Nate SmithRebuttal to Baghdad Alamo and Talking Points from MFSO
First, allow me to thank Richard for a superb assessment of one aspect of the situation on the ground under the “Surge Strategy.†I was on-line a week or so ago and came across an news report that honestly made me sick to stomach. Perhaps, the PTSD and suicides of returning Iraq Veterans ought to be telling us all something here. The 4,000 Marines to Al Anbar to fight so-called, “Al-Qaeda†in Iraq Bush tells us. Bush failed to mention that “Al-Qaeda†now consist of school children fighting for their street and neighborhood.
On the other hand, what about that 5 Army Brigades going to Baghdad’s streets? “Gunther”, says on a reply to Richard’s post about the “Joint Security Stations, “Probably easy to defend. I expect to see heavier weaponry in use, by the enemy.†I would call it operation, “out of the green zone, into the crimson zone.†Crimson for the start of serious bloodletting in Iraq when at least 5 brigades move out onto the Baghdad streets to stay.
What seems to be missing from these characterizations of the enemy in Baghdad? Hmmm? Perhaps that the enemy could include a certain Shiite faction of the Iraqi government? That is to say, the Baghdad basedMahdi Army of Moqtada Al-Sadr? Oh yes, I think so. Expect that some attacks may come from U.S. weapons carried by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), police or Iraqi government officials.
How quickly, some of us forget when under the influence of the Tabula Rasa of the U.S. propaganda machine. It is truly uncanny how quickly attention can be shifted, cognition overwhelmed with the proper stimuli. Only a month ago, reports about infiltration of Iraqi Security Forces by sectarian militias was all over the mainstream news.
Bush himself made veiled threats towards the Mahdi Army and Moqtada Al-Sadr and the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki just a few weeks ago in his January 10, 2007 escalation announcement,
“Radical Shia elements, some supported by Iran, formed death squads. And the result was a vicious cycle of sectarian violence that continues today. . . This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods. And Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated . . . The Baghdad security plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of sectarian or political affiliation.â€
It appears that Al Sadr has taken the Commander-in-Chief’s threat seriously. As of last week his ministers and members of parliament have re-engaged with the government despite their opposition to U.S. interference. The Mahdi Army and their historic opposition to the U.S. occupation may dramatically change with a snap of Bush Co.’s fingers, but I doubt it. Why support a U.S. regime that has been at pains to make itself the arch enemy of Iran which is an ally of Iraqi Shiites. The Bush Administration’s open hostility towards Iran and continued occupation of Iraq only creates a wider conflict in the region. As long as the U.S. military is forced to occupy Iraq, resistance and violence will get worse.
Make no mistake; the 5 US Army Brigades will not be fighting “Al-Qaeda†in Baghdad. They will be fighting among others a faction of the Shiite led government and their militias. The same government George W. Bush claims to have supported or will support with conditions. This plan is truly crazy in light of the fact that Sunni leaders in Jordan and Saudi Arabia have said they will finance and arm the Sunni fighters against Iraqi Shiites.
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Here are some talking points from Military Families Speak Out to help you:
Things You May Hear From Senators and Members of Congress – And Ideas for Responding
We can’t just leave.
We have been told for almost four years that we can’t just leave Iraq. In the meantime, over 3,000 U.S. troops have been killed, tens of thousands have been injured, cases of PTSD and suicide continue to increase, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, women and men have died. The U.S. occupation is a major cause of the violence in Iraq, not a solution to the violence. No effective resolution of the problems in Iraq will be reached as long as the U.S. military is occupying the country. The only thing worse than having so many die in this war that should never have happened is to have even more die.
We can’t leave the troops stranded/abandoned.
We agree – which is why we are asking you to cut off funds to continue a war that has stranded and abandoned our troops in Iraq – some of them through third, fourth and even fifth deployments. Leaving our troops in Iraq means that even more of them will be wounded and die for a war based on lies. There are funds now in the pipeline to bring our troops home quickly and safely. Should more funds be needed to bring our troops home, monies currently in the Department of Defense budget ($500 billion/year) could be re-programmed to provide the necessary funds.
We don’t have the votes to cut off the funding.
The response “I won’t vote to cut off the funding because we don’t have the votes to cut off the funding†leaves U.S. troops fighting and dying in Iraq in a war that should never have been started. We are calling on our Members of Congress and Senators to be leaders not followers (or sheep). We are calling on Congress to show both leadership and courage. Not being willing to step forward unless everyone steps forward is a death sentence for an average of 3 U.S. troops and countless Iraqis per day. For the Democrats: We were told before the election by many Democrats that they were very sympathetic to our call for ending the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home now, but that
“there is nothing I can do because the Democrats are not in power.â€
Well the election has turned the tide and the American people have registered their dissatisfaction with the war. Now that the Democrats are in power, we expect you to make good on the mandate from this past election and end the funding that will allow this unjust and unjustifiable war continue. If you abandon our troops and their families and vote funding to continue this war, it will no longer be George Bush’s war, it will be yours. You will have bought it – and then you will own it.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:27 am
I am speaking strictly on a tactical level about the city “redoubts”.
Al Sadr is currently content to watch the US military hunt down Sunni insurgents, his once and future enemy. If we do turn our guns on the Shiites, then in turn, they will likely stop their strife on each other(Sunni) and refocus on us.
