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IRAQ IS A DISASTER


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I've heard about this op truth guy on Air America Radio.... I like what he's doing.

Watching these trailers is crazy. I actually recognize some of these people. Talked to some of them. Like Denver, the national guardsman who shattered his back. Nice guy. We talked about hunting one day.

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Baghdad governor assassinated

Suicide truck bomb kills at least 10 near Green Zone

 

Tuesday, January 4, 2005 Posted: 7:46 AM EST (1246 GMT)

story.alhaidri.ap.jpg

Baghdad Governor Ali Al-Haidri survived a previous assassination attempt in September.

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Baghdad Governor Ali Al-Haidri was assassinated Tuesday morning in Baghdad, according to an Iraq Interior Ministry official.

 

One of the governor's bodyguards was killed and two wounded in the road ambush, officials said.

 

Witnesses said there was an intense gunbattle between the assassins and the governor's bodyguards.

 

Al-Haidri survived a previous assassination attempt in September when his convoy was ambushed by attackers using a roadside bomb and firing machine guns, the Interior Ministry said.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking to reporters in Thailand, said he was saddened by the assassination report.

 

"It once again shows that there are these murderers and terrorists, former regime elements in Iraq that don't want to see an election," Powell said. "They want to go back to the tyranny of the Saddam Hussein regime, and that's not going to happen. The Iraqi people don't want it to happen.

 

"The Iraqi interim government is determined to fight this insurgency, and you can be sure that the coalition will do everything it can to fight the insurgency so that the Iraqi people can have a successful election at the end of the month."

 

Also on Tuesday, a suicide truck bomb killed 10 people and wounded 60 others near Baghdad's Green Zone, where the Iraq government and U.S. Embassy are based.

 

Eight of the dead were Iraqi police commandos and two were civilians, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said.

 

The explosion happened near an Iraqi Security Forces compound and a palace used by coalition forces at about 8:45 a.m. (12:45 a.m. ET) Tuesday, according to an Iraqi police spokesman.

 

The truck was a fuel tanker laden with explosives, the Interior spokesman said.

 

It was the second time in as many days that the Green Zone area was targeted by a bomb.

 

On Monday, a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint west of the Green Zone, hitting a three-vehicle civilian convoy. There was no immediate word of casualties.

 

The bomb exploded at a checkpoint used by Green Zone personnel to get to and from Baghdad's airport, officials said.

 

Earlier Monday, a suicide car bomb attack near the political party headquarters of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi killed at least two Iraqi police officers.

 

A U.S. military spokesman said three Iraqi police officers were killed in addition to the bomber. But in a written statement, the Iraqi Police Services said two police were killed and 12 people wounded, including seven officers.

 

A hospital reported receiving three bodies.

 

An orange and white vehicle loaded with explosives tried to ram through a police checkpoint, the U.S. spokesman said.

 

The police statement said Iraqi officers shot at the vehicle, preventing the driver from crashing through the checkpoint.

 

The explosion did not damage Allawi's Iraqi National Accord headquarters -- which was about 400 yards from the checkpoint, an employee of the party said. Allawi was not near the scene of the blast, the employee said.

 

The street where the party headquarters is located also houses offices of many other political leaders.

 

The militant group Jaish Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack, citing Iraq's January 30 elections.

 

In an unverified claim posted on its Web site, the group said it launched the attack "as the infidels were preparing to have a meeting to discuss the elections." The group said it killed guards who were protecting the building.

 

Jaish Ansar al-Sunna has claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Iraq, including a December 21 bombing that killed 22 people at a U.S. base near the northern city of Mosul. (Full story)

 

The Web site message warned of future attacks: "We will finish you one at a time."

 

Earlier Monday, a suicide bomb attack killed four Iraqi soldiers and wounded 14 other people at a checkpoint in Balad, north of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said.

 

A fourth bomb attack Monday wounded two U.S. soldiers riding in a humvee along a northern Baghdad road, the military said.

 

The attacks are the latest against Iraqi authorities, including soldiers, police and politicians, in advance of this month's elections. U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned insurgents would likely step up attacks in an attempt to derail the elections.

 

Iraqi voters are expected to choose a 275-member transitional national assembly. That body will put together a permanent constitution that will go before voters in a referendum. If the law is approved, the plan calls for elections for a permanent government.

 

Insurgent attacks have prompted calls from many Iraqis to delay the January vote. Iraq's interim government and the United States appear determined to leave the date unchanged.

Other developments

 

# A U.S. Marine was killed in action Tuesday morning "while conducting security and stabilization operations in the Al Anbar Province" of Iraq, the U.S. military said. This latest death brings to 1,335 the number of American troops killed in the Iraqi war beginning in March, 2003.

