phknrocket1k's personal thread for posting long articles about Iraq

[phk]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4659287.stm

Iranians to train Iraq's military

Saadoun al-Dulaimi
Mr Dulaimi is on his first official visit to the Islamic Republic
Former enemies Iran and Iraq say they will launch broad military co-operation including training Iraqi armed forces.

"It's a new chapter in our relations with Iraq," said Iranian Defence Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani.

He was speaking at a joint news conference in Tehran with his Iraqi counterpart Saadoun al-Dulaimi.

Relations between the neighbours - who fought a bitter war from 1980 to 1988 - have improved greatly since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

This is the first visit to Iran by an Iraqi military delegation since the war, in which a million people died, started.
   
We have come to our Iranian brothers to ask them for help
Saadoun al-Dulaimi

The promise of co-operation comes despite repeated accusations by the US - which has about 140,000 troops in Iraq - that Iran has been undermining security there.

"No one can prevent us from reaching an agreement," Mr Shamkhani said when asked about possible US opposition.

Forgiveness

Mr Dulaimi echoed his Iranian counterpart's view about a new era of Iranian-Iraqi ties.

"I have come to Iran to ask forgiveness for what Saddam Hussein has done. The same has to be done with Kuwait and all Saddam Hussein's victims," he told the news conference.

Iranian special forces

Iran has one of the largest armed forces in the region
Tehran has asked Baghdad not to allow the US to establish long-term military bases on its soil, fearing that it would consolidate what Iranians see as the American and Israeli military domination of the region.

But Mr Dulaimi insisted that foreign troops were needed to ensure Iraqi security.

He added: "Iraq will not be a source of insecurity and instability for any of its neighbours. Nobody can use [Iraqi territory] to attack its neighbours."

Sensitive issues

Among other areas of co-operation, Mr Shamkhani listed mine clearance, anti-terrorism, identifying those still missing from the Iran-Iraq war and training and re-equipping the Iraqi army.

The two ministers said more sensitive issues such as a full peace treaty and war reparations were still a long way from being resolved.

"We have come to our Iranian brothers to ask them for help and we have not yet started on the more sensitive issues," Mr Dulaimi said.

In May Iran's foreign minister promised to tighten security on the two countries' border on his first visit to Baghdad.

An Iraqi government delegation headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is expected to visit Tehran next week.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I long ago said we were replacing Iraq and Iran with 2 Irans.

[phk]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Insurgents have infiltrated the Iraqi police forces, according to an official US report that nevertheless assessed the results of US-run police training programs as a "qualified success."

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"Although Iraqi police are not able to provide security throughout the country, coalition training programs have achieved qualified success," said the report by the     Department of Defense and State Department inspector generals, written after a six-member team spent five weeks reviewing training programs in Jordan and     Iraq earlier this year.

Signs of success include "good performance" of Iraqi police during January elections, their increased visibility on the streets and surveys showing that Iraqis have more confidence in and greater respect for their police force than formerly.

But "recruitment and vetting procedures are faulty," the report said in a section titled "Key Judgments."

"Despite recent improvements, too many recruits are marginally illiterate; some show up for training with criminal records or physical handicaps; and some recruits allegedly are infiltrating insurgents."

Coalition forces established training centers in May 2004 with the goal of putting together a modern 135,000-strong Iraqi Police Service by the end of 2006.

"Inducting criminals into the IPS is a continual concern," the report said.

"Even more troubling is infiltration by intending terrorists or insurgents. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that such persons indeed are among the ranks of the IPS," it said.

A State Department official expressed certainty that insurgents have infiltrated the Iraqi police force.

"I know that it happens. People indicated that they have seen it happen. But to what level? I don't know," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The report cites several factors that lead to loopholes in the system: an emphasis on recruit numbers over performance, a limited budget, and underuse of input from the Iraqi government.

"Iraqi Ministry of Interior and IPS officials contend that Iraqis are better able to screen candidates than are coalition military personnel. The IG (Inspectors General) Team agrees," the report said.

