Article

2007-05-04 Iraq

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-05-04 12:49|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Very interesting article:

"Fighting eased afterward. Soon, previously empty streets were teeming with crowds of people who shook soldiers' hands as they passed."

"The militants mostly kept to themselves, but they distributed puritanical leaflets commanding women to cover themselves in black from head to toe, and stay home from work. They ordered tea shops shut and warned men not to smoke water-pipes.

"No one dared ask them why," said one father."

"At night, masked men stormed homes, robbing and carrying out extra-judicial killings. "Nobody knew whether they were al-Qaida or the police or just common criminals," said a baker named Ali. "It was total lawlessness."

Amazing that this appeared in a local newspaper.

Al

Posted by Frozen Al 2007-05-04 13:15|| 2007-05-04 13:15|| Front Page Top

#2 Glad to see another nest of rats cleaned out.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-05-04 13:48|| 2007-05-04 13:48|| Front Page Top

#3 residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months...We wondered, Where is the government?

Is it possible that noone came for the gunnies because the authorities didn't know where they were? This guy knew but, deciding he was helpless, didn't help. Iraq will have a much better chance at becoming a decent country when the people choose not to be helpless and rat out the bad guys.

Posted by Baba Tutu 2007-05-04 13:56|| 2007-05-04 13:56|| Front Page Top

#4 Living under the islamists rule seem to do wonders for the Sunni attitude. It should be our policy for every Sunni area to experience 6 months of it.

Posted by ed 2007-05-04 14:18|| 2007-05-04 14:18|| Front Page Top

#5 ed: Kind of makes you wonder whether or not it has been our policy in some of the more intransigent Sunni cities. Concentrate the bad guyz, while having them oppress their supporters. Kills two birds with one stone.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-05-04 14:26|| 2007-05-04 14:26|| Front Page Top

#6 ed: Kind of makes you wonder whether or not it has been our policy in some of the more intransigent Sunni cities. Concentrate the bad guyz, while having them oppress their supporters. Kills two birds with one stone.

I remember that very idea was speculated on (probably right here in the 'burg) between the first and second Fallujah ops. I don't know if that was the plan, but it certainly became an overall positive side-effect*.

* Overall in the strategic scheme of things. Obviously not for the victims of Zarq and his monsters.

Posted by xbalanke 2007-05-04 15:46|| 2007-05-04 15:46|| Front Page Top

#7 "Glad to see another nest of rats cleaned out."

The clear part of Clear and Hold is generally thought to be the "easy" part. Now for the heavy lifting.

Posted by doc 2007-05-04 16:58|| 2007-05-04 16:58|| Front Page Top

#8 Living under the islamists rule seem to do wonders for the Sunni attitude. It should be our policy for every Sunni area to experience 6 months of it.

That's just plain crazy and it worries me that I think it's a good idea.

Posted by Shipman">Shipman 2007-05-04 17:31|| 2007-05-04 17:31|| Front Page Top

#9 Shipman

Sometimes I agree with the "let them live under AlQ rule for awhile" thought. One problem with this is what happens if AlQ actually gets to rule a country with nukes.

Posted by mhw 2007-05-04 19:14|| 2007-05-04 19:14|| Front Page Top

#10 By the same token, maybe the People's Republic of [name your favored area, Berzerkly mayhaps] could be established with strict commie regime (including "right to work" {=forced labor}, and other goodies {electric fence around not to let the "evil capitalists" in} that I fondly {very much kidding} remember from my another life).
Only for some 20 years... I think a lot of people would get cured, heh.

Posted by twobyfour 2007-05-04 21:08|| 2007-05-04 21:08|| Front Page Top

#11 it forced the guerrillas to either flee or melt into the population

But to the south, residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months, piling weapons

A population that willingly allows these thugs to circulate unchallenged does not deserve to be rescued. With so many people in Iraq being armed, there should have been many more incidents of al Qaeda operatives mysteriously getting their brains blown out. This wasn't happening and the citizens of the Tahrir district deserved their fate. Tough shit, assholes. Show some spine the next time around or suck it up and stop whingeing.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-05-04 22:44|| 2007-05-04 22:44|| Front Page Top

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