Jared Polis: Iraq worse than reported
The situation in Iraq is worse than we thought or the media portrays:
- America’s use of mercenaries is even more widespread than reports indicate. Peruvian, Angolan, Ugandan, South African, Chiliean and other corporate-employed mercenaries man most of the military checkpoints.
- The national Iraqi government is isolated and impotent, with many ministries empty and members of parliament unable to safely leave the military-controlled zone; many members of parliament have fled the country leaving vacant seats.
- Warlords and gangs, many of them in league with various political parties and factions, fight for control of Baghdad neighborhood by neighborhood.
- 1 in 6 Iraqis has fled the country, exporting the instability across the region.
- Corruption is rampant and on the rise.
- There is no real plan for Iraq.
First report: I am going to Iraq
Second report: My Arrival in Amman, Jordan
Third Report: Arrival in Baghdad
Fourth report: In Iraq for Thanksgiving
Fifth Report: Inside a private mercenary compound
Sixth report: Exporting instability: Iraqi refugees in Jordan
posted by Zappatero @ 1:00 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Polis - "Cluck, cluck, cluck. I'm too chicken to answer questions about my trip to Iraq."
Polis reminds me of that democrat Dukakis - who ran for president, and got filmed riding around in a tank, pretending to be a soldier.......but all he really looked like was a fool. Polis may pretend to be a brave explorer of the Iraq situation, but he didn't go there with an open mind, or to gain true knowledge of that country and the war. He just saw what he wanted to see, heard what he wanted to hear, and said what he wanted to say.
Oooops, trouble in paradise....now the DEMOCRATS are accusing Polis of a "political stunt," not to mention taking money from REPUBLICANS:
Democratic congressional candidate Joan Fitz-Gerald's campaign today ripped rival Jared Polis, saying he has accepted money from at least five donors who also contributed to the GOP attack group known as Swift Boat.
The denouncement comes a day before Polis is to hold a town meeting in Boulder on his recent — and controversial — trip to Iraq.
"It's hard to reconcile going to Iraq when the very people who fund your campaign are perpetuating the war," Fitz-Gerald's spokesman, Matt Moseley, said.
Campaign manager Mary Alice Mandarich pointed out that money donated to Swift Boat was used in 2004 to defeat Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who wanted to end the war in Iraq.
"How does Jared even know these people, who traditionally give only to Republicans?" Mandarich said of the donors.
Polis' campaign in turn questioned Fitz-Gerald's donations, saying the former state Senate president has received thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry.
"The oil and gas special interests do not want this district to elect another environmental leader like Jared Polis who will follow in the footsteps of Mark Udall," said Wanda James, Polis' campaign manager.
Said Mandarich: "I will take our donations and Joan's record any day of the week versus taking money from Swift Boat donors."
Fitz-Gerald, Polis and Will Shafroth are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Udall, D-Eldorado Springs. Udall is running for the U.S. Senate in 2008.
Shafroth's campaign joined Fitz-Gerald's in denouncing Polis donations from individuals who contributed at least $6,350 to the Swift Boat and POWs for Truth, which questioned Kerry's war record in Vietnam.
"While serious Democrats like Will Shafroth are focused on ending the war in Iraq and restoring America's reputation in the world, it's a shame any Democrat would raise money from Swift Boaters," said Shafroth's campaign manager, Lynea Hansen.
Today's political squabble is the latest between Fitz-Gerald, and Polis, a former state Board of Education member.
Polis went after Fitz-Gerald for voting for resolutions in 2003 that supported President Bush and the war.
Fitz-Gerald's campaign questioned why Polis described his trip to Iraq last week as a fact-finding and humanitarian mission, saying it appeared to be more of a political stunt.
Heh. So now one democrat is calling it a "stunt" and another democrat is saying it isn't....wonder what zappy-baby's masters at moveondotorg are telling him to say........
Funny, your big democrat party war hero disagrees with you, zappy-baby.
" U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week.
"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year.
Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda."
Since Murtha says that the surge is working, I guess that Polis is lying. After all, Murtha is a veteran and something of a war hero.
Polis is in even more trouble on this stunt trip:
The Mile High United Way has disassociated itself from Jared Polis' Thanksgiving trip to Iraq and insists its executive vice president used vacation days for the week he spent in the Middle East with the Democratic congressional candidate.
"It's inconceivable to me that we would knowingly walk into a situation where we were seen as participating in a candidate's trip," Paul Franke, chairman of the United Way's board of trustees, said Thursday. "It was not a United Way-sponsored trip."
A campaign news release sent the day before Polis left for Iraq said he would travel "as a supporter of the United Way's efforts to assist in the development of Iraqi nonprofit and humanitarian organizations."
Polis campaign manager Wanda James said Thursday that the United Way did not "in any way organize or pay for the trip." Polis, a multimillionaire Internet entrepreneur, went as a "potential donor to see the projects in the region for himself," she said.
The trip sparked a firestorm of criticism from his opponents, who called it a campaign stunt in disguise.
Hmmmm. But zappy-baby assures it that it wasn't a stunt. Tells us a lot about zappy, doesn't it.
What's this, zappy-baby, nothing at all to say about Murtha's statements that the troop surge is so obviously working? Gee, pretty gutless of you not to admit it when you were so obviously WRONG!!!!!
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