Comments on: Iraq http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2005/01/31/1355 Every day the Prime Minister's Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:50:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: PapaLazzzaru http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2005/01/31/1355#comment-2642 PapaLazzzaru Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:48:29 +0000 http://downingstreetsays.com/briefings/2005/01/31/1355#comment-2642 "The process of harnessing the international support for the new Iraqi government, regardless of what attitudes had been towards the war. The Iraqi people had given a clear signal of where they wanted the country to go. Therefore we wanted to help the international community come together to help that process. And to help the process of translating that help into jobs on the ground, thus giving evidence that Iraqis could see of how things were improving, for example with the new constitution being put into place, and the elections." I'm not aware of the Iraqis giving any signals about where they want the country to go, apart from the unequivocal "Americans go home" signals. As far as I'm aware, the bloody Yanks said "Elections, 30th Jan", and everyone else had to fall over backwards to make that happen. I'm sure the Iraqis, if anyone had actually asked them, would much rather have electricity, running water & security before they even THOUGHT about elections. Evidence of things improving?! Where? Baghdad STILL doesn't have an uninterrupted electricity supply - even though we and the Iraqis were assured that this would be one of the priorities of the invading forces. The security situation is a complete joke; recruitment into the Iraqi Security forces is slow because the mortality rate is crazy. All in all then, as much as it would be nice to see Iraq return to self-rule and boot out the Yanks, we all know that isn't going to happen. Regardless of how or when the security situation improves, the Americans won't leave Iraq - the whole reason for going in in the first place was to establish a military base in the area. So with that said, I think also that the result of the election will be a sham too; it would be no surprise at all if Allawi came out and said "oh look, I've won 80% of the vote" or something equally unlikely. The whole election was nothing more than a stunt to persuade our own electorates that we and the Yanks are doing the right thing in Iraq. "The process of harnessing the international support for the new Iraqi government, regardless of what attitudes had been towards the war. The Iraqi people had given a clear signal of where they wanted the country to go. Therefore we wanted to help the international community come together to help that process.
And to help the process of translating that help into jobs on the ground, thus giving evidence that Iraqis could see of how things were improving, for example with the new constitution being put into place, and the elections."

I’m not aware of the Iraqis giving any signals about where they want the country to go, apart from the unequivocal "Americans go home" signals. As far as I’m aware, the bloody Yanks said "Elections, 30th Jan", and everyone else had to fall over backwards to make that happen. I’m sure the Iraqis, if anyone had actually asked them, would much rather have electricity, running water & security before they even THOUGHT about elections.

Evidence of things improving?! Where? Baghdad STILL doesn’t have an uninterrupted electricity supply - even though we and the Iraqis were assured that this would be one of the priorities of the invading forces. The security situation is a complete joke; recruitment into the Iraqi Security forces is slow because the mortality rate is crazy.

All in all then, as much as it would be nice to see Iraq return to self-rule and boot out the Yanks, we all know that isn’t going to happen. Regardless of how or when the security situation improves, the Americans won’t leave Iraq - the whole reason for going in in the first place was to establish a military base in the area. So with that said, I think also that the result of the election will be a sham too; it would be no surprise at all if Allawi came out and said "oh look, I’ve won 80% of the vote" or something equally unlikely. The whole election was nothing more than a stunt to persuade our own electorates that we and the Yanks are doing the right thing in Iraq.

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