Bush misleads about transfer of power in Iraq

Iraq is worse off than before the war began, GAO reports

By Seth Borenstein

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - In a few key areas - electricity, the judicial system and overall security - the Iraq that America handed back to its residents Monday is worse off than before the war began last year, according to calculations in a new General Accounting Office report released Tuesday.

The 105-page report by Congress' investigative arm offers a bleak assessment of Iraq after 14 months of U.S. military occupation. Among its findings:

-In 13 of Iraq's 18 provinces, electricity was available fewer hours per day on average last month than before the war. Nearly 20 million of Iraq's 26 million people live in those provinces.

-Only $13.7 billion of the $58 billion pledged and allocated worldwide to rebuild Iraq has been spent, with another $10 billion about to be spent. The biggest chunk of that money has been used to run Iraq's ministry operations.

-The country's court system is more clogged than before the war, and judges are frequent targets of assassination attempts.

-The new Iraqi civil defense, police and overall security units are suffering from mass desertions, are poorly trained and ill-equipped.

-The number of what the now-disbanded Coalition Provisional Authority called significant insurgent attacks skyrocketed from 411 in February to 1,169 in May.

The report was released on the same day that the CPA's inspector general issued three reports that highlighted serious management difficulties at the CPA. The reports found that the CPA wasted millions of dollars at a Hilton resort hotel in Kuwait because it didn't have guidelines for who could stay there, lost track of how many employees it had in Iraq and didn't track reconstruction projects funded by international donors to ensure they didn't duplicate U.S. projects.

Both the GAO report and the CPA report said that the CPA was seriously understaffed for the gargantuan task of rebuilding Iraq. The GAO report suggested the agency needed three times more employees than what it had. The CPA report said the agency believed it had 1,196 employees, when it was authorized to have 2,117. But the inspector general said CPA's records were so disorganized that it couldn't verify its actual number of employees.

GAO Comptroller General David Walker blamed insurgent attacks for many of the problems in Iraq. "The unstable security environment has served to slow down our rebuilding and reconstruction efforts and it's going to be of critical importance to provide more stable security," Walker told Knight Ridder Newspapers in a telephone interview Tuesday.

"There are a number of significant questions that need to be asked and answered dealing with the transition (to self-sovereignty)," Walker said. "A lot has been accomplished and a lot remains to be done."

The GAO report is the first government assessment of conditions in Iraq at the end of the U.S. occupation. It outlined what it called "key challenges that will affect the political transition" in 10 specific areas.

The GAO gave a draft of the report to several different government agencies, but only the CPA offered a major comment: It said the report "was not sufficiently critical of the judicial reconstruction effort."

"The picture it paints of the facts on the ground is one that neither the CPA nor the Bush administration should be all that proud of," said Peter W. Singer, a national security scholar at the centrist Brookings Institution. "It finds a lot of problems and raises a lot of questions."

One of the biggest problems, Singer said, is that while money has been pledged and allocated, not much has been spent. The GAO report shows that very little of the promised international funds - most of which are in loans - has been spent or can't be tracked. The CPA's inspector general found the same thing.

"When we ask why are things not going the way we hoped for," Singer said, "the answer in part of this is that we haven't actually spent what we have in pocket."

He said the figures on electricity "make me want to cry."

Steven Susens, a spokesman for the Program Management Office, which oversees contractors rebuilding Iraq, conceded that many areas of Iraq have fewer hours of electricity now than they did before the war. But he said the report, based on data that's now more than a month old, understates current electrical production. He said some areas may have reduced electricity availability because antiquated distribution systems had been taken out of service so they could be rebuilt.

"It's a slow pace, but it's certainly growing as far as we're concerned," Susens said.

Danielle Pletka, the vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said other issues are more important than the provision of services such as electricity. She noted that Iraqis no longer live in fear of Saddam Hussein.

"It's far better to live in the dark than it is to run the risk that your mother, father, brother, sister, husband or wife would be taken away never to be seen again," Pletka said.

Pletka pointed to a Pentagon slide presentation that detailed increases and improvement in telephone subscribers, water service, food, health care and schools in Iraq.

But Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that asked for the GAO report, said the report showed major problems.

"So while we've handed over political sovereignty, we haven't handed over practical capacity - that is, the ability for the Iraqis themselves to provide security, defend their borders, defeat the insurgency, deliver basic services, run a government and set the foundation for economic progress," Biden said in a written statement. "Until Iraqis can do all of that, it will be impossible for us to responsibly disengage from Iraq."

