There is every reason to leave Iraq.

There is something very "W"rong with this picture. On one hand it is stated and EXAMPLED of the 'functionality' of this Iraqi town after quelled anarchy and elevated violence.

YET.

The Iraqi government is UNWILLING to allow an agreement with 'time tables' less than 2012. Of course, 2012 also coincides with the next USA elections.

We need to leave Iraq to the Iraqis. There is FAR TOO much 'fire power' in the region. Afghanistan and Pakistan need the USA military more.




Sheik Abdul-Amerr al-Wajid, left, speaks with U.S. Army Capt. Mike Penney, center, and Lt. Col. Michael Getchell, right, with the help of an interpreter, second from right, as he hosts the soldiers for dinner at his home in Iskandariyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Baghdad, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. Barely a year ago, Iskandariyah was a stronghold of Shiite and Sunni militants, and residents say sectarian violence was so ferocious that hardly anyone showed up for work at the city's industrial complex and streets emptied by early afternoon. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Iraq spokesman says US security offer not enough (click here)
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA – 18 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's government spokesman says the U.S. offers of changes in the draft security agreement were "not enough."
Ali al-Dabbagh also is asking Washington to offer new amendments if it wants the pact to win parliamentary approval.
Al-Dabbagh's comments on Monday were the first public statements by the Iraqis to last week's U.S. response to an Iraqi request for changes in the draft agreement.
The pact would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until 2012 and give Iraq a greater role in the management of the U.S. mission.
He says the "American answer is not enough" for the government to accept it in its current form.
Al-Dabbagh says the government is inviting the U.S. "to give answers that are suitable to the Iraqis."






Iraqi civilians inspect a blood splattered damaged bus after bombs exploded in Baghdad, Iraq on Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. A suicide bomber struck in a crowd that had gathered where an explosion went off moments earlier, with both blasts killing at least 28 people and wounding 68 others, officials said. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)


The Awakening groups are said to be one of the main reasons for the reduction in violence in Iraq [AFP]

There are very real reasons why the Shi'ites are demanding the USA leave Iraq. The Petraeus 'Sunni empowerment' has also caused a great deal of alarm and death in at least one Shi'ite region outside the Sunni Triangle.

Iraq's Sunni fighters leave U.S. payroll (click here)
The Sons of Iraq are now employed by the Iraqi army. Ruling Shiites still view the fighters with suspicion, and the feeling is mutual. In Baghdad, a bombing kills 31.
By Ned Parker and Tina Susman November 11, 2008
Reporting from Baghdad -- The young man stamped his foot, the customary salute to higher officers, handed over his torn identification card and signed his name in a ledger. He pressed a thumbprint in blue ink next to it, and an Iraqi military officer handed him a fat roll of pink-and-green dinar notes.He counted the money and handed back the change....


US-Iraq security agreement forging ahead (click here)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:43 GMT
Is the US-Iraq security agreement heading towards finalization? The answer awaits last minute developments that have let out an optimistic perception from both parties. Iraqi Prime Minister’s media advisor Yassin Majid said the cabinet has prepared its response to the final US draft declining to elaborate on the response in fear of leaks before passing it to the Presidency Council for approval and then to the Parliament. It seems that it is going ahead as head of Bader Organization said.
“There is an understanding that we may go forward with the pact,” said Hadi Al Ameri, head of the powerful Badr organization. He added that Obama's victory had helped convince his followers that the United States would fulfill the commitment to withdraw its troops according to the schedule in the pact....

Shiite preachers warn against Iraq-US troop deal

Diyala Governorate above and Baqubah is its capital.
Some of this making sense, yet?

There is still a great deal of political and social turbulence (otherwise known as anarchy) in Iraq that manifests in daily violence.

The events yesterday of the attack that killed nearly 30 people was noted in the media because of the number of dead. However, that is not a unique incident.

The 'quite' in Iraq is selective. The peril in Iraq for 'the individual' is still very real and there is a hint this is more 'civil uprisings' rather than criminal OR al Qaeda. Just because violence from Iraq enters the media doesn't mean it has anything to do with al Qaeda, even if the USA military states they have proof. Their proof as of late is exceptionally skeptical and highly improper when it comes to issues of the Geneva Conventions and International Laws.

Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda (click here)

By ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: November 9, 2008

...and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States....

...But as many as a dozen additional operations have been canceled in the past four years, often to the dismay of military commanders, senior military officials said. They said senior administration officials had decided in these cases that the missions were too risky, were too diplomatically explosive or relied on insufficient evidence....

