<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Don't you find it interesting that the LA Times
would find 'few' that agree with Allawi's assessment? I mean they have been so
agreeable about the war before this. The US Press has been amazingly supportive
to Bush!! Finding stories like this are so prevalent that it is no problem to
read them...It does not make them right. Noooo! I like what Rice said on one of
the morning shows this last week. Both sides are right. It is bad and it is
good. Bad because people are dying and there are those who do not want peace at
any price. Good because there is a higher goal in the deaths. Freedom is not
free. People die attaining it. It is a project that will not happen overnight
but at some point there can be a wonderful new country. I get the impression
that none of you believe that Iraqi leadership or its people can make this work
in anyway. I have more faith than that. I also can see that Donovan is very
young and has not seen the changes that come about in life as we shift and move
in the world. He may have learned that in WWII goods we had sold to Japan came
back in the form of bombs, it is not a new thing in history. Friends turn into
enemies sometimes life can be interesting as times change and people change.
What was happening in 1980 is not what is happening now. As you grow and mature
you will see this. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PK</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=deco@moscow.com href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco aka W. Fox</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, September 24, 2004 5:47
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] 09-24-04 LA Times:
Violence Belies Positive Picture</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4>
<DIV align=center><A href="http://www.latimes.com/"></A> </DIV><A
href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-reality24sep24.story">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-reality24sep24.story</A>
<H1>Violence Belies Positive Picture</H1>
<H2>Few agree with Allawi's assessment as anxiety grips the nation amid a
surge in attacks.</H2>By Patrick J. McDonnell<BR>Times Staff
Writer<BR><BR>September 24, 2004<BR><BR>BAGHDAD Large swaths of Iraq remain
outside the control of the interim government, major highways are fraught with
attackers, and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi along with the U.S.
Embassy and much of the international community must conduct business in
fortified compounds guarded by tanks, blast walls and barbed wire.<BR><BR>In
Washington, Allawi gave Congress an upbeat assessment Thursday, but the
situation in Iraq is more complicated.<BR><BR>Allawi said the Iraqi people
were making steady progress in taking control of the nation's affairs. His
interim government had assumed sovereignty from the U.S.-led occupation. It
had reopened schools and hospitals damaged in the war. Despite attacks,
hundreds of Iraqis were still volunteering to join the police and army. And he
pledged that the country would hold elections in January.<BR><BR>Widespread
anxiety engulfed much of Iraq this month as a wave of car bombings,
kidnappings and gun battles killed scores of American soldiers, Iraqi
civilians and hostages.<BR><BR>The continuing violence has overshadowed signs
of progress and put a damper on the prospect of democratic
elections.<BR><BR>"How can we hold elections when they will bomb every polling
booth?" asked Husham Mahdi, a 29-year-old communications engineer in Baghdad,
echoing a common sentiment.<BR><BR>In a question and answer session after his
speech to Congress, Allawi described Baghdad as "very good and
safe."<BR><BR>In the city of Samarra, Allawi noted, a new police chief had
been appointed and Iraqi forces were patrolling the city "in close
coordination" with the U.S.-led coalition. But U.S. commanders say the
insurgent stronghold, which the Army recently entered for the first time in
months, remains far from pacified.<BR><BR>"Samarra is not over with," said Lt.
Col. James Stockmoe, intelligence officer with the 1st Infantry Division,
which patrols Samarra. <BR><BR>The police chief appointed this month, at least
the 12th since Saddam Hussein's ouster, resigned within a few days after
receiving death threats. <BR><BR>Some U.S. military officials fear that the
city's police force is largely in cahoots with insurgents, giving them access
to weapons and vehicles. In July, a suicide bomber used a police vehicle to
plow into the Army base outside Samarra, killing five U.S. soldiers and
injuring 18.<BR><BR>Allawi blamed the American media for failing to report
some of the positive steps his government had taken with the help of the
U.S.-led coalition. He cited social programs such as polio vaccinations and
other efforts. He said thousands of Iraqis had gotten jobs, salaries had
increased dramatically and the economy "has finally started to
flourish."<BR><BR>Allawi praised efforts to train more soldiers and police and
said the performance of the new Iraqi security forces was "improving every
day." <BR><BR>U.S. commanders credit Iraqi forces for helping to rid Najaf of
fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr. But it remains questionable
whether they can take on insurgents without U.S. help. Shortages of equipment
and personnel continue to plague the forces.<BR><BR>On a recent visit to
Baqubah, where police have often been targeted, Army Lt. Gen. David H.
