We all complain all the time about how the war in Iraq came about, and rightfully so.
But today I want kvetch about something else. Why the fuck have we failed so goddamn miserably to materially improve the lives of Iraqis? Or Afghans? Forget the lousy constitution, why can’t we get people some electricity? Forget the wanton violence, why can’t we provide more drinking water?
If nothing else, I hoped that Iraqis would benefit materially from a lifting of sanctions, the resumption of full production of their oil wells, and from billions in reconstruction projects.
I’m just pissed off that we can’t do ANYTHING right, or well.
Add your complaints below:
if you’re being serious but really, “helping” anything was not the program.
And surely nobody believes that this war was something “we” conducted, or that “we” have some sort of input into what goes on. By this I mean both “we” as Democrats and the larger “we” as Americans.
This is a corporate machine, not some different-oriented leadership of a democratic republic. It’s their government, they run it their way, and they never take suggestions. And they put cooperation far below suggestions in their priority.
I’m just pissed off that we can’t do ANYTHING right, or well.
I hear ya.
But the cold hard reality we need to wake up to is that we can’t do ANYTHING –at all.
That’s up to Management.
We can still bitch about stuff, right?
I sure hope so…
…Or Americans…
Yes, Republicans are quite good at that…
But seriously, recently I’ve been pissed at Big Pharma, healthcare, and our government’s reluctance or outright refusal to do anything about it. My younger brother is one of the many, many people that are suffering from it.
It isn’t moral, it isn’t fair, and it sure as hell isn’t right.
Is this limited to Iraq kvetching? Just askin’ ‘fore I let loose…
Calin Girl…
The insurgents are targeting foreigners, and especially those who can get the electricity and water working. The engineers who were there 18 months ago have had to leave, and the work they were doing was stopped.
This is the way the insurgents can win. They make Iraq ungovernable, unlivable, and then promise they can bring peace and stability of they are given control back.
The “good news” projects the right-wingers wanted publicized last year have mostly been shut down and the dust is rolling through the incomplete work.
War stops good governance. The guys who are out don’t want the ones who are in to succeed, and the projects are soft targets. Same reason the doctors and other professionals are leaving Iraq.
Ages ago I rememeber watching a BBC report on how lots of overpaid western “experts” working for haliburton or some other corrupt corporation had gone in to fix an old Soviet power generation plant. They hadn’t a clue how to fix it as it was Soviet and had looked at it for a few days until a few bullets had been fired then they left the site and went home (still on full pay) to await being called back. When they left a few Iraqi engineers who used to work on the plant went in and with little to no equipment got it working to a degree again. It had never crossed the minds of the contractor that there might have been Iraqis who could do or would want to do the work. Colonial attitudes and profiteering come first.
Is it poetic justice that every word from a liar must turn out to be untrue? I guess the schools aren’t any better either. And gosh – the cost of gas! What about the oil revenues paying for the war? Dick got rich.
Really I want to complain about poverty. My sense of entitlement (not to mention resentment) is getting aroused as I slip closer to the edge.
What a cluster fuck! Also if we keep bombing everything how can the infrastructure ever be up and running. Those poor people. Bet saddam is looking pretty good to some of them these days. And where the fuck is all the money?
Booman, you simply amaze me with your question. Of course, we should be upset with everything going on over there and over here too. If we started to demonstrate the way the insurgency does, what would the administration do??good golly, don’t you know you go to war with the war planning you get not the one you want!!!! [ref: rummy]
Well, all I really want to say..is hell!!!!!! Just you wait till the new constitution comes out..then katty bar the door!!!!!!!!!!! all Hell will break loose and you think we are ar war now!!!!!!!!
These are great questions/complaints. ask any and all republicans you talk with,(hint- do not say anything after asking a question- stay silent- people don’t like silence and will start talking-even if it takes a minute) and add… How come Halliburton is cheating us of over $100 million, would you hire them? Or why are we waisting money on the “Biggest” embassy ever built in Iraq – wouldn’t it be best to make it a reasonable size, since it could be blown up and have to than be rebuilt. Why are we building 12 plus bases in Iraq if we are leaving when they can “take care of their own?” How come other countries are not sending envoys anymore? Are they worried of kidnapping and killings like Egypt? lets write our reps/senators, just list questions and ask for answers not a form letter. Have a list ready for town hall meetings. Yes keep asking till we get answers. Send your list to the news paper city desk, ask for answers. Since everyone is on vacation except the american people, we can get our list ready and hit them after labor day. after all there is a election coming up.
Recommended reading: GAO Report on Iraq reconstruction.
The term that comes to mind is “common mode failure”: one part of a system fails, affecting another, in turn affecting another, which ultimately results in a total shutdown. It’s not that “we” haved failed because of a lack of talent, cash, and energy. Those we have in abundance.