The report carries 30 recommendations, centering on increasing Iraqi government participation in training and freeing more funding to expand training currently limited to eight weeks.

By July 18, 63,500 police had participated in coalition training programs. The budget of the operation hit 723 million dollars in 2004 and is likely to surpass 510 million dollars in 2005. The State Department and     Pentagon have requested 566 million dollars for 2006.

[semissou]

phknrocket1k,

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say this article title just cut off before the whole part of the study reasserting the effectiveness of the US-run police training program because otherwise you'd be intellectually dishonest, which I'm sure you're not.

This was bound to happen. Anyone who disagrees is crazy. The terrorists made it into the police force - this could have been easily solved with computer background checks to see what library books they've checked out! Beware of the ones picking up "Insurgency for Dummies"!!

Zzz...

semi

[phk]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050805/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_shiites

NAJAF, Iraq - The Iraqi prime minister said Friday that the country's leading Shiite Muslim cleric hopes the constitution being drawn up will enshrine Islam as the main source of legislation — something opposed by Kurds and some Iraqi women activists.
    
A younger radical Shiite cleric, meanwhile, urged Iraqis to participate in the constitutional process but added that he personally would not vote in elections planned for year's end because of the presence of foreign troops.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari commented on the constitution after spending nearly two hours with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential cleric in the Shiite Muslim community, which makes up 60 percent of
Iraq's population.

The two were believed to have talked about recent developments ahead of Sunday's meeting of political leaders from Iraq's various communities to try to resolve differences over the charter.

The proposed constitution is supposed to be presented to the National Assembly by Aug. 15 so legislators can debate its final wording. A referendum on the charter would be held by mid-October, and approval would lead to national elections by mid-December.

Al-Jaafari later met with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has toned down his opposition to the U.S.-led coalition since his supporters staged a failed uprising last year, and Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, one of four Shiite grand ayatollahs but who does not have a high profile politically.

After that meeting, al-Jaafari was asked whether al-Sistani wants Islam to be the main source of legislation or one of the sources.

"Ayatollah al-Sistani does not want to impose dictation on drafting the constitution, but according to my knowledge he hopes that Islam become the main source of legislation," al-Jaafari replied.

Al-Sadr also told reporters that every Iraqi should be involved in the constitutional process, although he added that he would not participate in the planned Dec. 15 elections.

"I will not take part in the presence of occupiers, but I will give the freedom to whoever wants to join," he said.

The key points of disagreement on the constitution include the role of Islam, Iraq's identity, federalism and the country's language.

Another point of debate is the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, where
Saddam Hussein's regime displaced thousands of Kurds and replaced them with Arabs in the 1980s.

Al-Jaafari said the Kirkuk issue should be solved according to Article 58 of the interim constitution. That says all Iraqis, including Kurds, have the right to return to their homes and receive compensation.

Talking about the voting process, Al-Jaafari said he and al-Sistani support making each of Iraq's 18 provinces a separate constituency — unlike the election in January in which everyone nationwide voted on the same lists of candidates.

Critics complained that a single nationwide vote meant people did not know the candidates.

Some people also argued that the system enabled the Kurds to win more representation than they should have based on their share of the population. The Kurds, who make up 10 percent-15 percent of the population, won 75 of the 275 seats in parliament — or more than 25 percent.

[phk]

Islamic Law Controls the Streets of Basra

Louise Roug
Los Angeles Times
June 27, 2005

BASRA, Iraq - Physicians have been beaten for treating female patients. Liquor salesmen have been killed. Even barbers have faced threats for giving haircuts judged too short or too fashionable.

Religion rules the streets of this once cosmopolitan city, where women no longer dare go out uncovered.

"We can't sing in public anymore," said Hussin Nimma, a popular singer from the south. "It's ironic. We thought that with the change of the regime, people would be more open to singing, art and poetry."

Unmarked cars cruise the streets, carrying armed, plain-clothed enforcers of Islamic law. Who they are or answer to is unclear, but residents believe they are part of a battle for Basra's soul.

