RADIO TIDBITS

Special Dennis Prager edition!

DP was whining about his confrontation with Randi Rhodes and turned that into his normal attack on the (E?)evils of the Left.

DP took a call (C1) from a sane person who mentioned that this wasn't a war of Good versus Evil, as DP claims, it's a war mostly against insurgents who don't want us in their country. C1 argued that they attack the civilians who are cooperating with the occupation forces. DP couldn't get his mind around that and mentioned suicide bombings in open markets and claims that ALL such attacks are by terrorists. I then e-mailed this to DP to point out to him that the vast majority of the insurgents are not Islamic terrorists:

'Good and honest' Iraqis fighting US forces

By Phil Sands, Staff Reporter
Published: 9/6/2005, 06:25 (UAE)

Tikrit
A senior US military chief has admitted "good, honest" Iraqis are fighting American forces.

Major General Joseph Taluto said he could understand why some ordinary people would take up arms against the US military because "they're offended by our presence".

In an interview with Gulf News, he said: "If a good, honest person feels having all these Humvees driving on the road, having us moving people out of the way, having us patrol the streets, having car bombs going off, you can understand how they could [want to fight us]."

General Taluto also admitted he did not know how many insurgents there were. "I stay away from numbers how can I quantify this? We can make estimates by doing some kind of guesswork," he said.

He added: "Who knows how big these networks are, or how widespread? I know it's substantial enough to be a threat to the government and it will be for some time."


I think C1 is just a little bit off because there are some attacks that are done by Islamic terrorists but there is little doubt that the vast majority of attacks are by native Iraqi insurgents and militias not under government control:

U.S. knew Shiite militias were a threat
but took no action largely because
they were focused on Sunni insurgency
By Tom Lasseter
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Posted on Mon, Apr. 17, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. officials were warned for more than two years that Shiite Muslim militias were infiltrating Iraq's security forces and taking control of neighborhoods, but they failed to take action to counteract it, Iraqi and American officials said.

White House and Pentagon officials ignored a stream of warnings from American intelligence agencies about the mounting danger posed by two Shiite militias, the Badr Organization and the Mahdi Army. The Badr Organization is the armed wing of the Iranian-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the most powerful Shiite political faction in the country; the Mahdi Army is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Officials in Washington said alarms about the growing power of the militias began in late 2003 and were raised throughout 2004 and 2005 by a variety of agencies, including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Adnan Ali, a top adviser to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said there was a compelling reason the Americans didn't do more to address the militias in 2005: There weren't enough U.S. and Iraqi troops to fight the insurgency while risking an uprising by tens of thousands of Shiites by cracking down on militias.

"I am against militias, but because of the situation in Iraq we need militias to protect us," said Transportation Minister Salam al-Maliki, a key al-Sadr political negotiator who deeply dislikes the U.S. presence in Iraq. "America doesn't know anything about militias in Iraq; it hasn't come up with any solution for them."


Apparently unknown to DP, there is also little doubt that we have lost the "hearts and minds" of many Iraqis since 45% think it's OK to kill American soldiers. DP also seems completely unaware of the structure of society in Iraq and how revenge may be a factor in most of the attacks.

I sent DP several other e-mails containing the articles referred to here but I doubt I will get a reply and it is a certainty that he won't change his mind despite his claims about trying to be truthful.

DP then changed the topic to homosexuals in textbooks, referring to a bill passed by the California Senate that "would require California's social science textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people to the state and nation's history." I was disappointed because I hoped he would continue discussing the insurgency with callers but I guess DP couldn't handle the opposition and decided to play the trusty Gay Card.