Damn, I should have bought a home and a few million Dinar 2 years ago when I got here.

That's great and all but where's Osama bin Laden? "We think there's a chance he's dead," doesn't quite cut it for me. I only bring it up because he helped kill a few thousand Americans and so far he's gotten away with it. Unless this was all a very elaborate plan to lure him into a Baghdad real estate seminar to catch and kill him I'm still thinking that our time would be better spent punishing those who've actually harmed and killed Americans.

As for the Iraqis, I wish them the best but they seem to pretty much want us the hell out of their country if not dead. A whole lot of them support the attacks against our troops (polls had it up to about 51% last year) and they've been begging for a withdrawal time line for years now. Honestly at this point I'd almost like to hear about us stealing oil or land or some shiat from the Iraqis because then I'd have some clue as to why we're still there dying, spending, and pissing people off. It would just be comforting to have a legitimate sounding reason.

milk_plus: That's great and all but where's Osama bin Laden?

Pakistan. Thatnooclear power just over there. *points*

hmmm... years upon years digging into a hole... and now the surge is 'working'

The only people who aren't happy with the way the Iraq war is going are those who were too stupid to invest heavily in Halliburton and arms manufacture in 2002.

I'm glad we spent billions on that.

/You want to know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes BRASS BALLS to sell real estate.

Iraq real estate prices booming...

And all it cost was close to four thousand US lives, over a trillion dolllars, and over a hundred thousand Iraqi lives. And to think we could have gotten Saddam to go into exile for a few billion dollars.

"Booming" with those 20 tons of bombs we dropped on Baghdad two days ago?

Or "booming" because all the empty refugees' houses have been claimed by one of the militia factions and now only being sold to the "right" families?

Come on. Selling rubble is not a real estate market anyone should be proud of.

CS

If a little girl laughs in Iraq but there is an American there to hear it, does she make a sound?

"No," says the Fark thread.

lolmao666: milk_plus: That's great and all but where's Osama bin Laden?

He's been dead since the end of 2001. You know he had problems with his kidneys. And please don't give me the bull about the videos, they are old montage and hollywood productions of old 80s videos.

You're a government paid agent acting as a foil for the CIA, making the American people believe that OBL exists by absurdly claiming that he doesn't.

And yes, you can take a voice and make it say whatever you want.

See, only a government operative would know about this.

USP .45 [TotalFark] Quote 2008-01-13 06:39:39 AM
If a little girl laughs in Iraq but there is an American there to hear it, does she make a sound?

"No," says the Fark thread.

Hmm. Not quite a sentance. How about: "If the whole world shouts out 'your making a massive mistake thats illegal and not even thought out properly', and Republicans are in power. Does America listen?"

Kazuya: Not quite a sentance.

Not quite a word.

Not at all a typo.

Kazuya

You also failed to grasp the overall point I was making, and if you are in fact Irish (with a poetic heritage and such), it's quite sad that you would fail to see the meaning in the words.

lolmao666: If they can ever forgive you, you should at least give them aid for 50 years.

Why not beneficial trade relations with the United States?

Right?

You wouldn't want to disagree and sound like John McCain now would you?

USP .45 [TotalFark] Quote 2008-01-13 07:14:10 AM
Kazuya: Not quite a sentance.

Not quite a word.

Not at all a typo.

Touche (when are Fark gonna get a spellcheker for lazy baztards like me?)
Anyway you get what I was trying to say. Iraq war was still a terrible mistake etc.

Kazuya: Anyway you get what I was trying to say. Iraq war was still a terrible mistake etc.

But don't you think subsequent conversations should surround how the mistake be mitigated? That would be the constructive thing to do.

We can stand around all day with 20/20 hindsight.

Here a boom, there a boom, everywhere a boom boom.

USP .45 [TotalFark] Quote 2008-01-13 07:36:21 AM
Kazuya: Anyway you get what I was trying to say. Iraq war was still a terrible mistake etc.

But don't you think subsequent conversations should surround how the mistake be mitigated? That would be the constructive thing to do.

We can stand around all day with 20/20 hindsight.

I've no problem with good news and especially since everything the poor Iraqi people have been through over the years but I'm a little wary of people turning "the surge is showing positive signs" into "Republican foreign policy has been validated".

