At the hearing which began yesterday on Capitol Hill with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the different committees, if we were to be honest, we should say that we were not expecting much on the way of clarification of how things really were going in Iraq and even less about a timetable for withdrawal of the troops. Blessed are then the ones who don’t expect much as they would not be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »

Spain had general elections a few weeks ago and the incumbent socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won. In 2004 Zapatero defeated the previous conservative president Jose Maria Aznar who had been a follower of Bush, agreeing blindly to all decisions of the American administration, and an avid supporter of the Iraq war. One of the first acts of Zapatero upon his ascension to power had been to bring all the Spanish troops home from Iraq, following so the wishes of the majority of the Spanish population. This obviously did not carry favor with the Bush administration and the last four years have been characterized by a certain coldness between both countries.

Today in his speech of investiture Zapatero sent some warm signals towards the United States. Expressing his wishes for a new chapter in the relations he declared “we want to look towards the future, counting in a mutual respect to confront the common challenges and to intensify our relations.” If the next president of the United States is a Democrat, it is most probable that such an improvement in the relationship of both countries will take place.

It is hard to believe that already five years have past since the Bush administration took us into the biggest disaster since the Vietnam War and a disaster with no end in sight. When that anniversary arrived last month it was the furthest from my mind and my plans to write about it. But after perusing several newspapers I came across a rather interesting article published by “The Independent” on the March 26th 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

Days after Bush marked the fifth anniversary of the war and said the United States was on track toward victory, the grim news of four soldiers killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Sunday the 23rd, brought the death toll of US soldiers in the Iraq conflict to 4,000.

After the news and as reported by Reuters, “U.S. President George W. Bush is saddened by the loss of 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and will focus on ensuring the U.S. succeeds in the 5-year-old conflict, the White House said on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney wrapping up his nine day tour of the Middle East in Israel, and according to AC Publications, after learning the news said “You regret every casualty, every loss. It may have a psychological effect on the public but it’s a tragedy that we live in a kind of world where that happens.”. And why this specific tragedy of 4,000 soldiers dead happened? No comment.