New Ambassador to Iraq Gives Grim Report

Posted on June 21, 2005

Our new ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, visited Iraq to see the situation for himself. Apparently, he was horrified by the situation on the ground. He said the entire country is wracked by violence, that the insurgency is growing, and that the country is on the brink of civil war. Apparently, he didn't get the "happy talking points" memo about how great things are going in Iraq. The White House doesn't want Ambassador Khalilzad talking about the civilian Iraqis are being used as cannon fodder and are suffering horribly. That's not good PR at all.

"I am horrified by the daily suffering of the Iraqi people. The terrorists attack ordinary people, teachers, doctors, newly trained police and others who are assisting the people of Iraq," Khalilzad added.
His comments followed a series of attacks by suicide bombers in Baghdad and northern Iraq on Sunday and Monday that killed dozens of people � many of them police. At least one of the attacks was claimed by Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq.
"Foreign terrorists and hard-line Baathists want Iraq to descend into civil war. Foreign terrorists are using the Iraqi people as cannon fodder," said Khalilzad, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to his native Afghanistan. He succeeds John Negroponte, now the national intelligence director.
Al-Zarqawi last month purportedly gave his stamp of approval to the killing of fellow Muslims and civilians collaborating with Iraq's Shiite-led government and the United States. He also has said his aim was to start a civil war between the minority Sunni Arabs and the Shiite majority.
The number of attacks blamed on Islamic extremists has escalated since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-led government on April 28. Nearly 1,200 people have been killed since then, according to an Associated Press count based on military, police and hospital reports.

Suicide bombings are on the rise in Iraq. But you certainly don't see that as the lead on any major news program. Ted Turner was right: all you see on mainline news today is the Pervert of the Week.