Iraq on brink of Civil War?

[Backatcha Bandit]

I dunno, Yammy. You might be in with a chance!

I just spotted this:

Marines Try to Recruit 78-Year-Old Woman

Sat Mar 25, 4:28 AM ET

SAUGUS, Calif. - Sonia Goldstein was flattered by the nice recruiting letter asking her to consider becoming one of "the few, the proud." But at age 78, she believes she's just a little old to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

"I couldn't believe it," Goldstein told KCAL-TV on Friday. "My girls were sitting here ... we were in hysterics, we laughed so hard."

The letter told her the corps could use her unique language skills, but also warned that life as a Marine would test her physical and mental abilities "beyond anything you've ever known."

"There I am with my walker. I can't maneuver from here to there without it," said Goldstein, who added that her only language is English.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&e=13&u=/ap/20060325/ap_on_fe_st/elderly_recruit

Don't give up trying!

 

[rogue yam]

Reports saying US troops have clashed with Shia militia in Baghdad - 18 dead.

edit - Sadr claiming US troops have shot dead 20+ unarmed worshippers.

edit - Sky reporting that Medhi army tried to stop US troops from entering the mosque but failed and 20 people were killed whilst inside. US forces have "sealed the area off".

The American Forces Press Service version of this incident is quite different from what you have posted. It is fun to watch as the anti-American news sources iteratively change their reportage of this skirmish to bring it ever closer to the AFPS version.

Iraqi Special Ops Forces Conduct Baghdad Raid
American Forces Press Service


BAGHDAD, March 26, 2006 – Iraqi special operations forces conducted a twilight raid today in the Adhamiyah neighborhood in northeast Baghdad to disrupt a terrorist cell responsible for attacks on Iraqi security and coalition forces and kidnapping Iraqi civilians in the local area. As elements of the 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade entered their objective, they came under fire. In the ensuing exchange of fire, the Iraqi forces killed 16 insurgents. As they secured their objective, they detained 15 more individuals.

Also, one individual being held hostage by the insurgents was freed. That person, a non-Westerner, whose identity was not made public, was being debriefed and repatriated,.

While searching the objective, the Iraqi special operations forces also discovered a cache with materials used to make improvised explosive devices and other weapons and ammunition. The materials were destroyed at the scene.

U.S. special operations forces were on scene to advise only. No Iraqi or U.S. forces were killed during this operation. One Iraqi soldier received a wound that is not life threatening.

This intelligence-focused, precision operation was conducted during twilight hours to ensure no civilians were in the area and to minimize the possibility of collateral damage.

No mosques were entered or damaged during this operation.

Your link.

 

[rogue yam]

Boy, this guy's really getting into the spirit here:

Sadr aide Hazim al-Araji told Reuters the dead were not militiamen and had been unarmed: "The American forces went into Mustafa mosque at prayers and killed more than 20 worshippers ... They tied them up and shot them."

Sadr aide, or u75 poster? What's the diff?

Linky binky.

 

[Backatcha Bandit]

The American Forces Press Service version of this incident is quite different from what you have posted. It is fun to watch as the anti-American news sources iteratively change their reportage of this skirmish to bring it ever closer to the AFPS version.
Your link.

Erm... YOUR link, no-one elses.

I think we need to start compiling a 'Freeper Dictionary', as it's getting difficult to understand you. You're getting close to gibberish.

A is for 'Anti-American': A source of information that is not the US military.

 

[rogue yam]

I think we need to start compiling a 'Freeper Dictionary', as it's getting difficult to understand you. You're getting close to gibberish.

Hey! What's up with this, Backdoor? You started a whole other thread to whinge about Free Republic and then refused to make good on your promise. Now you come over here and try to start a discussion of Free Republic on an Iraqi Civil War thread. You're a tough one to "peg", alright!

 

[Backatcha Bandit]

'Freeper' is as much a generic term for someone (such as yourself) who unquestioningly and uncritically regurgitates US administration 'views' - as you just perfectly demonstrated - whilst responding to any other view with flat denial, for instance shouting 'You lie!'.

I understand that you failed to come up to the standards of 'debate' required on the Free Republic website and they kicked you off it (hence your presence here), if this is the case, I can only apologise* for any suggestion that you still post there.

*To real freepers, that is.


BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4847638.stm

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

'Freeper' is as much a generic term for someone (such as yourself) who unquestioningly and uncritically regurgitates US administration 'views' - as you just perfectly demonstrated - whilst responding to any other view with flat denial, for instance shouting 'You lie!'.

I understand that you failed to come up to the standards of 'debate' required on the Free Republic website and they kicked you off it (hence your presence here), if this is the case, I can only apologise* for any suggestion that you still post there.

*To real freepers, that is.


BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4847638.stm

Apologizing to freepers now?

What's next: blowjobs?

 

[vimto]

Fuck the Chickenhawk Marine supporters.

May Johnny be ever blessed with Diesel

 

[vimto]

tongue seductively lolls around

 

[vimto]

cluck cluck Johnny

 

[Bigdavalad]

Yammy, I've been away all week - how did the trip to the Recruitment Office go?

