Since so many on this board think that GWB can not work with the UN, I'm suprised no one gave him his props for this. This should thrill our friends on the left.

Looks like the "shrub" won another one

What we DID say was, he couldn't be honest and consistent about it, but rather, would ONLY use the U.N. in a self-serving manner.

The fact is, the U.N.'s decision here has been rendered irrelevant by the previous actions Bush made NOT to give any weight to U.N. action, in STARTING the war.

The concession that Bush doesn't talk about is that the troops will be under the authority of the new, Independent eventually, Iraqi government and All military actions in Iraq have to have the approval of the Iraqi Government.  They also can TELL us to leave at anytime, and we must leave.  The above two clauses are what Georgie Boy wouldn't agree to originally, and yes, after 14 months, Shrub is finally working with the U.N.!

 I haven't heard yet of any new countries offering military assistance yet.  A day is too early a predicter, but lets see if any are offered after the official handover to Iraqi sovereignty.

Lets be honest of what this "coalition of the willing really is.  Its a coalition where we provide 83+% of the troops, and most of the smaller countries were bribed to be a part of the coalition, and over 75 % of the coalition have contributed less than 1000 troops each.  If you remember, we tried to BRIBE Turkey with an aid package worth 24
billion dollars, and they said no.  

-- Modified on 6/9/2004 8:24:06 PM

The Multinational force will NOT be under the authoriy of the new Iraqi government.

"The commander of the MNF will work in partnership with the sovereign Government of Iraq in helping to provide security while recognizing and respecting its sovereignty." (Letter From UN Security Council 6/5/04, included as part of the resolution)

From the body of UN resolution 1546

10. Decides that the multinational force shall have the authority to take all necessary measures to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq in accordance with the letters annexed to this resolution expressing, inter alia, the Iraqi request for the continued presence of the multinational force and setting out its tasks, including by preventing and deterring terrorism, so that, inter alia, the United Nations can fulfil its role in assisting the Iraqi people as outlined in paragraph seven above and the Iraqi people can implement freely and without intimidation the timetable and programme for the political process and benefit from reconstruction and rehabilitation activities;

12. Decides further that the mandate for the multinational force shall be reviewed at the request of the Government of Iraq or twelve months from the date of this resolution, and that this mandate shall expire upon the completion of the political process set out in paragraph four above, and declares that it will terminate this mandate earlier if requested by the Government of Iraq;

In other words, as explained by the "evil administration and President Bush" - the UN force will work cooperatively, yet independently, with the new Iraqi government, and will leave at the request of the Iraqi government.

The Iraqi government does not control what actions the UN forces perform, nor does the UN force require Iraqi approval.

If this doesn't work, go to www.un.org, then select "the situation in Iraq".

One of the top Iraqi stories on that page is Resolution 1546.

You'll have to select the link for English and the resolution opens in a new window. It's a PDF file, so it takes a minute to load.

Turkey's stock market lost about 15 to 20 % of its value at the end of March, 2003.  However, by the end of April, 2003, it had reached its previous 4 month high, and then stagnated until Sept, 2003, then rebounded to its current 6 year high.  It sure would have been great if our stock market indexes could have grown like Turkey's after the "virtual collapse" of their market index!

2 year comparison chart:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=2y&s=%5EXU100&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=&c=%5EGSPC&c=%5EIXIC&c=%5EDJI

6 1/r year comparison chart:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=^XU100&t=my&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=^GSPC,^IXIC,^DJI

 please show the 'Virtual collapse" of Turkey's stock market.

He badly damaged the power of the US, and now had to go crawling to the UN for help.  

I wonder what deals he had to cut to get this vote now that Iraq has turned into an albatrosse for his next election?

/Zin

I tried both links and can't get it to work.

It should get you into the English UN site.

-- Modified on 6/9/2004 10:40:45 PM

-- Modified on 6/9/2004 10:48:46 PM

and I suppose you relate a 20% drop in Turkey's market to a natural correction?  Were their P/E ratios really that out of whack or do you completely deny that maybe there was a bit of correlation between the two countries (Turkey & the U.S.A.) relationship?

So are you suggesting that since he showed backbone and opposed the UN on IRAQ he should NEVER to to them again. GEEZ, then what's the point. If we have to do EVERYTHING they say, why even bother being a soverign nation?

And like I said before, GWB wins another political round!!

Virtually collpsed markets do NOT rebound from one or two days
of excessive losses within a month.  Healthy markets rebound this quickly, not virtually collapsed markets where traders are helpless to stop the fall.

  "Black Monday",October 19,1987  that is a day of virtual collapse. It took until 1991 till the Dow finally left the close of October 13,1987 behind forever.

 The market did recover all of its losses from October 13, 1987 in September of 1989, but it took till 1991 to permanently
erase the losses.  The link at the bottom shows the DJIA from the crash till today.



 From 1929 stockmarketcrash.com:        "The 1987 stock market crash occurred on "Black Monday" -- October 19, 1987 -- when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell from 2246 to 1738, losing 22.6% of its total value. From the close of trading on Tuesday, October 13, to the close of trading on Monday, October 19, the Dow fell by almost one third, indicating a loss in value of all outstanding United States stocks of approximately one trillion dollars. This crash marked the end of a five-year "bull" market that had seen the Dow average rise from 776.92 points in August 1982 to a high of 2,722.42 points in August 1987.

Fortunately, the market soon recovered after the crash. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had the record of a one-day high gains of 102.27 on October 20, 1987 and 186.64 points two days later. By September 1989, the Dow had regained all it had lost in the crash."

 

Now you're pissed he DOES get the votes. Do us all a favor, decide which side of the issue you are on and then get back to us...

An even more recent example of a true collapse (from a 'bubble' market) would be NASDAQ, which reached a high of > 5000 in March of 2000, and closed today at just under 2000. With a sustained loss of > 60% over four years, the historic NASDAQ decline would rate as an actual, as opposed to a virtual, collapse.

Especially from the perspective of experienced U.S. investors in foreign markets, the aforementioned Turkish decline qualifies only as a minor blip.

Actually, if you want to see another true market meltdown in the near future, just look at the superheated real estate markets in Southern California as interest rates start to rise.

-- Modified on 6/10/2004 4:54:45 PM

-- Modified on 6/10/2004 4:55:34 PM

The right time was in February of 2003, when he defied the UN because Saddam was defying the UN.  When tens of millions of people marched to tell him that this was a mistake. Too late.

In case you want to know, I supported Bush then.  He's the commander and chief, after all.  I thought it would take a genius to make his plan work, but I gave it the BOD.  In the meantime, he proved that he wasn't a genius, and wasn't listening to the advice of geniuses.  Now it's coming up on the time for me to vote about the merits of his ability to govern.  I have to throw off the awe about his authority to be honest about this.  

You're right, I don't find his conversion to cooperation under the pressure of an upcoming election to be a sign that he's fit to govern.  Bill Clinton just got a blow job, but Bush has fucked all of us.  Who really deserves impeachment here?

/Zin

From what I have seen, GWB has gotten everything he wanted. Saddam out and now the UN backing his resolutions. For a man the left seems to like to say is so stupid, from what I can tell, he wins again!!

that no one seems to have taken the time to read...

How do you know he's not dissembling about all that?

What he really wants, without a doubt, is another four years of employment.  He hasn't won that yet.  Boast about that already if you need a day in the sun now, but I'll remind you, he didn't win that to begin with.

/Zin