Baghdad Melting Down

[PatrickHenry]

Do you other folks notice this? Iraq is getting worse, much worse.

There are currently an estimated 1.3 million internally displaced persons. "War refugees."
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2425.shtml
150,000 just since February.

And in Baghdad itself, the civil war is in full swing: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...8585_1,00.html

West Baghdad is no stranger to bombings and killings, but in the past few days all restraint has vanished in an orgy of ethnic cleansing. Shia gunmen are seeking to drive out the once-dominant Sunni minority and the Sunnis are forming neighbourhood posses to retaliate. Mosques are being attacked. Scores of innocent civilians have been killed, their bodies left lying in the streets. Hundreds — Sunni and Shia — are abandoning their homes. My driver said all his neighbours had now fled, their abandoned houses bullet-pocked and locked up. On a nearby mosque, competing Sunni and Shiite graffiti had been scrawled on the walls. A senior nurse at Yarmouk hospital on the fringes of west Baghdad’s war zone said that he was close to being overwhelmed. “On Tuesday we received 35 bodies in one day, 16 from Al-Furat district alone. All of them were killed execution-style,” he said. “I thought it was the end of the city. I packed my bags at once and got ready to leave because they could storm the hospital at any moment.” In just 24 hours before noon yesterday, as parliament convened for another emergency session, 87 bodies were brought to Baghdad city morgue, 63 of them unidentified. Since Sunday’s massacre in Jihad, more than 160 people have been killed, making a total of at least 1,600 since Iraq’s Government of national unity came to power six weeks ago. Another 2,500 have been wounded. In early June, Nouri al-Maliki, the new Prime Minister, flooded Baghdad’s streets with tens of thousands of soldiers and police in an effort to restore order to the capital. More recently, he announced a national reconciliation plan, which promised an amnesty to Sunni insurgents and the disbandment of Shia militias. Both initiatives are now in tatters. “The country is sliding fast towards civil war,” Ali Adib, a Shia MP, told the Iraqi parliament this week. “Security has deteriorated in a serious and unprecedented way,” said Saadi Barzanji, a Kurdish MP. Mr al-Maliki told parliament: “We all have a last chance to reconcile and agree among each other on avoiding conflict and blood. If we fail, God knows what the fate of Iraq will be.” Joseph Biden, the senior Democrat on the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, described Baghdad after a recent visit as a city in the throes of “nascent civil war”. Most Iraqis believe that it is already here. “There is a campaign to eradicate all Sunnis from Baghdad,” said Sheikh Omar al-Jebouri, of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni parliamentary group. He said that it was organised by the Shia-dominated Interior Ministry and its police special commandos, with Shia militias, and aimed to destroy Mr al-Maliki’s plans to rebuild Iraq’s security forces along national, rather than sectarian, lines. Ahmed Abu Mustafa, a resident of the Sunni district of Amariyah in western Baghdad, was stunned to see two police car pick-ups speed up to his local mosque with cars full of gunmen on Tuesday evening and open fire on it with their government-issued machineguns. Immediately, Sunni gunmen materialised from side streets and a battle started. “I’d heard about this happening but this was the first time I’d seen police shooting at a mosque,” he said. “I was amazed by how quickly the local gunmen deployed. I ran for my life.”

And this: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/me.../15/iraq.main/

The head of Iraq's Olympic Committee, Ahmad el Kijiye, was kidnapped Saturday along with at least 30 of his co-workers by gunmen dressed in army uniforms, Iraqi police said. The kidnapping happened in a Shiite neighborhood of central Baghdad as they were leaving a meeting at a cultural center, police said. The gunmen were riding in three government vehicles, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud told The Associated Press. The kidnappings come a day after Iraq's national wrestling team pulled out of a tournament in the United Arab Emirates when its coach was killed in Baghdad. The Sunni coach, Mohammed Karim Abid Sahib, was seized with one of his wrestlers as they left the sports center in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah. AP reported. He was shot to death while trying to escape. Meanwhile, two mortars landed outside an Iraqi police administration building in northern Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 12 others, police said. The building, in the Iraqi capital's Sadiya section, is where Iraqi police go to be paid and get their uniforms, police said.

Those unfortunate people in Iraq...

[Scribbler1]

It is sad, but not surprising. I hope the author of the first piece doesn't consider events there something new. It became a civil war the minute insurgents started slaughtering civilians instead of our soldiers. In fact, all indications are it would have been a civil war a LONG time ago if they didn't have a dictator running things.

