Former Iraqi PM Allawi: This is the start of civil war

[E-Z-B]

IRAQ’S former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has warned that his country is facing civil war and has predicted dire consequences for Europe and America as well as the Middle East if the crisis is not resolved.
“The problem is that the Americans have no vision and no clear policy on how to go about in Iraq,” said Allawi, a long-time ally of Washington.

In an interview with The Sunday Times last week as he visited Amman, the Jordanian capital, he said: “The policy should be of building national unity in Iraq. Without this we will most certainly slip into a civil war. We are practically in stage one of a civil war as we speak.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1687910,00.html

Wait - I thought it was just the DEMOCRATS who had "no vision".

 

[mykevermin]

This is news only to the people who live in hiding, who are easily duped into thinking that everything in Iraq is going swimmingly, and perfectly according to President Bush's impeccably flawless plan (which is, if I recall, to "stay the course" and start a website to help you support the troops).

To those who find this unsurprising, it is further reinforcing the disappointment that we felt on November 3rd, when we found out that intelligent people, or perhaps people who pay attention, were a minority in this country.

 

[RedvsBlue]

[quote name='mykevermin']This is news only to the people who live in hiding, who are easily duped into thinking that everything in Iraq is going swimmingly, and perfectly according to President Bush's impeccably flawless plan (which is, if I recall, to "stay the course" and start a website to help you support the troops).

To those who find this unsurprising, it is further reinforcing the disappointment that we felt on November 3rd, when we found out that intelligent people, or perhaps people who pay attention, were a minority in this country.[/QUOTE]


Well I'm not too sure about that. The results of Nov. 3 would have done very little to change the outcome in Iraq. Iraq was a cluster as soon as we decided to invade.

I'm not a very big fan of the republican party or bush but in the last election we were pretty much painted into a corner. Personally, I thought that Kerry was probably the weakest major party presidential candidate in the last 20 years. I mean he was riding a huge anti-bush sentiment and he still couldn't seal the deal. I wanted to vote for the democratic candidate very badly but I just couldn't bring myself to vote for Kerry. I felt like he was a rich, upper class stiff that had lost touch with the middle class of America long ago. In addition to that, I felt that his only reasoning for running for president was not because he really believed he could help run America but because it was a way to make himself famous. That's the exact same reason why I'm worried that Hillary will be running.

That and the fact that I feel like her opponent will be Jeb Bush. Basically putting us right back where we were in 04.

 

[mykevermin]

Worse than Dole/Kemp?

 

[MrBadExample]

[quote name='RedvsBlue']Well I'm not too sure about that. The results of Nov. 3 would have done very little to change the outcome in Iraq. Iraq was a cluster as soon as we decided to invade.

I'm not a very big fan of the republican party or bush but in the last election we were pretty much painted into a corner. Personally, I thought that Kerry was probably the weakest major party presidential candidate in the last 20 years. I mean he was riding a huge anti-bush sentiment and he still couldn't seal the deal. I wanted to vote for the democratic candidate very badly but I just couldn't bring myself to vote for Kerry. I felt like he was a rich, upper class stiff that had lost touch with the middle class of America long ago. In addition to that, I felt that his only reasoning for running for president was not because he really believed he could help run America but because it was a way to make himself famous. That's the exact same reason why I'm worried that Hillary will be running.

That and the fact that I feel like her opponent will be Jeb Bush. Basically putting us right back where we were in 04.[/QUOTE]

I agree that the last Bush vs. Kerry campaign was not a meeting of the political heavyweights, but to complain about Kerry being rich, aloof and out of touch, I mean... Bush...really? C'mon! Bush has never worked an honest day in his life. At least Kerry had to marry into his money.
:lol:

 

[RedvsBlue]

[quote name='MrBadExample']I agree that the last Bush vs. Kerry campaign was not a meeting of the political heavyweights, but to complain about Kerry being rich, aloof and out of touch, I mean... Bush...really? C'mon! Bush has never worked an honest day in his life. At least Kerry had to marry into his money.
:lol:[/QUOTE]


Your absoultely correct. However, Bush's people did a magnificent job in both elections in presenting someone who seemed like the common man. I remember seeing a poll in '00 about which candidate would you rather have a beer with and Bush won it by a huge margin. Perception vs. reality is a huge thing.

People want a president who they can associate with and Bush presents that perception of being the common man. Kerry's people seemed to want to show the exact opposite though. Remember the big deal about Kerry/Edwards being the candidates with the better hair, hell they even made a big deal about it themselves. The average american man doesn't care that much about his hair but KErry/Edwards wanted to present their image as metrosexuals which people usually associate with upper class and rich people.

 

[RedvsBlue]

[quote name='mykevermin']Worse than Dole/Kemp?[/QUOTE]


Good example, there's another candidate that lost because his perception was that he was a stiff, crusty old guy that was like your school principal ready to reprimand you. Had they presented him as the jokester that I hear he is in real life then he might have stood a chance against the "common" man with faults that Bill Clinton was.

Like it or not, people don't really care about someone's politics nearly as much as they care about whether or not the candidate is a person they feel they can relate too.

 

[mykevermin]

[quote name='RedvsBlue']Like it or not, people don't really care about someone's politics nearly as much as they care about whether or not the candidate is a person they feel they can relate too.[/QUOTE]

That's why I have trouble sleeping at night.