A sad bit of trivia popped up in the news today.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. military deaths from hostile fire in Iraq (news - web sites) have reached a grim landmark with the post-war toll surpassing the number of troops killed during the invasion itself.

Now a lot of people are going to tell you that this is significant. I’m going to tell you that it was inevitable and the administration told you this in the very beginning. Do you remember back before the invasion how we were told that the urban street fighting would be the hardest part and the part where the risk of casualties was the greatest? That’s where we are right now.

I know, you envisioned the urban combat to be more conventional like with the US and UK military still in full combat mode. I did too and I believe so did the military, still just because we thought the enemy would use a certain tactic during this phase of the war to defend Baghdad that doesn’t mean that he had to use that tactic. The enemy is using the tactic of a terrorist. That really shouldn’t surprise us either. Isn’t this suppose to be a war on terrorism?

This is fascinating tale. The interesting part to me is the talk of how Uday and Qusay were organizing resistance. They were killed in northern Iraq which was not suppose to be an area particularly fond of their regime.

Since the topple of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq we are seeing that country move toward a western style democracy. There have been some stumbles but with the implementation of just five little things the US/UK coalition will help the Iraqi’s become a world class democracy:

1. The first thing that the US military to see that a Democracy is ensured is doing is making sure the airwaves are sending out the proper messages to the people of Iraq. Control of the airwaves is essential for this.
2. There is also a need to stop the violence in the streets and make sure that all Iraqis are safe by controlling who has firearms.
3. Housing must be found for our soldiers who are keeping the peace in Iraq until an Iraqi democracy is formed.
4. Of course it goes without saying that we must have full cooperation in our search for and seizure of weapons of mass destruction and we must not be restrained from searching anywhere for evidence that could lead us to those items that we seek.
5. Iraq’s oil revenues must be confiscated by the US/UK forces for the time being to pay for the rebuilding of the infrasturcture of Iraq and to see that the money is used for the good of the Iraqi people.

I suppose we could come up with five more but this is a good start toward a democracy.

Stupidity and incompetence does much more to damage the United State’s reputation abroad than any secret imperialistic designs. For Pete’s sake, haul the stuff off into the desert to get rid of it. Keeping this stuff around the civilian population can only lead to opportunities for mischief.

	QUSAY SADDAM HUSAYN AL-TIKRITI Special Security Organization (SSO) Supervisor/Ba’th Party Military Bureau Deputy Chairman

Want a deck of those Iraqi playing cards? Lord knows I’ve been inundated with enough spam offereing those cards that some folks out there must be wanting them. Well, you don’t have to give those spammers any of your money to get the cards. Print them yourself by downloading the deck from the Department of Defense website.

My brother is in the printing business, I think I’ll see if he’ll print up a few decks for me. Heck, with his equipment he would have to print up a few thousand decks to make it worthwhile to even begin. Maybe I’ll get him to go into the playing card business with me. If we hurry we can just make the last couple of days of demand for these cards.

This is going around a few other places but I felt compelled to comment on it also. Eason Jordan gives us a very good reason of why the lives of a few often must be sacrificed for the lives of many. It isn’t something that any one wants on their hands but sometimes our actions of protecting a few acquantances has the consequence of putting an entire country in jeapordy.

Dear Raed is a blog published from Bahgdad. It’s still being updated. Todays entry made me stop and think.

On BBC we are watching scenes of Iraqis surrendering. My youngest cousin was muttering "what shame" to himself, yes it is better for them to do that but still seeing them carrying that white flag makes something deep inside you cringe.

I don’t think Salam Pax, the owner of the blog, wants to see the Iraqi army engage the Coalition forces but I can understand how seeing his fellow countrymen surrendering could not set well with him. I feel for their self-esteem after this.

I expect bombs to be dropping over Baghdad in the next few hours and once that hammer drops I will not be commenting on things concerning Iraq as far as whether or not I am supporting this action. Under war conditions I will always be in support of actions that will result in as few of my fellow citizens being killed as possible. I will also be in support of any actions that will result in as few enemy casualties as possible. The only way I see that being done is by the use of an overwhelming force applied both quickly and violently.

I believe that all this could have been avoide about a year ago. I don’t believe that it is necessary for our country to disarm Iraq but I do believe that once we talked the UN into demanding that Iraq disarm we no longer had a choice to accept anything but cooperation and disarmement from Iraq. Once an ultimatum is given I believe that it must be followed through on or one’s credibility suffers.

Credibility is important to me. The US’s credibility has suffered too much in the past. We haven’t lived up to commitments that we have made and we’ve made too many deals to support corrupt and abusive regimes in return for their support of our policy. We can’t continue doing this and we can’t allow our past indescretions to prevent us from being the nation the rest of the world expects us to be. I want us wearing the white hat again and the only way I see that happening is by following through with our commitments. The part about not supporting corrupt and abusive regimes is a little more difficult for the simple reason that the terms corrupt and abusive are so subjective but we have to watch the company we keep.

