Nine killed in jail gun battle
All the media can come up to fill their daily ‘what is wrong in Iraq and here is proof that it is a civil war’ quota is a story about some prisoners having a stoush.
AT least nine prisoners and guards were killed in a gun battle at a Baghdad high-security jail overnight after detained guerrilla suspects, some of them foreign, grabbed weapons and tried to flee, officials said.Big deal. Still on Iraq, Andrew Bolt has recently visited Iraq and reports Why might is right
It is this spreading of freedom that, for me, was the aim of it all — a spreading of democracy to Muslim lands that had festered with poverty and lethal hatred under hard scabs of tyranny. But that was the theory. Here are some of my snapshots of the up-close reality.
Facebook
Twitter
14 Shiites killed in Iraqi home
Fourteen Shiite men and women have been killed in an area south of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, known as the “triangle of death”.
In the latest outbreak of violence, 14 people believed to be from a single Shiite family were found shot to death in their home in Mamudiyah.
“Armed men broke into their home and their bodies were then taken by minibus to a police checkpoint in Latifiyah,” a security official said.
Another security source says the victims are “Shiites living in the midst of Sunnis”.
Since the election, there has been a steady rise in insurgent attacks, especially against Iraqi security forces.
The International Mission for Iraqi Elections has announced it is sending assessors to Iraq to help investigate complaints of fraud in the December 15 general elections.
Shiite and Kurdish leaders, whose lists topped the polls, are holding talks on setting up a government.
Shiite-based religious parties have rebuffed calls by Sunni Arabs and secular factions for a re-run of the election.
The electoral commission has suggested that while some ballots might be cancelled because of fraud, this would not affect overall results.
United Nations and US spokesmen have also expressed confidence in the election results.
The final tally is expected next week.
I love this line from Andrew
……I can’t say it comes close to a full picture. I was largely kept behind concrete blocks of tightly guarded security zones and met few Iraqis….
So I guess he saw the REAL Iraq ???
While you of course have spent months on-site getting the real picture of Iraq so you can form an balanced opinion. At least he went there, reads widely and writes without the premise that Bush is wrong.
Yes there was other events on the day but not widely reported. My point is that without a huge explosion that kills dozens and gives the media a chance to compress the whole war into a ten second light and sound bite they loose interest.
I also wonder, were tax payers funds used to send Andrew over there ?? Who paid for the millitary flights in and out. Who paid for his military escort ??
Do you smell a conspiracy John?
Just raising the question Kev ?
Kev,
I have read Bolt’s article and am amazed that he after two days behind concrete and not even venturing beyond the green zone that he says that all is well in Iraq.
What a lot of shite or should I say “Shiite”. This guy is delusional in the extreme if he thinks that Iraq is heading to the “nirvana” of a spawing democracy and a beacon to the Middle East.
Who paid for the SAS guards and the flight on the Hercules etc etc . If things were going so well you would think that he might be able to fly in on a commercial jet. Then again it might not be as rosy as he alleges. How he could write a balance article when the only time that he ventures pout of the Green Zone is to use “route Irish” to the airport.
The irony of the first few chapters ie the method of entry and the level of personal saftey speaks more about the real situation than the rest of the rubbish that he writes.
I really hope that you and I and other tax payers did not have to contribute to the costs of sending that stooge to Iraq etc. next they will be sending Alan Jones.
What a joke and I thank you Kev for putting me onto the article as it confirms everything bad that most are saying about the situation over there.
Please keep me posted with like articles as they do corroborate everyhting that I fear about Iraq and its future.
Peter, I note Chrstmas excesses hasn’t broadened your outlook. Media reps, like Bolt, once acredited, get to travel on military transport on a ‘when available’ basis. In this case he might have even been on tour with Downer, I don’t know and don’t care but one thing is definite – he has a better picture of the situation in Iraq than most of the doomsayers.
From Bolt
The battle for free Iraq is hard, but hope is on the higher side of cautious. I pray they are right, but it will be difficult years before we may know. Yet to me the cause still seems as just as ever.
No ‘Nirvina” there, Peter.
It must be so comforting for peter and Dosan to argue without the slightest regard to consistency. There ‘consern’ for “tax payers funds” would never apply to McGeogh.
peter, If all you have is to grossly mischaracterize Bolts article as “rosy” since his trepidation and insecurity about the situation is clear. I can only hope that your not representative of your profession as it would show to be in a sorry state and in need of reform.
And peter its paragraphs not chapters.