---

The GAO report can be found at

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04902r.pdf

No kidding!

Would we call the US sovereign if another country controlled the military? Would we call ourselves free if it were too unsafe to leave our homes and foreign troops were on our soil??

"Let Freedom Reign", more Bushit.

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>"Let Freedom Reign", more Bushit.

The viciously anti-war BBC went and interviewed actual Iraqi citizens about what they think about the sovereignty handover. I think their views are a little more relevant than those of pampered, spoiled lefitsts sitting in the U.S. who don't actually give a fuck about the tyranny under which Iraqis suffered and whose hatred for Bush is so pathological that they actually have the sick audacity to say that the Iraqis were better off under Saddam Hussein.

EVERY Iraqi interviewed by the BBC expressed optomism and joy that they have been liberated. Here's one example:

<<"He took our sons"

Kathem Moula Asim, 75

Retired but working as a local guard in the market

"I'm not sure. We haven't seen anything yet from this new government. The situation is in the hand of God and we respect our new leaders.

"May god keep Bush and Allawi, because Bush threw out Saddam and Allawi will give us safety and security.

"I think we should try and execute Saddam. He took our sons! He took my two sons from their colleges 25 years ago. I never heard from them again.">>

The others interviewed are equally grateful. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/middle_east_iraqis_react_to_handover/html/4.stm

Ask them who did more for their interests and welfare: George Bush, who overthrew a murderous psychopath who devestated an entire generation of their fellow citizens, or fat-assed leftists who pine for the days when that psycopath terrorized their country.

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>>The viciously anti-war BBC went and interviewed actual Iraqi citizens about what they think about the sovereignty handover.<<

They are among the Baghdad reporters that Wolfowitz (Yiddish for "lick the comb in the green room before passing it through your hair") called cowards for not leaving their hotel rooms. This morning, though, there is plenty of videotape on CNN showing Iraqis who still support Saddam Hussein. As long as Fallujah is off limits for the BBC and any other Western media (the Marines admitted defeat and handed it over to the Republican Guard) it will be difficult to show both sides.

>>I think their views are a little more relevant than those of pampered, spoiled leftists sitting in the U.S. who don't actually give a fuck about the tyranny under which Iraqis suffered <<

As opposed to the religious-reactionary, bigoted fascists who don't actually give a fuck about tyranny in North Korea or Sudan, because there is no oil to be found in those countries.

More Bushit

Bush] has lied about his time in the National Guard, and lied about his criminal history. He lied about his relationship with Ken Lay, he lied about who would benefit from his tax cuts, and he lied about stem cells. He lied about his visit to Bob Jones University, he lied about why he wouldn't meet with Log Cabin Republicans, and he lied about reading the EPA report on global warming. He lied about blaming the Clinton administration for the second intifada, he lies constantly about how he pays no attention to polls, he lied about how he loves New York, and he lied about moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He lied about finding WMD in Iraq, he lied about making his decision to go to war, he lied about the CIA's dismissal of the yellowcake rumors, and he lied about the IAEA's assessment of Iraq's nuclear program. He lied about funding the fight against AIDS in Africa, he lied about when the recession started, and he lied about seeing the first plane hit the WTC. He lied about supporting the Patient Protection Act, and he lied about his deficit spending, and now my wrist hurts.

RE: More Bushit

you are perfectly right glutes. And worst of all Bush is the direct cause of the change of word opinion about USA. As most of the western countries used to consider USA as a highly respectfull and friendly country, they tend now a consider it as a true danger for the word.

RE: More Bushit

>you are perfectly right glutes. And worst of all Bush is the

>direct cause of the change of word opinion about USA. As most

>of the western countries used to consider USA as a highly

>respectfull and friendly country, they tend now a consider it

>as a true danger for the word.

Why don't you go to impoverished countries around the planet - whether in Eastern Europe or South and Central America or even the Middle East - and ask them to what country they are desperate to emigrate.

I'll give you a hint: the answer isn't France or the Netherlands or any of the other socialist Nirvanas which people like you revere. The day that it will be credible to sputter on about how the whole world hates the U.S. is the day when the whole world stops trying to move to this country in order to create opportunity for their children and freedom for themselves.

