Iraq Fighting Underscores Power Struggle

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The Guardian   |  Sam Kiley   |   March 30, 2008 at 03:40 PM


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For once, George Bush's open-faced incomprehension - at Nouri al-Maliki's decision to set off a civil war inside Iraq's Shia community - seems entirely appropriate. When the American President admitted he did not know why the Iraqi Prime Minister had launched an offensive in Basra saying, 'I'm not exactly sure what triggered the Prime Minister's response', he was not alone.

The consequences of the decision to send 15,000 Iraqi troops, and as many policemen, into Basra has been the destruction of a nine-month-old ceasefire from Moqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army. In just a few days it has swept back onto the streets in Kut, Hilla, Amara, Kerbala, Nasiriyah, and Diwaniya, as well as into Sadr City in Baghdad, where militiamen have been raining rockets and mortars on the Green Zone...

...Meanwhile, in Basra, British troops have been supporting the Iraqi troops who have been struggling to take ground against the Iranian-backed militia. American jets have been in action supporting the Iraqi army and there is even talk of US troops being sent south into what has been a British-run zone. The ceasefire with al-Sadr has been an essential part of the success of US general David Petraeus's 'surge' - the deployment of an extra 28,000 American troops into Baghdad and nearby cities. Assured of quiet on the Shi'ite front, US forces have been free to concentrate on battling al Qaeda and Ba'athist insurgents among the Sunni community.

Petraeus is due to testify before the American Congress in two weeks' time, where he was expected to show his favourite slide - a graphic illustration of the steady decline in fighting and terror attacks since the surge. A new slide will now have to be prepared, showing an upturn in violence.

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Right winger's equation:

We are America
You hate us, therefore:
You hate America

Here's the way it really works:

You aren't America
We hate you, therefore:
We love America

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:44 PM on 03/31/2008

Is there no clue about Cheney's visit to al-Maliki? Do we really think this was a surprise?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:02 AM on 03/31/2008

I have just learned that B Obama voted against a bill to ban Partial Birth Obortion and he said he would not change his position, incase some one dont know what this is its a full term baby in the womb and they kill it, this is sad

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:06 AM on 03/31/2008

It's a fetus and it's off-topic

8

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:29 AM on 03/31/2008

So if a pregnant woman and her unborn child are shot and killed is it a double murder or because it is a fetus it doen't count?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:35 AM on 03/31/2008

well, a) that's irrelevant and b) partial birth abortion is normally used on dead fetuses which otherwise would have to be carried to term and delivered at risk to the mother's health. Nobody does them for birth control, and if you outlawed it you'd force people like a couple I know and love to carry a dead fetus to term. Get out of the kool aid bucket, Jack. The right is wrong about everything about abortion.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:14 AM on 03/31/2008

Well, you can vote for Huckabee then.

Oh, that's right...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:11 AM on 03/31/2008

THP bans posts from all kinds of reasonable people but this GOP m0ron gets his post on? Has THP become the new "Crossfire"?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:23 AM on 03/31/2008

I see the 5th Column is hard at work tonight

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:47 PM on 03/30/2008

They're in the White House and they work hard night and day to undermine our democracy, arm our enemies, ruin our economy, decimate our fighting forces, enrich their cronies, manipulate our media and destroy our reputation in the world - even among our closest traditional allies.

The Bush administration IS the Fifth Column.

8

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:46 AM on 03/31/2008

We can agree the White House has subverted our democracy, enriched their pals and manipulated the media.
This suffices to seize power, to loot the country and to leave town before the yokels sense the scam and send the posse.
Accusing them of more than this misses the mark. The Bushies are not smart enough to ruin the nation so completely.
The State Department sold US nuclear secrets to the highest bidders, but this program dates back to at least 1996.
The CIA has murdered at least six millions civilians since 1950 [not counting victims in Iraq]. They wrote the book on how to make enemies and to terrify friends.
The White House never intended to ruin the economy. Why would thieves prompt a bank to go bust before the heist was complete?
The US military has been a joke since it last won in 1945.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:57 AM on 03/31/2008

Yes, your anti-American troll friends are all over tonight.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:36 AM on 03/31/2008

Indeed they are.... those who can think have been greatly out numbered today...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:43 AM on 03/31/2008

Sorry your the majority just like congress.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:54 AM on 03/31/2008

The ONLY part of the Iraq escalation 'surge' that EVER really worked, was the surge in 'don't-shoot' bribes using USA tax-payer dollar$. Guess what happened when those ran out...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:23 PM on 03/30/2008

