U.S. Embassy in Iraq says conditions are worsening daily

alonzomourning23

alonzomourning23

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NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says shows that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat assessment of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in Iraq painted a starkly different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its Iraqi employees."

This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S. government."

It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's rights, and "ethnic cleansing."

A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name at the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador, though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely approved it.

The subject of the memo is: "Snapshots from the Office -- Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord."

As a footnote in one of the 23 sections, the embassy relates, "An Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi province, as political parties and their militiast are seemingly engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq."

Among the other troubling reports:

-- "Personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood' governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most neighbors."

-- One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.

-- Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in May, report "pervasive" harassment from Islamist and/or militia groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the quality of life." Conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods "have visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now described as a "ghost town."

-- Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May...."some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative." One of the women is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.

-- It has also become "dangerous" for men to wear shorts in public and "they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts." People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.

-- Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families where they work. They all plan for their possible abductions. No one takes home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee said criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her family believes the U.S. "is punishing populations as Saddam did."

-- Since April, the "demeanor" of guards in the Green Zone has changed, becoming more "militia-like," and some are now "taunting" embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly that they work in the embassy: "Such information is a death sentence if overheard by the wrong people." For this reason, some have asked for press instead of embassy credentials.

-- "For at least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff members for translation at on-camera press events....We cannot call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing their 'cover.'"

-- "More recently, we have begun shredding documents printed out that show local staff surnames. In March, a few staff members approached us to ask what provisions would we make for them if we evacuate."

-- The overall environment is one of "frayed social networks," with frequent actual or perceived insults. None of this is helped by lack of electricity. "One colleague told us he feels 'defeated' by circumstances, citing his example of being unable to help his two-year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in stifling heat," which is now reaching 115 degrees.

-- "Another employee tell us that life outside the Green Zone has become 'emotionally draining.' He lives in a mostly Shiite area and claims to attend a funeral 'every evening.'"

-- Fuel lines have grown so long that one staffer spent 12 hours in line on his day off. "Employees all confirm that by the last week of May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without. ... One staff member reported that a friend lives in a building that houses a new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day."

-- The cable concludes that employees' "personal fears are reinforcing divisive sectarian or ethnic channels, despite talk of reconciliation by officials."

The final line of the Cable is: KHALILZAD
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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690071
 
I like how you don't post any response to it. Its so painfully obvious that you just want to get into an argument with someone about it. You just want to wait till someone says something so you can attempt to tear it down.

Seriously, don't you have any friends in real life that you can talk politics with?
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']What do you want me to say? I don't support pulling out and I don't support the way people think the war is going great.[/QUOTE]
Oh my god, someone call Guiness. AM23 and I agree...
 
The biggest problem that we face in this country is that our options are continuously painted as being between Bush's plan to stay the course, and surrendering. And if those are our only options - I'll take surrender.

Bush is an incompetent, corrupt moron who has never, in his entire life, successfully managed anything. His pre-presidency life was one massive disaster after another, and his presidency has been a continuation of that on an ever-larger scale.

The ONLY way that anything even resembling victory can be accomplished in Iraq is by removing Bush and his entire administration from office and replacing them with people capable of dealing with reality instead of people who make policies based on wishes and prayers (and a whole lotta dipping into the till.) Until such time as Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al are shown to the door, the situation in Iraq is going to continue its downward trajectory into the shitter.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']I like how you don't post any response to it. Its so painfully obvious that you just want to get into an argument with someone about it. You just want to wait till someone says something so you can attempt to tear it down.

Seriously, don't you have any friends in real life that you can talk politics with?[/QUOTE]

Wow, you're an asshole. Welcome to my ignore list.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']I like how you don't post any response to it. Its so painfully obvious that you just want to get into an argument with someone about it. [/QUOTE]

The only thing painfully obvious is that Alonzo's hatred of all things american allows him to blame all inclement situations squarely on the shoulders of the american millitary and the corrupt commander-in-chief.

Never would he stoop so low as to blame the criminal ne'er-do-well's that would kill their neighbor becuase they are of differing ethnicity or belief and bless the action as allah's will.

Obviously this memo must be god's honest, unquestionable truth becuase a newspaper had the courage to print it. Media outlets would never jump the gun and report something that wasn't true before confirming it as fact.
 
[quote name='bmulligan']Obviously this memo must be god's honest, unquestionable truth becuase a newspaper had the courage to print it. [/QUOTE]

This has been out for a week now, has anyone in the administration, or the Iraqi Gov't denied its authenticity or truthfulness? Do you always assume what the media tells you as a lie? Does your mistrust of the media bleed into all aspects of the paper? Do you question the authenticity of the weather report? Sports page? Sunday Funnies?

Media outlets would never jump the gun and report something that wasn't true before confirming it as fact.
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I agree, look at Fox's coverage of Santorum this week, of course before a lightweight like Alan Colmes dropped a piano on him.
 
[quote name='Cheese']I agree, look at Fox's coverage of Santorum this week, of course before a lightweight like Alan Colmes dropped a piano on him.[/QUOTE]

Look, I *know* that Colmes was hired to be the patsy to that fat bastard Hannity, and I *know* he was hand selected for his cowardice, his dreadful "emaciated skeletor" appearance, his stammering, and pretty much all the reasons that make him what Fox wants you to think the ideal liberal is (weak, not convinced of their own ideologies, and self-damning); nevertheless, that video clip was pretty fucking funny. It was kinda like watching little mac knock the fuck out of Don Flamenco.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Look, I *know* that Colmes was hired to be the patsy to that fat bastard Hannity, and I *know* he was hand selected for his cowardice, his dreadful "emaciated skeletor" appearance, his stammering, and pretty much all the reasons that make him what Fox wants you to think the ideal liberal is (weak, not convinced of their own ideologies, and self-damning); nevertheless, that video clip was pretty fucking funny. It was kinda like watching little mac knock the fuck out of Don Flamenco.[/QUOTE]

Linky winky: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/H-C-Santorum-Classified-WMD.wmv

Oh, and a Countdown segment on the same subject: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown_Santorum-WMD.wmv
 
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