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Iraq
Mosul ‘collateral damage’
2017-03-29
[DAWN] THE battle to retake the Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
from the clutches of the Lion of Islam Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group has been particularly grinding. The difficulty faced by the American/Iraqi coalition in retaking Mosul has been illustrated by the fact that while the campaign was launched last October, a considerable portion of the city still remains under IS control. In fact, the campaign has been marked by a slow advance by the Iraqi/US forces, street by street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
in recent days, disturbing reports have begun to emerge from Mosul concerning the deaths of civilians in coalition air strikes. The US has acknowledged recent air strikes in which around 100 civilians are said to have perished; Iraqi officials say the final corpse count could cross 200. A similar pattern has been witnessed in Syria, where the US is also targeting IS, albeit without coordinating with the Syrian government. Around 50 people were killed in an American air strike earlier this month; while the US says it targeted a meeting of Al Qaeda Lion of Islams, independent observers say a mosque full of civilians was hit.

War is indeed grim business and when confronted with enemies such as IS and Al Qaeda -- who have no qualms about using non-combatants as shields -- governments have a difficult task to not harm civilians while battling Lion of Islams. However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
such a large number of civilian deaths as ’collateral damage’ is unacceptable. It appears that since Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
moved into the White House, he has given his generals more latitude in carrying out strikes; one monitoring group says there has been a considerable rise in the number of civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria in December, the last month of the B.O. regime, and in March, under Trump’s command. Both the US and Iraq need to make more stringent efforts to protect civilians as they move to dislodge IS. Or else civilians will be caught between the murderous holy warriors and governments that mow them down while trying to ’liberate’ them.

Posted by:Fred

#4   The difficulty faced by the American/Iraqi coalition Yankees in retaking Mosul Richmond has been illustrated by the fact that while the campaign was launched last October,...

April seems familiar.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-03-29 09:06  

#3  Hasn't collateral damage always been a dimension of war?
Posted by: JohnQC   2017-03-29 08:57  

#2  Isn't it a feature of war in Dar Islam?
The outcome must be rubble?
Posted by: 3dc   2017-03-29 05:38  

#1  Bomb it to rubble then blow the dam for a good rinse.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-03-29 05:17  

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