The reason lives in the White House. [-30-]
My favorite portion of the compound cluster f*ck that was non-planning is this one:
You know, you just CAN’T make this shit up.
Absence of accounting and control. Secret government.
Absence of accounting is theft.
Baseless control is tyranny.
Is it because their lives were somewhat alright — except for the U.N. sanctions — and the war has sent them backwards rather than forward?
P.S. I’m pissed I can’t make good pie crust, and don’t want to learn how.
Susan, when it calls for cold water, use iced water…that might help.
for the crust of the pie that is…:o)
Well, what i really want is you to make it for me.
Well, here’s mom’s recipe anyway…
what do you use for shortening? that’s key. also, pie crust is the opposite of bread dough – handle pie crust as little as possible, otherwise it becomes tough
Make sure the butter is cold too.
I love ice cold butter .. lots of it … on a good roll.
Give me a loaf of fresh baked sourdough baguette and chilled butter and I’m in heaven.
My mom swears by crisco for the shortening. Nothing else will do.
Light, flaky, mmmm….
I like crisco as well….I want to tell y ou of a lpn I used to work with many years ago who was excellent at making pies and the crust would simply melt in ones mouth…..I asked her one day what she had that was so special for making the crust…I had tried to mke it like she made it and there was something missing…she said lard…..god can you imagine the harding of the arteries at that point….but boy oh boy was that a pie to die for….
unfortunately for our cardiovascular systems lard makes a fantastic pie crust!! oh well, maybe balance it out with a nice red wine
that’s what i was going to recommend btw – lard, and cut in the flour by slicing with dinner knives [not sharp] into small pieces so crust is not handled too much. add salt and a little water and roll with a few strokes into shape [too much rolling and it gets tough].
Typically I use 1 part crisco for every 2 parts butter for pie crusts, tart shells, and quiche crusts. the butter adds richness of flavor that the straight crisco method lacks. (But the butter must be cold).
be interested in a diary is just put up with an email from my Iraqui friend Diva…
Diane, I saw it and commnet on it..asked some questions too.
P.S. I’m pissed that you aren’t talking about Olivia Newton-John’s missing boyfriend for two months, for chrissakes.
Exactly. Where’s the media? Why did it take seven weeks for us to learn of this?
Are you as suspicious as I? I think Olivia Newton-John is a killer.
Absolutely. How else to explain why she now looks younger than when she made Grease? A hideous portrait in her attic? or something more sinister…
media is waiting for the natalie holloway story to run its course. then they’ll bring out olivie n-j’s missing b.f. – saw a story on late late night [early morning tv] about what natalie holloway would be doing if she’d been starting college this week as planned. there’s still lots of mileage there
Everything Georgie touches turns to a steaming pile of turd–always has, always will. This misAdministration has perfected the art of trumpeting the smallest “victories” while ignoring the overwhelming failures that are attached to their policies:
NCLB
Patriot Act
Iraq
Prescription “Benefit” to Medicare
Job Creation
Military Enlistments
Social Security
All failures, unless you to talk to someone from the Kool-Aid Brigade who will tell you the up-side of each (a.k.a. spin), then accuse you of being a pessimistic traitor. Gotta admit it: Bush managed to leave a mark on history, I just hope it’s not permanent or disabling.
or at least a real long-range “legacy”. The only way to erase it would be make sure Bush and his co-criminals end up like Hitler or Mussolini.
Kvetch; Why is it that our intrepid media mannequins have failed to ask the question of the Bush regime; “Please explain how the fact that 10-12 million Iraqis (women) are going to lose rights as a result of our invasion of Iraq is commensurate with the Bush rhetoric about spreading Democracy, freedom, and equal rights around ther world?”
Observation; After listening to Bush’s emotionally charged but idiotic speech in Idaho today, I realized that, the more grandiose the language of his speeches is, the more those speeches represent the absolute contempt Bush’s handlers and strategists and speechwriters have for the intelligence of the target audience. With this in mind, the substanceless yet flamboyant nature of this speech today indicates that the Bush regime regards Idahoans as especially stupid. He managed to hit a new low in this speech, advancing the idea that we need to stay in Iraq in order to honor those who’ve died. “Dying for the dead” is his new rationale for supporting the war, and it doesn’t get any stupider or more insulting than that.
Billions of dollars authorized by congress to rebuild infrastructure and all they have to show for it are schools, hospitals, pipelines, and other important infrastructure that just gets blown up again the next week either by the insurgents or American troops?
Oh yeah… And the bulk of all of that money is going to build fortresses to seperate the average Iraqi from the Ameicans and their “collaborators”, nevermind all of the infrastucture that they really need to get medical attention, water and electricity.
Sounds like a real recipe for success only a neocon could embrace.