Kazuya: I've no problem with good news and especially since everything the poor Iraqi people have been through over the years but I'm a little wary of people turning "the surge is showing positive signs" into "Republican foreign policy has been validated".

I agree, and I think therein lies the reason opponents of the whole operation are hesitant (or blind to) the positives -- they don't want to validate this foreign policy. Unfortunately this is as equally unhelpful (albeit less dangerous) attitude as actually claiming the positives validate the policy.

USP .45:

How about this?

If a little girl laughs in Iraq but there are countless thousands of
people wailing for their dead loved ones, does it make it all better?

Any good news is a very welcome blessing, I do believe that.

At the same time, from the very beginning this operation was so full
of FUBAR that what little good news we are hearing is not, in any way, compensation for all the bad.

YMMV

You guys said I shouldn't drink and drive. But I'm in the hospital recovering. RECOVERING, I SAY!

Damn, I lost a carriage return somewhere.
Anyone have a slightly used but in good
condition one I can buy at a fair price?

Snarfangel: You guys said I shouldn't drink and drive. But I'm in the hospital recovering. RECOVERING, I SAY!

That's great!

All charges will immediately be dropped.
As long as your name is Rush Limbaugh.

Random Reality Check: what little good news we are hearing is not, in any way, compensation for all the bad.

1) I agree.

2) Maintaining this attitude is totally unhelpful and nonconstructive as far as the future is concerned.

3) It begs the question, "what is compensation for all the bad?"

I hate Bush and the mess in Iraq, but we have to stay until those idiots can defend themselves.

/the only thing I agree with Bush on
//I feel dirty

I'm sorry, but I must've missed the part in Bush's pre-war speeches where he said "We're going into Iraq in order to improve their real estate market." I mean, if I had heard that, forget the flimsy WMD evidence, the pie-in-the-sky "we'll be treated as liberators" predictions and the naive belief that everything will be hunky-dory between the Sunnis and the Shia. If we're gonna help their real estate market, then what are we waiting for? Let's start the carpet bombing now!

And it's also nice to see that Bush is helping real estate prices in Iraq when just about every home owner I know HERE IN THE UNITED STATES is shiatting bricks because the value of their property has declined by about a third in the last 15 months and no one knows where or when that slide will stop.

I hear you can get rugs at a great price at their open air markets also Subby!

milk_plus
He's saving Osama for November.

mrvikings: He's saving Osama for November.

I'll just assume this is a humorous allusion to the foiljobs that have been repeating the "he's saving Osama for [mm/dd/yy]" line for years now.

USP .45 [TotalFark] Quote 2008-01-13 08:23:16 AM
Random Reality Check: what little good news we are hearing is not, in any way, compensation for all the bad.

1) I agree.

2) Maintaining this attitude is totally unhelpful and nonconstructive as far as the future is concerned.

3) It begs the question, "what is compensation for all the bad?"

Well this might sound like a liberal wet dream to yourself but I reckon...
-Admission the evidence/case for war was wrong
-Investigate properly the clowns that came up with the evidence(god knows where that'll lead to)
-Apologise for the war/mistakes to the people
-Set up a more inclusive body to deal with peace in Iraq(which might include baddies such as Iran, EU, and the UN(practically the rest of the world however flawed you might think it is)

Either way it's gonna take a real long time for anything to get done and at the end I wouldn't even expect a thank you from the Iraqi people.

As I'm invested in oil companies I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.

Just be patient. Iraq will improve substantially the day after a democrat is sworn in as president.

Iraq real estate prices booming in latest proof

While real estate prices in the US are tanking.
Nice trade off there, Lou.

milk_plus: Unless this was all a very elaborate plan to lure him into a Baghdad real estate seminar to catch and kill him

Pure comedy gold!


However, if he's dead, we'll never know about it. How can you justify spending billions on no-bid contracts if the #1 terr'ist is dead already?

So the Iraqis have discovered subprime mortgages?

If rising real estate prices in Iraq are evidence that Bush's policies are working in that country then are falling real estate prices in the US evidence that Bush's policies are failing over here?

Muta
This is kinda like global warming. You know, it's getting hotter? Global warming. It's getting colder? Gloabl warming too. All evidence leads to Bush's policies working.

