Quotes of the Morning: The Birth of a Nation

“As Iraqis marked the three-year anniversary there were at least two fatal roadside bombings.
One killed at least four security guards near the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad. The other killed two police commandos and two other people in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Karrada.
At least another nine bodies were also found, in the capital and elsewhere, most showing signs of torture and believed to be victims of sectarian attacks.
The continuing violence prompted former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to say at the weekend that Iraq was in the grip of civil war - a view played down by the US and UK.”
-BBC, March 20, 2006

“Well the ex-Prime Minister says that there is civil war in Iraq. Usually I’d believe him, what with him being ‘on the ground’ as it were in Iraq, but the Administration is so sure that things are getting better that I just can’t bring myself to believe it. Allawi has spoken against the Administration. The question must be asked...”
-Skippy

“Q The President had expressed so much confidence in the past in Allawi, does this leader no longer have any credibility?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'll let him speak for himself. I mean, all I can do is speak to what our people on the ground are seeing and what the Iraqi people are showing. And the Iraqi people are showing that they want to live in freedom and democracy. They've shown that time and time again -- most recently, when more than 11 million showed up at the polls to elect a representative government, a government that is now moving forward on coming into place.”
-Press Gaggle with Scott McClellan, March 20, 2006

“Just like the song says..”
-Skippy

“It’s getting better all the time
I used to get mad at my school
The teachers who taught me weren’t cool
You’re holding me down, turning me round
Filling me up with your rules.
I’ve got to admit its getting better
A little better all the time
I have to admit its getting better
It’s getting better since you’ve been mine.
Me used to be a angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave me the word
I finally heard
I’m doing the best that I can.”
-Beatles, Getting Better

“But things are still bad, aren’t they? I mean it might not be civil war, but you’d have to admit that things haven’t exactly gone as well as we expected, right? Oddly enough, no.”
-Skippy

“SCHIEFFER: Mr. Vice President, all along the government has been very optimistic. You remain optimistic. But I remember when you were saying we'd be greeted as liberators, you played down the insurgency 10 months ago. You said it was in its last throes. Do you believe that these optimistic statements may be one of the reasons that people seem to be more skeptical in this country about whether we ought to be in Iraq?
CHENEY: No. I think it has less to do with the statements we've made, which I think were basically accurate and reflect reality, than it does with the fact that there's a constant sort of perception, if you will, that's created because what's newsworthy is the car bomb in Baghdad. It's not all the work that went on that day in 15 other provinces in terms of making progress towards rebuilding Iraq.”
-Interview with Dick Cheney, Face the Nation, March 19, 2006

“Things on the ground feel pretty bad though..”
-Skippy

“At least 51 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs, police reported — continuing the wave of violence that has left more than 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a Shiite Muslim shrine.
As the Iraq war entered its fourth year, police found the bodies of at least 15 more people — including that of a 13-year-old girl — dumped in and near Baghdad. The discoveries marked the latest in a string of execution-style killings that have become an almost daily event as Sunni and Shiite extremists settle scores.”
-Associated Press, March 21, 2006

“That’s ok though, since all of this is just secondary and expected according to Big Dick. No, the good news in Iraq is there, just buried (possibly in a mass grave). Except for news like this. There really isn’t any way to spin this to make it sound good.”
-Skippy

“Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said.”
-Knight Ridder, March 19, 2006

“I’m going to have to humbly disagree with Big Dick and Little Scottie though. Iraq doesn’t sound so good right now. Luckily we’ve got the glories of our first war to bask in. Afghanistan, the country that is doing so well that we were able to pull out the majority of our forces in order to go after Saddam. Our success.”
-Skippy

“An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death after being charged with converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country's Islamic Shari'a laws, a judge said yesterday.
[…]
The defendant, Abdul Rahman, 41, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told The Associated Press in an interview. Rahman was charged with rejecting Islam and his trial started last Thursday.
During the one-day hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago while working as a medical aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, Mawlavezada said.
[…]
Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shari'a law, which states that any Muslim who rejects Islam should be sentenced to death, according to Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
[…]
The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman converted back to Islam, but he refused.
‘He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one,’ Wasi told the AP. ‘We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty.’"
-Associated Press, March 20, 2006

“Congratulations! Its an oppressive Islamic theocracy! I know that the Administration must be proud..”
-Skippy