cultural ignorance exists across the atlantic, never mind between 'The West' and 'The East'. Surely this kind of bigotry needs to be combatted before we can ever try to dictate middle eastern policy. It saddens me as a British person to hear the 'chicken' accusation, when in reality it takes more courage to back off from a situation than to support the playground 'Bully'. Besides, does everyone seriously believe that allied troops should remain in Iraq indefinitely? Someone has to take their finger off the trigger.
Peace is not made with war; also, the Brits don't sit round sipping tea all day (the nation's drinking and social habits represent a much graver threat and I genuinely wished they did simply drink tea and read the paper all day long); and finally illiterate idiots who can't get their grammar right do NOT have freedom of speech with respect to a politically charged situation that is not as straightforward as it sounds.
Well done 'PissedOffAmerican', you've just managed to make your well-meaning, generally decent country mates look bad; I hope they feel uncomfortable enough to defend their position even more than they have already.
Idiot posters make me laugh.
' Surely this kind of bigotry needs to be combatted before we can ever try to dictate middle eastern policy. '
Surely there is no anti-American bigotry in the UK..... Surely this couldn't be a case of dishing it out and not being able to take it.
'when in reality it takes more courage to back off from a situation than to support the playground 'Bully'.'
Back off the situation? After you laid the foundations for it and then helped to create the latest round of fighting? That is somehow courageous? I guess your finest hour has passed. Who is this 'Bully' by the way?
'Peace is not made with war;'
You should have just rolled over when the Luftwaffe came I suppose.
'also, the Brits don't sit round sipping tea all day'
What do chavs drink?
' and finally illiterate idiots who can't get their grammar right do NOT have freedom of speech....'
'Combated' is spelled with one 't' Mr.literate.
' you've just managed to make your well-meaning, generally decent country mates look bad;'
As you have done regarding the sacrifice of your troops and ours.
You've absolutely misunderstood my entire statement. I am quite aware that the bigotry exists two-ways and in fact that is precisely what I meant. I hate war and violence and I deeply resent it when you say that 'you' laid the foundation for the badness in Iraq, as though you were referring to me as a person.
Perhaps you didn't read that I believe most americans are decent people who have no taste for a violent war. By taking a combative 'us versus you' stance you've demonstrated the exact bigotry I was talking about. Oh, and there's a huge difference between a typo and poor grammar.
I am NOT in any way anti-american; I am pro-people. You, on the other hand seem anti-british. The playground bully is Bush, and Blair is simply the 'lesser' bully who's finally come to his senses. You should take a leaf from his book. By the way, I mentioned the tea drinking thing to illustrate how stupid it was, yet you carried on an argument that I never created (!). Congratulations. Now you look as stupid as the ignorant idiot who wrote the tea thing in the first place.
' I hate war and violence and I deeply resent it when you say that 'you' laid the foundation for the badness in Iraq, as though you were referring to me as a person. '
The culture you live in has benefited from colonialism in Iraq like no other in the western world. The arbitrary Iraqi borders were drawn up in the back rooms of London parliament without regard to the people who happened to live there, the people who are now at each others throats. Indeed, Iraq, Afganastan, Israel...it could be argued that British influence laid the foundations for the current conflicts. (To be fair I think the region would be in more or less the same mess regardless of the UK, but when affixing responsibility it is unfair to lay it all at the feet of the bad 'ol yank.) So YOU, as an inhabitant of what was once the British empire, and You, the inhabitant of a country that provided us with the sexed up intelligence that confirmed out own sexed up intelligence and You, a member of a society that according to opinion polls was in favor of the Iraq war at the time of invasion have more of a responsibility to stick around and clean up this miserable 'badness' that WE are stuck in.
' By taking a combative 'us versus you' stance you've demonstrated the exact bigotry I was talking about. '
Again, Is there any anti-American bigotry in the UK? Even in your superior tone?
'Oh, and there's a huge difference between a typo and poor grammar.'
People in glass houses shouldn't be sanctimonious.
'You, on the other hand seem anti-british[sic].'
I wont trot out all my 'pro British' credentials here, but you are incorrect. I will say that I have seen a wave of anti-American hysteria there that I find sickening and unfair. A quick look at the Guardian or the effluence masquerading as reporting on the BBC is enough to turn any Atlanticist against the 'special relationship'.
'The playground bully is Bush, and Blair is simply the 'lesser' bully who's finally come to his senses. '
Again, you say 'come to his senses' as if that is what leaving your allies in the lurch with a problem that you (The UK) helped to create is sensible. Whatever you think of the reasoning behind our involvement in Iraq we are most certainly there. To abandon the mission and claim that you (The UK) had no role in it's inception isn't 'sensible'. There is another word for it...
'I mentioned the tea drinking thing to illustrate how stupid it was, yet you carried on an argument that I never created (!).'
I continued the metaphor to illustrate that the smug proclamation: 'The absolutely moronic 'sipping tea' statement earlier demonstrates clearly that cultural ignorance exists across the atlantic,'[sic] can go both ways. 'Cultural ignorance' isn't the sole domain of barbaric, coffee drinking yanks... You have shown yours about us, the Iraqis and even your own culture here.
FYI...... '' the word'' combated is also spelled'' combatted... check ask.com
Brave sir Tony ran away.
Bravely ran away away.
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Tony turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
****Bravely**** taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Tony!
'FYI...... '' the word'' combated is also spelled'' combatted...'
How many 't's in Moonbat? ;-D
Of course I am devastated by the numbers of people who have died in Iraq. But it's not a question of being culpable...it's a question of putting the situation right,' he argued.
===================================================================
And I can't help but wonder now Willie McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause?
Did you really believe them that this war would end war?
The suffering, the sorrow, some the glory, the shame -
The killing and dying - it was all done in vain.
For Willie McBride, it's all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.
Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipe lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?
The lament is called the Green Fields of France and was written by Eric Bogle.
Michael: You mention a war that you only got involved in because you got attacked? Good example mate
'The lament is called the Green Fields of France...'
That was written back when the UK finished the jobs it started.
No comments on B-lairs weasel words?
Did you guys know that Blair pulled out 200 troops from iraq but there are 200 troop sgoing into afghanistan. You damn liberal brainwashed retards cant figure that into your scope or what? Maybe they figured rightly that the 200 troops can do more good right now in afghanistan but the liberal media will not even report that. All you people that posted here didnt say anything either. So 200 from irag 200 into afghanistan dosent make me think less of england one bit.
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