I also believe this whole war could have been avoided had France not been so adamant about not allowing a credible threat of "serious reprecussions" to exist. As long as France was threatening to not allow military force against Iraq then there was no reason for Iraq to cooperate with being disarmed. I know Russia and China was taking a similar stand but it’s France’s position, a western country, that gave Iraq hope of keeping their weapons. France’s method of calling for peace is going to cause a lot of blood to flow.

Most of all, I lay the blame for this war on Saddam Hussein. This man has no love for his country. He is willing to sacrifice the citizens of his country just to maintain power there. The man is a thug and a true danger to the rest of the world as long as he remains in power. I know these same allegations have been leveled against G.W. Bush but at least he can be removed from power if he oversteps what his people will accept at the next election, Hussein will stay in power as long as he can hold it.

I am not a G.W. Bush fan. I was very disappointed with the choices I had during the last election and I’m not happy with the way that Bush’s cabinet is using terrorism to whittle away at personal freedoms in this country. Still, I’m convinced that had Gore won the election things would be just as bad on the domestic front and possibly worse in the international arena. However, now that we are where we are I’m supportive of Bush’s actions. I’m suspect of his motivations. I’d love to believe that this is about ridding the region of an abusive despot but I’m not kidding myself. This is about regional stability, something that I don’t believe that this war will result in.

So that’s where I stand. I’ll go quite on opinions concerning Iraq for now, after this is all over I’ll probably start talking again but for now just consider anything that our military does to end the war quickly and with as little loss of life, on both sides, as possible to be alright by me.

Let’s get it on.

I’m not sure I’m ready for this but it does make sense; a marketing analysis of the upcoming war and the need for branding.

Shelley has posted here predictions of the way things will be in Iraq after the war and Dan has put out a request for predictions. I’m not much on making predictions because they can make one look soooo stupid after the fact. However, I can’t resist taking on Dan’s list.

• The Kurds.

While the word coming out of Washington is that their desire is for Iraq to remain a monolithic country I can’t help but see an Iraq without Sadam resulting the northern section of Iraq becoming Kurdistan. Regardless of the form the new government will take it isn’t going to be strong enough to keep the Kurds as a part of the nation.

• The liberalization movement in Iran.

This could be interesting. I don’t see the fall of the current Iraqi regime strengthening the liberalization of Iran but I don’t necessarily see it weakening it.

• Jordan’s position as sometime peacemaker in that region, especially with
  respect to attitudes of Jordan around the Iraq invasion of Kuwait..

I don’t see attitudes regarding Jordan changing substantially.

• The government of Saudi Arabia.

Our next bad guy in the Middle East? The royal family in SA may be friendly toward us but their loyal subjects don’t like the US at all. Look at the nationalities of the 9/11 terrorist and the captured members of al Qaada. I don’t see the US maintaining airbases in SA once Hussein is gone.

• The new government of Iraq, possibly in several parts.

Aside from Kurdistan forming in the north I expect to see the Shi’ites in the south to want autonomy and their own country. It is possible that they will attempt to align themselves with Iran since most of them see themselves as Persian rather than Arab.

• Evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and revelations
  about who really used gas in Halabja.

I have no doubt that weapons will be found, most likely as residue on our troops. As far as the gassing of the Kurd’s in Halabja, I do not doubt that it was Iraq that used the gas. I also have no doubt that it was the Iranians that were Iraq’s primary target, not their Kurdish citizens. I also believe that that does not matter in the claim that “Iraq gassed their own people” because the Iraqi military knew that by using gas on the Iranians they would also be using gas on their own people and they did not care, they used it anyway.

• Israel’s moral credibilility (and if I hear one more “the ragheads
  are your enemy too” ad from the American Jewish whatever I’m gonna
  scream).

This is one of those opinions that will get one marked as a zionist or an anti-semite, regardless of what one says. In my opinion, neither the Israeli government nor any of the half-dozen Palestinian organizations that claim to represent the Palestinian people have any moral credibility with me now and I don’t see how things in Iraq is going to change that.

• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

See above. It won’t change a thing.

• The price of oil, Halliburton stock, and whatever other economic
  cynicism you want to play with.

Anyone who believes that anything will affect the price of oil other than the worldwide supply hasn’t watched things very closely. This damn war on Iraq has diverted our eyes from what is happening in Venezuala and that is where our current oil shortage is stemming from.

Now, if Hussein blows up his oilfields then we are going to see a drop in supply of Iraqi oil. How much of the world’s supply of oil is currently coming from Iraq? Not much. I can’t find any current stats on this right now but Iraq’s oil potential is tremendous, they just haven’t ever done much with it. War and sanctions does that to a nation’s oil productivity.

Haliburton stock? I don’t see a change.

I doubt these predictions will prove very accurate but that’s the way I see things play out as far as Dan’s list goes. One thing he didn’t ask that I’d like to comment on is that I don’t believe we will see a very long drawn out occupation of Iraq and I don’t see the US taking control of Iraq’s oil fields past the time of putting out fires and removing booby-traps. That is why I don’t see a change in Haliburton stock, unless people have bid up the stock thinking Haliburton is going to take personal control of Iraq.