Posted on 11/14/2006 4:02:43 PM PST by dogbyte12
BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 -- Armed men in Iraqi police uniforms and driving police vehicles kidnapped as many as 150 people from a government agency on Tuesday, and several senior police commanders were arrested in connection with the abductions, Iraqi officials said today.
The abductions were a well-orchestrated reminder of how challenging basic security remains in Iraq at a time when U.S. officials are pressing the local government to assert more control
Precise figures on how many people were kidnapped and how many were later released were hard to come by. The prime minister's office said more than 50 people were kidnapped and 20 later released. The Interior Ministry said 30 people were kidnapped and the Ministry of Higher Education said it was as many as 150 employees and visitors who were abducted.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Shoot - a lot of the trouble in the world is Europe's colonial leftovers, not American anything.
We didn't take Saddam out because of what he was doing to his own people....he had plans to expand his reign ....
Lots of Marxists in the world, all of whom were rooting for the Soviet Union against us. They would like to think our success is a result of exploitation.
Of course...but the mess that set it up to be like this was made by Europe.
Not entirely. The Frogs and the Brits caused the bad felings among the Arabs, but we cut a deal with the House of Saud after the war, and have
spent a lot of effort protecting their interests. We didn't take Baghdad in 1991 because the Saudis wanted a Sunni regime in place, as a buffer against Iran. Probably we
could have set up a Arab Shiite state friendly to ourselves then; instead we let them get slaughtered, and they haven't forgotten.
According to the article, they have been arrested. So, it doesn't appear that we are turning power over to them.
Democracy already has "worked". A constitution was written and ratified, elections were held, and a government formed.
The fact that there are corrupt, criminal people working in government doesn't mean "democracy isn't working". The definition of democracy is not "no corrupt or criminal people get government checks and no violent acts occur".
I fully realize that. And its kind of hard to invade a country and then install a friendly dictator but that may be what they need over there.
If we are not willing to fight this war to win we should we should just leave.
I disagree. We had a plan and it was a good one. To install Democracy which would of countered Sharia law to some degree and weaken the extremist power. But we are not willing to win this war as long as we allow Syria and Iran to supply our enemy. We should just leave.
The window of opportunity to deal with Syria and Iran went in our last election. If the president deals with them now after that election we are screwed. They will pull funding and we would have to leave.
You are well informed about Iraq, I see. Many FReepers are not (and yet, they are better informed that the public in general).
But the lack of information is no bar to forming a strong opinion, as we see here. The implications of that are alarming, aren't they?
To almost everyone in this thread who isn't jmc1969, a friendly word of advice: brush up on your knowledge first, then form your opinion. You will probably find that you are less firm in your opinions when you've done a little studying.
Back in Bremer days, the USA could have whacked al-Sadr with the most trivial of efforts, and he'd be forgotten by now. It was suggested, but it was an idea whose time had not come (and under the lawyer-rich CENTCOM regime, it's an idea whose time will probably never come). The time to make purina maggot chow out of the world's most famous madrassa dropout has come... and unfortunately, gone.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Sharia Law is very democratic... You know tribal law..
Democracy(Mob Rule) will work with muslims.. Mullahs are mobsters..
Europe has its own mobsters known by different names...
Same effect.. Mob Rule(democracy)..
Exactly why the United States is a Republic.. a unique Republic.. Banana Republics are really democracys.. and not republics at all.. More or less like the U.S. is becoming..
All the more reason to leave. We can not fight this war.
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