And only a blind ideologue can sit there and spittle out some trite garbage about how the whole world hates Bush and the U.S. in the very same thread where I just fucking posted a link to the BBC - - the favorite news outlet of America-haters around the world -- documenting the gratitude that ordinary Iraqis feel towards the U.S. for overthrowing the tyrant who oppressed them for 30 years.

Do facts matter to your rantings at all?

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>The viciously anti-war BBC

A recent report from Cardiff University seems to contradict the UK Government's claims that the BBC was biased against the recent Iraq war, suggesting that the converse was more likely true.

A telling quote: "Professor Lewis said: "Far from revealing an anti-war BBC, our findings tend to give credence to those who criticised the BBC for being too sympathetic to the government's pro-war stance. Either way, it's clear to accuse the BBC of an anti-war bias fails to stand up to any serious or sustained analysis." "

http://new-wales.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=220&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Media Tenor, the non-partisan, Bonn-based media research organisation, has examined the Iraq war reporting of some of the world’s leading broadcasters, including the US networks and the BBC. It concentrated on the coverage of opposition to the war.

The second-worst case of denying access to anti-war voices was ABC in the United States, which allowed them a mere 7 per cent of its overall coverage. The worst case was the BBC, which gave just 2 per cent of its coverage to opposition views – views that represented those of the majority of the British people. A separate study by Cardiff University came to the same conclusion. The BBC, it said, had "displayed the most pro-war agenda of any [british] broadcaster."

Consider the first Newsnight broadcast after the greatest political demonstration in British history on 15 February. The studio discussion was confined to interviews with a Tory member of the House of Lords, a Tory MP, an Oxford don, an LSE professor, a commentator from the Times and the views of the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. Not one marcher was invited to participate, not one representative of the two million who had filled London in protest. Instead, a political reporter, David Grossman, asked perversely: "What about the millions who didn’t march? Was going to the DIY store or watching the football on Saturday a demonstration of support for the government?"

A constant theme of the BBC’s Iraq coverage is that Anglo-American policy, although capable of "blunders," is essentially benign, even noble. Thus, amazingly, Matt Frei, the BBC’s Washington correspondent, declared on 13 April: "There’s no doubt that the desire to bring good, to bring American values to the rest of the world, and especially now to the Middle East... is now increasingly tied up with military power." The same "good" military power had just slaughtered at least 15,000 people in an illegal, unprovoked attack on a largely defenceless country.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/pilger1.html

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>Why don't you go to impoverished countries around the planet -

>whether in Eastern Europe or South and Central America or even the

>Middle East - and ask them to what country they are desperate to

>emigrate.

Why don't you? Because it's easier to make up your own answers? The fact is that most people want to stay at home. Those who don't, will probably be happier with a visa to an EU country, because it's closer to home and the standard of living is the same as or better than here, for those in the socioeconomic groups where most immigrants are found. Latin Americans who want to leave home will probably choose the United States, because of its proximity and cultural ties; if Canada were placed between us and Mexico, Toronto would be even more cosmopolitan than it already is.

And then there are the Americans, like Mel Gibson's father, who think the grass is greener in Australia. Why don't you go take a poll of Americans and ask them where they would rather live? Like everyone else, they'll tell you there's no place like home .... just not anywhere close to you.

Sheesh! Why blame this "policy" of foreign occupation on Bush, as if it is some kind of "new" policy?

How long ago was World War II? How long ago was the Korean conflict?

Does the US still have military bases in Germany and Korea? Did the US occupy/impose military rule on Japan after WWII? How long has Japan been free to reassemble a military force without the "blessing" of the US? How long did the US military rule the Philippines after liberating it from the Japanese during WWII?

Does the US to this day, maintain a base on Cuba, aka Guantanamo Bay, after "liberating the Cubans" from Spanish rule in 1898!

Nothing in Bush's policies of governing Iraq after defeating it in a war, is ANY DIFFERENT than past policy by both Democratic and Republican administrations!

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>>Why don't you go to impoverished countries around the planet

>-

>>whether in Eastern Europe or South and Central America or

>even the

>>Middle East - and ask them to what country they are desperate

>to

>>emigrate.

>

>Why don't you?

I just did. I spent 3 weeks in Bulgaria in April and it was the third time that I was there in the last 6 months. EVERY person I talked to between the ages of 20 and 35 - and ESPECIALLY ones with small children - are so eager to find a way to get to the United States that it was all they wanted to talk about. I would try to talk to them about various matters concerning their country, and all they wanted to know about was how they could maximize their prospects of obtaining employment visas or even their chances in the lottery.