 

# A surprisingly frank hourlong call-in program, "The Iraqi Podium," is giving Iraqis the chance to pepper interim Prime Minister Allawi with questions, from the mundane to the serious. Judging by the show's popularity, Iraqis are taking advantage.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/04/...main/index.html

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest KING BLING

This is from CNN.com...the reality of the bolded text is that the National Guard here decided to ignore the Bush policy of no media. I like the way it never explains who decided to make the exception but allows for the assumption that the pentagon was responcible when it wasn't...

 

 

HOUMA, Louisiana (AP) -- In civilian life, Bradley Bergeron was an air conditioning technician. Kurt Comeaux was a probation officer and Warren Murphy a tugboat deckhand.

 

You could find Christopher Babin behind the wheel of his truck. Armand Frickey and Huey Fassbender III worked in restaurants. Each of the six also had another job: Members of the Louisiana National Guard.

 

All were killed last week in a single bomb blast in Iraq. They came from the same company and grew up in towns along the bayous of southeast Louisiana.

 

Their bodies were returned home Wednesday. Dozens of family members sobbed and hugged each other as the flag-draped caskets were unloaded from a cargo plane and carried into hearses.

 

"They trained together, they fought together, they went to war together, they died together. The families wanted them to come home together," said Hunt Downer, assistant adjutant general in the National Guard.

 

Full media coverage was allowed, including photographers and television news crews -- an exception to a Pentagon edict generally banning media coverage of America's war dead as their remains arrive.

 

More bodies are on the way: Two more Louisiana guardsmen were killed Monday. Ten from the Louisiana guard have died in Iraq in less than a month, from a total of 4,000 members in Iraq.

 

The deaths have given the rest of Louisiana a stark reminder that its National Guard members -- men and women once considered "weekend warriors" -- are now soldiers on the front lines.

 

"When you sign up with the Guard, you're in the Guard with family and friends and people you grew up with, people you went to school with," said Anthony Manuel, a former Louisiana guardsman whose brother, Bill, was killed in Monday's explosion.

 

When one soldier is killed, he said, "It's a big family that gets hurt. It's all of us."

 

In honor of the hometown heroes, flags have been at half staff in all parts of the state, from the capital city of Baton Rouge to Houma, a fishing and oil city near the Gulf of Mexico, to Bossier City, near the Arkansas state line.

 

"This is a sad time for Louisiana," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Wednesday. "The families have a lot of grieving to do and we grieve with them. We appreciate them, we love them and we remember them in our prayers."

 

In all, Louisiana has lost 29 soldiers in Iraq: the 10 guardsmen, plus 15 U.S. Army soldiers and four Marines.

 

But the sudden killings of six soldiers at once -- all from the same part of the state -- was particularly stunning. That news, with banner headlines in newspapers around the state, was followed four days later by another explosion that killed two more.

 

In interviews, relatives of the killed soldiers have maintained a common theme: Their sons loved their work in the guard, thought of their fellow guardsmen as family and believed strongly in their mission.

 

"He loved his country and never gave a second thought to what he was doing in Iraq," Angela Bergeron, of Houma, said of her son Bradley, a specialist killed in the Jan. 6 explosion. "He talked about the National Guard as if it were his extended family. Those men were like his brothers."

 

Bill Manuel, a staff sergeant who was killed Monday, was one of three brothers who spent time in the guard. The Manuel brothers grew up fishing for bass in the Calcasieu River, and hunting rabbit and squirrel in woods around Oberlin, their tiny hometown about 175 miles west of New Orleans.

 

Then one by one, they enlisted. Part of the guard's appeal was the money, to pay for college. But the military also offered a chance to spend some time away from their small hometown.

 

"You got away from the farming community, you were able to experience something a little different, experience a piece of the military," Anthony Manuel said. "At the same time it was good because we were able to go off and do our training, then we were back at home in Oberlin."

 

Kermit and Anthony later left the military. Bill stayed in.

 

"My brother stayed in for the love of it, knowing he's fighting for our country," said Kermit, 33, Bill's youngest brother. "That's why most of the young men sign up, and that's why most of the young men stay in."

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putting our troops through this, and america is not in any danger of iraq? Its alomost pointless, even if bush gets his hands on some oil(this isnt what the whole conflict is about) will any of the soldiers who gave thier lives and are still risking thier lives get any part of this oil profit? nope. how could he have won another term? I just dont get it.

