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IRAQ: Stuck in the middle - The United States has put itself in a dangerous spot --
Los Angeles Times ^ | April 20, 2008l | Judith Miller

Posted on 04/20/2008 11:49:28 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

The United States has put itself in a dangerous spot -- between warring Shiite factions in Iraq.

BAGHDAD --

Iraqis here marked the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad -- and of their liberation from Saddam Hussein's tyranny -- in eerie silence and fear. Though April 9 was officially a national holiday, Baghdad's shops were shuttered and its streets deserted because of the emergency curfew declared by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, the head of Iraq's government, who in late March attacked the forces of his fellow Shiite, radical cleric Muqtada Sadr, in the southern port of Basra with no warning to either his Cabinet or his American protectors.

As I drove through the capital in an armed convoy of vehicles with blue and red flashing lights, Baghdad was silent except for the Muslim call to prayer that ricocheted from the city's minarets, the sound of mortars or rockets falling somewhere in the distance, and the thumping of American helicopters flying fast and low over the shuttered city.

For a journalist who had not visited Baghdad since the invasion, the scene was devastatingly surreal. Few buildings downtown remain untouched by the war or its far-bloodier aftermath. In the once fashionable Mansour district, the theft of steel rods from the gargantuan Mosque of the Merciful made one of its 75 domes collapse. But the rest of the mosque, which was under construction when the war began, was such a wreck -- with debris and chunks of gray concrete scattered throughout the site -- that the latest damage was barely noticeable.


(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iran; iraq; sadr; sadrcity
The PUNCH LINE:

*******************EXCERPT***************************

Could things get worse? Yes. And they very well might if Washington, in the name of supporting the democratically elected Maliki government, gets our forces further embroiled in a battle among competing Shiite factions.

**********************************************

MSM is picking up the Story Line that IRAN wants to convey to the USA ....

1 posted on 04/20/2008 11:49:28 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: NormsRevenge; elhombrelibre; Allegra; SandRat; tobyhill; G8 Diplomat; Dog; Cap Huff; ...

I need the Drudge Alarm Graphic.....


2 posted on 04/20/2008 11:50:17 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (No Burkas for my Grandaughters!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

3 posted on 04/20/2008 11:52:14 AM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
As much as the Army, and the DOD is a bunch of butt sniffing, paper shuffling brown nosers.....I have less poor trust in them then the MSM.
4 posted on 04/20/2008 12:01:10 PM PDT by Leisler
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Vote in House coming up on funding...


5 posted on 04/20/2008 12:11:15 PM PDT by johnny7
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
For a journalist who had not visited Baghdad since the invasion, (due to job relocation, moving, jail time...) the scene was devastatingly surreal.

Judith Miller


6 posted on 04/20/2008 12:17:44 PM PDT by BIGLOOK (MSM-Keelhauling the News Daily!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Hey Judy Judy Judy, the US HAS BEEN in a dangerous spot for quite sometime now. Dumb @$$!


7 posted on 04/20/2008 12:35:20 PM PDT by DogBarkTree (The correct word isn't "immigrant" when what they are doing is "invading".)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
I need the Drudge Alarm Graphic.....

You need a barf alert. Oh, wait; it's from the LASlimes, which is itself a barf alert.

8 posted on 04/20/2008 12:41:02 PM PDT by hsalaw
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I need the Drudge Alarm Graphic...

I need an aspirin...


9 posted on 04/20/2008 1:02:24 PM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
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To: SE Mom
Well lets see here..I've seen "I need the Drudge Alarm", The I need an aspirin.."

Hell, I need a nuke. I'll end this once and for all.
10 posted on 04/20/2008 1:09:14 PM PDT by glaseatr (Father of a Marine, Uncle of SGT Adam Estep. A Co. 2/5 Cav. KIA Thurs April 29, 2004 Baghdad Iraq)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

“Could things get worse? Yes. And they very well might if Washington, in the name of supporting the democratically elected Maliki government, gets our forces further embroiled in a battle among competing Shiite factions.”

Oh, well, we’d better give up right away, then.

No point in fighting a war if people are going to get hurt.


11 posted on 04/20/2008 1:21:27 PM PDT by Thomas W.
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Judith Miller???? Is this some kind of trverse psychology or apologia to the traitor Left? Gee, Baghdad on April 20th is qiet...well of course it is..there warfare going on in one of it’s suburbs...If things were as desperate as she wants it to appear to be, then the rest of Baghdad wouldn’t be quiet at all. And a city rocked by 5 years of war and terrorist bombings doesn’t rebuild overnight. IO am reminded of Rather, after the fall of Baghdad, *before* the viiolence started, outside at night, giving a report in a dire voice, looking around the peaceful nihght scene, like he was ijn the middle of a fierce battle...what a lying lil demolib MSM (w)ussy


12 posted on 04/20/2008 2:41:33 PM PDT by DGHoodini (Tin eared zeroes and Hollypukes comin...)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

13 posted on 04/20/2008 3:11:16 PM PDT by freema (Proud Marine Niece, Daughter, Wife, Friend, Sister, Cousin, Mom and FRiend)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; All

“Stuck in the middle - The United States has put itself in a dangerous spot”

Ms Miller has the adverbial phrase - stuck in the middle - on the wrong object - the U.S. - it is Maliki who is in the middle and so far he is negotiating it as best he can, incrementally.

Fortunately, it is Mr. Maliki and his government that is in the middle of this issue - which is to have either elected government or government by thugs - and also, fortunately, Maliki realizes this as does a majority of the political leaders among the Shia. Sadr must give up his thuggery and win or lose with his friends and allies in a constructive political process, or Maliki will politically isolate Sadr and with that isolation gain what he needs to route Sadr, militarily if needed. Maliki knows and is sympathetic to the fact, as are a majority of Shia leaders, that the Sunni’s will become more enthusiastic partners when Sadr is no longer the leader of a militia, by choice or by force.

The U.S. is not “in the middle”. We are the helpful ally on the sidelines ready to help where needed.


14 posted on 04/20/2008 3:35:58 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I think she got something stuck up her... well I’ll let it go at that.


15 posted on 04/20/2008 4:25:46 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Duncan Hunter was our best choice...)
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To: DogBarkTree

roflmto...now I don’t have to say it..lol


16 posted on 04/20/2008 5:10:57 PM PDT by Kackikat ((No strong national security, and the rest of issues are mute points; chaos ensues.))
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To: Thomas W.

BAWHAHAHAHAH...exactly...


17 posted on 04/20/2008 10:55:44 PM PDT by Irishguy (How do ya LIKE THOSE APPLES!!!!)
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