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POPSWhen is a holocaust not a holocaust? (cont.)Thus, the number of people available for being killers or victims is markedly reduced. Moreover, extensive ethnic cleansing has taken place in the country (another good indication of progress, n'est-ce pas?). Sunnis and Shiites are now living more in their own special enclaves than before, none of those stinking mixed communities with their unholy mixed marriages, so violence of the sectarian type has also gone down; and the powerful movement of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr has had a cease-fire in effect for many months, unconnected to the surge. On top of all this, US soldiers, in the face of numerous "improvised explosive devices" on the roads, have been venturing out a lot less (for fear of things like ... well, dying), so the violence against our noble lads is also down. Remember that insurgent attacks on American forces is how the Iraqi violence all began in the first place.
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POPS"Democratic Iraq" promoting Islamic deathsquads against gays Reporter Peter Tatchell- Saddam Hussein was a bloody tyrant. I campaigned against his blood-stained misrule for nearly 30 years. But while Saddam was president, there was certainly no danger of gay people being assassinated in their homes and in the street by religious fanatics. Since his overthrow, the violent persecution of lesbians and gays is much worse. Even children suspected of being gay are abducted and later found shot in the head.
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POPSWhat counts as 'success' in Iraq? Cont.... This was widely predicted before the war was started, and it is now apparent. All of Iraq's leaders, including the president, a Kurd, are friendly with Iran and regard it as an important ally. In Bush circles, this new prominence for Iran is never linked to the war, as if occurring by itself.
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POPSA Way Out? If it wasn't for the thousands of US servicemen's lives lost and the hundreds of thousands Iraqi lives lost this entire escapade would be humorous. The Stooges in the White House still might find a way to blow this. Come on 2009!
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POPSDon't Look Now--but the Surge is About to Backfire as Iraq poised to Explode
The first is the brewing crisis over Kirkuk, where the pushy Kurds are demanding control and Iraq’s Arabs are resisting. The second is in the west, and Anbar, where the US-backed Sons of Iraq sahwa (”Awakening”) movement is moving to take power against the Iraqi Islamic Party, a fundamentalist Sunni bloc. And third is the restive Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which is chafing at gains made by its Iranian-backed rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) The final crisis-to-be is the Sadr vs. Badr one. The Times today suggests that Sadr is weakening: The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq. Don’t believe it. Sadr’s rivals, ISCI, don’t have anything like the popular base that Sadr has. And underneath Sadr is a volatile mix of neighborhood, local and regional militias, mosques, and econom
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POPSMugtada al-Sadr keeps the truce for now.... Cont.... Such tales abound. Sudani said she'd heard of troops bursting into a woman's home and arresting her four sons, as a soldier threw the mother to the ground and put his boot on her head. Iraqi troops are said to have seized gasoline canisters from a Sadr City resident and distributed them to others, claiming they were from the government. Ali Jassim, 30, another resident, said his cousin's phone rang at a checkpoint with a ringtone containing a chant about Sadr. When soldiers heard it, they slapped him, he said. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, has suffered a series of setbacks since last spring. It lost control of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, and the southern city of Amara after Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered his forces to retake those areas. Many charge that Maliki is waging a political war against his former allies in time for fall's provincial elections.
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POPSBush Optmistic of Iraq .... What a lie Bush said the United States would "work hard to accommodate their desires," but also said that "we believe that a strategic relationship with Iraq is important" both for the United States and the region.
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POPSObama's Plan For Defeat But Obama and the Democrats would forfeit every one of these successes to a declared policy of fixed and unconditional withdrawal. The disconnect between what Democrats are saying about Iraq and what is actually happening there has reached grotesque proportions. Obama will keep pulling out his 2002 speech opposing the war. But McCain's case is simple. Is not Obama's central mantra that this election is about the future not the past? It is about 2009, not 2002. Obama promises that upon his inauguration, he will order the Joint Chiefs to bring him a plan for withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months. If McCain cannot take to the American people the case for the folly of that policy, he will not be president. Nor should he be.