In the spring, Shiite and Sunni Muslim officials were killed in a series of assassinations here, and residents feared their city would fall prey to the kind of sectarian violence ailing the rest of the country.

Instead, conservative Shiite Islamic parties have solidified their grip, fully institutionalizing their power in a city where the Shiite majority had long been persecuted by the Sunni-dominated rule of Saddam Hussein.

Although eager to distance themselves from the militias, Shiite religious parties now control both the streets and the council chambers. And though Basra has not suffered the same level of bombings and assassinations as major cities to the north, the trade-off for law and order appears to be a crackdown on social practices and mores that were permissible under the secular, if repressive, regime of Hussein.

In a sign of Basra's strategic and symbolic importance, Abdelaziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a leading Shiite party, visited the city this month. Thousands of residents watched as the former commander of SCIRI's paramilitary force released 18 white doves representing peace.

But peace in Basra, Iraq's second most populous city, has come at a cost.

A few weeks ago, the Basra police chief acknowledged that he'd lost control of his 13,000-strong force to Shiite militiamen who joined up. He was removed from his job. His replacement is rumored to be Lt. Col. Salam Badran, who is affiliated with SCIRI.

Some residents believe many members of the SCIRI-affiliated paramilitary force, the Badr Brigade, have signed on to the Basra police force, and that brigade members give first loyalty to the party.

"The militias are more powerful than the police," said Saba Shedar, a goldsmith. The man who brings home a bottle of liquor or the woman without a veil both risk beatings, he said. Merchants who kept their shops open well into the night now close at sunset out of fear.

"This is the democracy of 2005," Shedar said. "We expected improvement, but now there's no freedom in the streets for the women. People are afraid."

The militiamen carry out political assassinations and dole out punishment for alleged religious infractions, residents say.

Local SCIRI officials deny any participation in the clandestine killings and emphasize their party's involvement in the political process. The Badr militia's most important job is setting an example of virtuous conduct, said Furat Sharza, a SCIRI representative.

"Badr people can educate others," Sharza said. "The role of Badr in Basra -- whether in security or other area -- is big, vital."

National Shiite leaders have said militias would not be disbanded, affronting Sunnis who believe they are targets of vengeance by Shiites who were brutally repressed under Hussein's Sunni-run regime.

In restaurants, people now talk of the trade-off of militia influence.

"Security is good in part because the militia is effective," said Saad Hussein, a visitor from Baghdad. "You must give them a power to fight the terrorists, but it has to be a limited power. If it's unlimited, they'll use it against the society. It's a difficult balance."

A local businessman who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal compared the current strict rule to life under Hussein.

"The same thing is happening now," he said. "During Saddam, we had the secret police. Now it's coming again. If you say something bad, they shoot you in the night."

Although you need a strong police force, he said, "they have to be for the government, not for the political parties."

On the Basra provincial council, 35 of the 41 members are affiliated with Islamic Shiite groups. The governor is a member of a local political party connected to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. Stickers and posters of the cleric dominate the walls inside the provincial government building.

Just a few months ago, militiamen loyal to Sadr beat students at a picnic in Andalus Park, allegedly because men and women were singing and dancing together. Police stood and watched.

Sadr's Mahdi militia clashed with troops of the U.S.-led coalition last year in Basra, Baghdad and in the holy city of Najaf. But Sadr has since agreed to disarm the militia, reportedly to reinvent himself as a mainstream politician.

"We don't have any kind of relationship with [the militias] or with the hands that are moving them," said Abu Zehra Mayahi, a Sadr representative. "We have good relations with other groups. Political representation on the council includes Christians, Sunnis, Shiites."

Sabah Sudani, the deputy director of the Basra Chamber of Commerce, has no quarrels with the militias. After all, he said, there's little foreign investment without security.

While the ouster of Hussein brought optimism to Basra, residents complain that even with good security there has been little foreign investment and few public projects to improve the city's infrastructure and create jobs.

