Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.
TOP TOPICS
- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice pushed Iraqi leaders to pick a governing coalition, although she emphasized the U.S. desire not to interfere in the Iraqi government. That desire apparently did not extend to preventing President Bush from sending a letter to the Shiite coalition objecting to a second term for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. It would appear al-Jaafari is losing support even within his own party, as a member of the UIA has called on him to step down to allow the process to move forward.
- Winds of Change's Bill Roggio takes a look at the center of gravity for the insurgency and the battle for Baghdad.
Other Topics Today Include: insurgency conference in Beirut; Iraqi neighborhood watch; U.S. helicopter shot down; U.S. bases to remain in Iraq(?); World Bank looks at opening in Baghdad; reconstruction dollars running out; Carnival of the Liberated; Carroll returns home; pressure grows for British withdrawal.
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
- Wretchard takes a look at an insurgent conference held in Beirut and what it says about the state of the insurgency.
- Iraqis are taking their defense into their own hands, creating neighborhood watch programs to defend themselves from militas and government commandos alike.
- Iraqi insurgents downed a U.S. AH-64D helicopter west of Youssifiyah during combat operations, killing both pilots. Along with the deaths of two U.S. Soldiers to a roadside bomb in central Baghdad, April got off to a bad start after a March that was the least deadly for U.S. forces since February 2004.
- Will the U.S. leave permanent bases in Iraq? The Christian Science Monitor examines the question, pointing to indicators on both sides of the question.
RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY
- Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, is considering establishing an office in Baghdad to aid in Iraq's economic recovery. Germany, Japan, Denmark and Britain are said to be pressuring Wolfowitz to make the move.
- The plan: build 142 medical clinics across Iraq. The result: maybe 20 clinics completed, and 122 left undone as reconstruction dollars run out.
IRAQI POLITICS
- This week's Carnival of the Liberated is up.
THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
- The British Home Office has acknowledged that Britain's role in the Iraq war was a contributing factor in the terror attacks of 7 July. This admission will provide ammunition to those hoping to convince the British government to withdraw its support for the war.
- 57% of Britons believe British involvement in Iraq is a mistake, raising the pressure on the Blair government to get out of Iraq sooner rather than later.
ETCETERA
- Jill Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor reporter held hostage for 82 days, is home in the United States again and has recanted much of her early testimony regarding her treatment at the hands of the insurgency. Carroll now says that she was threatened into making statements critical of the U.S. presence in Iraq and claiming to have been well-treated while in captivity.
- Do you have your GI Bracelet? Many military families fall into financial hardship when the breadwinner is injured or killed. The entire purchase price of the GI Bracelet is donated to support our troops and their families! Please join us to give back to these brave people in their time of need.
- The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops: American, Australian, British, Canadian & Polish. Anyone out there with more information, contact us!
- Don't forget Chief Wiggles' Toys for Iraq drive!
- Many American troops have taken it upon themselves to reconstruct schools and gather learning tools for the children of Iraq. Their efforts have been met with immense gratitude from the local Iraqis and their children. You can help too! Visit Operation Iraqi Children and get involved.
Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". If you think we missed something important, use the Comments section to let us know. And if you have a tip for a future Iraq Report, email us at MondayIraqReport(at)windsofchange.net.
GOOD
People who are successful in life understand that to do anything that is non-trivial will require persistence and effort. They understand that unexpected obsticles are likely to arise and that it will be harder and take longer than they think. They know it will require learning how to do it while they are doing it. They understand that greatest risk of failure comes from quitting when faced with adversity.
This is because doing anything that is non-trivial is more complicated than one can imagine. If you knew all the things that would happen and everything that had to be done before you started, the thing would be trivial.
Generally a complicated project is not considered a success for a failure until it is over. Taking a long time in itself is not a sign of failure.
So why do some people consider the new Iraq a failure, while others do not?
Aside from political partisanship which is probably the most common reason for this difference in views, those people who recognize Iraq as a success understanding that to accomplish anything worth while will require persistence, effort, and determination. Those who genuinely consider Iraq a failure do not understands this.
"those people who recognize Iraq as a success understanding that to accomplish anything worth while will require persistence, effort, and determination."
This is not a statement about objective reasoning but about irrational faith. There are some situations where persistence and effort will work, and others where it will not.
This is a pro-war site, which seeks to publish positve information not covered in the mainstream media. Yet every item of news listed above is bad or at best equivocal. And there's plenty more (and worse) bad news. The obvious inference is that the effort has failed, and that we should be looking for the least bad way out.
"...The obvious inference is that the effort has failed, and that we should be looking for the least bad way out..."
Seems to me the obvious inference is that last week had a lot of bad news.
Now if you want to suppose that because a week had bad news "the effort has failed", then that is supposition, not reasonable inference. Your assumption is that the only way a pro-war site would publish only bad news would be in a losing effort. That stretches credulity with me.
I'm not saying the effort has failed or is succeeding, only that your "obvious inference" is anything but.
"Seems to me the obvious inference is that last week had a lot of bad news."
Last week, and the week before that and ...
If you look at the "Good News" which was presented here for a long time, much of it related to reconstruction efforts that have now been abandoned by the US, with hardly anything to show - the health example cited above is regrettably typical, as you can check from other recent reports.
A bigger effort on this front early on might have made a difference, but wars rarely go to plan.