Violence Belies Positive Picture

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20040924/ts_latimes/violencebeliespositivepicture&cid=2026&ncid=1480

<snip>

BAGHDAD — Large swaths of Iraq (news - web sites) remain outside the control of the interim government, major highways are fraught with attackers, and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi — along with the U.S. Embassy and much of the international community — must conduct business in fortified compounds guarded by tanks, blast walls and barbed wire.


In Washington, Allawi gave Congress an upbeat assessment Thursday, but the situation in Iraq is more complicated.


Allawi said the Iraqi people were making steady progress in taking control of the nation's affairs. His interim government had assumed sovereignty from the U.S.-led occupation. It had reopened schools and hospitals damaged in the war. Despite attacks, hundreds of Iraqis were still volunteering to join the police and army. And he pledged that the country would hold elections in January.


<snip>
"How can we hold elections when they will bomb every polling booth?" asked Husham Mahdi, a 29-year-old communications engineer in Baghdad, echoing a common sentiment.

[shockingelk]

1. Allawi is in an alternate reality

A sampling from the provences Allawi called "completely safe"

Baquba - one of the new hotspots - is the capitol of the Diyala provence.

Is Basra safe? British troops clash with al-Sadr miltia in Basra, September 18, 2004.

suicide car bombing near US embassy killed 2, September 11, 2004.

Oil pipeline near Basra attacked.

Samara? Fighting errupts in Samarra, September 22, 2004.

Kirkuk? Suicide Car Bomb Kills 10 Near Kirkuk, September 18, 2004.

edit: fixed HTML

[Mr_Spock]

2. Whatever. Allawi and his Republican talking points speech

He is completely irrrelevant now and even more hated back in Iraq. His career is over as of this week.