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again:

Shouldn't we concern ourselves with America's economy first?
Shouldn't we concern ourselves with America's children first?
Shouldn't we build highways, schools and adequate police forces here before we involve ourselves with a nation half-way across the world?

I just don't get the neocon agenda: let our children starve because their mother is a crackwhore, but give billions to someone else so they can witness the generosity paid for by those crackbabies.

we bought the sunni militias. and the iranians instructed their people to stop attacking. and yes, we sent more soldiers. but its still a giant shiatty mess. we should never have gone. it was bullshiat.

Random Reality Check: what little good news we are hearing is not, in any way, compensation for all the bad.

USP .45: replies,

1) I agree.

I didn't think that anything in my statement was too outrageous and it is nice to see we can find common ground.


2) Maintaining this attitude is totally unhelpful and nonconstructive as far as the future is concerned.

On many levels I agree with your sentiments, however, if we are going to
continue to parade stories of near meaningless progress as though they are
actually of earthshaking importance, I am going to continue to point that out.

Now, want to see a lot of excitement get generated out of Iraq?

1.) Have the Iraqi government actually show us that they are exerting some
control, real and meaningful control, over Iraq.

2.) Show us serious improvement in electric and water infrastructure - this
has to mean a monthly net increase of hours per day both are available as
well as increased customer penetration throughout the country.

3.) Let's see some form of real discussion between ALL of the factions, oil
revenue sharing that all can be happy with, real estate reparations for those
who "lost their property" and some serious job growth, one that does not depend
on the US handing out money.


3) It begs the question, "what is compensation for all the bad?"

1.) We cannot compensate anyone who has lost a family member or a loved one
- there is not adequate compensation - but we can show we are truly sorry.

2.) We can hold those who created unpardonable sins against the Iraqis to
justice and show the Iraqis that we mean what we say. There were several
other facilities that engaged in illegal bahavior, Abu Ghraib was the one
that made it into the news. Let's find these people, including their
commanding officers, try them and punish the guilty accordingly. In
addition, anyone who was tortured or killed must have compensation. In
cases where the victims are still alive let's make it right to them or in
cases where we killed someone an explanation to the families is in order.

3.) Repair the damage to the Iraqi infrastructure we did in this reckless
and unnecessary "shock and awe" campaign times three. This means we repair
bridges, fix the electric and communications networks, repair roads as well
as build new hospitals and schools.

And yes, I do know this will be expensive and it will cost us.
This is what you do when you're wrong, make it right.

It's really going to suck when the bubble bursts.

I got a sneaky suspicion lots of people are just re-arming themselves and waiting...

But YAY for good news in Iraq!

It smells like panic in this thread, but Osama, but WMDs, but our economy's down, but Halliburton. You are the most predictable people on the planet.

jmann270: It smells like panic in this thread, but Osama, but WMDs, but our economy's down, but Halliburton. You are the most predictable people on the planet.

Unlike you, someone who knows the future, unerringly?
Thanks for your insight!
We're all better off now guessing at what you think you know.

I know every time there is a story on FARK.com with the barest hint of anything positive pertaining to Iraq, I can click on the comments section and read a massive number of Farkers typing, but WMDs, but our economy's down, but Halliburton. Am I wrong?

Can subby provide any evidence that the Americans are having a positive influence? does subby know why the´prices are low in the first place? Maybe the prices are going back up despite the presence of American troops.

It is certainly true that the British withdrawal from Basra has coincided with reduced violence.

jmann270: I know every time there is a story on FARK.com with the barest hint of anything positive pertaining to Iraq, I can click on the comments section and read a massive number of Farkers typing, but WMDs, but our economy's down, but Halliburton. Am I wrong?

No. Are WE wrong?

Oh yeah, I hear Sadr City is totally the new farking Bay Area.

The BBC also seems to have the same "categoization" weaknesses you hear so often at FARK.

As far as I can make FTFA, when the BBC says "Iraq" it means "downtown Baghdad".

It would be interesting to see the same information on Link (new window) which is a depopulated smoking ruin with only three checkpoints for entering the city.

When the refugees start coming back things are looking up. Right now theere are still millions living in campl
s.