If we really wanted to solve the problem?
Send over thousands of neocon women to marry all of these insurgents so they could have their 72 virgins without blowing things up…
I know, I KNOW!
We would have to lie and tell them the neocon women are virgins, since we all know that all republican women are fucked allready.
BUT… You have to admit it would solve more than a few problems for America.
I am sure some of you can think of some great reasons to send off these neocon women to save American lives.
Since the neocon men can’t seem to do anything right… Well, send their women to try and do what these girly-men chickenhawks have been proven unable to do.
The worst case scenario?
Things improve here in the USA because there are less neocons here!
The best case scenario?
The neocon women bore the insurgents to death with Karl Rove approved GOP talking points! (And all of those neocon off-spring become another countries problem!)
Either way we win!
Seems like the trouble is obvious to me. Too much government regulation, Taxes are too high, and the uppity unions won’t let the entrepreneurs operate. They are doing everything wring, according to Norquist.
Oh, yeah. Also, no customers with enough money to buy anything. Assuming that they dare go outside to the market. And without electricity for TV, how does a business advertise to convince you to buy an overpriced product you don’t need?
Ummm…
“Bring it on!” – George W. Bush
And Billmon and Atrios show us a display of absolute hypocrisy on the part of the American Legion…
Aid and Comfort
“The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples,” Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group’s national convention in Honolulu” . . . “We had hoped that the lessons learned from the Vietnam War would be clear to our fellow citizens. Public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm’s way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies.”
Editor & Publisher
American Legion Declares War on Protestors
August 24, 2005
(via Atrios)
________
Dear Mr. President:
The American Legion, a wartime veterans organization of nearly three-million members, urges the immediate withdrawal of American troops participating in “Operation Allied Force.”
The National Executive Committee of The American Legion, meeting in Indianapolis today, adopted Resolution 44, titled “The American Legion’s Statement on Yugoslavia.” This resolution was debated and adopted unanimously.
Mr. President, the United States Armed Forces should never be committed to wartime operations unless the following conditions are fulfilled:
That there be a clear statement by the President of why it is in our vital national interests to be engaged in hostilities;
Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy;
That there be support of the mission by the U.S. Congress and the American people; and
That it be made clear that U.S. Forces will be commanded only by U.S. officers whom we acknowledge are superior military leaders.
It is the opinion of The American Legion, which I am sure is shared by the majority of Americans, that three of the above listed conditions have not been met in the current joint operation with NATO (“Operation Allied Force”).
In no case should America commit its Armed Forces in the absence of clearly defined objectives agreed upon by the U.S. Congress in accordance with Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution of the United States.
Sincerely,
Harold L. “Butch” Miller,
National Commander
American Legion
Letter to President Clinton
May 5, 1999
Posted by billmon at 05:59 PM
Everyone must remember the rightwing Iraqi woman the Bush campaign used in the gallery during his SOTU speech as an example of the spread of Democracy and human rights in Iraq..
Here are some quotes from her more recently, reflecting on the new tragedy of the putative constitution being rammed through in Iraq now. (Link to Reuters article here.)
This pseudo-aristocratic woman was mercilessly exploited by our own pro-war wingnuts here in the US and I thought it was a disgrace that Bush made use of such a self-serving, (extremely wealthy) shill like her by portraying her as a typical Iraqi woman when in fact she hadn’t lived in Iraq for a very very long time. But even so, even she is now deploring the results of the Bush regime’s Iraq adventure with this whole constitution bit.
The US has become a corrupt third-world society with a lot of guns. Such societies don’t do anything right. Did you REALLY think there was a snowball’s chance in Bush’s hot little cornhole that the US would do something good for Iraq or anybody else? We haven’t done anything right for other peoples or for Americans in half a decade, barring a short-lived blip under LBJ, which was ruined by what we were doing in Asia.
Jeez. What does it take to get over the happy talk delusions about the “greatness” of America. It just ain’t been so for quite a long time.
their culture, language, history, religion, and intelligence… it’s that simple.
A friend was sent this by a Republican:
but I have one word for it… feh.
At first I didn’t get it.
I thought the pix was about stupid women versus smart women. I mean really, when was Bo Derek anything but a dumb ass?
Then it hit me – Democrat women are fugly??? WTF?
I think the top bunch of ladies represents the hatemongerers and speaking mouths of stupidity and division.
š
Very nasty.
The top “ladies” (and I use that term loosely) really aren’t in good company. Malkin and Coultier alone would make most change party lines. š
I think all of them can be quoted as being a hateful, smearer, anti-freedom, bigot.
Also the sender of the email belittles women voters – if they think we are swayed by good hair.
all of them – meaning the Republican photos.
and Julia Roberts
and how about the “ugly” Michelle Pfieffer
All Democrats, all anti-GWB.