Iraq, Shiite Armageddon, the Mahdi Army, chaos theory and the Hidden Imam

[MRT144]

ach!

[Imran Siddiqui]

I echo others. The fundy's led by what seems to be a terrorist sympathizer, if he's not a terrorist himself, should be crushed. Especially since they are hated by the rest of the Shi'ite population... basically put up another Shi'ite leader while bringing the other down.

[Lord Merciless]

So far the attacks and protests have relatively few participants, no more than several thousands in each occasion. If we see one million men insurrection against us, then we have decide whether to pull out or to use Hulegu's method.

[Gatekeeper]

Hmm. I suppose it's "romantic" until one of those hundreds of fundies grabs you as a hostage and says he's going to burn you alive if your government doesn't turn tail and run. The "romanticism" kind of goes out of it at the point.

Gatekeeper

[Lord Merciless]

I start to believe that Arabs really deserve Mongolian treatments.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Al Sadr does not represent mainstream Iraqi shiite opinion.

That's increasingly not the case. Al Sistani made a point of not condemning him IIRC and the insurgency seems to be growing in popularity every day. In an important development some Sunnis and Shias are ganging up together.

You can pretend that the Iraqis love the US, but most of them hate it - or more accurately hate its policies in the Middle East.

Anyway, there's some big Shia religious festival coming up in a few days - whatever happens there will give a good indication of the way the wind is blowing.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Lord Merciless
I start to believe that Arabs really deserve Mongolian treatments.

we could genocide them...

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Agathon


That's increasingly not the case.

Speaking from your arse again I see? I posted a poll that was done with more then an adequate sampling.

Al Sistani made a point of not condemning him IIRC and the insurgency seems to be growing in popularity every day. In an important development some Sunnis and Shias are ganging up together.

You can pretend that the Iraqis love the US, but most of them hate it - or more accurately hate its policies in the Middle East.

Anyway, there's some big Shia religious festival coming up in a few days - whatever happens there will give a good indication of the way the wind is blowing.

You're really rich in B.S.. what is wrong with you? You want the US to get defeated? What is the matter with you?

[Giancarlo]

Seems like the rebellion is starting to fall apart... some people in this forum will cry because their agenda isn't being accomplished.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=13&u=/nm/20040409/ts_nm/iraq_kut_dc

KUT, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S.-led troops retook control of the eastern Iraqi town of Kut on Friday, witnesses said, two days after Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city center after clashes with Shi'ite militiamen.

Residents said American soldiers were in control of the center of the town, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and convoys of U.S. armored vehicles were seen on roads to the area.

Reuters television pictures showed the Kut office of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in ruins after coming under attack.

Sadr's followers launched an uprising this week, battling U.S.-led forces in Shi'ite areas across Iraq (news - web sites). One Ukrainian soldier was killed earlier in the week in the fighting in Kut.

[Ramo]

In one of his speeches (or was it a statement?) he associated himself with Hizbullah and Hamas and supports these two groups. He who associates with them and therefore calls upon the killing of civilians, is a terrorist.

Eh? Agreeing with certain terrorist acts certainly does not make one a terrorist.

He has also called upon his followers to "terrorise the Americans".

Source? That doesn't sound like something Sadr would say (since he keeps ranting about the terrorist Americans, etc.).

Al Sadr does not represent mainstream Iraqi shiite opinion.

He probably represents about a third of the Shia opinion. Much less than Sistani, but still a very significant minority.

[Alexander's Horse]

well the point is Al sadr and other extremists gain more support every time the coalition kills civilians accidentally in their ops against the terrorists.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Ramo
He probably represents about a third of the Shia opinion. Much less than Sistani, but still a very significant minority.

No actually I read about 10%.

[Daz]

It's not about Al Sadr. He will be replaced and you better believe it.

The US will never stabilize Iraq (the way the want to of course...) as there'll always be a Al Sadr around.

The main worry is that this "uprisings" get more and more organized, and each time, more coalition soldiers die. The prospects are quite scary....

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Tripledoc
The most decent man I saw was our college dorm watchman who was a veteran of the Vietnam War. A black man with the thousand yard stare. He was always there when the cops or the security guards tried to bust someone for something. He drove us on trips to see the nature, to ski, or go waterrafting. A good man.

He didn't touch you in any places that made you feel uncomfortable, did he?

[Giancarlo]

We actually are giving them a chance to give up... Kut has been recaptured, and Fallujah will soon fall back to coalition hands. This is pretty much nearing the end of this little unpopular rebellion (hey, most shi'ias didn't want it, 90% didn't).

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040409/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716

"U.S. troops fanned out across Kut, southeast of Baghdad, after meeting little resistance in the city, witnesses said, in a major foray by the American military into the south, where U.S. allies have struggled to deal with the uprising by the al-Mahdi Army, led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In Fallujah, Marines stopped offensive operations at noon, while a delegation of sheiks from the city met with Marine commanders, said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment.

"I would not describe this as a cease-fire. We are still aggressively defending our positions. However we have ceased offensive operations for now," Byrne said."