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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (214430)	1/8/2005 8:07:34 AM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572381

Insurgent admits Iran, Syria links on tape By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - An Iraqi militant suspected of involvement in beheadings and other bloody attacks told Iraqi authorities that his group has links with Iran and Syria, according to a tape aired Friday by an Arabic TV station funded by the U.S. government. Moayad Ahmed Yasseen, leader of Jaish Muhammad, which is Arabic for Muhammad's Army, was captured nearly two months ago in Fallujah, the former guerrilla stronghold west of Baghdad. Alhurra television, which has its headquarters in Washington, said the tape of his purported confession was made Dec. 24 and provided to the station by Iraq's Ministry of Defense. Iraqi and U.S. officials, including President Bush, have accused Syria and Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs and aiding insurgents, a charge both nations vehmently deny. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said last week that Iraq's patience was running out with countries that support the insurgency. On the tape, Yasseen, a colonel in Saddam Hussein's army, said two other former Iraqi military officers belonging to his group were sent "to Iran in April or May, where they met a number of Iranian intelligence officials." He said they also met with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He said Iranian officials provided money, weapons "and, as far as I know, even car bombs" for Jaish Muhammad. Yasseen also said he got permission from Saddam - while the former dictator was in hiding after his ouster by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 - to cross into Syria and meet with a Syrian intelligence officer to ask for money and weapons. He didn't say if the request was met. The U.S. military has said Jaish Muhammad appears to be an umbrella group for former Iraqi intelligence agents, army officers, security officials and members of Saddam's Baath Party. The group is known to have cooperated with Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as well as other Saddam loyalists and al-Qaida supporters. Allawi has accused Jaish Muhammad of killing and beheading a number of Iraqis, Arabs and foreigners in Iraq.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (214430)	1/8/2005 10:56:54 AM
From: SilentZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572381

>However, what if Iraq bucks the odds and manages to become a Democracy? Will it have been worth it then? 10 or 15 years from now I'm lukewarm on the cause. The whole "domino effect of putting a democracy in the Middle East" thing may be right, but it may not be -- Turkey's been a democracy next to Iraq for many years (though not an Arab one), and it hasn't had any influence on any of the other countries around it. I'm not sure that "democratizing" one more Muslim state out of 57 (58 if you include that Palestinians) will have much of an effect. It might've been worth a shot if it were done right. The problem is that we have an administration in place that was both incompetent and not politically able to provide the troops that were really necessary, and as a result, we've dug such a deep hole there that I firmly believe that we can NEVER win now, and given the way we went in there, I predicted in early '03 that that would be the case. Given that, I've thought all along that we've been throwing the lives of our soldiers away, and in a court of law, that would qualify as criminally negligent homicide on a grand scale. Isn't that something to curse about? -Z

To: RetiredNow who wrote (214430)	1/8/2005 12:01:56 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572381

Pardon me for editing your post: "However, what if <Vietnam> bucks the odds and manages to become a Democracy? Will it have been worth it then? 10 or 15 years from now, if that were to happen, we might all be erecting monuments to all the Americans who fell in <Vietnam> as heros that fought for the worthiest of causes, to bring freedom to a people who have never known it and to start the dominos falling in <Southeast Asia>, so that democracy can flourish across a culture that has never known it. And so that ultimately, the oppression that has not only allowed, but encouraged, the culture of hatred to exist in <Southeast Asia>, would be lifted and their people be allowed to get educated and to squash a hatred of all things Western." The Vietnam War went on for 10 years and killed 50,000 young Americans. And frankly, at this early time point in Vietnam, it was less violent and looked a lot easier to win than Iraq. It was a mistake that nobody was willing to admit, so the killing just kept on, day after day, week after week, year after year. Johnson didn't want to be the first president to lose a war; under extreme political pressure, Nixon had the balls to call an end and accept defeat, finally. We've lost Iraq. If anyone questions that, they are politically sentencing many more American kids (and Iraqi civilians) to death. The politicians will never call an end; no one want the "war loser" label. The American citizens have to end to this war. You are either for it or against it. If you are for it, you are the enabler, you are causing the death. In terms of the dire consequences for your fellow citizens, it's the most significant political decision you will make in your lifetime. It's not a cute little political debate, and it has nothing to do with lib/cons or dem/rep. It's life and death, and it's deadly serious. John PS If you don't like the way I post, screw you. I hate anyone and everyone that supports this war.