How much does an AK47 go for on the Iraqi black market?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:30 AM on 03/31/2008

I would like to nominate Senator McCain as viceroy of the Green Zones in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
And of course, when he finishes bombing Iran as in BOMB, BOMB, BOMB IRAN and he leaves his first term as POTUS, President Romney can name him Shah of Iran's Green Zone.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:05 PM on 03/30/2008

Good one. ROFLMAO!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:06 AM on 03/31/2008

In an unusually frank analysis, Colonel Richard Iron, military mentor to the Iraqi commander General Mohan al-Furayji, said 'There's an uneasy peace between the Iraqi Security Forces [ISF] on the one hand and the militias on the other. There is a sense in the ISF that confrontation is inevitable. They are training and preparing for the battle ahead. General Mohan says that the US won the battle for Baghdad, the US is going win the battle for Mosul, but Iraqis will have to win the battle for Basra.'

Basra has been the scene of a violent power struggle between rival Shia factions, prominently Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) led by the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who last week announced an extension to its six-month ceasefire. It has seen armed groups move into hospitals and university campuses to impose their religious and political ideology, bullying or even beheading women for going out to work or dressing inappropriately.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:38 PM on 03/30/2008

This in a country twhere women had more education an rights than any other in the Mid East, before we invaded.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:34 AM on 03/31/2008

"It has seen armed groups move into hospitals and university campuses to impose their religious and political ideology, bullying or even beheading women for going out to work or dressing inappropriately."

Before Bush's invasion and occupation, Iraq was the most secular country in the region where Iraqi woman could drive themselves, dress as they pleased and attend University. How many years do you suspect it will take to undo the damage Bush's occupation has done?

It's worth noting that Saudi Arabia, Bush's friends, oppress woman, and Kuwait, the country Bush the Elder "liberated", is known by our state department as a center for slave trading.

Stop defending these people

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    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:18 PM on 03/30/2008

And some more of their "rights" 6

Torture. The Iraqi Government routinely tortures and kills female dissidents and the female relatives of Iraqi oppositionists and defectors. Victims include Safiyah Hassan, the mother of two Iraqi defectors, who was killed after publicly criticizing the Iraqi Government for killing her sons after their return to Iraq. Women in Saddam's jails are subjected to the following forms of torture: brutal beatings, systematic rape, electrical shocks, and branding. (U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2001, March 2002; U.S. Department of State, Iraq: A Population Silenced, December 2002)



Murder. In 1990, Saddam Hussein introduced Article 111 into the Iraqi Penal Code in a calculated effort to strengthen tribal support for his regime. This law exempts men who kill their female relatives in defense of their family's honor from prosecution and punishment. The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women reported that more than 4,000 women have been victims of so-called "honor killings" since Article 111 went into effect. (UN Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, January 2002)

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:52 PM on 03/30/2008

Really so you have been there?

And here is all those rights womwn enjoyed in Iraq under Saddam, keep drinking the Kool-aid 7. Iraq under Saddam, if you are a woman, you could face:

Beheading. Under the pretext of fighting prostitution, units of "Fedayeen Saddam," the paramilitary organization led by Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, have beheaded in public more than 200 women throughout the country, dumping their severed heads at their families' doorsteps. Many families have been required to display the victim's head on their outside fences for several days. These barbaric acts were carried out in the total absence of any proper judicial procedures and many of the victims were not engaged in prostitution, but were targeted for political reasons. For example, Najat Mohammad Haydar, an obstetrician in Baghdad, was beheaded after criticizing the corruption within health services. (Amnesty International Report, Iraq: Systematic Torture of Political Prisoners, August 2001; Iraqi Women's League in Damascus, Syria)

Rape. The Iraqi Government uses rape and sexual assault of women to achieve the following goals: to extract information and forced confessions from detained family members; to intimidate Iraqi oppositionists by sending videotapes showing the rape of female family members; and to blackmail Iraqi men into future cooperation with the regime. Some Iraqi authorities even carry personnel cards identifying their official "activity" as the "violation of women's honor." (U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2001, March 2002; Iraq Research and Documentation Project, Harvard University)

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:50 PM on 03/30/2008

Nothing that Saddam Hussein has ever done excuses, reverses or mitigates Bush's catastrophic failure in Iraq. Hussein's actions, however despicable, have not been responsible for the last 4+ years of privation, indignity, displacement, suffering, torture, disease, hardship and death in Iraq. The grotesque mismanagement, stupidity, malfeasance and waste that has branded the last 5 years of Bush's occupation cannot be defended by saying Saddam was a bad guy - no matter how many times you repeat it.

