Should US troops deploy to Detroit? Maybe, especially since one Michigan Republican Congressman believes it’s just like Iraq:
DETROIT — A first-term congressman from Michigan who compared parts of Iraq to Detroit and Harvey, Ill., an economically depressed Chicago suburb, defended the comments Thursday.
Rep. Tim Walberg said those were just two examples of communities where safety and city services are comparable to 80 percent to 85 percent of Iraq.
The bad news? This shows a supreme lack of understanding about the reality on the ground regarding our Dear Leader’s grand and glorious Iraq crusade on the part of many Republicans.
The good news? Maybe Republicans will vote to approve a few hundred billion dollars for Detroit. Hell, maybe every American city should start claiming they’re just like Baghdad too. Maybe then GOP office holders would agree to spend some money over here to solve the problems of American cities rather than just over there, blowing stuff up. Just a thought …
Such patently racist comments should be denounced by every elected official.
If you don’t live in Michigan, you may be surprised at the giant political chasm between the City of Detroit and the state (which is largely influenced by a far-right wing western state contingent.)There is not a single dollar going from the state to the city for mass transit. The city’s school system flounders, and the Mayor is not always on the same page as Granholm (of course, there was active war with the previous Republican governor.)
Walberg should never have won. It was a great example of a district that “mighta been a contender” with attention.
Breaking Fox headline: Motown harbors Al Qaeda.
There are many parallels between the inner city destruction and decay
and neglect of the infrastructure, with the bombing and destruction of Iraq. Keep a people down by neglecting vital services. Think about it.
The simple fact of the matter is that profits come before people in this country. And this is practiced by both political parties.
So let me understand this. Let me know, folks, if I’m reading this right.
The 80-85% percent of Iraq that the war supporters point to as being models of Bush’s plan in Iraq. The areas that they claim are happy, peaceful places where everyone has a job and kids go to freshly painted schools and play soccer in the streets every day. Where they say free enterprise is thriving and violence is but an afterthought. Where they claim different sects live in harmony, one with another and government services are fully functional. All those places that the dreaded liberal media is too afraid to report lest Americans get a view of “the true and wonderful reality” of Iraq.
These places, these beacons on the hill of the Bush Doctrine. Those vast areas which are so improved because of our presence in Iraq. These very places have finally risen to the level of our most economically destitute and crime ridden cities right here in this country.
Man, we’re really making progress over there, aren’t we?
Thanks to ol’ Timmy Walberg for setting us straight.
He’s probably referring the 80 to 85% based on geographic area, not population. Most of Iraq’s population is in urban areas. The western desert is pretty empty.
Without a doubt, Steven, he is using geographic area. That’s the only way he can contort his argument into the shape he is looking for.
I have a good friend who has been over there now for almost a year. He is in Baghdad, right at the edge of Sadr City, not in the “Emerald City” of the Green Zone.
He sends regular e-mails and his take is that in the year that he has been there, things have definitely taken a turn for the worse. He indicates that “the surge” has reduced, by some amount, the violence right in Baghdad. But his reports indicate that violence has, in fact, increased outside the areas of “the surge”. The people in the heart of Baghdad are probably happier with the results than those in the outlying areas. It does not sound to me like we are really accomplishing anything with this new effort which will result in any long term and significant improvement in the country as a whole.
That pretty much sums it up…those pesky insurgents, well some of them anyway just melted away for duration of the ‘surge’ to reek havoc elsewhere…duh who could have predicted that?
I don’t even know where to start. I’ve got students in 5 minutes and I’d like to be in a good place when they come, so I’ll be back to unleash on this guy.