Luke_Wilbur

Your stating apples and oranges here. Patraeus is a General in charge of the Army in Iraq. Powell at the time was Secretary of State.

Here are the charts that Gen. Petraeus' used for his testimony (PDF) petraeus_slides.pdf

What should be done with our Tariff laws? Also what type of reporting should be done with U.S. Citizens making money from outside countries. Should the Citizen give permission to U.S. Customs to monitor their bank transactions?

Congressman Eckerman stated that Iraq Al Queda started in 2005. General Petraeus stated Al Queda is the fuel for the ethno secretarian violence. The Army is currently building giant T Walls to seperate the groups.

Another protestor screams out at Congress. She wears the flag upside down. This is a sign of distress.

Representative John Spratt of South Carolina stated that it will take 958 Billion dollars to fix Iraq with a troop reduction.

The Jones Report states:

MoveOn, your NIE Report link is bad. Here is an excerpt of the report. 060926_Declassified_NIE_Key_Judgments.pdf

According to the GAO report:

Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq stated that many are willing to put the government first before secretarian gains. Former members of insurgant groups are now part of security forces. Debathification (process of removing former members of the ruling Bath party of Iraq) reforms and its place the seeds of reconciliation are now in place. The question is now how to share resources. The oil and revenue laws take the right steps towards a federal system. Iraqis are still fearful that the the Bath party will come back to power. We should look to whether the Iraqi leadership will put its general population before secretarian beliefs in front of them. The Iraqi government is grateful for the International Peacekeeping Forces and hopes that they will still be there to help in the future. Al Queda is losing support in the Anbar Province. Iraqis are sick of the suicide killings and are now evicting Al Queda from their communities. Shite extremist are also diminishing. Iraqis are sick of their mosques getting blown up. Iraq has made some gains in the economy and revitilizing markets. Roads and sewers are being built. The Iraq revenue reported a growth of 6 percent. The Provincial authorities are getting twice the amount they received last year. Hundreds of Iraqi businesses met with foreign corporations at Dubai to gain investment in their businesses. But the overall economy is still inadequate. Electrical power has improved but it will take 25 Billion dollars to get power throughout the country. Malaki's statement, "If the US leaves Iraq can find other friends" was done in the heat of the moment. The Prime Minister understands what a relationship with Iran would lead to. It is important to understand that Iraq is an arab state. Iran is a different culture from Iraq. There is still jihadist coming through Syria and Iran. The Georgian brigade has now entered the Iraq theatre and is guarding Southeast of Bagdad. The U.S. is brokering debt forgiveness to Iraq's neighbors. Iraq has hosted two non coalition Finance Ministers of France and Sweeden. The G8 will further build foundations with Iraq's economic future. This war is not a movie. Iraq will always be there. The actors in Iraq will carry forward with or without us. Going forward without the U.S. will encourage instability within the region.

General Petraeus has stated that Ethno-Secretarian violence has diminished 80 percent.

General Petraes stated that coalition has slowed secretarian violence. Iraq security forces are slowly taking the load and taking the lead in fighting the insurgants. He believes that a reduction in troop level to the point before the surge is possible by August. He believes that building infrastructure is moving forward over time. U.S. Intelligence has certified that the Army's report is accurate.

A protester was thrown out of Congress and pissed off the Chairman. By stating what I believe was:

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehiten stated that Congress should repremand MoveOn.org on their ad on the New York Times about on calling David H. Petraeus "General Betray-Us." Rapid withdraw of Iraq will encourage radical islam and will encourage local power factions that will intensify terrorism in Iraq. Extend the Jihad with secular countries and eventually attacking Isreal.

Representative Duncan Hunter stated General Petraeus was nominated unanimously by both parties. The old Iraqi army had over 11,000 Sunni Generals. Now the new professional Iraq army has Sunni, Shite, and Kurd generals. In the past America held tough in the past and we brought down the Berlin Wall.

Representative Lantos stated that srategically, the escalation has failed. The Congressman's opinion is that there needs to be a political settlement. Prime Minister Malaki has moved in the wrong direction. The Unity Plan is in a long list of promises. Malaki is really a front man to notorious death factions. In August, Malaki stated that if America leaves we can find new friends. Malaki made an alliance with the Sunnis against Al Qaeda. This may be an improvement, but why should Americans be in an age old conflict between religious groups. Our involvement in the Iraq war is going to cost America greatly. Our grandchildren will be paying the cost of it.

This is going to be great political theatre. Will the Republican Senate legislate a troop withdraw, a.k.a a "Drawdown." Join House Committe Hearing The Current Affairs The Armed Service Committe House Operating Status Department of Homeland Security Threat Level Elevated http://www.house.gov/house/status.shtml Proceedings of HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES All House office buildings are open and are operating on normal schedules. Monday, September 10, 2007 HOUSE IN SESSION 10:30 AM - Morning Hour/12:00 PM -Legislative Business Morning Hour 1. Stearns ®, FL (National Security) 2. Schakowsky (D), IL (Iraq) 3. Doggett (D), TX (Iraq) Chair declared the House in recess at 10:47 AM until 12:00 PM. Joint House & Senate Remembrance Ceremony; pre-set arrangements TBA. Date: Mon 09/10 Time: 4:30 pm Loc: West Front Step

General David H. Petraeus assumed command of the Multi-National Force-Iraq on February 10th, 2007 (MNF-I), the four-star post that oversees all U.S. forces in the country. He is "widely regarded as one of the brightest soldiers of his generation" and has been described as "brilliant" by retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey. On the other hand, Lawrence Korb has called him "the most political general since General MacArthur" and said that "[he] is very ambitious" (adding "and there’s nothing wrong with that"). General Petraeus has warned that he expects that the situation in Iraq will require the continued deployment of the elevated troop level of more than 150,000 beyond September 2007; he also has stated that U.S. involvement in Iraq could last another ten years.[18] In July 2007, Petraeus released his interim report on Iraq indicating that coalition forces had made satisfactory progress on 6 of 18 benchmarks set by Congress. Petraeus' final report in Iraq is due on September 15, 2007.

I guess we have to embrace global capitalism. We have lost jobs in the manufacturing sector. Now we are losing jobs in the service sector. When are people going to say enough is enough.

My sources state all of the video web sites have been shut down. Hopefully we will be able to track down Osama bin Laden and other remnants of Al Qaeda hiding in Pakistani territory one day and neutralise them.

I still have not found the video but, here is Al Jazeera's transcription. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B4D...D551838261C.htm

I have not seen the new Osama Bin Evil video yet. But, I will look around. Did anyone read about Neal Krawetz "Case Study: Dr. Z." image forensics presentation? It really shows the mastery of image media manipulation. Start on page 58. You might wonder whether any of these terrorist videos are what they appear to be.

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