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Yup, Justice is served. Okay, how about the twenty or thirty civilian intelligence guys that encouraged Graner and Lynndie England and all of those people to hassle the Iraqi prisoners. Where are they now? Graner should get the "I did something stupid and got manipulated by the CIA" Award. Lynndie got a bun in the oven (oh yeah, war is hell) and a month from now it will be "Graner? Who's that?" at the CNN News Desk.

 

I guess he'll make some new friends now, up at Leavenworth. Maybe he'll get a bun in the oven.

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Wave of suicide blasts kills at least 25

Al-Zarqawi network claims responsibility on Web sites

 

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 Posted: 8:34 AM EST (1334 GMT)

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In 90 minutes, four suicide car bombings Wednesday killed at least 25 Iraqis in and around Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/19/...main/index.html

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The army is always talking about this force transformation stuff....

But I think if the US is serious about winning this war, they should have arabic language classes mandatory for all soldiers.

However this may conflict with the Bush plan, since communication leads to understanding, and understanding often leads to empathy and compassion.... (and not that compassionate conservative bullcrap either....)

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Deadliest day for U.S. in Iraq war

31 Marines killed in chopper crash; 5 troops in other incidents

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 Posted: 9:32 AM EST (1432 GMT)

 

 

Four U.S. Marines were killed during combat in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, and a U.S. soldier died when insurgents attacked a combat patrol north of Baghdad, according to the U.S. military.

 

The cause of the chopper crash was not immediately known and is being investigated, according to the military.

 

Wednesday's death toll surpassed the 31 U.S. forces killed on March 23, 2003 -- four days after the start of the war in Iraq. Twenty-nine of them died in combat that day.

 

Wednesday's incidents brought the U.S. death toll in the war to 1,417.

 

The CH-53 Sea Stallion chopper crashed near Ar Rutbah in western Iraq about 1:20 a.m. local time (5:20 p.m. Tuesday ET). It was carrying personnel from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and the 1st Marine Division.

 

Military officials said a search and rescue team was at the site and an investigation of the crash was under way.

 

The four Marines who died Wednesday were killed during combat operations in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, according to a military news release. The Marines were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Ar Rutbah is also in Al-Anbar province.

 

Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday when insurgents attacked a combat patrol with grenades near Ad Duluiyah, military officials said.

 

The soldier, from the 1st Infantry Division, died and two others were wounded in the attack about 11:20 a.m. (3:20 a.m. ET). The injured were taken to a military hospital for treatment; one was in serious condition.

 

Five Iraqis killed

Four multinational soldiers were wounded Wednesday when a car bomb exploded near a convoy in southwestern Baghdad, along the road to the city's airport, a source with the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division said.

 

The attack took place about 10 a.m. (2 a.m. ET) on the road, which has been one of the country's bloodiest locations in recent months. The nationalities of the wounded soldiers were not immediately known. U.S. troops sealed off the area after the explosion.

 

In Tamin province, also on Wednesday, three car bombs within an hour killed five Iraqis and injured six other people, according to the police chief in Kirkuk.

 

The bombs exploded between 11 a.m. and noon (3 and 4 a.m. ET), said Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul Rahman. The first was in the town of Riyadh, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Kirkuk, and targeted a police station, he said. Three Iraqi police officers were killed and three civilians injured.

 

The second detonated outside the Riyadh mayor's office, killing two Iraqi soldiers. The third bomb exploded outside Riyadh and targeted a U.S. military convoy. Three other Iraqi civilians were wounded.

 

Insurgents attacked the offices of two political parties in Baquba on Wednesday, triggering clashes that left an Iraqi police officer dead and four others wounded -- three of them working as guards for the parties, Baquba police said.

 

The insurgents used grenades and small arms fire to attack the Kurdish Democratic Party office and the office of the Iraqi Patriotic Gathering Alliance about 6:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. Tuesday ET), police said, and the resulting battles lasted two hours.

 

In al-Nahrawan, a southeastern suburb of Baghdad, city council leader Karim Sarhan was gunned down Wednesday morning in a drive-by shooting on his way to work, Iraqi police said.

 

Three government employees were shot and killed in attacks Tuesday, according to police.

 

Three Baghdad schools to be used as polling centers in Sunday's election were attacked Tuesday night, an Iraqi police officer said. A bomb planted at a fourth school was defused.

 

About 8 p.m. (noon ET), Salah al-Deen school in northern Baghdad was damaged when insurgents threw a grenade at it, authorities said. Thirty minutes later, a bomb exploded near the main gate of Al-Fursan school in southeast Baghdad, causing damage, police said.

