Trends You Don't Hear About
The Iraqi economy: GDP doubled from 2003 to 2004, and was up double digits in 2005. Inflation and unemployment have both been falling steadily. Yes, the terrorists are still at it, but in the background you will notice all those people going to work, all the new cars and all the new construction. While big companies have stayed away from Iraq, and all those nasty headlines, smaller firms have been more aggressive. Life goes on.
Iraqi Agriculture: For thousands of years, Iraq was a food exporter. But as oil became a larger part of the economy over the past half century, agriculture declined. Now, for the first time in half a century, Iraq is exporting food. Agriculture has come back big time, mainly because many of the regulations government bureaucrats have piled on farmers for decades, have been eliminated. A farmer can now make a lot of money, growing food in the most productive agriculture land in the region.
Iraqi Currency Exchange Rates: The Iraqi currency (the dinar) trades in a narrow range, against the dollar, that is controlled by the Iraqi Central Bank. For the last few years, the exchange range has been around 1,470 dinars to the dollar. But the dinar floats against other local currencies (like the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial), and has gotten stronger against both of those currencies. That's a big deal, as it means that the Iraqi economy is getting stronger, and people, in and out of, Iraq, have confidence in the Iraqi economy, and currency.
Iraqi U.S. Bases Taken Over by Iraqi Troops: Since last Fall, over fifty U.S. bases have been transferred to Iraqi control. American troops are moving to larger, consolidated, bases out in the countryside. These require fewer troops to defend, and keep U.S. troops out of sight. Iraqi soldiers and police are taking care of security in many areas where American used to do it. This is why you keep hearing reports of plans to pull most American troops out of Iraq in the next 12-18 months.
Why No One Can Trust Anyone in Ramadi
n some towns outside Iraq, like Ramadi, Sunni Arab anti-government ("bring back Saddam") groups are losing out to al Qaeda. While al Qaeda has been driven out of most Sunni Arab towns, in Ramadi, al Qaeda has concentrated its forces and is fighting the secular anti-government groups. The secular Sunni forces have been taking some heavy blows from Iraqi and Coalition forces, on the one hand, and al Qaeda on the other. Al Qaeda is trying to leverage Iraqi/Coalition success, to strengthen its own campaign to take over the anti-government activity in Ramadi, through assassinations, kidnapping, and intimidation of secular Sunni Arab anti-government leaders.
The government and Coalition commanders are not doing anything to help this process, as they go after whoever they get a lead on. There are, however, suspicions that some useful leads have been phoned in by al Qaeda. This is an old technique in military history. During World War II, the war in Yugoslavia saw the various partisan groups spending more time fighting each other, than against the Germans and Italians who were trying to control the country. Indeed, during World War II, more Yugoslavs were killed by other Yugoslavs, than by Germans and Italians. Ramadi is following the same pattern, as are other anti-government Sunni Arab cities. The Coalition and the government wants to pacify these places, but these towns are full of dozens of family, clan, mosque, tribe and gang based armed groups that hate each other more than they hate Americans or a democratically elected government. There's a blood lust that has developed in these places, a war fever that will only go away once enough of the gunmen have killed each other off.
The Best and Worst Signs I've Seen in Iraq.
U.S. Will Reinforce Troops in West Iraq
Last week, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad conceded, in answer to a question about Ramadi in an interview with CNN, that parts of Anbar were under insurgent control. Ramadi is the capital of the overwhelmingly Sunni province. The difficulties facing stretched-thin U.S. Marines in Ramadi suggest the continuing obstacles to a reduction of American forces in Iraq.
"We hope to get rid of al-Qaeda, which is a huge burden on the city. Unfortunately, Zarqawi's fist is stronger than the Americans'," said one Sunni sheik, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of insurgent retaliation. He was referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, an umbrella group for many of the foreign and local resistance fighters in Iraq. Local Sunni leaders often insist that the most violent insurgent attacks are by foreign fighters, not Iraqi Sunnis.
The U.S. military said Monday it was deploying the main reserve fighting force for Iraq, a full 3,500-member armored brigade, as emergency reinforcements for the embattled western province of Anbar, where a surge of violence linked to the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has severely damaged efforts to turn Sunni Arab tribal leaders against the insurgency. God bless you , Holly & all your commrades.
Lost in translation
What is wrong with the likes of cnn and google, et al?? Are these just bureaucratic snafoos and evidence of poor judgement or does the word 'traitor' need to come back into the debate?
Many thanks to the Mudville Gazette for all they do.
