You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Iraq
Sadr Budweiser
2007-08-31
Al-Sadr's threat

A day after he cried "Hudna" said he was taking his Mahdi Army out of action for up to six months to overhaul it, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to rescind the order unless the government stops winning detaining his followers within the next 48 hours, Karbala Deputy Gov. Jawad al-Hasnawi said Thursday.
Hokay, so he's threatening the Iraq government and its people with violence unless they stop cracking down on his criminal activities. Isn't this what we call "blackmail" or "extortion"? Shouldn't Iraq hunt down this scumbag and make an example out of him? Or does he serve the ends of too many of the wannabe warlords and gangsters currently posing as Iraq's government?
Al-Hasnawi said the warning was a response to U.S.-Iraqi raids in the Karbala area on al-Sadr offices, in which six people were killed and 30 detained.
In other words, this ceasefire hudna isn't getting any respect because our military knows damn well what this maggot is up to and now he's all pissy about they way we're rolling up his thugs. Haven't the Iraqis had enough of the Iranian-led pan-shiite movement and its constant violence? Or will, as usual, sectarian allegiance trump nationalism and engender the usual endless bloodbath?

This is why I advocate abolishing the current Iraqi constitution and ordering their government to create a document that has ZERO basis in shari'a law. Until this de-emphasis on theocratic governance happens, far too much official sponsorship of sectarian interests will continue and Iraq will remain mired in its own petty Islamic tyranny and terrorism. We need to learn our lesson from Afghanistan and install goverments that forbid Islam's stranglehold on the political process. Otherwise, we are merely creating yet another terrorist assembly line.
Posted by:Zenster

#8  Spot on, tw.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-31 21:29  

#7  It's the first time Muslims have been conquered by overwhelming force, with glass melters available in reserve. If they can't learn under those conditions, it can't be done. And then we will know what we must do.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-08-31 21:01  

#6  More importantly, the Iraqis need to learn the lesson.

Ah, TW if they haven't learned the lesson in 1400 (approx) years since Muhammad, what makes you think they'll do now?
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-08-31 18:03  

#5  Oh, I've no problem going after Mr. al Sadr to the knife hilt, Zenster. I just don't see that his continued existence demands the removal of the government, even if Maliki is kinda sorta trying to not really not protect him.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-08-31 18:01  

#4  if we remove this elected government before the Iraqis themselves understand the price they paid for choosing group solidarity over individual competence and character, it will take that much longer before we can declare this experiment finished, for better or worse.

Damn good point, tw. However, this current batch of gangsters is causing the death of American troops and that is simply unacceptable. At the very least, some of them should be executed by us for complicity with the terrorists.

It would be quite grand to have the collective nose of Iraq's people rubbed in the folly of their religious sectarianism and its deadly harvest. Sadly, I am beginning to doubt whether:

A.) They care.
B.) They honestly prefer peace over jihad.
C.) They can let go of their Shiite identity in favor of patriotism.
D.) They are even worth it.
E.) They deserve anything more than a brutal military dictatorship that prevents them from facilitating international terrorism, which is one of the only long term interests we actually have in the Middle East.

I have essentially lost all hope that democracy can be made to survive—much less flourish—in Muslim majority countries. The Koran's insistence upon theocratic governance under shari'a law represents a stanglehold upon all other political processes. This simply prohibits any prospect of modernization and moderation.

Far better that we begin crushing all forms of Islamic theocracy in the process of dismantling Islam. Once that has been accomplished, then we can come back and begin to sow the seeds of democracy. Islam is so poisonous to all political reform that it is a hopeless task to try and seed each small plot as we go. The toxic runoff from other surrounding Islamic nations will stunt and kill each local planting that we perform. It will probably require that we first destroy the poisoned tree of Islam and thereby prevent its toxin-laden fruit from continuing to murder all progress.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-31 16:44  

#3  Having shari'a filth expunged from Iraq's (and Afghanistan's) constitution would make it a lot easier to declare them "failed states" once they tried to enable the human rights abuses intrinsic to such totalitarian garbage. This would serve as a lever against such Islamic predations and justify immediate military intervention should they be audacious enough to try.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-08-31 16:26  

#2  We need to learn our lesson

More importantly, the Iraqis need to learn the lesson. after all, they are the ones mostly being kidnapped and blown up and harassed by criminal gangs posing as religious/ethnic/tribal/community saviours. We managed to make the Germans (partially) and the Japanese learn how to rule themselves; if we remove this elected government before the Iraqis themselves understand the price they paid for choosing group solidarity over individual competence and character, it will take that much longer before we can declare this experiment finished, for better or worse.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-08-31 16:25  

#1  This is why I advocate abolishing the current Iraqi constitution and ordering their government to create a document that has ZERO basis in shari'a law. Until this de-emphasis on theocratic governance happens, far too much official sponsorship of sectarian interests will continue and Iraq will remain mired in its own petty Islamic tyranny and terrorism.

It would be nice to see that filth out of the constitution, bot I think we have to be honest. It doesn't matter what the constitution says, they're gonna fund this crap anyway.
Posted by: Mike N.   2007-08-31 16:09  

00:00