That may soon change. Iraqi Airways began flying this month between Baghdad and Basra, connecting businessmen in the capital with the city that borders Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. About to arrive are United Nations representatives, and with them probably the World Bank and the prospect of international investment.

Despite the increasing prohibitions on such activities as drinking and singing, tourists will also come to the city, Sudani predicted.

The view from the edge of the Shatt al Arab waterway had a pleasing postcard quality.

Swallows skipped along the water's surface. Fishermen mended their nets. A knock-off plaster Mickey Mouse -- his nose too pointy -- stood guard at a now-closed carnival, the Ferris wheel frozen. Nearby, a family dried laundry amid the rubble of a former casino.

His own bait overlooked, Abdul Kareem watched his son pull fish from the river.

The river, green like jade, is unchanged but the city is different, Kareem said.

Lovers used to be drawn here at night, he remembered. "Girlfriends, wives -- nobody asked," he said. "Now, no one dares."

He sighed at the memory of nightclubs now closed, and girls without veils.

"Freedom," he said.

[opebo]

Bring Back Saddam!

[phk]

Shiites Call for Own State in South
Religious Party's Demand Casts New Doubt on Constitution


By Saad Sarhan and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, August 12, 2005; A13


NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 11 -- Waving posters of Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, thousands of chanting Shiite Muslims signaled approval for a call Thursday by their leaders for a separate Shiite federal state in central and southern Iraq.

The demand by one of the government's dominant Shiite religious parties, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, came five days before a draft of Iraq's new constitution is due. The call, which triggered immediate protests by Sunni Muslim leaders and some Shiite officials, capped increasingly assertive moves by the party to influence the new Iraq as it takes shape.

"What have we gotten from the central government but death?" Hadi Amiri, leader of an Iranian-trained Shiite militia that is the party's private security contractor, demanded at a rally attended by thousands at a stadium here in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

"We must not miss this chance," said the party's leader, Abdul Aziz Hakim, dressed in robes and turban. Hakim described "one federal state in central and southern Iraq, an area of shared bonds and one social fabric."

An Iranian-influenced Shiite state in the south would be contrary to what U.S. leaders hoped for when they invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003. A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad on Wednesday identified relations with Iran as the biggest long-term challenge facing Iraq's central government.

In Baghdad on Thursday, political leaders representing Shiites, Sunnis, ethnic Kurds, secular Iraqis and other interests wrestled again over the issue of federalism and other disputes blocking the completion of a draft constitution. The draft is due Monday.

Under the interim constitution now governing Iraq, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari's government and the parliament must dissolve if Monday's deadline is missed. Elections would then be held to elect a new parliament that would take another try at drafting the charter.

U.S. and Iraqi leaders have warned that instability and political violence -- including attacks by an insurgency composed of Iraqi and foreign Sunnis that has claimed thousands of lives since Jafari's government took power April 28 -- will likely increase if politicians miss Monday's deadline.

U.S. officials have pushed Iraqis to build up their government and security forces quickly so that the 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq can withdraw as soon as possible. While keeping up the pressure, U.S. officials have sounded much less hopeful about the constitution deadline in recent days.

Some Iraqi leaders say they believe time is too short to settle the disputes blocking the constitution. They have suggested a range of options, including passing a truncated charter that leaves the difficult issues for later, or changing the ground rules to allow Jafari's government to remain in power while the issues are debated.

Iraq's political blocs and constitution writers have largely agreed in principle to some kind of separate federal state for the Kurdish north. Kurds, historically persecuted by Iraq's dominant Arab population, have enjoyed a large measure of autonomy, originally under the protection of a no-fly zone set up after the 1991 Persian Gulf War and enforced by the U.S. and British militaries.

But Sunni Arabs, striving to preserve the centralized form of government they dominated for decades, have adamantly opposed a separate Shiite state. That would split Iraq and risk putting the oil-rich south under the influence of neighboring, Shiite-led Iran, Sunni opponents say.

