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

To: Bilow who wrote (123623)	1/24/2004 10:42:05 AM
From: Sam	Respond to of 281500

Every plan that is out there begins with assumptions that do not take into account the very simple fact that the Iraqi resistance will keep shooting at us no matter what we do, short of simply leaving. What's worse, the Shiittes are starting to march in protest against us. I don't know how much the Iraqi's will keep shooting at us. But even if the US military leadership is right in saying that they have "broken the back" of the resistance, the Shia's don't have to shoot at us to win. Or to kick us out. They just have to refuse to go along with any US plan that denies them the rights that the Bush admin now claims that went into Iraq to assure, i.e., majority rule and self-determination. It is yet another fantasy to suppose that they will become the good American capitalists in the mold that we wish them to become, and will form a govt that will approve. Or that they will allow US troops to remain in Iraq for any appreciable length of time following the formation of a govt that they approve of. After that, the real "deluge."

To: Bilow who wrote (123623)	1/24/2004 12:55:55 PM
From: Sam	Respond to of 281500

But the killing continues.... Five U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attacks 37 minutes ago BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded on Saturday in Khaldiyah, a town west of Baghdad, killing three American soldiers and injuring six soldiers and several Iraqi civilians, the military said. Two other American soldiers were killed earlier Saturday in a roadside bombing near Fallujah. The latest deaths raised to 512 the number of American service members who have died since the United States and its allies launched the Iraq (news - web sites) war March 20. Most of the deaths have occurred since President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat May 1. Khaldiyah and Fallujah are part of the Sunni Triangle, the area in central Iraq where most of the anti-U.S. attacks by die-hard Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists have taken place. The U.S. military says the attacks have reduced in number since Saddam's arrest on Dec. 13. In the Khaldiyah attack, a four-wheel-drive vehicle drove up to the checkpoint at a bridge and blew up in front of a Humvee that tried to block it, said a witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said there were about 20 soldiers in the vicinity at the time. A U.S. military spokesman said the attack took place in Khaldiyah, 70 miles west of Baghdad, killing three Americans and wounding six other soldiers. The spokesman, who did not wish to be identified, said several Iraqi civilians were also wounded in the attack, and one of them was evacuated to a military base for treatment. He said two of the wounded soldiers were taken to a combat support hospital and four were being treated at a local military base. Eight injured Iraqis were admitted to a hospital in the nearby town of Ramadi, including six women and two men, said Dr. Ahmed Nasrat Jabouri. He said one of them was in a serious condition. Earlier Saturday, two American soldiers and four Iraqis were killed in separate bomb attacks, a day after two U.N. security experts arrived in the capital to study the possible return of the world body's international staff. The American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb that struck their convoy near Fallujah, a city 50 miles west of Baghdad in an area that has been a center of anti-American resistance. In another attack, a truck bomb exploded soon after a U.S. patrol passed by in Samarra, which also is in the restive so-called Sunni Triangle, an area north and west of Baghdad that is home to die-hard Saddam Hussein loyalists who have been blamed for most of the insurgent attacks on civilians and U.S. forces. The blast killed four Iraqis and 33 people were injured in the Samarra blast, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters. Three American soldiers were slightly wounded, he said. The American military police patrol was turning into a police station to join Iraqi police when the explosion occurred behind it, Sgt. Maj. Nathan Wilson of the 720th Military Police Battalion. Despite Saddam's capture on Dec. 13, insurgents loyal to him have continued to attack police stations and U.S. troops. Also Saturday, at least one sniper in a building shot and wounded an American soldier who was in a foot patrol in a Baghdad neighborhood, Maj. Kevin West said. A bridge across the Tigris River in Baghdad, leading to the coalition headquarters, was closed by U.S. troops for two hours Saturday. Witnesses said they were searching for a bomb, but this could not be independently confirmed. Baghdad has been a frequent target of insurgents. In one of the deadliest attacks, the U.N. headquarters in the capital was bombed in August, killing 22 people including top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) withdrew all foreign U.N. staff in October. A U.N. military adviser and a security coordinator arrived Friday in Baghdad, the first foreign staff to return since then. They planned to meet with officials from the U.S.-led coalition and inspect buildings the world body might use, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "Their primary focus will be to open lines of communication ... and also to look after the interests of our national staff in Iraq," Dujarric said. Annan also is considering sending a separate security team that would be needed if he decides to send experts to Iraq to determine whether direct elections for a transitional government were feasible. That team would help resolve a dispute between the coalition and Iraq's leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who is demanding direct elections as opposed to a U.S. plan that calls for letting regional caucuses choose a legislature. The legislature would then name a new Iraqi government that will take over from the coalition July 1, under the U.S. plan adopted Nov. 15. Al-Hakim, who was among members of a Governing Council delegation that met with President Bush on Tuesday at the White House, heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's most powerful Shiite political group. He said if the U.N. experts conclude an early vote is not feasible, then sovereignty could be handed over to the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council. But he added it was "a last-resort option." Al-Hakim's views carry considerable weight in Iraq, where the Shiite majority has risen to dominate the political scene after decades of suppression by the Sunni Arab minority. The United States maintains it is impossible to hold elections in such a short time given the lack of a census and electoral rolls and the continuing violence. ___ Associated Press Writer Vijay Joshi contributed to this report from Baghdad. story.news.yahoo.com