Iraq

[finn]

I'm sensing our positions are not as far apart as we may have supposed; the key difference seems to be based upon what I see as innocence and what you perceive as hardened cynacism.

[ParanoiA]

Sounds fair to me. It does feel like we're parsing hairs here doesn't it? It does feel a little weird though to be the "innocent" as I'm usually the cynic.

[Avatar]

The 'Tank does funny things to people.

--A

[Cagliostro]

Is there a way to reset polls or something, as I'd be curious to know how close to the previous numbers we'd have on this today.

[Avatar]

Nah, there's not. Except to delete it. But we'd have less respondants to start I suspect. No way of even telling what the date range is on those votes.

My answer would still be option two though.

--A

[Lord Mhoram]

You know Iraq has dropped off the radar screen when nobody adds to the Tank's 140-page thread a single comment about the "end of combat operations" in Iraq!

[Cail]

You know Iraq has dropped off the radar screen when nobody adds to the Tank's 140-page thread a single comment about the "end of combat operations" in Iraq!

Dude, where have you been? "Mission Accomplished" for over 7 years now.

[Lord Mhoram]

I know, so anticlimactic.

[Avatar]

Well, considering the withdrawal will only be complete by the end of next year, I'm not holding my breath. I will however be extremely interested to see what happens there after you're all gone.

--A

[Cail]

Still 50,000 troops there.......

[aliantha]

We still have a presence in South Korea, too, don't we? Or did, not long ago, IIRC.

This is what we get for appointing ourselves the world's police force. Or maybe we allowed the rest of the world to appoint us the world's police force.

[SerScot]

Aliantha,

We still have troops in South Korea which is why the tensions over the sinking of the South Korean ship a few months back was of interest.

[aliantha]

Thanks, SerScot. And that war's been over for, what, 50-60 years? So I'm not surprised that we're going to have a peacekeeping force in Iraq.

[Avatar]

Wow, looks like nearly 30,000 troops are stationed in South Korea. Didn't know it was so many.

--A

[Avatar]

Abuse Worsening For Iraqi Minorities

Baghdad - Human rights abuses remain common across Iraq with the status of women and minority groups on the decline, eight years after the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein, according to a rights watchdog.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also said in a report released late on Monday that journalists face harassment and assault from security forces and politicians, and detainees are regularly abused to coerce confessions.

"Today, Iraq is at a crossroads - either it embraces due process and human rights or it risks reverting to a police state," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at the New York-based group.

"Eight years after the US invasion, life in Iraq is actually getting worse for women and minorities, while journalists and detainees face significant rights violations."

In its report, HRW said Iraqis' rights were "violated with impunity" and anyone who attempted to expose abuse, either by officials or armed groups, did so at significant risk to themselves.

Sex trafficking

In particular, the group said women's rights had deteriorated significantly, noting that women in Iraq had enjoyed some of the strongest safeguards in the Middle East previous to the 1991 Gulf War.

The report said militias have increasingly targeted women for assassination, while violence against women at home has also been on the rise. According to HRW, women who seek official recourse risk further harassment and abuse.

Sex trafficking is also widespread, it added.

Marginalised minority groups, meanwhile, were in "dire straits", the report said, because Iraq was "failing some of its most vulnerable citizens, such as internally displaced persons, minorities and persons with disabilities."

HRW also said that "Iraqi interrogators routinely abuse detainees, regardless of sect, usually in order to coerce confessions" and called for "independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment" resulting in disciplinary action or criminal prosecution.

It said the prolonged period of political impasse after a parliamentary election in March, before Iraq's politicians finally reached agreement nine months later to form a government, had also "stunted progress" on human rights.

"Beyond the continuing violence and crimes associated with it, human rights abuses are commonplace," the report said.

HRW interviewed 178 Iraqis from various professions and backgrounds, including those who had themselves suffered abuses, in seven cities around the country in April 2010 for the report.

- AFP

--A

[wayfriend]

The end is finally in sight.

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Friday announced that virtually all U.S. troops will come home from Iraq by the end of the year -- at which point he can declare an end to America's long and costly war in that Middle Eastern nation.

"After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," Obama said. "The coming months will be a season of homecomings. Our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays."

[Lord Mhoram]

Let's hope he's serious this time and that it's not Guantánamo Part II. Let's especially hope he's serious since we are under obligation according to the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, negotiated by the Bush administration, to be out of there by the end of December. Plus from a political point of view it'd look pretty bad to promise their return for the holidays and for that to not occur.

[Cail]

Let's hope he's serious this time and that it's not Guantánamo Part II. Let's especially hope he's serious since we are under obligation according to the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, negotiated by the Bush administration, to be out of there by the end of December. Plus from a political point of view it'd look pretty bad to promise their return for the holidays and for that to not occur.

I'll believe it when I see it. After the Gitmo debacle, Obama's proven to have issues with deadlines.

Then again, there's an election coming.....

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

Hallelujah

[finn]

Let's hope he's serious this time and that it's not Guantánamo Part II. Let's especially hope he's serious since we are under obligation according to the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, negotiated by the Bush administration, to be out of there by the end of December. Plus from a political point of view it'd look pretty bad to promise their return for the holidays and for that to not occur.

I'll believe it when I see it. After the Gitmo debacle, Obama's proven to have issues with deadlines.

.....yeah and definitions!

I wonder what are counted as "troops", what are "forces' and what "defence officials" actually are?

Obama said that despite the failure, US defense officials would still seek ways to help train Iraqi forces, as they do for many other nations.

(that should read defence for those not needing the dumbed down version of English)

It seems the motivator for this is the Iraqis wanting to prosecute the more adventurous overseas behaviour of US personnel; I expect that might include the mercen...sorry civilian contrators, also wandering around with the sort of Haliburton/KBR remit to exterminate, that might possibly have been issued on Skara. Combine that with the election and Bob's your Mom's brother.

I have little doubt we'll see a similar announcement in the coming weeks that Gitmo will close (probably meaning a new name, a new coat of paint and it being put under non-military control).....if you can't change it, re-define it...I am thinking Obama is running down the list of promises. Not so much to actually properly fulfill them, but to do enough that he can take the wind out of Romney's sail's.

Obama is still no actually doing anything, he's simply extending his inertia to disallow anyone else to do anything...... if no-one actually achieves anything then he can't be called a failure for any lack of achievement, can he?