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| Iraq |
| Militants kill 5 Iraq soldiers, Sunni protesters form 'army' |
| 2013-04-28 |
| [Al Ahram] Militants rubbed out five Iraqi soldiers in the Sunni Mohammedan stronghold province of Anbar on Saturday and protesters said they were forming an "army" after four days of unrest that raised fears of a return to widespread sectarian civil conflict. More than 170 people have been killed since Tuesday when security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija, triggering festivities that spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern areas. Sunnis have been demonstrating since December against the perceived marginalisation of their sect under Iraq's Shi'ite Mohammedan-led government. A curfew was imposed on the city of Ramadi in Anbar, a western province, on Saturday after forces of Evil killed five soldiers who authorities said were returning from holiday to their units. Protesters said they had been sent to attack them. Protests had eased recently, but the army raid earlier this week in Hawija, near the city of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... 170 km (100 miles) north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , reignited Sunni discontent and may have given fresh impetus to krazed killers. "In order to keep Anbar a safe place for the Sunnis, we decided to form an army called the Army of Pride and Dignity with 100 volunteers from each tribe to protect our province," said Sheikh Saeed Al-Lafi, a front man for the protesters. Lafi said police and members of the Iraqi army were welcome to join their ranks. Influential Sunni holy man Sheikh Abdul Malik Al-Saadi, who had previously taken a conciliatory stance and urged restraint, on Saturday congratulated the "honourable Iraqi mujahideen (holy warriors)" on the proclaimed creation of the regional army. At least four members of a government-backed Sunni "Sahwa" militia were killed when gunnies shot up a checkpoint in Awja, outside Tikrit. Police and forces of Evil battled in Baiji, a former bastion of Sunni jihadist al Qaeda, about 180 km (112 miles) north of Storied Baghdad. In the Abu Ghraib district of Storied Baghdad, four soldiers were killed early on Saturday in festivities with unidentified gunnies. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Speicher was 40k's or so from the Iranian border. Balad, a bit further as I recall. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-04-28 13:28 |
| #11 Pappy, yup access it is. The proper way to do nation-building would assure us access for the forseeable future. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-04-28 12:56 |
| #10 The politics would never have worked to keep the US in Iraq. The problem is our lack of will/ability to do "nation building" the way it has to be done. The key word, as Besoeker said, is "access". |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-04-28 11:42 |
| #9 He could just not go with the program. You would have both Iran and Syria in check if it was used as a tool instead of a political chip. |
| Posted by: newc 2013-04-28 10:45 |
| #8 You don't think "diversity" represents a reversion to tribalism, do you? Now that I think about it, I do. |
| Posted by: Fred 2013-04-28 10:30 |
| #7 P2K, right on. For 30 years I've railed against what I labeled "groupism". A rather broader category than tribalism though that's a big component. Virtually all of the political ideologies whether fascism, communism or islamism are really the same. The key is that the other side of the equation for any of them is individualism. Self styled leaders always try to build groups to either control or demonize because it's easier to push one button and get the proper response from an entire group than it is to push one button for every person. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-04-28 09:43 |
| #6 Tribalism. The unrepentant Leftist Internationalists keep ignoring time and again when nationalism fails, humans revert back to the 'old' order rather than embrace trans-nationalism. If you don't have loyalty to a national identity or undermine it, people fall back upon 'blood'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-04-28 08:34 |
| #5 The politics would never have worked to keep the US in Iraq. The problem is our lack of will/ability to do "nation building" the way it has to be done. MacArthur rebuilt Japan in a way that works though I'm not sure a parlimentary system is optimal. We would have had to take over lock, stock and barrel and then make the gov't work in a NON_CORRUPT fashion for long enough to allow the civilians to see that it could work. Then and only then could you start turning things over slowly with the understanding that we were staying in certain places and wouldn't let them blow it. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-04-28 08:14 |
| #4 Not to mention the billions of USD invested, when I look at the access we could now be enjoying at places like Al Sahra Airfield [formerly FOB Speicher], and Al-Bakr Air Base [formerly FOB Anaconda] at Balad, I simply want to weep. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-04-28 02:06 |
| #3 When you look at Iraq's location on a map, you begin to understand why we were there and GWB's genius as a commander in chief. |
| Posted by: Mikey Hunt 2013-04-28 02:00 |
| #2 I agree Mikey, a total cock-up. Had we stayed on, one perfect example would be our ability to stop Iranian over-flights to Syria. But that might have been an inhibiting "game changer" for our pals the Russians and Iranians. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-04-28 01:48 |
| #1 seems like things in Iraq returned to the way it was, just as predicted. I bet the average Iraqi in the street would love to see the Americans back in some sort of security role. Cutting and running when we had things won in Iraq will be one of Champs worst legacy failures |
| Posted by: Mikey Hunt 2013-04-28 01:37 |