Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
We at US Democrazy love pranks; the Iraqis it seems love them more.
The clip above is from the Iraqi show “Put him in [Camp] Bucca” where a hapless Iraqi at a fake checkpoint is told a bomb was found in his car. Furthermore the victim is then told he’ll be arrested and executed as a terrorist.
HILARIOUS!!!!
We’ll let the source of the clip above provide an explanation (no subtitles sorry).
The first 90 seconds, where we descend into the madness of the premise, and then another minute or so at 11:10 when the “joke” is revealed. (In case you’re confused, as I was originally, the guy in the striped shirt and jeans is in on the prank. It’s the guy in the dark shirt who’s the target.)
Enjoy. Who knows this could be America’s next hit show [Hat tip to BLACKFIVE].
American military forces have been at war for nearly a decade; the conflict in Afghanistan is the longest war in American history. Our soldiers risk life and limb to serve their country.
However, they risk more than just that. Even those who escape physically unscathed can have wounds to deep for others to see.
It is hard for us living in the comfort of our homes to understand, as conflict blogger Tim Lynch describes, that
The amount of responsibility placed on the shoulders of 21, 22 or sometimes younger men who lead fireteams, squads, and platoons exceeds by several orders of magnitude, that placed on their peers in the civilian world.
We’ve all been caught in compromising situations before, but hopefully they haven’t been released to the Internet. This time, the U.S. military isn’t so lucky.
A video was just released showing two Apache helicopters opening fire on people in Baghdad, killing 12. One of the dead was a photographer for Reuters. The military maintains that the soldiers were facing a “hostile force,” but the video just shows people walking around, the Reuters photographer in the crowd. The soldiers, mistaking the photographer’s camera for a gun, started shooting.
What do you think? Was the incident an unfortunate accident or something much worse? (Caution: this video is not for the lighthearted.)
Big news from Iraq this week (and US Democrazy is not talking about The Hurt Locker winning best picture).
Iraq, last weekend, held its national election for parliament.
How did the election go? Despite threats of violence, car bombings, and other risks estimates show that voter turnout was around 62% (a respectable amount about equal to America’s turnout for the 2008 Presidential election). …read more.
Thanks to blog.creativethink.com!
We here at USDemocrazy know all about consequences. Like that time that we didn’t study and failed, or that time we slept in and were late to class… …read more.
Got Ya’…Iraqi officials uncover plot to bomb government ministries.
Got You Too… FDIC advances a proposal to penalize banks for risky practices.
I feel like I’m forgetting something…
Florida Grandmother Forgotten in Jail for 15 Days
This probably isn’t the best way to keep $10,000:
When employees of a Des Moines Kmart store finally opened a red tin can that had been sitting on the customer service counter for four days, they got a $10,000 surprise.
Everybody in unison… Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General Stanley McChrystal both urge troop plan.
We at US Democrazy love to guess the future, sadly we’re almost never right. Luckily we can usually count on experts to give us guidance.
Recently however we’ve been receiving mixed messages.
It seems Iraq is an issue on which no one can make their mind up. Bloggers have turned against fellow bloggers on where the troubled country is headed.
We at USDemocrazy are sometimes forgetful (except when it comes to or daily dose of chocolate).
With all the craziness that has been going on in Iran, it is easy to forget about that other Middle Eastern country the USA is invested in…Iraq.
So let’s talk about Iraq and it’s number one economic resource -oil (though we would rather talk about chocolate)…
Starting next week, the oil rich country of Iraq will auction off oil contracts to foreign companies for the first time in 30 years.
This is a big deal. Iraq has largely up to now kept their oil production (and profits) to itself.
But the Iraq oil industry is in a shambles, the country is desperate for money, and foreign oil companies have the expertise (and money) to make things happen.
But there will be some hostility to this new development. Many opponents if the Iraq invasion in the region regarded the war as a cynical attempt by the US and its allies to grab Iraqi oil.
Now those opponents will point to the intervention of foreign companies in the Iraqi oil fields and say ” Told you so!”.
Others folks are wondering why these deals are being distributed as no-bid contracts. Here’s the rundown:
Gina Chon at The Wall Street Journal writes:
If all goes according to plan in the first round, foreign oil companies will move in to help Iraq revive production at six developed fields that have suffered from years of war and neglect.
Andrew Kramer at the NYTimes says:
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.
Daniel Altman on The Managing Globalization Blog asks the question:
This was a country that desperately needed the revenue to help rebuild its schools, power grid and water supply after a long internal conflict. So why did it hand out the contracts with no auction at all?
Well, that’s the 411. We here at USDemocrazy like to keep you appraised of the situation! So what do you think?