The Sunnis and Shiites DESPISE each other and have hated each other for decades, if not a century or more. The historians knew it so even if the Clod in Chief didn't know it his advisers should have known it too. But it is obvious they never considered it, so they removed the only government they knew and replaced it with NOTHING. After all these years, the "government" in place now is useless and the killings go on.

[dreamer]

A great leader should be able to sort this lot out, Saddam sorted this wild country out . Wonder if there is a l world leader powerful and able enough to get this country under control like Saddam could. I thought bush was this leader of super powers."FROM" what i have seen bush is a joke and he making his government look like a joke.

[ise]

Quote by: Scribbler1 It is sad, but not surprising. I hope the author of the first piece doesn't consider events there something new. It became a civil war the minute insurgents started slaughtering civilians instead of our soldiers. In fact, all indications are it would have been a civil war a LONG time ago if they didn't have a dictator running things. The Sunnis and Shiites DESPISE each other and have hated each other for decades, if not a century or more. The historians knew it so even if the Clod in Chief didn't know it his advisers should have known it too. But it is obvious they never considered it, so they removed the only government they knew and replaced it with NOTHING. After all these years, the "government" in place now is useless and the killings go on.

"The Clod in Chief didn't know it his advisers should have known it too."

His dad knew, but then he was in intellegence. Son has none. Be charitable and blame alcohol.

[Osborn F Enready]

I want to know how many people that know a damn thing about warfare, DIDN'T see this coming?!?

This is following right along the script of warfare for the middle east, which is why Bush senior had the SENSE, no, WARNING not to go in by those who had sense.

This war, since the begginning, has been run ass backwards, from the top down and now MORE of our soldiers are paying the price (be it maimed permanently, severely wounded, or killed) because these morons wanted to play King in the worlds biggest, most volatile sand box.

We didn't have a solidified enemy after the Cold War, and now, thanks to Bush and Co., we have a nice "solid" shadowy network of "terrorists" that can never be proven or denied, simply armed and prepared for, and marching all over Natures green and brown earth trying to find while the cost of lives and equipment rises like the endless elevator.

Rome, it has begun again.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: dreamer A great leader should be able to short this lot out, Saddam shorted this wild country out . Wonder if there is a l world leader powerful and able enough to get this country under control like Saddam could. I thought bush was this leader of super powers."FROM" what i have seen bush is a joke and he making his government look like a joke.

From where I sit it looks like Bush has effectively shown the world we are not the military superpower we were seen as, with the exception of nuclear weapons. He has also shown we are NOT the leaders of the free world. Whether these things have actually been myths to begin with is a matter of opinion, but thanks to Bush and his supporters they have BECOME debunked myths now.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: ise "The Clod in Chief didn't know it his advisers should have known it too." His dad knew, but then he was in intellegence. Son has none. Be charitable and blame alcohol.

I have no feelings of charity when it comes to Bush, but I blame the people who PUT this dangerous man in power. Any charlatan, creep or idiot can run for office but it is OUR job, as well as our DUTY to spot the people who are unfit for the job and see to it they are not allowed to assume those positions.

We have failed, and failed miserably.

[dreamer]

Quote by: Scribbler1 From where I sit it looks like Bush has effectively shown the world we are not the military superpower we were seen as, with the exception of nuclear weapons. He has also shown we are NOT the leaders of the free world. Whether these things have actually been myths to begin with is a matter of opinion, but thanks to Bush and his supporters they have BECOME debunked myths now.

link.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5179330.stm

Presidents Putin and Bush gave a news conference after their meeting. They announced plans to co-operate on nuclear energy. No deal on Russian membership of the WTO, signs of differing approaches to the Middle East. What about Russian democracy? "We don't want to have a democracy like the one in Iraq," said President Putin. Ouch! The pool report of the meeting circulated by the White House didn't suggest that the actual meeting, in one of the above-mentioned cottages, had been particularly warm or friendly either.

And Putin was controlled when he said it Ouch!

[Scribbler1]

I don't think it was helpful to have Blofeld make public statements highly critical of Russia just a couple of weeks before this meeting. I see that creep comes by his perpetual sneer honestly.

Does anyone in that administration know ANYTHING about diplomacy???



Don't answer that, I already know they don't.

