Tag: Iraq

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Most Stable Nations: Report Says Iraq More Stable Than Afghanistan

It is interesting that the vast majority of the most stable nations are constitutional monarchies and five of the most unstable countries listed are Islamic.

The bottom ten, surprisingly, do not include Iraq. They are listed as Gaza and the West Bank, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

Most stable:

Every country has been given a risk ratin out of 100 for all-round stability

1. Vatican 99

2. Sweden 99

3. Luxembourg 99

4. Monaco 98

5. Gibraltar 98

6. San Marino 98

7. Liechtenstein 97

8. United Kingdom 97

9. The Netherlands 97

10. Irish Republic 97

US: 22nd equal 93

Most unstable

10. Gaza and West Bank 27

9. Somalia 29

8. Sudan 35

7. Afghanistan 36

6. Ivory Coast 36

5. Haiti 38

4. Zimbabwe 38

3. Chad 38

2. Democratic Congo 38

1. Central African Republic 39

Iraq: 10th equal from bottom

Iraq seen as more stable than Afghanistan: report

Iraq has emerged as a more stable country than Afghanistan, thanks to lower violence, the presence of a large U.S.-led international force and high oil prices, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The report by the British-based Jane’s Information Group ranked Afghanistan as the world’s third most-unstable country after the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and Somalia.

By contrast, Iraq was at No. 22 where it appeared among several African countries including Niger, Nigeria, Burundi and Equatorial Guinea.

The report, titled “Jane’s Country Risk Ratings,” was the first of its kind for the publisher and contained no comparison figures. But a June 2007 ranking of failed states by Foreign Policy magazine called Iraq the world’s second-most unstable country with Afghanistan at No. 8.

Meanwhile, the United States failed to rank among the top tier of the world’s most stable countries in the ratings, which measured 235 countries, territories and entities according to two-dozen stability factors.

Vatican City was ranked most stable, followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Monaco. But Jane’s judged the United States to be only the 22nd most stable country — just below Australia and Portugal — due to international drug trafficking and the proliferation of small arms within U.S. society.

“Iraq is more stable than Afghanistan,” said Christian Le Miere, managing editor of Jane’s Country Risk, which complied the ratings.

He said Iraq has benefiting from several stabilizing factors including the world’s highest number of international troops per capita, an economy buoyed by high oil prices and a sharp decline in violence.

“With the combination of international troops, the government can extend its will to any area under its administration,” he said.

“Compare that to Afghanistan, where the government has less control over its territory, the economy is made up by some estimates about 50 percent from opium and has very little to draw on for resources.”

Afghan violence has grown steadily over the last two years to the highest level since U.S.-led forces ousted Taliban rule after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, despite the presence of 43,000 NATO-led troops.

But in Iraq, violence is down more than 60 percent since last summer when the Bush administration completed its buildup of forces known as “the surge.” There are currently about 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

U.S. officials attribute the drop in violence to several factors including the troop build-up, a cease-fire by anti-U.S. radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr and the emergence of U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen.

The Bush administration is now in the process of withdrawing five combat brigades from Iraq by July and could draw down more troops later in 2008 after an expected pause.

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The Number One Hazard For US Soldiers In Iraq Now: High Blood Pressure, Bad Backs and Bum Knees

Does anybody remember when Harry Reid said the war in Iraq “is lost” and the US troop surge is failing? Well where is your defeatism now Harry?

Things are so bad in Iraq now that the number one hazard for US soldiers is high blood pressure, bad backs, knee pain and other mundane health problems. Here is more proof that the surge is working.

Non-combat injuries, illnesses are No. 1 hazard in Iraq

High blood pressure, bad backs, bum knees and other mundane health problems put three and a half times more troops on planes to hospitals in Germany or the United States than do snipers and roadside bombs, say front-line experts in Iraq .

“There’s nothing about being deployed or being in an austere environment that protects you from the normal maladies that people encounter in the United States ,” said Lt. Col. Ron Ross , a preventive medicine officer with the U.S. Army’s 62nd Medical Brigade in Iraq .

From the invasion in March 2003 through Oct. 1, 2007 , more than 36,000 U.S. troops were evacuated from Iraq . More than 77 percent of those were for illnesses or non-combat injuries, according to data from the Department of Defense , Deployment Health Support Directorate.

Most eventually return, said Ross, but the illnesses and accidents still cut into troop strength.

This is nothing new. Traditionally, such problems— which the military lumps together as Disease and Non-Battlefield Injuries (DNBI)— take more troops from the battlefield than combat injuries do, though modern medical care and public health techniques have cut the rate suffered by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 10 percent of what it was in World War II and Korea.

An example of that success is the U.S. fight against leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by sandflies that causes festering wounds and can attack the organs.