You can dismiss this as anecdotal evidence if you like - and I'm sure you will, because as a crazed ideologue, you can't stand facts which conflict with your world-view -- but you need not rely upon it. Just go look at any immigration statistics from Eastern Europe. The amount of visa applicants exceeding the allotted numbers is sad and scary, and the desire to emigrate to the U.S. is so extreme that people in these countries can't even get tourist visas because the consulates fear, justifiably, that they will never return to their countries.

So for all of you American-hating drones who prattle on about how this country is hated all over the world, the fact that people from all over the world see this country as the Land of Opportunity and Hope makes it clear just how stupid and dishonest you are.

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>So for all of you American-hating drones who prattle on about

>how this country is hated all over the world, the fact that

>people from all over the world see this country as the Land of

>Opportunity and Hope makes it clear just how stupid and

>dishonest you are.

>

Doogie:

You truly are the ultimate hypocrite. You label anyone who disagrees with the policies of Bush and Company as "America-haters". Is it not just remotely possible that people who love America might have serious problems with U.S. policies that subject our national image to international scorn? I know that you are a goose-stepping blind supporter of all things Bush, but can you ever expect any reasonable, thinking person to take you seriously when you are such a blatant hypocrite and Bush ass-kisser?

The Bulgarian Connection

>I spent 3 weeks in Bulgaria in April and it was

>the third time that I was there in the last 6 months. EVERY

>person I talked to between the ages of 20 and 35 - and

>ESPECIALLY ones with small children - are so eager to find a

>way to get to the United States that it was all they wanted to

>talk about.

And you believe that if you were a Canadian, they would still be asking you about American immigration requirements (which truly are an embarrassment to me, even though I do not "hate" this country as your paranoid rantings charge). And if you were German, they would still be asking you about American immigration requirements. That's what you truly believe, because that's how your brain works, right?

>You can dismiss this as anecdotal evidence if you like

It may be an anecdote, but it isn't evidence.

RE: The Bulgarian Connection

>And you believe that if you were a Canadian, they would still

>be asking you about American immigration requirements (which

>truly are an embarrassment to me, even though I do not "hate"

>this country as your paranoid rantings charge). And if you

>were German, they would still be asking you about American

>immigration requirements. That's what you truly believe,

>because that's how your brain works, right?

As I made clear, they all have been making efforts to come to the U.S. Each one of them has applied for lottery visas to come to the U.S. -- not to France or Canada or Holland, but the U.S. - that Evil Bastion of Hatred and Fascism led by Satan Himself. They have been making efforts to get to the U.S. long before they met me. I see how your "brain" works: it blocks out facts that you dislike and then invents ones that you like better.

>>You can dismiss this as anecdotal evidence if you like

>

>It may be an anecdote, but it isn't evidence.

What is evidence is what I pointed you to and what you ignored: For virtually every Eastern European country, the number of people who want to come to the U.S. to live is so great that they are literally barred even from procuring tourist visas. I don't believe there are any countries who have that problem with Americans. Does that tell you something about the views of America around the world?

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>No, bitch, I do nothing of the sort. I disagree with many

>policies of the Bush Administration. I do not think that

>disagreeing with a President's policies makes one an

>American-hater. To the contrary, I think political dissent is

>quintessentially American.

Well stated! But in turn, why does the Bush administration "brand" anyone who disagrees with it's policies as "against us" and "an enemy of America"? Isn't that his administration's message?

>

>I used the term "American-hater" to describe those people who

>depict America as the root of evil in the world and who

>constantly embrace those who hate this country and hold them

>up as the beacons of truth. If people who hold such views

>aren't "American-haters," then what is?

If America is the root of evil, then when I die I want to go to Hell! I don't fathom why so Many Americans want to paint this country as the root of evil? Would they want to live anyplace else? Would SO many people in the rest of the world want to come here?

Nothing wrong with criticizing America's policies. If the citizens don't like the current administration's policies, then at least they have the RIGHT to vote that administration out of power. Gee, try that in Libya, North Korea, China, Sudan, Ethiopia, Cuba, or COUNTLESS other countries! Try protesting current policies in those countries!