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POPSSadr Organizing Force to Liberate Iraq from US Occupation It's a war for independence and self government which will likely gain him major support from other groups as well. They vow to only fight the U.S. occupation forces. You see "Operation Iraqi Freedom" has not made them free, but enslaved and under a US puppet government that also is increasingly dissenting. This will make Sadr a national hero and end the "sectarian" violence always claimed in US propaganda.
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POPSPresidential Bloodlust: The Movie-Made War World of George W. Bush Not long after that, the President "launched" what an evidently bewildered Sanchez politely describes as "a kind of confused pep talk regarding both Fallujah and our upcoming southern campaign ." Here then is that "pep talk." While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president, or anything not like it coming out of the mouth of any evil enemy leader in the films of the President's -- and my -- childhood: "'Kick ass!' said, echoing Colin Powell's tough talk. 'If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal. "There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevai
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POPSHow to Effectively Win a War on Terror Winning is the most effective way to end bloodshed as is proven by this report. Taking the offensive in fighting against radical insurgent forces is making Iraq more peaceful not less like some would have us believe. Making the effort to resist the terror attacks is working. Keep up the good work guys and gals.
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POPSAl-Sadr Embarasses US What's Wrong this Picture? The Bush administration negotiates this deal behind closed door, only publicly refers to its terms during the negotiation in "vague" terms, and tells the elected members of Congress it's not their affair and he doesn't need their approval. Yet here is an Iraq Islamic cleric calling for a referendum on the agreement, public protests against it, a media drive opposing it and, if need be, a petition drive to give the people of Iraq a voice on the agreement. How embarrassing for us in the United States. This Islamic theocrat is actually more democratic and transparent than George Bush. If Al Sadr has his way, the Iraqi people will have more say on the US occupation of Iraq than we will. And we liberated them to be like us? LOL!!!
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POPSGreen Zone looking like Sitting Duck
I was just thinking how the recent fighting in Baghdad, focused around the Green Zone and Sard City, had comparisons to the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, and those pictures of the US helicopters fleeing of the roof of the Hanoi US embassy. As a sidenote, It is interesting how an indigenous force uses the terrain and the weather while an occuping army fights against it. Could you imagine the US Army planing actions around sandstorms? I read that in Vietnam the Vietnamese quickly realized US actions, especially air strikes, always took a break for lunch. The USA should negotiate some final political settlement and get out of Iraq. I note there is a lot of the now-common propaganda between the lines involving latest battles, such as the idea the US is battling an "army." It is not an "army." It is a militia. It's made up of citizen soldiers mainly from their own neighborhoods. Compared to the US Army they are like fleas on the back of a dog; fleas that are apparently hard
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POPSRice, in Baghdad, calls al-Sadr coward With further HYPOCRISY, Rice lies on: “Some of the violence is a byproduct of a good decision,” to take on militias and consolidate military power, Rice told reporters following a few hours of meetings and lunch with Iraqi leaders. “That, I think, is what has given the sense to the Iraqis that they have a new opportunity, a window of opportunity,” Rice said. “I don’t think you would have seen this kind of unity,” before.
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POPSSadr exerts religious influence This is the problem -- Sadr has more control over his followers than the government has over it's citizens ... it's been like this for decades, under Saddam. It isn't going to change in the near future...
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POPSIraq: From One Dictator to Another? "Over a thousand Iraqis got killed and more than that number wounded just for a game of chess between warlords," Mohammad Alwan, a lawyer in Baghdad, told IPS. "All of them call for dissolving militias while they keep militias of their own. Most of those in power in the government are militia leaders."
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POPSManufactured Martyrdom - Iran "Kills" Aide to Muqtada al-Sadr It is significant Washington is being blamed and not the administration of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad as Tehran is using this to inspire more hatred (attacks) against the foreign led occupation. It is also significant this took place in the religious center of Najaf which will inspire even more hatred. This comes right after Thursday's statement by the Sadr movement saying they were "under siege" and warned they will end the ceasefire they imposed last August. Tehran is setting the stage for more attacks against the remaining British-U. S. troops in the country, an offensive Iran will be entering at least by launching missiles from Iran at UK/US bases.
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