IRAQI DESERTION RATE EXCEEDS 80%

[Dancing_Dave]

"IRAQI DESERTION RATE EXCEEDS 80%


WASHINGTON -- Iraq's security forces, ordered to prepare for an offensive against the Mahdi Army in Najaf, have been plagued by a desertion rate that exceeded 80 percent.

A U.S. report warned that Iraqi Interior Ministry troops remain unprepared to fight Shi'ite or Sunni insurgents and could not be deemed reliable.

CLIP

The United States was said to have spent $1.2 billion in developing Iraq's security forces."

Rest at http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/august/08_22_2.html

Who can't see that this is a lost cause?

In the '70's Kerry called for an end to the Vietnam War, saying "How do you tell a man to be the last to die for a mistake?"

He better get over his selective amnesia.

[Journeyman]

1. This is hilarious (though painstakingly sad). . .

just this afternoon, the Bushistas were pinning their hopes and the future of our troops coming home on the Iraqi security forces.


U.S. Sees Iraqi National Guard as the Ticket Home

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg...

[daleo]

2. Who can blame them?

After all, they are being ordered to kill their countrymen by an invader. Is is outrageous, when you stop to think about it.

[gratuitous]

14. It's pretty outrageous even if you don't think about it

Which means that even Bush supporters should be able to get it if you speak s-l-o-w-l-y enough and use little, I mean, small words.

[Fovea]

3. I am sure the Harkonnens will buy lots of CACI

troop. Of course they will have to raid the treasure again, but hey,
they are not tax and spend liberals, at least.
Rather, they are beg, borrow, and steal NeoCons.

I can hear the beast Cheney bellowing at the fremen as he flogs them-- "The Spice Must Flow!"
And I can almost see the mentat Rove's hands shaking as he recites the mantra. And the navigators have told him that if he objects to $60 a barrel oil, he can live out the Baron's next term in a pain amplifier.

The Baron is wrapped in a steamy cocoon of bliss, provided by his personal physician.

And the sleeper has awakened.

[DivByZero]

18. Ha haha hahaha haha

The Harkonnens <ROFL, sputter>, I =love= it!

If Cheney's The Beast, who's The Baron, zipping around in his fart-powered suit?
Couldn't be *, since The Baron actually had a brain, albeit a very black, corrupted one, kinda like Cheney's "heart" (if you can call that battery-backed lump of coal a heart).
Bush is The Emperor: visions of grandeur, not knowing his days are numbered.

Since Cheney is a much better fit for the Baron, who's The Beast?

[Fovea]

24. Perhaps Rumsfeld

Are the media the Bene Geserit?

[0007]

4. .. after the Irqai receives a pair of boots and a gun and a square meal,

it is hasta la vista time.

[0rganism]

5. Look on the bright side -- retention is nearing 20%!

The glass is nearly a fifth full. That'll show all the naysayers, eh?

[iconoclastic cat]

6. Heya, Org.

You know, reading that story gave me a hilarious (in a very dark way) visual of Iraqis charging into to the shrine, but once they get through the door, dropping their guns and running to embrace Sadr.

But then again, I've been drinking.

[The Magistrate]

13. Do Not Blame The Alchohol, Sir

That is a pretty sound view of the likely event.

Persons who know anything about partisan war have been predicting this from the onset of recruitment for the Iraqi forces of the puppet government. It is normal for such forces to be unwilling to fight nationalist resistance forces, and be shot through with men who sympathize with the resistance forces, and even with men who have joined in order to be able to contribute intelligence and munitions to the resistance.

"Can't nobody here play this game?"

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[iconoclastic cat]

15. Wow! Praise from Caesar!

BTW, I really haven't been drinking. I'm glad that I made sense!

[bloodyjack]

19. that's encouraging.

People shouldn't be drunk when it's 9AM in their time zone unless they work a graveyard shift or something. "Pull yourself together, man," I was going to say

[iconoclastic cat]

21. Well, it is Sunday. I could be just getting home from an after-hours club.

If it were, like, 1995. That would just about kill me now.

[Vladimir]

11. It sure is!

I guess 20% is the new silent majority...

[ahimsa]

20. It's.. uh,. part of the plan..

..yeah, that's the ticket. You see, after everyone runs away, the only people left are the ones planted by the "resistance."

:eyes:

[Kokonoe]

22. The 20% are just recruiters

[leetrisck]

7. My, oh my, they're deserting - doesn't

that sound familiar? Just doing what bush did.

[rustydog]

8. Bush has taught the Iraqis a valuable lesson in life:

When things are scaring you, when things are getting tough, just QUIT!

When the going gets tough, Do a Bush and quit!

[Vladimir]

10. Or indeed

when being occupied by an imperialist power, take the guns they hand out to you and then use them to shoot your 'masters' in the head. But that lesson, methinks, they knew already.

The Iraqis ain't quitting, but the US will. Sooner or later, they all do...

[PhuLoi]

9. Distantly analagous to the 'Chu hoy' program used in Nam.

Viet Cong soldiers could switch sides under the Chu Hoy or 'open arms' program. They would frequently be assigned the duty of scouts/informants that would go out with patrols. They were called Kit Carsons. In many cases the Kit Carsons would come in starving and worn out, spend a week or two getting fed and rested, pace off targets for mortar co-ordinates then didi back out under the wire with rations , weapons and information to rejoin their VC units.

[Barrett808]

12. The Guardian reports US forces are doing all the fighting anyway

At the moment, the Americans are doing all the fighting. The Iraqi police play merely a cameo role: a massive convoy rode towards the shrine yesterday, sirens blazing, celebrating a victory that never happened. Two minutes later it turned back.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=766760&mesg_id=766760&page=

[Bo]

16. Bluegrass bands thats what they need

John carlson 1927 recording cripple creek

[barb162]

17. "Who can't see that this is a lost cause?"

Although this story proves tfor the thousandth time how damned Bush was wrong about EVERYTHING regarding the Iraq war, how does the US extricate itself from there? If we pick and leave, will Iraq go into anarchy? Then the Mideast will be even angrier with us than before? Not that this wasn't ever brought up before as it was brought up countless times before and during the war. What is the solution to the screwed up Bush war on Iraq, with minimal loss of life to Iraqis and US soldiers??????

[Dancing_Dave]

23. Iraqis would be better off without the hated occupation forces

And people in the Middle East will be very much relieved when we leave!

This problem is not nearly so complicated as corporate media propaganda could lead you to believe. The Iraqi's can run their own country without us.

[Gin]

25. they are following in the footsteps of our.. and their C.I.C....if he can

desert...so can they