The USA military have been crossing borders under 'secret orders,' okay? There is NOTHING stopping a General or Commander from disobeying those orders either.

Evidently, the USA military, under Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Gates (After all it isn't as though Gates came to Congress and said, "You know there is something fishy going on here.") feels completely exonerated from actions that could cause global war. (You can extrapolate that right into issues with missle shields and the true impetus behind that mess, too.)

The 'border incursions' ordered by Rumsfeld and signed by Bush are AGAINST the laws of the USA. No Commander and Chief or his agents are allowed to attack a sovereign nation in an act of war without the consent of the Congress.

None of the 'border incursions' by Bush/Rumsfeld/USA Military was due to unexpected issues of 'self-defense' when attacked first. This was an Executive Order THAT DIRECTED the activities of our military. It is a matter of impeachment. Bush and his Executive Branch broke USA law.

The ethnicities in Iraq are STILL unhappy with each other.

We aren't sure about some of the 'white ethnic males' and an occassional female in the USA yet, however. Or maybe we are sure. Whatever.


Iraqi Shiite cleric Talal al-Saadi leads Friday prayers in Kadhimiyah, northern Baghdad

I am also not convinced the media services really portray the continued anxiety of the Shia either. This article points to the fact the suicide bombers in this 'particular' region are women/girls.

What isn't said is that this 'province/governate' is Shi'ite Territory just outside, east actually, of the Sunni Triangle and Baghdad. It is nowhere near the Iranian border either.

This is the 'territory' when traveling east throught Baghdad and leaving The Sunni Triangle, one would enter Shi'ite Territory. So, whatever is going on is real and the people threatening the Shi'ites are doing so on roads out of Baghdad that connect and find 'easy travel' from the Sunni Triangle. There is a reason why the Shi'ites of this region feel they are threatened. The logistics of the area dictate validating the Shia's 'very real concerns.' It all 'FITS / MAKES SENSE.'

Like.

Ah.

What gives?

Because I don't believe for one minute ANY of the violence here is linked to al Qaeda. I believe this is all Civil Violence regarding ethnicities. There is something 'going on' whereby young girls feel it necessary to martyr themselves in an attempt to kill Sunni Arabs and Americans.

Suicide bomb attack by girl, 13, kills four in Iraq (click here)
A 13-year-old girl has blown herself up at a checkpoint in central Iraq, killing four Sunni guards and wounding at least 15 civilians.
Last Updated: 12:15AM GMT 11 Nov 2008
The attacker took place at a checkpoint in Baquba, capital of Diyala province, which is manned by the former Sunni insurgents who switched sides to battle al-Qaeda, police said.
Fifteen people, including three women, were also injured in the attack shortly before noon (0900 GMT), they said.
Dr Ahmed Fuad at Baquba General Hospital confirmed the number of killed and wounded and said the bomber appeared to be a 13-year-old girl.
Diyala is one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq. Insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda have continued launching attacks there despite a massive military crackdown by US and Iraqi forces.
A number of attacks in Diyala, especially suicide bombings, have been carried out by women....


Iraq begins paying Awakening groups (click here)
Fighters with Sunni Awakening groups in Iraq, who were paid by the US to turn against al-Qaeda, have begun to receive their first pay cheques from the Shia-dominated Iraqi government.
The Iraqi government started paying the salaries of about 54,000 Awakening fighters at 60 locations in Baghdad on Monday.
About $15m is to be distributed in a process expected to take several days.
"This is really a tremendously important day and a manifestation of the reconciliation process that is happening in Iraq," Robin Swan, a US army brigadier general, said.
"The real proof of the pudding is in the payday."
The new salaries will represent a slight pay cut from $300 a month under the US, down to $275 a month on the Iraqi security forces payroll.
The move to bring the Awakening groups into the security forces could test Baghdad's fragile calm....

71 Days Until Inauguration - Change We Can Live With !

This is more than we ever could hope for from anyone else. I love that man. I love that man. Obama is the greatest President that was elected to office. He has NOTHING BUT crisis to handle and he isn't afraid to do it.

It's going to be huge !

Go, Barak, Go !


Members of the Secret Service accompany President-elect Obama, center, to his vehicle as leaves the gym following his workout Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)(AP)

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush ActionsStem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team
By Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, November 9, 2008; A16
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.
A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.
In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.
"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy....