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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Insurgency in Iraq 'intensifying' (need to legalize Hashish) |
| 2004-09-27 |
| US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the conflict between US forces and insurgents in Iraq is getting worse. He told US TV networks that militants wanted to disrupt elections in January - but the US would increase efforts to defeat them. However, he added that Washington remained determined to hold elections across the whole country. This comes after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that violence could prevent voting in some areas. On Thursday Mr Rumsfeld told a Senate committee that a partial election - leaving out the most troublesome regions - would be "better than not having an election". Mr Powell on Sunday recognised that the US was "fighting an intense insurgency". "Yes it's getting worse and the reason it's getting worse is that they are determined to disrupt the election," he told ABC's This Week programme. Mr Powell said polling stations may be shot at, but added that Washington's aim remained "to give everybody the opportunity to vote... to make the election fully credible". Meanwhile, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid echoed Mr Rumsfeld in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press programme, saying Iraqis may not be able to go to the polls in some places. But he predicted voting would take place in the "vast majority of the country". |
| Posted by:Fawad |
| #31 Q-Q-Q-U-U-U-A-A-A-G-G-G-M-M-M-I-I-I-R-R-E-E-E. Amen. |
| Posted by: Anonymous6334 2004-09-27 6:26:19 AM |
| #30 Actually "lack of combat judgement" is exactly what the soviets found out in Afghanistan when their guys started taking Heroin. Imagine what hash will do, laughing while trying to sneak up on a partol?? |
| Posted by: Fawad 2004-09-27 10:00:52 PM |
| #29 Quite a lot of heroin and used syringes have been found during the fighting, especially in Falludja. Lessens nerves, fear, pain. Might also explain their lack of combat judgement. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-09-27 9:57:30 PM |
| #28 Marijuana is the same as Hashish, same effects same every thing. I must say that Hashish is smoked in a more ceremonial manner in Sesha, marijuana is of course rolled and smoked in very irreverant way. Assisins were given a lot of Hashish and then shown some Gr8 Egyptian Beleive me even if they wannah fight, they wont be able to take aim, (laughing makes it impossible to even point ur finger at something let alone a 11 lb rifle). And when the thunder thighs baghdad babes will be high too who would wannah tangle with Americans, it is much more fun being alive even if the chicks are damn ugly. |
| Posted by: Fawad 2004-09-27 9:49:50 PM |
| #27 Umm, guys? Surely you remember that the original Assassins were hopped up on hashish? And, they were muslims, too. Do we want to start that all over again? Maybe we could turn them on to marijuana or extasy (sp?) -- something happy-making instead? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-09-27 9:35:40 PM |
| #26 Mike? Owner of Curb Records? Howya doing, pal? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-09-27 3:56:32 PM |
| #25 You are more that welcome, Mr. G. Now, let's talk saltwater intrusion thru cheap ass inspecktion plates. |
| Posted by: Leftenant Gov Curb 2004-09-27 3:54:31 PM |
| #24 thanks Donald |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-09-27 1:53:26 PM |
| #23 long as we don't have to tangle with no Tigers, I'm down. (WOT) BTW those where Yugoslve T-34s in the movie. |
| Posted by: oddball 2004-09-27 1:51:23 PM |
| #22 hate to annoy you all but i and i think many others actually fight better when stoned,sounds fuckin absurd i know but get this,hey stop laughing, you can hear things twice as good and see in the dark so much better,senses are improved alot trust me, but on the flip side i wouldnt wanna be sat in an M1A1 or Bradely in a firefight and start giggling as the driver forgets which lever does what and the gunner forgets how to operate his gun. Be fun to blast whacked out Raqi's though :) |
| Posted by: Shep UK 2004-09-27 1:00:16 PM |
| #21 We've been exerting diplomatic pressure to get Syria to cooperate in closing the border. And yet we keep finding Syrians planting bombs in Iraq. Perhaps the problem is that our "diplomatic pressure" isn't enough pressure or is too diplomatic? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-09-27 12:52:42 PM |
| #20 Lex your idea would only provide the Sunni with an incentive to blow up Kurdish targets and claim its unstable there. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2004-09-27 12:46:23 PM |
| #19 Allawi is a transitional PM, legitimized by a UNSC res. He doesnt have the legitimacy to force through an alternative election scheme against the UN, especially without the support of the US. And for the US to support a shift NOW, with a few months to go, would look like an admission of defeat. Expect a huge blowup at the UN and elsewhere. Also there may be a struggle between State/CIA and DoD on this. A national PR vote weakens local leaders, some of whom in the Shia areas have close ties to DoD, IIUC. (not that that PROVES anything mind you;) ) Playing badly in the Arab neighbors of Iraq is NOT a good thing. We've been exerting diplomatic pressure to get Syria to cooperate in closing the border. If we suddenly have Jordan and KSA supporting the insurgents, or even if we have them plus Egypt undermining diplo pressure on Syria, the whole job gets harder. Not to mention we still need to make friends in the Sunni Arab world to fight AQ. I dont agree with the Kerry line that Iraq is a diversion, but trying to win in Iraq by alienating all Sunni Arabs would quickly hurt us in the larger war. Should I also mention that this would hurt us in (non-arab) Pakistan as well? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-09-27 11:12:00 AM |
