Posts by Simon Grigg
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Except that Cockburn implies (by omission) Iraq as a nation had remained intact through the gassing of the Kurds in the 80s and the mass killings of the marsh Shia Arabs in the 90s only to be broken assunder by the American invasion.
Isn't that part of the point? This country has been torn apart. Declaring optimism of victory or whatever the true-believers are saying in the USA right now is divorced from reality. It's a fucking mess with no end in sight. Cherry picking good bits is what Centcom and ICA were so good at...James' mansions in the north is just continuing that dishonest tradition.
It's always been fairly ok in the Kurdish areas..since the 1990s, although watching intra-Kurdish debates on BBC and Al-Jaz of recent, corruption and nepotism have reached new heights there in current times.
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but yeah, the reality is there's a lot of people with guns and most of them are probably in that other 44%.
From that Cockburn piece:
There was also misconception among Iraqis about the depth of the divisions within their own society. Sunni would accuse me of exaggerating their differences with the Shia, but when I mentioned prominent Shia leaders they would wave a hand dismissively and say: "But they are all Iranians or paid by the Iranians." regarded the Shia as heretics as worthy of death as the Americans.
Since there is some agreement that parts of the Awakening are former Al-Qa'ida in Iraq, I'm guessing you are right. I'd love to be able to be more optimistic about the country's near future but grim seems more realistic once you leave the US back patting fraternity.
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On the invasion itself, there's a big divide - 95% of Sunnis say the invasion was wrong. 65% of Shia say it was right, as do 87% of Kurds.
Which pretty much backs up Patrick Cockburn's assertion that Iraq as a nation has ceased to exist.
All those armed to the teeth, former "insurgent", Sunni private armies are gonna be fun in the next year or two, as well.
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"Boom! Business is thriving, oil deals are flowing, McMansions are rising ... in Iraq"
It sounds like Saddam's back...all these mansions whilst this this world exists.
From Patrick Cockburn who, I would suggest, has a substantially better track record on Iraq than Dick Cheney.
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The NYT has other agendas and could hardly be classed as neutral.
Agreed...what with Judith Miller and all those editorials in 2002/3 beating drums, they were one of the major flag wavers for the invasion.
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I would suggest that we've had a few changes of government just because the national electorate was bored. So I guess one shouldn't blame the media if they use the same excuse. At least Harvey was honest about it.
which I think was my point a few weeks back...coming back as an interested observer its truly hard to see any other reason. NZ, as a country, is in fine shape, as healthy as it's been in my lifetime, and as a non resident I feel rather proud of it and the passport I carry.
(In a strictly non-patriotic sense just to be clear ;)) -
That is truly sad, he had a fascinating mind and I enjoyed they way he argued his points here, even when we disagreed. Bye Finn.
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The monster of a dot matrix printer, so loud it needed a special sound proof shield and ideally its own room.
Hiya Richard.....even more of a shock to me about 6 years ago was looking at buying a point of sale system and being told by the salesman that it required a dot matrix printer for reports, available from them at a snip for just $1000. Hard to find now he said.....
Pass.....
rolls and rolls of faxes awaiting you in the morning.
Record companies the world over would send me their daily release sheets and it was unusual to come in in the morning and not have to put a new roll in.
Does anyone still use faxes regularly (outside Indonesia that is, where the cassette and typewriter also still live)? I have an efax number (fax to a number and it gets emailed to me) but rarely get more than one a week.
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There are tons of rock albums in which every part was recorded separately with a click track, endlessly repeated until it was just right. Does this perfectionism make those bands boring?
Not always, but, sadly, often. The US album charts have been full of such beautifully recorded abominations for decades. Perfect for hi-fi salesmen though.
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No musos, please. Some things are more important than ability
(1988 advert placed by the first three members of Suede in the NME, prior to recruiting Bernard Butler).The above is one of my fave quotes. Many people of impeccable musical talent, like heavy rock guitarists, produce the most appalingly eye-closing music. See also jazz.
I was thinking exactly the same thing but wasn't brave enough to post it. Practised perfection can often equal dull.