I have been there, seen what was going on and was there on 28 June 2004 when the new government was sworn in two days ahead of schedule. The first thing said was that they wanted the United States military to remain in their country and help stabilize it.

and yes, we won TET. No thanks to the other Walter.

A short recon of whatÂ’s out there that might draw your attention….

Is it happening yet? After all, we are in year five here and it seems like a few of them should be ready to stand up. American soldiers would have been trained, served three tours in Iraq and been discharged in five years. Like I said, I’m just wondering.”

Yes, they have been standing up, but it will be a while longer before they are the primary force for security. Many missions have been either run by or lead by IA forces. IP’s are further behind, but are improving (especially in Anbar).

If you only read McClatchy and the MSM, you’ll never know about any of this. Get around more, read people actually on the ground (outside the wire) in Iraq like Yon, Roggio, Michael J. Totten, and get the roundup from milbloggers like Blackfive, and you’ll start seeing what’s really going on there.

The propganda from the MSM will only leave you believing that we lost Tet, when in fact we won.

Well, at least he didn’t say which December!

Sixteen victories to glory. Sixteen wins will be necessary to win what, in recent years, has truly become a World Championship. by Rick Moran……

You are spewing Iranian propaganda. What is so fascinating about the war in Iraq is the converging agenda of the right wing nuts in this country and the power brokers in Tehran. Look, I know wingnuts love the Iranians, after all they sold the Iranians millions of dollars of arms in the 80’s. Ollie North’s “neat idea” and all that. (North should have been strung up for the traitor that he was.)

But the Iraq war had laid bare the extent to which wingnuts are willing to use US military might to further Iranian interests in Iraq.

SCIRI is the dominant player in the governing coalition. More importantly, it dominates the Iraqi interior ministry, and domestic secutiry forces, which are responsible for extra-judicial killings (read murders) of thousands of Sunni Arabs in Iraq.

Now, what is SCIRI? It is the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. That’s right: the dominant player in the governing coalition of the government we are defending has a standing call for an ISLAMIC REVOLUTION in Iraq. In other words, American soldiers must die to further the cause of the Islamic Revolution.

So just who are the members of SCIRI? Well, take Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, for example. He was elected to parliament on the SCIRI ticket. This same man has been sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in the 1983 bombings of the French and US embassies.

So you would think we would snatch him and send him to Kuwait, right? Well, we can’t - as a member of parliament, he has immunity. So he continues to be a member of parliament. And American boys continue to die to protect this Islamic terrorist.

It’s wingnuts such as yourself Chief RZ that want to American troops to die so that terrorists like this piece of sh*t can continue to sit in the Iraqi parliament.

More recently, when US troops aprehended Iranian agents in Iraq for their terrorist activities, it was SCIRI that lobbied for their release - even though Bush himself has said Iranians are trying to kill Americans.

SCIRI was founded in Iran, financed by Iran, and members of SCIRI’s militia, the Badr Brigade, are trained by Iranians.

And so what if SCIRI was elected? Hitler was elected. SCIRI is a terrorist organization doing Iran’s bidding in Iraq and we are fighting and dying to protect them.

Those who advocate that US troops should remain in Iraq are doing so precisely to further Iran’s interests in the country. After all, we intend the consequences of our actions, don’t we.

Yeah. Too bad large swaths of the rising Iraqi Army are more loyal to sectarian and tribal factions that their federal government, let alone American interests. Some of them are even soldiers by day and insurgents by night.

2. There is no evidence that the Iraqis are going to sit on the sidelines while we fight the insurgency as the reporter intimates in the first graf.

1. Your statement implies a completely false dichotomy between “Iraqis” and “the Insurgency”. The Insurgency is primarily made up of Iraqis. The Foreign Fighters are a minority comprising only about 15% of the total strength of the insurgency and, although primarily responsible for majority of despicable attacks on Iraqi civilians, is NOT the main source of attacks on US forces.

I’m glad it isn’t just me saying that anymore…

We are there at the request of the legitimate Iraqi government. Same as in Bosnia and about 20 other locations.