"This was a shock," Salih Mutlak, the most vocal Sunni on the committee drafting Iraq's constitution, said Thursday after the Najaf rally. "You are giving Iraq to the Iranians."

"We hoped this day would never come," Mutlak separately told the Reuters news agency. "We believe that the Arabs, whether Sunni or Shiite, are one. We totally reject any attempt to stir up sectarian issues to divide Iraq."

The spokesman for Jafari, whose Shiite Dawa party is both government partner and political rival with the Supreme Council, also rejected Thursday's call. "The idea of a Shiite region is unacceptable to us," Laith Kubba told Reuters.

The Supreme Council has given few specific proposals on how federalism would work in the south. Backers have said one key goal is bringing southern oil fields under local control.

By including central Iraq, Hakim's and Amiri's demands went beyond a southern-based proposal to merge three provinces into a federal region. The proposed state, reaching from the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf to Basra, the main southern city, would have a mostly Shiite population consisting of nearly half of Iraq's 26 million people.

In his remarks Thursday, Hakim stressed what he called the necessity of upholding Islamic law in Iraq.

The Supreme Council and its ministers in Iraq's government already have exerted their influence in recent weeks, banning alcohol sales at Baghdad's airport as un-Islamic. They also used the ex-militia forces to shut down much of Baghdad last week for a memorial for Hakim's brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir Hakim, who was killed by a car bomb two years ago.

Thursday's rally in Najaf was a continuance of the commemoration.

Supreme Council supporters clasped posters of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a cleric revered by Iraqi Shiites and one of the country's most influential figures. Mourners also held posters of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Khomeini and plastered their likenesses on walls around town.

Sistani and other prominent Shiite religious and political figures have not rallied to the idea of separate states under federalism. Moqtada Sadr, a popular Shiite cleric, told The Washington Post in a statement late last month that consideration of federalism should be put off for now. Sistani has urged a unified Iraq, although Jafari quoted him as saying in recent weeks that he was not opposed to federalism.

Separately Thursday, what have been daily political killings claimed the lives of three Iraqi soldiers, an Iraqi military intelligence official and a worshiper going to prayers at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, as well as an interpreter working with U.S. forces in the northern city of Kirkuk. The U.S. military reported that a Marine was killed by a bomb near the western city of Ramadi.

Knickmeyer reported from Baghdad.

[Cubby]

I support changing Iraq's borders. Europe and America are so hypocritical to always whine about the supposed horrors of colonialism yet we NEVER change national boundaries to rectify the supposed mistakes of that era. Its time we did so. Note also that almost all African boundaries today are unchanged from the Berlin Conference in 1885.

[opebo]

I wish Saddam were still in power to put those nasty Shiites in their place.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I support changing Iraq's borders. Europe and America are so hypocritical to always whine about the supposed horrors of colonialism yet we NEVER change national boundaries to rectify the supposed mistakes of that era. Its time we did so. Note also that almost all African boundaries today are unchanged from the Berlin Conference in 1885.

The problem with Africa is all the governments (mostly dictatorships) won't let the borders be changed to more logical ones now. However in the case of Iraq, yes it should be split. There is no reason for Iraq to exist, it is the Yugoslavia of the Middle East.

[Lunar]

I support changing Iraq's borders. Europe and America are so hypocritical to always whine about the supposed horrors of colonialism yet we NEVER change national boundaries to rectify the supposed mistakes of that era. Its time we did so. Note also that almost all African boundaries today are unchanged from the Berlin Conference in 1885.

America and Europe don't really profit from the arbitrary borders these days.  The problem is that the regimes in the respective countries DO (otherwise, they wouldn't be in power), and it would take military force, and well, colonialism to 'rectify' what was done.

About the topic thread: When haven't SOME Shiites been calling for an independent state in the last two years?

[Beet]

I always thought it was a shame that a tiny oil rich kingdom should deny a much larger mass of people not only badly needed oil but the majority of its short coastline.



How did this come about?

