Iraqi Blogger: Situation "Spiralling out of Control"

[oyez]

There must be some pork products in those MRE's. Surely thats one thing that hasn't be declared contraband.

[bluefish]

Eqaully - Give him credit. Just saying equally shows that reason is trying to come through with this blogger. You would expect him to think the Marines are completely at fault. That he gives this much consideration shows promise.

[Piranha]

Why do you say that blogs don't belong here? I've posted from them before, and I think that they impart necessary information that often cannot be found anywhere else.

[Viking2002]

To call these savages Huns would be an insult to the Huns.

[Piranha]

Beautiful post, 68skylark. You should consider posting it as a vanity posting on its own thread.

[Filibuster_60]

Ending the ceasefire in Fallujah would be a good idea, no?

[Filibuster_60]

The Iraqis won't fight for their freedom - the past week has shown that.

[fightu4it]

As the liberal media in this country increases it's attack on our President there will be a corresponding increase in the attacks on our troops in Iraq.

The time to make those responsible aware of the consequences of their actions is now, before any more troops are attacked.

[Jim Noble]

The death toll is 500 Iraqis until now with over a thousand injured, a huge price to pay for 'pacification'

We killed 100 000+ in Tokyo, and most of them weren't fighting.

If I was in charge, Fallujah would be gone and everyone in it would be dead.

As the days go by, it seems increasingly likely to me that this would have been the correct thing to do.

[Jim Noble]

The Iraqis won't fight for their freedom - the past week has shown that.

Would you please stop this nonsense about "Iraqi freedom"?

There is no such place as "Iraq". There are three former Turkish provinces (Mosul, Mesopotamia, Basrah) which have no connection to each other and which contain people who are mortal enemies.

If the inhabitants of what you call "Iraq" were free, the first thing that would happen is that they would dissolve "Iraq", and then they would go to war with each other.

As long as there is a place called "Iraq", the people who live in it are by definition not free.

[Filibuster_60]

Agreed. Stop bashing me and start bashing Bush - he's the one who continues to uphold these illusions.

[68skylark]

The Iraqis won't fight for their freedom - the past week has shown that.

Well I don't want to overstress the analogy to America, since I realize that Iraqi culture is different than ours.

But in all fairness to them, there were multiple times when the good guys in our revolution were beaten back, scattered and and sent running at full speed. The British were congratulating themselves on their victories. And any of our allies would be justified to say, "The Americans won't fight for their freedom - the past week has shown that."

All I want to say is that these conflicts of freedom vs. tyranny can take many years and decades. We won't know for a long time how Iraq will turn out. And I think it could go either way.

Along the way there will be good days and bad days, and plenty of people will make the most of the bad days. But I think most Americans know to keep an eye on the long term -- most Americans are pretty level-headed about this sort of thing, and same same goes for key allies like the UK.

[Qwinn]

When the statue fell, the media was talking about the huge mess that Mosul was in. Mosul was going to be the center of resistance. Mosul was in chaos. Mosul was a hotbed of anti-American activity.

And then, for a full year, Mosul as completely quiet.

You'll excuse me if I take this report with an equally small helping of salt.

Qwinn

[VMI70]

Bump!

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I believe that what helped us after WWII with the pacification of the Axis powers was the utter destruction we brought upon their countries. In Iraq, we took over with minimum civilian casualties. While I deplore killing, the Iraqis have not felt the full weight of our military might, and were not 'defeated'. Realizing that that was never our intentions, we are occupying surrounded by undefeated enemies. We are in effect killing ourselves with kindness.

[Reagan Man]

Want to know what Iraqis think?

[wingster]

Y-A-W-N!!!

[wingster]

Has the sky hit the ground yet...?

[Filibuster_60]

I'd stop deluding myself if I were you. Remember, war is the continuation of politics by other means. Can anyone doubt that we could've flattened Fallujah a long time ago and completely wiped out the insurgency? But our goals in Iraq - as in Vietnam before - are more political than military. There can be no pure military solutions to political problems - unless we eliminate those political problems by simply slaughtering every single Iraqi. The reason we didn't raze Fallujah is it would've put us on a slippery slope, where we'd soon find that other towns also have to be razed. Before long we'd face a full oil embargo from Arab countries, at the very least. What then? The slippery slope guarantees nothing but an ever-expanding list of enemies. Reviving the draft is the logical next step. . . we can go on and on.

[Happy2BMe]

"What kills me is the absence of any serious effort by Iraqi parties, organisations, tribal leaders, or clerics to intermediate or try to put an end to the cycle of violence. All we hear is denunciation and fiery speeches as if those were going to achieve anything on the ground."

No surprises here - they are just taking their cue and following the examples of the Americans.

The American MUSLIMS that is.

Is C.A.I.R. rebuking this Islamic Jihad? - ping.