I don't want to bang the drum and salute the flag, but really, HOW could ANYONE brand this country as less than the ultimate bastion of freedom, and the rights of free expression that has EVER existed in the history of the world? I KNOW that I WOULD NOT want to live anywhere else in the ENTIRE world!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! :o

(from moveon.org's Daily Mis-Lead)

Speaking at the NATO conference in Turkey yesterday, President Bush said, "15 months after the liberation of Iraq...the world witnessed the arrival of a free and sovereign Iraqi government." [1] The reality, however, is much different.

The same day that U.S. administrator Paul Bremer officially ended the occupation, U.S. prosecutors refused to abide by an Iraqi judge's order acquitting Iraqi citizen Iyad Akmush Kanum of attempted murder of coalition troops. [2] Instead, the prosecutors returned Kanum to the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, claiming that "they were not bound by Iraqi law."

In the days leading up to his departure, Bremer "issued a raft of edicts" in an effort to "exert U.S. control over the country after the transfer of political authority."[3] Specifically, Bremer empowered a seven-member appointed commission "to disqualify political parties and any of the candidates they support." Bremer also "appointed Iraqis handpicked by his aides to influential positions in the interim government" with multi-year terms to "promote his concepts of governance" after the handover.

Iraq remains plagued by violence and "the primary military responsibility for fighting the insurgency remains as much in American hands as it did yesterday."[4] As a result, the New York Times concludes it is "ludicrous for administration officials to suggest that America's occupation of Iraq has now somehow ended."

SOURCES:

1. "Remarks by President Bush and Prime Minister Blair," Whitehouse.gov, 6/28/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1349718&l=42686.

2. "Prisoner 27075 learns limits of sovereignty, Financial Times, 6/29/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1349718&l=42687

3. "U.S. Edicts Curb Power Of Iraq's Leadership," Washington Post, 6/27/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1349718&l=42688"

4. "A Secretive Transfer in Iraq," New York Times, 6/29/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1349718&l=42689

>Nothing in Bush's policies of governing Iraq after defeating

>it in a war, is ANY DIFFERENT than past policy by both

>Democratic and Republican administrations!

The difference is that Germany, Japan, Spain and the other countries you mentioned had declared war on us before we invaded and occupied them.

Yes, I know, the small minds of America still link Iraq to the Saudi box cutters.

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>I don't want to bang the drum and salute the flag, but really,

>HOW could ANYONE brand this country as less than the ultimate

>bastion of freedom, and the rights of free expression that has

>EVER existed in the history of the world?

Then why are you doing it? Typical redneck xenophobic hyperbole. Do you really think you can speak about the entire history of the world with any intelligibility? All you've done is provide us with another dose of the "my dick is bigger than everyone else's" mentality. I doubt it has ever crossed your mind that there are people across the globe who have been deprived of freedom so that you can maintain your lifestyle. Bottom line is, you don't seem to care about "their freedom". It's only yours that matters. Thanks for making it abundantly clear where you're coming from (as if we didn't already know.)

I KNOW that I WOULD

>NOT want to live anywhere else in the ENTIRE world!

Good for you!

>

>HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! :o

You're two days early.....guess this falls under the category of premature ejaculation.

>The difference is that Germany, Japan, Spain and the other

>countries you mentioned had declared war on us before we

>invaded and occupied them.

Check your facts, before you spew your spunk! The U.S. only declared war against both Japan and subsequently Germany, after the attack by Japan in December 1941 on Hawaii! WWII started with Nazi Germany''s attack on Poland in September 1939! The ONLY country who battled Nazi Germany with ANY success was Great Britain, before the USA became involved! So GO KISS THE BRITISH ASSES, for being the BEACON of democracy, for at least 2 full years, before the Americans became involved in WWII! What a TOOL you are!

Yes, I know, the small minds of America still link Iraq to the

>Saudi box cutters.

Whatever that bullshit means!

>

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>

>>I don't want to bang the drum and salute the flag, but

>really,

>>HOW could ANYONE brand this country as less than the

>ultimate

>>bastion of freedom, and the rights of free expression that

>has

>>EVER existed in the history of the world?

>

>Then why are you doing it? Typical redneck xenophobic

>hyperbole. Do you really think you can speak about the entire

>history of the world with any intelligibility? All you've

>done is provide us with another dose of the "my dick is bigger

>than everyone else's" mentality. I doubt it has ever crossed

>your mind that there are people across the globe who have been

>deprived of freedom so that you can maintain your lifestyle.

>Bottom line is, you don't seem to care about "their freedom".

>It's only yours that matters. Thanks for making it abundantly

>clear where you're coming from (as if we didn't already

>know.)

