yeah, it's getting better all right

in the minds of the good ol' boys

Iraq's healthcare left in disarray after invasion
Sarah Boseley, health editor Wednesday January 16, 2008 The Guardian
The full extent of the destruction of Iraq's healthcare system and the devastating impact it has had on its people is documented today in a new report which indicts the allied invasion force for failing in its duty to protect medical institutions and staff.
The report, by an independent team of researchers and advisers from Iraq, the UK, the US and elsewhere, says the provision of healthcare "has become increasingly difficult" since the invasion. "Doctors and nurses have emigrated en masse, exacerbating existing staff shortages.
"The health system is in disarray owing to the lack of an institutional framework, intermittent electricity, unsafe water, and frequent violations of medical neutrality. The ministry of health and local health authorities are mostly unable to meet these huge challenges, while the activities of UN agencies and non-governmental organisations are severely limited."...............

see what i mean?
GAO questions report on Iraq
GAO Says Figures in Administration's September 'Benchmark' Report Were Unreliable
PAULINE JELINEK AP News
The Bush administration, in its last so-called Iraq "benchmark" report, used questionable financial data to assert that the Baghdad government was making progress in managing its budget, a new study says. The study released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office focused specifically on whether Iraqis were spending their capital budget, that is money for infrastructure needed to boost the country's lagging economic growth and improve poor public services.
The administration reported in its September Iraqi benchmark assessment that Iraq's central government ministries had spent 24 percent of their 2007 capital projects budget as of July 15, 2007. "This report is not consistent with Iraq's official expenditure reports," which show that the central ministries had spent only 4.4 percent of their investment budget as of August, the GAO said. It said capital projects are 90 percent of Iraq's investment budget.....

more proof (as if we needed it)

of what the hell we did. even the iraqis KNOW they can't get it together within the next few years. it will take almost forever for them to all synch. it's NOT a good thing and king george and his court are directly responsible.
Top Iraqis Pull Back From Key U.S. Goal
Reconciliation Seen Unattainable Amid Struggle for Power

By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD -- For much of this year, the U.S. military strategy in Iraq has sought to reduce violence so that politicians could bring about national reconciliation, but several top Iraqi leaders say they have lost faith in that broad goal.
Iraqi leaders argue that sectarian animosity is entrenched in the structure of their government. Instead of reconciliation, they now stress alternative and perhaps more attainable goals: streamlining the government bureaucracy, placing experienced technocrats in positions of authority and improving the dismal record of providing basic services. "I don't think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power." ............

this is a solution

if you don't like the bad news, JUST CHANGE IT TO SOME BETTER NEWS. who cares if it's the truth or not? certainly NOT the american people. they've kept their collective mouths shut for this entire administration's tragic, evil, immoral and illegal reign (of blood)

ah, perhaps millions of iraqis care though. those whose family members have been tortured and killed. those who are now refugees in foreign lands. those who are still in iraq but have no water or food or electricty. let's ask THEM how those benchmarks are coming along

Pentagon Challenges GAO's Report on Iraq

By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
The Pentagon has disputed parts of a progress report on Iraq drafted by the Government Accountability Office, and asked that some of the assessment's failing grades on key political and security benchmarks be changed before the final report is made public next week, a Defense spokesman said yesterday.
"We have provided the GAO with information which we believe will lead them to conclude that a few of the benchmark grades should be upgraded from 'not met' to 'met,' " spokesman Geoff Morrell said. He declined to specify which grades he was citing.......

and only just yesterday

several papers printed all the PROGRESS we've made in iraq. bullshite. YOU and I KNOW it. how people and there ARE some (like bill kristol par example) can sit there or stand there and claim we are making good progress (don't forget the dude, senator i believe, who said the baghdad market is JUST like being in idaho or iowa or ohio or wherever. that was one of my favorites) is beyond freedom and dignity. let's collectively WAKE UP and DEMAND JUSTICE. prosecute and hold accountable those who have committed crimes against humanity (AND the american people)

Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals
GAO Draft at Odds With White House


By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writers

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.......
"

you do know september is RIGHT around the corner

right? what happens in september? well someone is going to be releasing the analysis of how we're doing in iraq. how and if the iraqis have met the benchmarks we've set for them (nervy huh? how WE set THEIR benchmarks. well then again, WE illegally, imorally and unjustly invaded THEIR country). well believe it or not (and i KNOW it's so very hard to believe) there may be some problems



Maliki's Impact Blunted By Own Party's Fears
Hussein-Era Secrecy Persists, Analysts Say




By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD -- As the U.S. military attempts to pacify Iraq so its leaders can pursue political reconciliation, Iraqi and Western observers say Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his inner circle appear increasingly unable to pull the government out of its paralysis.
At times consumed by conspiracy theories, Maliki and his Dawa party elite operate much as they did when they plotted to overthrow Saddam Hussein -- covertly and concerned more about their community's survival than with building consensus among Iraq's warring groups, say Iraqi politicians and analysts and Western diplomats.
In recent weeks, those suspicions have deepened as U.S. military commanders have begun to work with Sunni insurgents, longtime foes of the Shiite-led government, who have agreed to battle the group al-Qaeda in Iraq...............

and i am VERY curious as to the excuses and/or bold faced lies king george and his court will be using on US once that september report is released