The failures of Iraq are the failures of the neo-conman agenda of preemptive war and have nothing whatsoever to do with Saddam Hussein. Invading prematurely, invading with too small a coalition, invading with too few troops to seal the borders and protect the populace, failing to correct those fundamental errors years ago, and every bad decision that has followed for the last 5 years must be blamed on the current administration and the commander in chief.

And the shameless revisionists who continue to make excuses for them ... yourself included.

8

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:27 AM on 03/31/2008

We know all of this. But I see you are trying to justify in your own mind why the invasion and occupation occurred.

However, Bush did not execute the invasion for the reasons you describe. You DO know that, don't you?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:10 AM on 03/31/2008

Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters off Iraq's streets Sunday in a move which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki welcomed as a "step in the right direction" after several days of heavy fighting. "We want the Iraqi people to stop this bloodshed and maintain Iraq's independence and stability," Sadr said in a statement with his seal released by his headquarters in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf in central Iraq. "For that we have decided to withdraw from the streets of Basra and all other provinces."

Sadr's call came after battles since Tuesday between Shiite fighters and Iraqi forces in the southern port city of Basra, Baghdad and several other Shiite regions had killed at least 270 people



This doesn't sound like the surge failing, it sounds like success. What is the ultimate intent of the surge? To bring enough security so the Iraqiis can train and employ their own military and police to govern themselves. This is exactly what happened in this case. You notice it is Maliki and Sadr negotiating not the US. They are enforcing their laws, Maliki knew that he would have to deal with Basra eventually since it was being ruled by street thugs. And Sadr asked for a truce because he wants a place in the new government.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:36 PM on 03/30/2008

About one third of what you say is true but the last sentence is laughable. He is a guerrilla. We want to kill him. We tried to kill him. If he enters the Green Zone we will kil him.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:41 AM on 03/31/2008

"to bring enough security so the Iraqis can train and employ their own military and police to govern themselves"....??? Oh, you mean like they were doing BEFORE we crashed the party? You mean like ripping down and burning your house, dispersing and/or killing it's occupants just so you can build it back up and rescue everyone while sacrificing your own resources? Sounds like a plan to me...if you're a blithering idiot. Oh wait...you and der chimporater are.................................................blithering....................idiots.................nevermind.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:17 AM on 03/31/2008

"What is the ultimate intent of the surge? To bring enough security so the Iraqiis can train and employ their own military and police to govern themselves. This is exactly what happened in this case. ... "

Uh ... no. There were no less than 18 stated goals of the surge and only three have been met or partially met. It is not a help to our country when mindless, gung-ho Bushbots like yourself persist in distorting facts, denying reality, twisting intentions and engaging in gross revisionism. Iraq is a failure and has been for at least 4 years now. Next year, it will have been a failure for five years ... and so on. Nothing our military can ever do in Iraq can reverse the past 4+ years of failure, and throwing more lives and more taxpayer dollars into a demonstrably failed policy can never have any result justifiable to the American people.

Please stop.

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    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 PM on 03/30/2008


So this violence that killed 300 or so a measure of the success of the surge? If so, then the supposed reduction in violence must have been a failure. Which is it?

Should we expect a bloodbath before each "negotiation", because that's what the surge is supposed to accomplish?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:53 PM on 03/30/2008

There were 39murders in the city of Detroit in January, I guess we should close the police department because they are a failure.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:54 PM on 03/30/2008

That Detroit murders thing is always a good indicator that you have lost the argument, and that you are now starting to utter pure nonsense.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:41 AM on 03/31/2008

How many were RPGs, snipers, IEDs, mortar fire and suicide bombers?

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    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:32 AM on 03/31/2008

You've hereby run out of defense chits for your chimp in charge.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:28 AM on 03/31/2008

Leave Detroit out of this.....

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:06 AM on 03/31/2008

If the police had the resources of the US military...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:02 AM on 03/31/2008

Your analogy is highly flawed. It's like saying our schools are a failure because the occasional whack job goes in and shoots people.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:10 PM on 03/30/2008

Looks like my first reply got lost.

OK. Where is the analogy in my post, Genius? Do you even know what analogy means?

You have given an analogy, and a really flawed one. First, I don't judge schools by number of "whack jobs"shooting anyone. To me, a school is where one goes to get an education. Second, what do schools have to do with what we are talking about?

Do you now see how stupid you look posting stuff like that?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:46 PM on 03/30/2008

Good try, Timothe. If this is success, define failure!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:34 PM on 03/30/2008