Jesus Christ! What a hateful, HOLIER than THOU, piece of crap your postulation is!

DO YOU THINK that YOU SPEAK for every PERSON on the planet???, who regards himself as SO MUCH more intelligent than those who you hurl your shit bricks at?

What the hell does your "my dick is bigger than yours" analysis have to do with ANYTHING under discussion, UNLESS you, yourself, "defines" his worth based on DICK SIZE?

>I KNOW that I WOULD NOT want to live anywhere else in the ENTIRE world!

>

>Good for you!

Yep, GOOD FOR ME, and as far as I'm concerned you can take your anti-American BULLSHIT to the nearest cave where you can COWER in your sissy assed bs, while others FIGHT the battle to guarantee your rights!

>>

>>HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! :o

>

>You're two days early.....guess this falls under the category

>of premature ejaculation.

No more than the FACT that the best part of your Daddy's ejaculation dribbled down you mother's thigh?

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>I don't want to bang the drum and salute the flag, but really,

>HOW could ANYONE brand this country as less than the ultimate

>bastion of freedom, and the rights of free expression that has

>EVER existed in the history of the world?

Gee, I don't know. Why don't we ask the prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, how they feel about it? Why don't we ask the people we deserted in Afghanistan, where elections keep getting put off because we lost interest in promoting freedom and free expression there, or the people of Iraq, who will soon once again be living under martial law?

>I KNOW that I WOULD

>NOT want to live anywhere else in the ENTIRE world!

I know someone who puts catsup on his pizza and can't understand why everyone else in the world doesn't want to do so also.

>>The difference is that Germany, Japan, Spain and the other

>>countries you mentioned had declared war on us before we

>>invaded and occupied them.

>

>Check your facts, before you spew your spunk! The U.S. only

>declared war against both Japan and subsequently Germany,

>after the attack by Japan in December 1941 on Hawaii! WWII

>started with Nazi Germany''s attack on Poland in September

>1939!

The fact, of course, is that we (the United States) did not invade and occupy Germany or Japan until they declared war on us -- and that's exactly what I said.

So what is it that YOU are trying to spew?

RE: The Bulgarian Connection

>As I made clear, they all have been making efforts to come to

>the U.S. Each one of them has applied for lottery visas to

>come to the U.S. -- not to France or Canada or Holland, but

>the U.S.

If France or Canada or Holland had a lottery, they would be entering those too -- although the most popular lottery would probably be for Turkey.

====================

During the Nineties, over 500,000 people emigrated from Bulgaria, most of them, being 'ethnic Turks', to Turkey.

The difficult economic situation keeps the immigration pressure of Bulgarian citizens to the West at a considerable level; the major destinations are Germany, Greece and the USA

http://www.europarl.eu.int/workingpapers/libe/104/bulgaria_en.htm

======================

>What is evidence is what I pointed you to and what you

>ignored: For virtually every Eastern European country, the

>number of people who want to come to the U.S. to live is so

>great that they are literally barred even from procuring

>tourist visas. I don't believe there are any countries who

>have that problem with Americans.

Yes, but there are many other countries that have that problem with Eastern Europeans.

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

>DO YOU THINK that YOU SPEAK for every PERSON on the planet???,

>who regards himself as SO MUCH more intelligent than those who

>you hurl your shit bricks at?

No, but apparently you think you do.

>

>Yep, GOOD FOR ME, and as far as I'm concerned you can take

>your anti-American BULLSHIT to the nearest cave where you can

>COWER in your sissy assed bs, while others FIGHT the battle to

>guarantee your rights!

So please tell us how your characterization of my views as "anti-American BULLSHIT" is any different from how your hero George W. Bush characterizes anyone who disagrees with him as "anti-American" and "unpatriotic"? Whenever you start spewing your inbred trailer park views, it becomes blatantly apparent you are nothing but an old-styled Southern Republican redneck. It warms my heart to see you reveal your true colors, Bubba. Which flag are you wrapping yourself in today, American or Confederate?

RE: Iraqis celebrate their freedom

And from Patrick J. Buchanan:

This is the war we are losing. And to win this struggle, the United States needs to do three things that may go against the political interests of both parties: Stand up for justice for the Palestinians. Remove our imperial presence. Cease to intervene in their internal affairs.

We Americans once stood for all that. And if we go only where we are invited, we would be invited more often to come and help.