[gr8fuldaniel]

I swear this is not a Photoshop!
(I think I got it from LA Times, in the last 2 days)


Is that a beer bottle in front of YOUR president?

This could have been taken right after Junior asked Pootey-Poot, if he wouldnt like to turn Russia into Iraq.

Even Putin thinks hes drunk. We have a freekin frat boy representin us....... :(

Edit to add;
Our, um, Top Guy has backed down from his retarded attempt at instilling Iraq style Democracy in Russia. Methinks he doth not protest enough. He should stand his ground.....Challennge Putin to a duel. That would solve a lot of the worlds problems.

[ise]

Quote by: Scribbler1 From where I sit it looks like Bush has effectively shown the world we are not the military superpower we were seen as, with the exception of nuclear weapons. He has also shown we are NOT the leaders of the free world. Whether these things have actually been myths to begin with is a matter of opinion, but thanks to Bush and his supporters they have BECOME debunked myths now.

"Whether these things have actually been myths to begin with is a matter of" perception and so it did not matter is it was opinion or fact. And the world was happier and safer for that reason. The big stick is not no big once it is used.

How many now would trade Bill Clinton's world now for George's. Save us from small minded men with even smaller...

In most nations, the US presence in Iraq is seen as a greater threat to world peace than Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The UN serves US interests

By Philip Stephens
Financial Times
Published: June 17 2006

[Sonart]

.

Quote by: Dreamer Wonder if there is a l world leader powerful and able enough to get this country under control like Saddam could. I thought bush was this leader of super powers."FROM" what i have seen bush is a joke and he making his government look like a joke.

Therein lies the dilemma, Dreamer. A world leader trying to fix Iraq is the problem, not the solution. It needs an Iraqi leader.

Quote by: Scribbler Any charlatan, creep or idiot can run for office but it is OUR job, as well as our DUTY to spot the people who are unfit for the job and see to it they are not allowed to assume those positions.

What you mean, "we", white man?

Quote by: Osborn F Enready I want to know how many people that know a damn thing about warfare, DIDN'T see this coming?!?

Certainly not Bush's combined intelligence agencies or his senior military.

--"We are about to do something that will ignite a fuse in this region that we will rue the day we ever started.... Attacking Iraq now will cause a lot of problems. It might be interesting to wonder why all the generals see it the same way and all those who never fired a shot in anger and are really hell-bent to go to war see it a different way. That's usually the way it is in history."--
General Anthony Zinni, former commander in chief, U.S. Central Command, and Bush's former special envoy to the Middle East


.

[Nono]

Quote by: Dreamer Saddam shorted this wild country out .

(Shorted?) Yeah, as Stalin did the USSR....
The USSR finally fell apart, as perhaps Iraq should have (or soon will).

[dreamer]

Quote by: Nono (Shorted?) Yeah, as Stalin did the USSR.... The USSR finally fell apart, as perhaps Iraq should have (or soon will).

silent h .USSR was another wild country, Stalin sorted it out . thats why there people thought they were great leaders. Stalin and Saddam were great leaders to there people, well at least they could put the electric and water back on.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Heres the link for that photo. Its an AP photo

Heres the related story.

And heres the photo where they decided they better crop that brewski out of the pic:

If this guy aint drunk, Michael Jackson is normal....

[grandpa]

Bush truly does represent America if he's getting drunk to ignore bad situations.

Granmdpa h.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: Sonart .What you mean, "we", white man?

I always get into trouble when I say things like that.

By "we" or "our" I actually meant everyone but me.

[Sonart]

.

LOL!! I've actually got the bumpersticker... "Don't Blame Me! I Didn't vote for Him"

(although I haven't put it on my car... too in love with my PT Cruiser to clutter it up)


.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Scribbler1 I always get into trouble when I say things like that. By "we" or "our" I actually meant everyone but me.

Heheheh, I thought I was the only one here with that bad habit.

Quote by: Sonart too in love with my PT Cruiser to clutter it up

Uh, um, er, uh, shit, no comment.

[ise]

.
[CENTER][/CENTER]

Hard day's night.

"Where's that Putin, shit, Tony."

"Condi, can I go for a pee?"

"Here, hold this. No, the bottle."

"Shit, shit, shit. No, no, no. Not shit. Turn off that mic. Tony."

ise #4 "The Clod in Chief didn't know it his advisers should have known it too." His dad knew, but then he was in intellegence. Son has none. Be charitable and blame alcohol.