Article

2005-08-13 Iraq-Jordan

Violence Grows in Iraqi City Where Japanese Troops Are Stationed

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2005-08-13 00:19|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Kathleen Ridolfo is an analyst in the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. She previously worked with Palestinian nongovernmental organizations on the West Bank and served as director of programs at the Middle East Institute.

Posted by 2b 2005-08-13 08:30|| 2005-08-13 08:30|| Front Page Top

#2 Have they started shooting down helicopters yet [re:Rantburg report on Albuquerque yesterday]?

Posted by Elmasing Cromoting5441 2005-08-13 08:42|| 2005-08-13 08:42|| Front Page Top

#3 Aw s**t. I was hoping for a longer hiatus.

Posted by Shipman 2005-08-13 09:10|| 2005-08-13 09:10|| Front Page Top

#4 Article: Like Al-Basrah, it appears that the governorate has fallen into the hands of extremists in the al-Sadr trend who are bent on imposing their vision of Islamic rule on the population.

The problem isn't that they're extremists - (1) the Amish are extremists - they won't use modern conveniences because of their religious beliefs and (2) Hindus are extremists - they won't eat meat because of their religious beliefs. The problem is that they have no problem imposing their religious beliefs on others by killing those who won't obey their commands - i.e. that they are religious terrorists.

Posted by Zhang Fei">Zhang Fei 2005-08-13 09:46|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-08-13 09:46|| Front Page Top

#5 it is likely that the Japanese -- labeled "occupiers" by the group -- would be forced out.

Last time a checked a history book it appeared that Japanese troops are hard to force out of anywhere. It takes a shit hammering the likes of which al-Sadr's Islamomutts are incapable of administering. I don't think so much has changed in the last 2 generations that the previous 2000 year old warrior code has gone entirely by the wayside.

Here's to hoping the Japanese are armed and ready to teach those animals a very hard lesson.

Posted by JerseyMike 2005-08-13 10:27|| 2005-08-13 10:27|| Front Page Top

#6 MSQUAGMIRE!

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-08-13 10:30|| 2005-08-13 10:30|| Front Page Top

#7 They are going to go right back to the way it was before we came, 9th century shit.
They would rather sit around growing their beards and beating their women than work at building their country. However they will still bitch about the great satan keeping them down. Occupiers, I'm sick of the talk of it, if they want to go back to herding goats and living in tents then screw em.

Posted by Glinesing Unomomble1842 2005-08-13 11:19|| 2005-08-13 11:19|| Front Page Top

#8 if they want to go back to herding goats ~~and living~~ in tents then screw em

Posted by anon 2005-08-13 11:32|| 2005-08-13 11:32|| Front Page Top

#9 The Friends of Democracy website has a number of posts by Iraqis about the Samawah situation. The main gripes seem to be about corruption and the power grid. Here's one. This sounds to me like a fixable set of problems rather than impending doom/gloom/disaster/Fairbanks.

Posted by Matt 2005-08-13 11:51|| 2005-08-13 11:51|| Front Page Top

#10 I agree, Matt, but the lesson here is that we have to fix and not let it fester. These things have a way of spreading.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2005-08-13 12:38|| 2005-08-13 12:38|| Front Page Top

#11 Iraq the Model has detailed information about Samawah. It seems that the local police are shooting at people who are demonstrating for a return of order, but not interfering with marches staged by the local thugs. Whether that is because the police are aligned with the "militias" or afraid of them is unclear from the posts.

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2005/08/protests-and-clashes-in-samawa.html

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2005/08/samawa-update.html

Posted by KBK 2005-08-13 13:00|| 2005-08-13 13:00|| Front Page Top

#12 If the Japanese troops behave the way they did in the movie The Great Raid (saw it last night, excellent film!) then the little Jihadis and their civilian enablers are in for a world of hurt.

Here's hoping a tiny, little bitty bit of the Samuri spirit remains.

Posted by The Angry Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2005-08-13 15:02|| http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com]">[http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com] 2005-08-13 15:02|| Front Page Top

#13 The Japanese in Samawah are defended by Australian troops.

Posted by phil_b 2005-08-13 16:17|| 2005-08-13 16:17|| Front Page Top

#14 there goes that "Great Raid" analogy :-)

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-08-13 16:26|| 2005-08-13 16:26|| Front Page Top

#15 Here's the callup for the protest (translated from the Arabic blog on this interesting site) which led to the shooting:

Civil Disobedience in Samawa on August 7[s/b 6?], 2005

Posted by KBK 2005-08-13 22:24|| 2005-08-13 22:24|| Front Page Top

#16 If its the Aussies, the situation is in excellent hands. They have great soldiers.

Posted by Captain America 2005-08-13 23:05|| 2005-08-13 23:05|| Front Page Top

09:04 Janice
07:12 Janice
23:55 3dc
23:53 Cyber Sarge
23:50 Sock Puppet 0â Doom
23:47 SR-71
23:44 phil_b
23:43 Mike Sylwester
23:42 phil_b
23:40 Phil Fraering
23:35 trailing wife
23:33 3dc
23:33 Phil Fraering
23:31 Mike Sylwester
23:31 Rifle308
23:25 ed
23:20 .com
23:17 ed
23:16 trailing wife
23:09 trailing wife
23:08 Captain America
23:05 Captain America
23:01 Captain America
22:59 3dc