[Huckleberry Finn]

The Federation of Iraq would be fine. It wouldn't be first Arab-federation. United Arab Emirates is a different story though.

[phk]

Three Autonomous Sunni, Shia and Kurd areas.

[KEmperor]

They want a state in the south?  Lets give them Mississippi.

[phk]

South Carolina instead, thier flag already looks Middle Eastern.

[Defarge]

*cradles face in hands*
The fools, the poor fools...

[opebo]

*cradles face in hands*
The fools, the poor fools...

Which fools?  The Shiites for their impertinence or the Americans who caused the whole problem in the first place?

[phk]

Well.. opebo.. wouldn't you want to seperate the religous into thier own country? Thats why I support them in seeking thier own state.

[phk]

U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq
Administration Is Shedding 'Unreality' That Dominated Invasion, Official Says


By Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 14, 2005; A01


The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Administration officials still emphasize how much they have achieved despite the chaos that followed the invasion and the escalating insurgency. "Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said yesterday in his radio address.

Iraqi officials yesterday struggled to agree on a draft constitution by a deadline of tomorrow so the document can be submitted to a vote in October. The political transition would be completed in December by elections for a permanent government.

But the realities of daily life are a constant reminder of how the initial U.S. ambitions have not been fulfilled in ways that Americans and Iraqis once anticipated. Many of Baghdad's 6 million people go without electricity for days in 120-degree heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors.

Barbers post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed by religious extremists. Ethnic or religious-based militias police the northern and southern portions of Iraq. Analysts estimate that in the whole of Iraq, unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent.

U.S. officials say no turning point forced a reassessment. "It happened rather gradually," said the senior official, triggered by everything from the insurgency to shifting budgets to U.S. personnel changes in Baghdad.

The ferocious debate over a new constitution has particularly driven home the gap between the original U.S. goals and the realities after almost 28 months. The U.S. decision to invade Iraq was justified in part by the goal of establishing a secular and modern Iraq that honors human rights and unites disparate ethnic and religious communities.

But whatever the outcome on specific disputes, the document on which Iraq's future is to be built will require laws to be compliant with Islam. Kurds and Shiites are expecting de facto long-term political privileges. And women's rights will not be as firmly entrenched as Washington has tried to insist, U.S. officials and Iraq analysts say.

"We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic," said another U.S. official familiar with policymaking from the beginning, who like some others interviewed would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. "That process is being repeated all over."

U.S. officials now acknowledge that they misread the strength of the sentiment among Kurds and Shiites to create a special status. The Shiites' request this month for autonomy to be guaranteed in the constitution stunned the Bush administration, even after more than two years of intense intervention in Iraq's political process, they said.

"We didn't calculate the depths of feeling in both the Kurdish and Shiite communities for a winner-take-all attitude," said Judith S. Yaphe, a former CIA Iraq analyst at the National Defense University.

In the race to meet a sequence of fall deadlines, the process of forging national unity behind the constitution is largely being scrapped, current and former officials involved in the transition said.

"We are definitely cutting corners and lowering our ambitions in democracy building," said Larry Diamond, a Stanford University democracy expert who worked with the U.S. occupation government and wrote the book "Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq."

"Under pressure to get a constitution done, they've lowered their own ambitions in terms of getting a document that is going to be very far-reaching and democratic. We also don't have the time to go through the process we envisioned when we wrote the interim constitution -- to build a democratic culture and consensus through debate over a permanent constitution," he said.

The goal now is to ensure a constitution that can be easily amended later so Iraq can grow into a democracy, U.S. officials say.

On security, the administration originally expected the U.S.-led coalition to be welcomed with rice and rosewater, traditional Arab greetings, with only a limited reaction from loyalists of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The surprising scope of the insurgency and influx of foreign fighters has forced Washington to repeatedly lower expectations -- about the time-frame for quelling the insurgency and creating an effective and cohesive Iraqi force capable of stepping in, U.S. officials said.