 

About 10:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET), Al-Balquees school in northern Baghdad was damaged when it was hit by a rocket, police said.

 

About 90 minutes later, experts defused a bomb planted near al-Yemen school in al-Gazaliyah neighborhood in western Baghdad.

 

Iraqis go to the polls Sunday, and U.S. and Iraqi officials have been warning that insurgents would ramp up their attacks in a bid to derail the vote.

 

On Tuesday, a high-ranking official in Iraq's Justice Ministry was gunned down in a drive-by shooting as he was leaving his home southeast of Baghdad, police said. A group calling itself the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for the attack on Judge Qais Hashim al-Shonmari, and warned of more attacks to come. Shonmari's son was also killed in the shooting

 

 

RIP.

 

yeah, so that's 1,417

 

when, exactly, does it become "militarily siginificant" ??

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Link here

 

 

Bush adds $80 billion to wars' costs

Afghanistan, Iraq tally would pass $300 billion if OKd

 

Washington -- The White House said Tuesday that President Bush will ask Congress for another $80 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an appropriation that would bring the total spent for the two wars to more than $300 billion.

 

The Bush administration announcement fueled anew the growing debate over whether the United States should start withdrawing some of its 150,000 troops from Iraq, a suggestion the White House and its supporters reject because they say it would hand a victory to anti-American insurgents.

 

The request for more money for the wars came the same day the Congressional Budget Office estimated the federal budget deficit will hit $368 billion in the current fiscal year and $855 billion over the coming decade. But the CBO estimate, which is sharply lower than previous deficit estimates because of bookkeeping quirks, doesn't include the continuing costs of the wars.

 

The White House said additional war spending would push the federal deficit to a record $427 billion for fiscal 2005, according to administration budget forecasts unveiled Tuesday. Bush said the new infusion of money will pay for essential equipment and supplies.

 

"First, our troops will have whatever they need to protect themselves and complete their mission; and second, the United States will stand with the Iraqi people and against the terrorists trying desperately to block democracy and the advance of human rights,'' the president said in a statement.

 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said that while she supports the troops the request for another $80 billion raises many questions.

 

"What are the goals in Iraq, and how much more money will it cost to achieve them? Why haven't the president and the Pentagon provided members of Congress a full accounting of previous expenditures? Why, after all the effort dedicated to training Iraqi troops, aren't more Iraqi troops trained, equipped and prepared to play a bigger security role?" she asked.

 

The administration said $75 billion of the $80 billion request, which won't be formally sent to Congress until after the president unveils his budget for fiscal 2006 on Feb. 7, would go for military operations.

 

Most of the money would pay for equipment and to train Iraqi security forces. About $1 billion would go for new defenses against the roadside bombs in Iraq that have killed hundreds of Americans.

 

Another focus is on creating and equipping 10 new combat brigades, part of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's program to make the Army more mobile and nimble.

 

Most of the remaining $5 billion would go to the State Department, in part to pay for a new embassy in Baghdad and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Funds also would help aid the new Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas and for relief operations in Darfur, the region of Sudan where a civil war has raised allegations of genocide.

 

Passage in the Republican-controlled Congress seems certain. It would be the third special appropriation for Iraq, following $87 billion in September 2003 and $25 billion approved in May. It's estimated the United States is spending $4.6 billion a month in Iraq and $800 million in Afghanistan, where 20,000 soldiers are based.

 

Before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, estimates of the war's cost were $50 billion, with assurances from administration officials that Iraqi oil revenues would pay for much of the effort.

 

Asked Tuesday how the administration's estimates could be so far off, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "you have to be prepared for the unexpected, and you have to be flexible enough to adapt to circumstances on the ground. And it's important that you give the commanders on the ground the flexibility they need to adapt to changing circumstances. And that's what we will always do. That's how you are able to succeed and complete the mission.''

 

Bush's proposal came one day after Army Lt. Gen James J. Lovelace Jr. said about 120,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq at least through 2006. That position, largely reflecting Bush's thinking, flies in the face of calls to set a timetable for withdrawing most U.S. forces.

 

Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., proposed Tuesday that the United States and the new Iraqi government that will take office after Sunday's elections set a 12- to 18-month timetable for removing all but about 30,000 Americans.

 

Meehan's idea is similar to those put forward in recent weeks by such Republicans as former Secretary of State James Baker and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, both of whom served under Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.

 

"As long as the thrust of our policy continues on the same course, we will stay on a downward spiral,'' Meehan said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "The most compelling reason not to continue down the same path is that the occupation has grown counterproductive. ''

 

But Meehan's position was assailed by William Kristol of the Weekly Standard, one of the capital's leading neo-conservatives. "Focusing on an exit strategy rather than a victory strategy is a mistake,'' he said. "Announcing a date for withdrawal just tells the terrorists they have to hang on to a certain date.''

