Comments on: Training The Iraqi Army http://www.sgtstryker.com/training-the-iraqi-army/ Support our Troops Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:43:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: jumba http://www.sgtstryker.com/training-the-iraqi-army/#comment-17 jumba Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:12:26 +0000 http://www.sgtstryker.com/?p=19#comment-17 Very thoughful comment, but I doubt the thousands of men and women who were tortured and the families of all those who were killed by Saddam Hussein and hs sons would call Iraq prior to the US liberation a "peaceful" country. What about the Kurds who were killed when Saddam Hussein gased them and left them to die? Iraqis today are receiving more education, better healthcare, women are getting more rights and the peole who really need internaiton aid may have a chance to receive it rather than having Saddam Hussein steal all of the money sent into the country. Very thoughful comment, but I doubt the thousands of men and women who were tortured and the families of all those who were killed by Saddam Hussein and hs sons would call Iraq prior to the US liberation a “peaceful” country. What about the Kurds who were killed when Saddam Hussein gased them and left them to die? Iraqis today are receiving more education, better healthcare, women are getting more rights and the peole who really need internaiton aid may have a chance to receive it rather than having Saddam Hussein steal all of the money sent into the country.

]]> By: dhurrell http://www.sgtstryker.com/training-the-iraqi-army/#comment-14 dhurrell Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:30:35 +0000 http://www.sgtstryker.com/?p=19#comment-14 With consumer price inflation up 50% in Iraq in 2006, 30-60% unemployment when curfews are not in effect (curfews are frequently in effect and if you can't go to work you don't get paid - only the army are exempt as they go to work during curfews), three quarters of a million people displaced, nearly two million people, mainly women or children, in refugee camps in Syria and Jordan and with 12,000 fewer doctors than before the invasion, it's no wonder thousands of Iraqis have volunteered to join the army. It's not like there's much left for them at home. Halliburton has had 1.4 billion dollars in charges to the Pentagon rejected on the grounds that they are Unreasonable and Unsupported, according to February 2007 congressional hearings, over 10 billion dollars has been mismanaged and wasted in Iraq since the "end of the war". 9 and a half billion dollars of US taxpayers' money has been "lost" or is "unnaccounted for". That makes over 20 billion dollars which I'm sure would have been better spent investing in the future of the people in Iraq rather than filling the pockets of fat people both in Iraq and Washington and I won't even go into trying to explain away the 505 billion dollars of US taxpayers' funds that have so far been wasted on shamefully, ineptly and embarrassingly losing this illegal and immoral war in Iraq, a war directed and funded by the US administration. To say that the Iraqi army is ill-prepared in comparison to the American army is an understatement and goes without saying. Given the disasterous effect that the American army has had in Iraq, I don't think this bodes well for the country's future. Fortunately, on a global scale and in comparison to other states in the region, in South East Asia, Central and South America and Africa, Iraq was a comparatively peaceful country prior to the American invasion so with any luck a lot of the violence will end when these drastically underprepared and ill-informed troops leave the region and go home. I sympathise with them and their families but no more so than anyone else who has been a victim of this war. With consumer price inflation up 50% in Iraq in 2006, 30-60% unemployment when curfews are not in effect (curfews are frequently in effect and if you can’t go to work you don’t get paid - only the army are exempt as they go to work during curfews), three quarters of a million people displaced, nearly two million people, mainly women or children, in refugee camps in Syria and Jordan and with 12,000 fewer doctors than before the invasion, it’s no wonder thousands of Iraqis have volunteered to join the army. It’s not like there’s much left for them at home.

Halliburton has had 1.4 billion dollars in charges to the Pentagon rejected on the grounds that they are Unreasonable and Unsupported, according to February 2007 congressional hearings, over 10 billion dollars has been mismanaged and wasted in Iraq since the “end of the war”. 9 and a half billion dollars of US taxpayers’ money has been “lost” or is “unnaccounted for”. That makes over 20 billion dollars which I’m sure would have been better spent investing in the future of the people in Iraq rather than filling the pockets of fat people both in Iraq and Washington and I won’t even go into trying to explain away the 505 billion dollars of US taxpayers’ funds that have so far been wasted on shamefully, ineptly and embarrassingly losing this illegal and immoral war in Iraq, a war directed and funded by the US administration.

To say that the Iraqi army is ill-prepared in comparison to the American army is an understatement and goes without saying. Given the disasterous effect that the American army has had in Iraq, I don’t think this bodes well for the country’s future. Fortunately, on a global scale and in comparison to other states in the region, in South East Asia, Central and South America and Africa, Iraq was a comparatively peaceful country prior to the American invasion so with any luck a lot of the violence will end when these drastically underprepared and ill-informed troops leave the region and go home.

I sympathise with them and their families but no more so than anyone else who has been a victim of this war.

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