There is a country called Iraq - used to be an ally of ours; we gave them chemical and biological weapons and we trained their army in their use. And, as long as Saddam joined us in conflict with Iran, he was one of us.
Cease-fire.
Get Saddam's oil. Sanctions. International oversight. Invasion.
The nationalists of Iraq fight for their country against the illegal invaders.
Wouldn't you?
Muqtada al Sadr is the Shia leader of the resistance to the Iraq invasion. The Iraqi nationalist insurgents. The resistance.
Yes, he is one of the good guys.
He opposes further slippage into the Iranian sphere of influence.
Wouldn't you?
He opposes the internationalization of Iraqi oil production and distribution.
He's a nationalist, who opposes the invasion and occupation of his country and letting the fatcat transnational oil companies take it over.
Wouldn't you?
How long are we going to tolerate the friends of our enemies killing off the enemies of our enemies?

Bill, I admire you very much and share many of your ideas about neocons and Bush. But on Sadr you are just out of touch with reality. Let me picture to you what reality is. Sadr is the good guy, and foreign occupiers are the bad guys. Do you get it now? The same you should do about the Palestinians. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians. Palestinians are the good guys, and the zionist occupiers are the bad guys. Read some history, like 1948 for instance. Can you think unemotionally on this one for once? Are you able to feel empathic for catastrophic suffering? Thank you and best regards from an admirer of you.

Might not Moqtada al-Sadr be one of the "good guys," a strong, spiritual leader whom world opinion should now be ecumenically supporting?

Al-Sadr is apparently a wildly popular leader of the Shiite poor, who, time and again, has demonstrated his commitment to peacefully resisting the overwhelmingly-superior military forces bent upon murdering him. Aside from his courageous refusal to relinquish the ancient homelands of his followers to invaders who would steal and exploit them, and his stubborn unwillingness to be assassinated, what has he done to deserve universal media condemnation and abandonment in the west?

Several times throughout this conflict, when it has seemed temporarily expedient for the U.S. to leave al-Sadr in peace, he has urged patience and forbearance among his followers even as the wide-scale destruction of his country has continued.

Isn"t it time we reconsidered the unquestioned place we have given al-Sadr in our western pantheon of demonized enemies? He is a leader to whom the majority of Shiites in Iraq currently pledge their allegiance, one who has often turned the other cheek even while his beloved followers were being killed. Despite being repeatedly stalked, discredited, attacked, betrayed, and occasionally befriended by President Bush, his millions of followers trust him unreservedly to make their decisions for them. Who are the bad guys here, and who are the good guys?

How can we expect al-Sadr"s forces to passively turn in their guns when our own country feels free to unilaterally initiate pre-emptive wars, invade, occupy and shoot up foreign country sides and villages and cities, interfere with sovereign nations" internal affairs, drop nuclear and conventional bombs on civilian populations, disrupt livelihoods and lives, kill innocents, and stockpile armaments enough to end life on earth many times over? Al-Sadr has not invaded America. The reverse has happened.

The Bible does not say "the lamb shall lie down with the lion," but "the lion shall lie down with the lamb."

(Nancy Pace blogs on breaking news at the intersection of politics, peace, culture and spirituality at www.epharmony.com.)

Mr Maher isn't liked by W & Co for he tells it [the s#it] like it's & hurts their feelings; he doesn't ever feel their psychosomatic hurtings, make nice with these slugs, sings, "Hail to the thief, not chief.] when he sees W, doesn't kiss what ever W & Co says hurts to make it better, but Bill does kick the things W & Co claim that hurts them, applies mustard based ointment to what W & Co claims hurts after giving them hard swift kicks to bruise W & Co & break the bones of W & Co. Bill tells the bunch in cahoots with W & Co to look in a dictionary when they beg for sympathy from him. He tells these yo yo's to look for sympathy after the entry for saliva but before the entry for syrup.
Some say that Mr Maher uses the technics of tough love when dealing with W & Co. That's patently false for Bill has no love for W & Co.

Mr. Maher:

You've GOT TO QUIT telling the truth. . . . (wink/wink/nod) . . LOL

They're gonna get U for calling-it/telling-it like it is.

You'd never make it in public office. . . tooooooooooo much honesty.

buckheaddad

This one fact still remains.WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN IRAQ!!! There were never any weapons of mass destruction.Bush jr. just wanted to finish what Bush sr. started years earlier.There is no winning this war,so,let's get our guys and gals out of there now! I know a young man,he was a friend of my son,and he's doing a second tour in Iraq.On one of his visits home,he was telling us how the media lies to the american people and they only show us the bad stuff.They want to keep this war going ,in the eyes of the american people,to justify what Bush has done.We got Sadam out of power,and have helped the Iraqi people develope their own government.Now what?Are we supposed to stick around and fight every extremist group that comes along?That's a moral judgement question.Isn't the war supposed to be about 9/11 and Bin Laden?

It blows my mind- teh Iranians broker a cease fire and yet we are told they are the 'enemey' should we have used that opportunity to Thank them for their assistance in reducing the violence between these warring factions? Was this not beneficial to our Service personnel caught in the cross fire of this multidimensional civil war?
Why was this opportunity allowed to pass- because it did not meet the Saudi's goals- the continued ME Land Grab Doctrine being executed by means of our 'gov'ts ' independent Contractor assignment.
I don't fear the Iranians, Nor even AQ. I fear this Admin, the Congress, SCOTUS and the Inc's who have sold US out for their piece of the OIL Pie. The Last 35 yrs is proof enough for me- We ahve been infiltrated and Seized by the Oil Hoarders.

Suggestion: Let Sadr take over the country. Beg a thousand pardons. Leave. Bye bye.

This is sort of like the recurring bad dream night after night. A few names and details change, but essentially, one could work up a standardized form with blanks left open for the name and detail changes. We've got it all memorized by now, no?

Why do we keep doing this dance? Why do we keep finding out more about what disgraceful and illegal things this administration has done and keeps doing yet they are STILL in control!! What am I missing?? Can someone PLEASE tell me!! The war is NOT working and we will never "win". There is nothing to win but so much [more] to lose!!
Peace to you and yours....