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Militarily significant? Well, even one death is a tragedy, but if the current casualty figure is 1,417, and the current troop deployment to Iraq is 150,000, then do the math.

 

1,417 divided by 150,000 is 0.9%. That's not even 1% of the troops deployed. Significant casualties would probably be in the ballpark of 10 or 15%, or about 15,000 to 22,500 troops killed. Out of a 41 man infantry platoon, that would be about 6 deaths, approximately 1-1/2 fire teams.

 

Nobody wants to see people get killed, and I especially hate hearing about when American soldiers get killed, but our casualties in Iraq are "light." Very light, compared to WWII and pretty light compared to Vietnam.

 

I'm interested to see how the vote went.

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Originally posted by KaBar2@Jan 31 2005, 06:11 PM

Nobody wants to see people get killed, and I especially hate hearing about when American soldiers get killed, but our casualties in Iraq are "light." Very light, compared to WWII and pretty light compared to Vietnam.

 

 

the significantly lower bodycount of american troops is due to the fact that there have been major advancements in long range missiles, as well as mobile hospital units. this doesnt mean that iraq is a safer battlezone than vietnam or any of the WW2 theatres of war. i also read that due to the advancements in medical technology, many injured soldiers who would have died in earlier wars are now being saved, minus an arm or a leg, or with brain damage... does anyone have these figures?

anyway, i would like to see an accurate estimate of the number of dead civilians in iraq.

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Originally posted by KaBar2@Jan 31 2005, 04:11 AM

Nobody wants to see people get killed, and I especially hate hearing about when American soldiers get killed, but our casualties in Iraq are "light." Very light, compared to WWII and pretty light compared to Vietnam.

 

 

Ok, Nazi Germany = Very Potent Military oriented nation with technology roughly equal to the USA, and a large organized army.

 

Vietnam = Very Very large army, not nearly as technologically advanced as the USA but in comparison to the insurgents with the USA now, Also backed by China and USSR, fighting in the Jungles with their crazy interconnected tunnels.

 

Iraqi Insurgents = Semi Organized group of about 200,000 or so rag tag Iraqis and Foriegners who are not backed by a government.

 

That considered I think the casualties are pretty heavy, not numerous (though 1,500 killed and 20,000 wounded is a hefty number) in comparison, but heavy.

 

Also not to mention what wiseguy said about the advances in missle and medical technology.

 

And even then, light casualties desn't mean something was the right course of action.

 

If the U.S. had sided with the Nazis instead of the Allies in WW2 they probably would have experienced less casualties (Britain would have fallen without USA support) but this doesn't mean it would have been the right thing to do.

 

And it is militarily significant (if not by casualties) in the way that the USA army is basically tied up there right now, as well as that the invasion of Iraq has alienated the USA from it's allies and has caused alot of hatred toward the USA from other countries.

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Originally posted by Armenhammer+Feb 1 2005, 10:02 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Armenhammer - Feb 1 2005, 10:02 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-KaBar2@Jan 31 2005, 04:11 AM

Nobody wants to see people get killed, and I especially hate hearing about when American soldiers get killed, but our casualties in Iraq are "light."  Very light, compared to WWII and pretty light compared to Vietnam.

 

 

Ok, Nazi Germany = Very Potent Military oriented nation with technology roughly equal to the USA, and a large organized army.

 

Vietnam = Very Very large army, not nearly as technologically advanced as the USA but in comparison to the insurgents with the USA now, Also backed by China and USSR, fighting in the Jungles with their crazy interconnected tunnels.

 

Iraqi Insurgents = Semi Organized group of about 200,000 or so rag tag Iraqis and Foriegners who are not backed by a government.

 

That considered I think the casualties are pretty heavy, not numerous (though 1,500 killed and 20,000 wounded is a hefty number) in comparison, but heavy.

 

Also not to mention what wiseguy said about the advances in missle and medical technology.

 

And even then, light casualties desn't mean something was the right course of action.

 

If the U.S. had sided with the Nazis instead of the Allies in WW2 they probably would have experienced less casualties (Britain would have fallen without USA support) but this doesn't mean it would have been the right thing to do.

 

And it is militarily significant (if not by casualties) in the way that the USA army is basically tied up there right now, as well as that the invasion of Iraq has alienated the USA from it's allies and has caused alot of hatred toward the USA from other countries.

[/b]

 

 

 

<----THANK YOU!!!!

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