 

[kage]

Not at all well, I hear the Women's Auxilliary Balloon Corps section of the USMC is no longer in service

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Yammy, I've been away all week - how did the trip to the Recruitment Office go?

He won't say. I think he fell in love with that big hairy sergeant and has come over all bashful.

 

[Bigdavalad]

He won't say. I think he fell in love with that big hairy sergeant and has come over all bashful.

The Sgt was called All Bashful?

 

[ViolentPanda]

He won't say. I think he fell in love with that big hairy sergeant and has come over all bashful.

Poor bashful.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Something struck me about yammie. He worships the US military the way a particularly sad pro wrestling fan worships the guys in masks and leotards.

I think that's why he can't stand to hear criticism and I think that's why he'll never in a million years join up, because he doesn't want to lose his sordid, but precious to him, little midnight fantasies.

 

[newharper]

The Sgt was called All Bashful?

Ali Bashful surely,

 

[Backatcha Bandit]

Something struck me about yammie. He worships the US military the way a particularly sad pro wrestling fan worships the guys in masks and leotards.

- salutes 'star-spandexed banner' -​

 

[Bernie Gunther]

- salutes 'star-spandexed banner' -​

 

[ska invita]

Analysis: Figures show that Iraq's civil war is underway
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060403-030211-9401r

" Despite President Bush's repeated denials, the figures are clear: 900 sectarian killings in a single month in Iraq means a civil war is well under way.

Iraq is a nation of 25 million people. In the United States, that level of killing would proportionately equal almost 11,000 people killed in riots, reprisal killings and sectarian clashes in a single month.

The rate of killings in Iraq is already as bad as during the horrendous 1975-1991 Lebanese Civil War, in which 150,000 to 200,000 people were killed over 16 years -- an average of between 9,375 and 12,500 people were killed there per year."

 

[tangentlama]

More confirmations of Iraq's descent into Civil War:

"To all intents and purposes, Iraq is in a civil war.

I never used to think about whether my neighbours are Sunni or Shia, even three months ago," said one Shia resident of Baghdad who has decided to move in with relatives in another part of the city. "But after Samarra everything changed."

It is this movement of people that is one reason why Toby Dodge says he has changed his view of the situation in Iraq.

He points to four indicators which have led him to conclude that the country is descending into civil war.

• a "collapse in the authority of the central government"

• a rise in the power of local militias involved in sectarian violence.

• "increased 'transfers of population' or displacement in recent weeks and increased evidence of "state institutions such as the police dividing along sectarian lines".

• "Iraq's insurgency has evolved "in ways that increase the risk of intense or full-scale civil war."

The real concern, says Toby Dodge, is that once the dynamics of a civil war are set loose, they are very difficult to reverse.

"Only a government can do that, and there is no sign that is imminent."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4902888.stm

 

[ska invita]

CIVIL WAR + IRAQ BREAK UP COMES A STEP CLOSER:

Kurdish leader threatens Iraq secession

Massoud Barzani on Friday ordered the country's national flag to be replaced with the Kurdish one, sparking harsh words in Baghdad.

"If we want to separate, we will do it, without hesitation or fears," Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, said during an address to parliament.

He tempered his comments slightly by saying that Kurdish leaders already have voted to remain in a united Iraq. But government leaders in Baghdad fear the Kurds are pushing for independence from the rest of Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060903/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_kurds_flag

------------
also this doesnt look good:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../03/wirq03.xml

The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war.

Aides say Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is angry and disappointed that Shias are ignoring his calls for calm and are switching their allegiance in their thousands to more militant groups which promise protection from Sunni violence and revenge for attacks.

"I will not be a political leader any more," he told aides. "I am only happy to receive questions about religious matters."

 

[ska invita]

The future of Iraq as a sovereign nation was thrown into jeopardy yesterday after a new law was introduced to parliament that would enable the break up of the country into semi-autonomous regions.


If passed, a self-ruling Shia state is likely to emerge in the south, based on the autonomous region Kurds have already established in the north.

It would not only be able to levy its own taxes and govern itself but, Shia politicians say, would have its own armed guards posted along its borders.

Iraq's Sunni community, which is bitterly opposed to the prospect, has warned it will mark the first step in the break up of the country and could lead to the south of Iraq becoming a satellite of Iran.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/07/wiraq07.xml

...it will be interesting to see how the US responds to an eventuality which could see an expansion of Iranian influence into the oil rich south - particularly if the break up involves the madness of a civil war... could US troops challenge Iranian guard? speculation, speculation...

 

[Barking_Mad]

Im sure Turkey and Iran would be just over the moon about having an independent Kurdish state on their doorstep...........

 

[ska invita]

Im sure Turkey and Iran would be just over the moon about having an independent Kurdish state on their doorstep...........

The squueze has already begun on the Kurds, from both Turkey and IRan who have increased "military operations" in the area in recent weeks.

Any proper civil wat would be great cover to go and give the Kurds a good killing...yet another tragedy waiting to happen.