Killings of members of the Iraqi security force have tripled since January. Iraq's ministry of health estimates that bombings and other attacks have killed 4,000 civilians in Baghdad since Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari's interim government took office April 28.

Last week was the fourth-worst week of the whole war for U.S. military deaths in combat, and August already is the worst month for deaths of members of the National Guard and Reserve.

Attacks on U.S. convoys by insurgents using roadside bombs have doubled over the past year, Army Brig. Gen. Yves Fontaine said Friday. Convoys ferrying food, fuel, water, arms and equipment from Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey are attacked about 30 times a week, Fontaine said.

"There has been a realistic reassessment of what it is possible to achieve in the short term and fashion a partial exit strategy," Yaphe said. "This change is dictated not just by events on the ground but by unrealistic expectations at the start."

Washington now does not expect to fully defeat the insurgency before departing, but instead to diminish it, officials and analysts said. There is also growing talk of turning over security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces even if they are not fully up to original U.S. expectations, in part because they have local legitimacy that U.S. troops often do not.

"We've said we won't leave a day before it's necessary. But necessary is the key word -- necessary for them or for us? When we finally depart, it will probably be for us," a U.S. official said.

Pressed by the cost of fighting an escalating insurgency, U.S. expectations for rebuilding Iraq -- and its $20 billion investment -- have fallen the farthest, current and former officials say.

Pentagon officials originally envisioned Iraq's oil revenue paying many post-invasion expenses. But Iraq, ranked among world leaders behind Saudi Arabia in proven oil reserves, is incapable of producing enough refined fuel amid a car-buying boom that has put an estimated 1 million more vehicles on the road after the invasion. Lines for subsidized cheap gas stretch for miles every day in Baghdad.

Oil production is estimated at 2.22 million barrels a day, short of the goal of 2.5 million. Iraq's pre-war high was 2.67 million barrels a day.

The United States had high hopes of quick, big-budget fixes for the electrical power system that would show Iraqis tangible benefits from the ouster of Hussein. But inadequate training for Iraqi staff, regional rivalries restricting the power flow to Baghdad, inadequate fuel for electrical generators and attacks on the infrastructure have contributed to the worst summer of electrical shortages in the capital.

Water is also a "tough, tough" situation in a desert country, said a U.S. official in Baghdad familiar with reconstruction issues. Pumping stations depend on electricity, and engineers now say the system has hundreds of thousands of leaks.

"The most thoroughly dashed expectation was the ability to build a robust self-sustaining economy. We're nowhere near that. State industries, electricity are all below what they were before we got there," said Wayne White, former head of the State Department's Iraq intelligence team who is now at the Middle East Institute. "The administration says Saddam ran down the country. But most damage was from looting [after the invasion], which took down state industries, large private manufacturing, the national electric" system.

Ironically, White said, the initial ambitions may have complicated the U.S. mission: "In order to get out earlier, expectations are going to have to be lower, even much lower. The higher your expectation, the longer you have to stay. Getting out is going to be a more important consideration than the original goals were. They were unrealistic."

Knickmeyer reported from Baghdad.

[opebo]

Well.. opebo.. wouldn't you want to seperate the religous into thier own country? Thats why I support them in seeking thier own state.

No, I preferred having them tortured and subjugated by Saddam.

[John Dibble]

Well.. opebo.. wouldn't you want to seperate the religous into thier own country? Thats why I support them in seeking thier own state.

No, I preferred having them tortured and subjugated by Saddam.

Such intolerance from one who claims to be tolerant.

[WMS]

I always thought it was a shame that a tiny oil rich kingdom should deny a much larger mass of people not only badly needed oil but the majority of its short coastline.



How did this come about?

IIRC...

The Brits swiped what is now Kuwait from the Ottomans before WWI, and ran it as their own colony. So by the time the U.K. took over Iraq after WWI, there was already an administrative separation of the two areas, with different local puppet regimes. Colonialism, basically.

Note: this is all from memory so if details are wrong, that's why.

[The Dowager Mod]

Turkey would never allow an independant Kurdistan.