[null and void]

Are they running out of Jooooooooooooooos to blame?

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

..................

We have made clear to the Iraqi government that there must not be militia or sectarian control or direction of Iraqi security forces, facilities or ministries…Prominent Sunni Arabs have complained for months about abuse by Interior Ministry forces, which they claim had been infiltrated by Shi'ite militias.

Given the US demand for terrorist participation in the PA, I don’t see why any militia group should take that statement seriously.

[sheik yerbouty]

I hold that gasbag responsible for the murder of Mary Jo Kopechne.

[mad puppy]

A while back some GI was falsely accused of defiling a Koran at GitMo (I think) and the Muslims went ballistic with riots and even a death or two.

Surely, given this reaction to a false accusation, the destruction of a mosque which not doubt held dozens of korans not to mention practicing muslims, will illicit a wildly, crazed reaction. Right?


. . . . . ((crickets in back ground)) . . . .

Or not.

[Alia]

There's Shi'ites, and then there's the Shi'ite radical militia.

Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced, 08/10/05

snips:

Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia. The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life. "This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal." The group that ousted him insisted that it had the authority to assume control of Iraq's capital city and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri.

[No Longer Free State]

Khanaqin, where the mosques were attacked, is an interesting town. It's a mostly-Kurd town (but with arab Shia and Sunnis) in an area outside of "Kurdistan". In fact, the Kurds are lobbying to get boundaries moved so Khanaqin is in Kurdish controlled areas. It's near the Iran border and along ancient smuggling routes being used by Iran-based agents to send support to terrorists. Several other unique issues. There are any number of groups who might have had adequate motivation to conduct these attacks.

[M. Espinola]

The "Religion of Peace" continues spreading "peace" to their fellow Muslims.