Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (116337)	10/7/2003 3:23:06 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

You are right, the current level of unrest, which is taxing our army to the limit, is only coming from the 20% of the population that is Sunni. But we are burning our bridges to the Kurds, betraying them again, abandoning the only democratic forces backed by a local army, by allowing the Turkish Army in. And the Shiites are busily building up their militias. Currently, they are holding their fire, waiting for us to fulfill our promise to allow democracy (which means the Shiites would rule the country). When they get tired of us failing to protect them, and failing to keep our promises about democracy and reconstruction, they too till turn on us. Time is not on our side, in Iraq.

To: Neocon who wrote (116337)	10/7/2003 7:21:54 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Neocon; Re: "Few Iraqis are shooting at us, or the casualty rates would be much greater." Yes, and few Americans are shooting at the Iraqis, otherwise their casualty rates would also be much greater. But the number of casualties isn't going down, and it's large enough to put Bush out of office for getting us involved. And it's certainly enough to get US troops jumpy enough to regularly shoot civilians, Iraqi police, reporters, and even the interpreter for a UN official. Re: "Most of the unrest is confined to the Sunni triangle, and the worst of it is in Ba'athist strongholds like Tikrit and Fallujah." More US troops are dead in Baghdad than in either of those two cities. Here's today's news: Bombs Kill Three U.S. Soldiers in Iraq Fox "News", October 7, 2003 Insurgents killed three U.S. soldiers with roadside bombs, the military reported Tuesday, and former Iraqi intelligence officers demanding jobs hurled stones and charged American forces guarding occupation headquarters in the capital. Large sections of Baghdad were in turmoil. There was an explosion inside the Foreign Ministry compound about a half mile from the confrontation outside the U.S.-led occupation headquarters. Across the city, U.S. solders were met with a demonstration by Shiite Muslims (search) after closing a mosque and allegedly arresting the imam. Late in the afternoon, U.S. troops fired concussion grenades and shots in the air to disperse the crowd, which grew by the hour. ... One soldier attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was killed and another wounded in a bombing about 9:50 p.m. Monday just west of Baghdad. About an hour later, another roadside bombing killed two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and their Iraqi translator. Two other soldiers were wounded in the bombing in al-Haswah, 25 miles south of the capital. ... foxnews.com So we had 3 dead today, and they were in Baghdad and "25 miles south", which hardly makes it part of the "Sunni triangle". Today's riots in Baghdad were *Shiite*, not Sunni riots. So what will you be saying after we begin taking substantial casualties across the Shiite regions? So far, the worst single incident in "post war" Iraq was June 24, when the Shiites killed 6 British soldiers. -- Carl