| #18 LH - What's stopping Allawi from scrapping the national proportional plan? Is that plan written into the hoary, 200 year-old Iraqi constitution and burned into the national political culture? A parliament of Shia and Kurds would be fine with me, but will play VERY badly in KSA, Jordan, Egypt, etc. Yup, that's right. Still more disincentives. I like this kind of thinking-- keep going.... |
| Posted by: lex 2004-09-27 11:02:41 AM |
| #17 lex that would work with single member districts. But the geniuses at State decided that Iraq should vote as a single district, national proportional representation. So the week (or whatever) after the election you count up all the votes and allocate ALL the seats. If say Ramadi votes later, and that changes the allocation, youd have to toss someone already seated in parliament. So it won't work, unfortunately. If just some guys in Ramadi and Fallujah dont vote, then to hell with it, just seat the reps and let Ramadi and Fallujah wait till the next scheduled election for their say. If, OTOH, you cant hold elections ANYWHERE in the Sunni triangle (not that i think thats likely) then youve got a major problem. A parliament of Shia and Kurds would be fine with me, but will play VERY badly in KSA, Jordan, Egypt, etc. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-09-27 10:58:03 AM |
| #16 Avoids partition into three states and achieves core goal of isolating those who oppose any elections under any circumstances. Not really that difficult, is it? |
| Posted by: lex 2004-09-27 10:51:38 AM |
| #15 Bingo Lex! Sounds mighty sensible. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2004-09-27 10:50:35 AM |
| #14 Why not have rolling elections as districts become reasonably secure enough to hold them? This would create a powerful disincentive to violence, esp by ba'athists and other sunnis, due to the huge electoral head start the kurdish and most shi'a-dominated districts would have. You bomb, you lose. The bad boyz could well end up facing an elected parliament covering 85% of the country and dominated by shi'a and kurds. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-09-27 10:48:35 AM |
| #13 lyot - quit wringing your hands and grow a spine. What's your alternative - give it back to Sadaam? |
| Posted by: anon 2004-09-27 10:43:45 AM |
| #12 Waitaminnit, didn't Marx say something about religion being the opiate of the masses? What if we were to, like, get them into some really heavy duty religion or something. Maybe a religion that emphasized peace and brotherhood (but no pork!) would help calm them down. *ducks* |
| Posted by: BH 2004-09-27 10:27:13 AM |
| #11 Iraqis may not be able to go to the polls in some places. bwahhhaaaa. Talk about win-win for the Iraqis. The ones they don't want to vote won't get to, unless they clean out the bad guys first. What's not to like about that? |
| Posted by: 2B 2004-09-27 9:32:14 AM |
| #10 Fritos, the weapon of doom. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-09-27 9:19:29 AM |
| #9 Hey Old Spook: Task Force 626 is on the hunt. They are very capable I understand. However, the intelligence on the ground is shaky in Iraq. What do you think their chances are of bagging Zarqawi soon? |
| Posted by: The Ol Prof 2004-09-27 9:16:55 AM |
| #8 Yup, go for the Dutch big bud and watch 'em stumble zombie-like toward the American lines. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2004-09-27 8:33:06 AM |
| #7 Amen Fawad! Hashish is a great way to pacify a people. Air drop some cubes and pipes, wait an hour, and then walk in unopposed. HEck we could send some hash 'speicalists' from the Bay area to help the get started on their drug habit! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-09-27 8:18:21 AM |
| #6 You all are missing the point that is Happy Flower & its benifits. Imagine Zarqawi walking into a US patrol when he is completely stoned and getting knocked out. |
| Posted by: Fawad 2004-09-27 8:01:49 AM |
| #5 for every Iraqi they kill, more stand up..It's getting out of hand, at least that's the impression I've got. I hope they don't manage to totally disrupt the election proces, if not, the US could find it impossible to reverse the negative trend. |
| Posted by: lyot 2004-09-27 7:13:47 AM |
| #4 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: Anonymous6334 TROLL 2004-09-27 6:26:19 AM |
| #3 "W" has given license to kill to Task Force 626, concerning Zarqawi. 'Dead or Alive'! Another poster put up by Marshal Bush. |
| Posted by: smn 2004-09-27 3:39:03 AM |
| #2 Mr Zarqawi's least favorite time of the day is 626. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-09-27 2:44:13 AM |
| #1 Build up the 80% that is peaceful. If the Sunnis don't want to deal with the assholes among them, then invite the Shia and Kurds to to do unto the Sunnis as was done unto them and take their homes and land. See, triangulation is fun. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-09-27 1:54:36 AM |