When the British army came to Iraq in the 1930s, leishmaniasis incapacitated up to 30 percent of the troops, said Lt. Col. Ray Dunton , a trained entomologist who’s in Iraq serving as chief of preventive medicine for the 62nd Medical Brigade.

In 2004, hundreds of U.S. soldiers also were infected. Preventive medicine teams went into action, spraying insecticide and urging troops to use insect repellant. Infestations dropped from an average of 140 a month to nearly zero. Only 10 people have been diagnosed with leishmaniasis this year.

Still, the proportion of troops hospitalized for illness and non-combat injuries compared with combat injuries hasn’t changed much since the wars in Korea and Vietnam . In part, that’s because of a more aggressive philosophy about treatment, Ross said.

“Our evacuation statistics and our medical care statistics reflect that we have ratcheted up the standard of care,” he said,

Evacuations also are spurred by the military’s rule that anyone who won’t recuperate within seven days of being hospitalized must be flown out of the country. That keeps beds open in case of a major casualty incident.

No illness or injury dominates the list of non-combat evacuations, Ross said. Injuries from vehicle accidents are a big cause of evacuations, as are hypertension-related illness, respiratory problems, kidney stones and back and joint problems.

In some cases, troops are clearly glad to get out. For many, though, the notion of leaving their unit and buddies over a problem unrelated to combat is frustrating.

“People work hard to get back. That’s one of the big reasons we get so many people back,” he said.

Previously:
Cemetery Workers In Iraq May Go Hungry Thanks To The Surge

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U.N. Found Hiding Some Of Saddam’s WMD

Dangerous Iraq chemicals found stored at U.N. in NY.

Was this part of the “Oil for Food” scheme? Inquiring minds want to know.

United Nations officials found vials of dangerous chemicals, which had been removed from Iraq a decade ago, in a U.N. building in New York, but U.N. officials said on Thursday there was no danger.

The FBI was called in to help remove the substances.

The material was phosgene, a chemical warfare agent, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a news conference.

The inspections unit said in a statement that the chemicals had been found last Friday.

The Iraqi weapons inspectors came across the material as they were closing their offices, which are housed in a building near the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the inspectors.

Phosgene was used extensively during World War I as a choking agent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

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A Training Video For Journalists

Buy now everyone is familiar with the report that showed an Iraqi woman holding two bullets which she said were fired at her house by American soldiers. Anyone with brains will notice a flaw in the picture… she is actually holding two unfired cartridges.

The Dissident Frogman has put together a required training video for journalists, which he calls: “Like A Suppository, Only Stronger”.


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Justification for attacking Iraq and removing Sadaam.

This is how George W. Bush announced his doctrine in his Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People on September 20, 2001:

“Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”

In that speech, President Bush had the political courage to present the truth, however unpleasant, to the American people. He was prepared to make difficult decisions, to take measures that would involve great risks and subject him to public criticism.

To clear thinking Americans, September 11th was the single day of horror that alerted us to the grave dangers that are now facing our world. Those Americans understand that had Al Qaeda possessed an atomic device on September 11th, the city of New York would not exist today. They realize that we could have been grieving not for thousands of dead, but for millions.

But for others, in our own country and around the world, the power of imagination is apparently not so acute. It appears that these people will have to once again see the unimaginable materialize in front of their eyes before they are willing to do what must be done. For how else can one explain opposition to President Bush’s plan to dismantle Sadaam Hussein’s regime?

If you intend to defeat the Mafia, you don’t just go after the foot-solder who carried out the last attack, or even stop with the apprehension of the particular don who sent him. You go after the entire network of organized crime. All the families, all the organizations – all of them.

Likewise, if you intend to defeat terror, you do not just go after the terrorists who carried out the last attack, or even the particular regime that sent them. You go after the entire network of terror. All the regimes that support terror, all the organizations that they harbor – all of them.

Doing this always entails the need to act before additional attacks are carried out. When the security of a nation is endangered, a responsible government has to take the actions that are necessary to protect its citizens and eliminate the threat that confronts them. Sometimes this requires preemption.

In the history of democracies, preemption has always been the most difficult choice. Because at the time of decision, you can never prove the naysayers wrong. You can never show them the great catastrophe that was avoided by preemptive action.

Yet we now know that had the democracies taken preemptive action to bring down Hitler’s regime in the 1930s, the worst horrors in history could have been avoided.

But the most compelling case for preemption against Sadaam’s regime was not made by the powerful words of President Bush but by the savage actions of the terrorists on September 11th. Their wake up call from hell has opened our eyes to the horrors that await us tomorrow if we fail to act today.

To defeat the terroists, people will have to show civic courage. The citizens of a democracy threatened by terrorism must see themselves, in a certain sense, as soldiers in a common battle. They must not pressure their government to surrender to terrorism. If we seriously want to win the war against terrorism, people must be prepared to endure sacrifice and even, should there be the loss of loved ones, immeasurable pain.

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