Petraeus who is overseeing the training of Iraqi forces listened as local
police and national guard officers said they desperately needed more trained
officers and equipment. His visit came a few days after 11 provincial police
officers were killed in a drive-by attack.<BR><BR>"We've got to create a
training academy here," said Petraeus, who also offered to ship new armored
vehicles, body armor and other gear from Baghdad. <BR><BR>The continued
inability of Iraqi forces to secure areas after U.S. offensives has been a
major reason such operations have been put on hold in places like Samarra and
Fallouja.<BR><BR>"We have got the tactical ability to do just about anything,
but what I don't want to do is create a vacuum," Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz,
operational chief for U.S.-led multinational forces, said in a recent
interview.<BR><BR>Allawi said that in the city of Tall Afar, in northwestern
Iraq, the interim government had "reversed" an attempted insurgent
takeover.<BR><BR>Reports from the city indicate that masked rebels no longer
control the town. But the city's Turkmen majority, regarded a U.S. ally, is
resentful after what it views as excessive American force and bombing, which
was approved by Allawi's government. <BR><BR>Allawi also cited "success" in
Najaf and Kufa, where residents celebrated the ouster of Sadr, the militant
cleric.<BR><BR>Although the militia was routed in both cities, many fighters
appear to have moved to Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Daily firefights and
roadside bombs have plagued the U.S. there.<BR><BR>Allawi said it was "a fact"
that elections could be held in 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces "tomorrow." But few
experts would agree. The consensus among poll-watchers is that holding
nationwide elections by January, as scheduled, will be difficult.<BR><BR>Apart
from the widespread violence, the provinces lack electoral infrastructure
which some view as a greater challenge than security. <BR><BR>And critics say
it is hard to argue that security is a problem in only three provinces of a
nation where suicide bombers have struck from Basra in the south to Irbil in
the north.<BR><BR>Allawi cited the renovation of schools and clinics and the
restoration of many services as signs of progress. But many Iraqis note that
the schools were open before Hussein's ouster, and power blackouts and
gasoline shortages remain major irritants. <BR><BR>Allawi's upbeat assessment
did not mention a core problem the disenfranchisement of the Sunni Muslim
minority.<BR><BR>Sunni Muslims, who lost their preferred status after
Hussein's defeat, launched the insurgency that has managed to hold off the
world's most powerful military.<BR><BR>"They are the key to the population
here," said Col. John C. Coleman, chief of staff of the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force, which patrols the Sunni heartland to the west and north
of Baghdad. "Many of them look to the central government not as their
advocate
. There are many who would just like a seat at the table and don't
quite understand how to get there just yet. They are frustrated by the
process."<BR><BR>Allawi's overtures to the residents of Samarra, Fallouja and
Ramadi Sunni-dominated cities still far from government control have
yielded no lasting breakthroughs. <BR><BR>In his speech Thursday, the interim
prime minister did not highlight Fallouja, which has become a sanctuary for
insurgents and the target of intense U.S. bombings supported by his
government. City leaders who have met with representatives of the interim
government say it has lost credibility because of close U.S.
ties.<BR><BR>"There were some promises made," said Ahmad Hardan, a physician
from Fallouja who has been in talks with Allawi's envoys. "But we started to
realize that whenever our delegation would go back to Baghdad, the city of
Fallouja would be bombed. And we would start asking, 'Why is this happening?
Where are the promises?' "<BR><BR>
<HR width="20%">
<I>Special correspondents Caesar Ahmed and Suhail Ahmed contributed to this
report.<BR><BR></I>
<DIV class=copyright align=center>
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1><!--
st_v=1.1;
//--></SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.2><!--
st_v=1.2;
//--></SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1
src="//st.sageanalyst.net/tag-703.js">
</SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript>
if (st_v==1.0) {
var st_uj;
var st_dn = (new Date()).getTime();
var st_rf = escape(document.referrer);
st_uj = "//"+st_dd+"/"+st_dn+"/JS?ci="+st_ci+"&di="+st_di+
"&pg="+st_pg+"&rf="+st_rf+"&jv="+st_v+"&tai="+st_tai+"&ai="+st_ai;
var iXz = new Image();
iXz.src = st_uj;
}
</SCRIPT>
<NOSCRIPT><IMG
src="//st.sageanalyst.net/NS?ci=703&di=d001&pg=&ai=2773574"></NOSCRIPT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>_____________________________________________________<BR> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<BR>
http://www.fsr.net
<BR>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>