we'll really lose both Afghanistan AND Iraq.
Militia in 2nd Iraqi province ends cooperation with U.S.
By Steve Lannen McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Saturday, February 16, 2008
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S.-allied fighters in a province south of Baghdad have quit working with American troops after two incidents in which U.S. soldiers killed militia members _ the second province where citizen militias have stopped cooperation with the United States.
Citizen brigades in the province of Babil quit work after three members were killed by U.S. forces Friday, a local police spokesman said Saturday.
Another high-profile fatal incident occurred in the same province a little over two weeks ago. Nationwide in that time span, 19 citizen militia members have been killed and 12 wounded by U.S. forces, said the police spokesman, Capt. Muthanna Ahmed.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
AJ Strata over at strata-sphere.com today
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/5076
brags Iraqis thank us for saving them from al Qaeda,whose bin Laden would be sitting in Saddam's grand palace if we had left early. What a lying buffoon! Hey AJ, guess you missed this report cited by Chomsky, Feb 16.
"The US occupying army in Iraq (euphemistically called the Multi-National Force-Iraq) carries out regular studies of popular attitudes, a crucial component of
population control measures. In December 2007, it released a study of focus groups, which was
uncharacteristically upbeat. The survey "provides very strong evidence" that national reconciliation is possible and anticipated, contrary to prevailing
voices of hopelessness and despair. The survey found
that a sense of "optimistic possibility permeated all
focus groups . . . and far more commonalities than differences are found among these seemingly diverse
groups of Iraqis." This discovery of "shared beliefs" among Iraqis throughout the country is "good news, according to a military analysis of the results,"
Karen de Young reported in the Washington Post (Dec.
19). The "shared beliefs" were identified in the report. To
quote de Young, "Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them,
and see the departure of `occupying forces' as the key
to national reconciliation." So according to Iraqis, there is hope of national reconciliation if the
invaders, who are responsible for the internal violence, withdraw and leave Iraq to Iraqis. The conclusions are credible, consistent with earlier polls, and also with the apparent reduction in violence when the British finally withdrew from Basra
a few months ago, having "decisively lost the south -
which produces over 90 per cent of government revenues and 70 per cent of Iraq's proven oil reserves" by 2005, according to Anthony Cordesman, the most
prominent US specialist on military affairs in the Middle East.
The December 2007 report did not mention other good news: Iraqis appear to accept the highest values of Americans, which should be highly gratifying.
Specifically, they accept the principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal that sentenced Nazi war criminals to hanging for such crimes as supporting aggression
and preemptive war - the main harge against Foreign
Minister von Ribbentrop, whose position in the Nazi regime corresponded to that of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. The Tribunal defined aggression
clearly enough: "invasion of its armed forces" by one
state "of the territory of another state." The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan are textbook
examples, if words have meaning. The Tribunal went on to define aggression as "the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it
contains within itself the accumulated evil of the
whole": in the case of Iraq, the murderous sectarian violence and ethnic cleansing, the destruction of the national culture and the irreplaceable treasures of
the origins of Western civilization under the eyes of
"stuff happens" Rumsfeld and his associates, and every other crime and atrocity as the inheritors of the Mongols have followed the path of imperial Japan."
showing the Iraqis blame the occupation, not al Qaeda, for their ongoing misery and say reconciliation can take place
when America leaves!
Ken,
Good catch. There are also polls of Iraqis going back several years that show anywhere from 45% to 60% of them think it's OK to kill American soldiers.
http://radamisto.blogspot.com/2007/03/another-iraq-poll.html
45% is deceptive because it includes the almost 100% friendly but markedly minority and geographically segregated Kurds.
When it comes to Shia and Sunni,the
average approving of attacks has always been well over half.
Ken,
I think the Sunni rate is close to 85%.
Post a Comment