This point would be the historic pattern in the region, internecine fighting until agreement by the factions to cooperate in ridding their lands of occupying forces. We are just about out of time on that count. Due to our game playing up north in seizing the Iranian embassy, we can also expect the Kurds to begin to deal with the people who will remain their neighbors forever. We cannot be trusted.
Since driving(using trucks) our troops out of Iraq is going to be very difficult, we must helo them out, a daunting prospect. Note that the insurgency has very effectively spread us out by committing acts that must be challenged in order to claim to be in control. This tactic is to ultimately lead to a mass attack, in which it is intended that US continuity and control is broken. Given the state of morale in Iraq, and here at home, the time is near. The Iraqis’ we have trained? The deep infiltration is waiting for us to leave, then that army just blows up. Saddam bless his twisted heart, had planned the entire affair since his betrayal in 91.
As Sun Tzu has written, a battles are first won in the mind.
An in depth study of the Parthians will yield clues in this order of battle plan. It is coming, and we can’t get out in time, cut funding or not. Cut funding and stay
(or leave), the troops is a recipe for annihilation, stay with money and support is a recipe for bloodletting.
COON TRAP!! I maintain Arabs and Persians are counterpunchers, and we’re about to get walloped now we have stuck our neck out so far.
I know you have family there. If possible, tell your bro to quit, better to be alive in a cell, than manning some outpost in Bagdad. If he won’t, it is his beer, and all we can do is what we have been doing.
Or a general strike, not holding my breath. Americans have no solidarity, so that’s out(which is how elites rule us). Mainly because Americans in general are a bunch of no account losers, that would choose comfort over a difficult decision any day. The comfort zone is gone, so now the Ostrich strategy is in place.
So we watch now.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:50 am
The dems already own it, and have purchased it from bush with a smile on their face.
ARTICLE 2, SECTION 4. Perhaps? I doubt it.
Pelosi is your champeen, she will bring articles of impeachment against bush. Never.
War for israel has to be considered our highest reason for sacrificing our kids. Nothing else matters. The war was conceived from the duty we have, to pay for and preserve israel at our own expense. Anyway this is to be justified, is what will be done, eretz israel, kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven, hallowed be thy name, it maketh me to lie down in pastures full of land mines… and yea we walk through the valley of the shadow of dearth(Congress), we shall spare no expense, for the congress is only able to do the bidding of the lobbies that compel it, and blessed be the lobbyists, that foment our policies, so that oil and weapons manufactures can reap profits they can bestow on those that knew the order of abomination so well, and clearly, so long ago…may their material riches bring them all the joy and prosperity deserved of so hallowed a calling…..the elimination of the animals, so to the benefit of the chosen….chosen for what we do not know, and it is not for us to know…we serve in ignorance, as is our lot in life, congruent to our station…..
January 24th, 2007 at 9:15 am
With regard to the Mahdi Army, the word on the street (via the reporting on IraqSlogger) is that they have been instructed not to fire at Americans under any circumstances, not even in self defense. Some will no doubt disregard the order, because the Mahdi Army includes quite a few undisciplined freelancers. But the intent of Moqtada al Sadr is for his people to lay low for now and let the US Army fight the Sunni insurgency. I noted that the tactic of establishing local outposts and locking down neighborhoods is starting with the predominantly Sunni western Baghdad suburbs.
Sadr’s Shiites have not given up their goal of freeing Iraq from the occupation. A condition of rejoining the Maliki government was commitment to a timetable for US withdrawal. If events do lead to a confrontation with the Mahdi Army, it’s going to be bloodier than April 2004. There are about 40,000 of them now, with better weapons and training. They are getting help from Hezbollah, a long-time ally of Maliki’s Dawa Party.
January 24th, 2007 at 9:16 am
GENERAL STRIKE IS THE ONLY WAY TO CONTROL THIS ANIMAL!
January 25th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Gunther,
Thanks for the response.
Your suggested solution is as good as it gets, DIY, people arise from slumber, come out from under, the weight of hate and fear, of Arab and Queer, beam plucked from their eyes now see clear, as a crystal ball, the struggle didn’t end in a box last fall, from the workplace to the street, where there are so many friends we’ve had no time to meet, I’m just saying forget all the have to’s and go fly a kite, to end the war now, Workers Unite!
Gunther,
Another point, the federal fiscal year 2007 started Oct. 1 2006. 70 billion was allocated to the Iraq/Afghanistan budget. The D0D has an additional 500 billion in annual budget. LITERALLY billions of these dollars are funneled directly into the hands of greedy, war profiting, American Corporations. The biggest of these are companies like Kellogg, Brown and Root, formerly of Halliburton the same comapny Dick Cheney was CEO of until he was elected Vice President in 2000.
The Congress has funding in the pipeline to REPROGRAM for an immediate withdrawal. These contractors are owed nothing by the American people but derision. Their contracts should be cancelled and funds confiscated to use for evacuation from Iraq. DAMN PARASITES!
!!!FUND A 3 MONTH HELO EVAC FROM IRAQ!!!
!!!STRIKE TO FUND A 3 MONTH HELO EVAC FROM IRAQ!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Don’t forget to bring the drums.
Stock up, and offer those in ems and service(garbage?) twice their pay. Then party for freedom, until the parasites melt off. If they keep us divided “they” near always have new recruits, they used to be called scabs.
No solidarity, no go.
Too bad about the contract setups, we won’t get fooled again, shame on me, I won’t get fooled again, or something like that, ….and people think bush is the idiot.
If we drew down now, it could be orderly,… we’ll know in 3 weeks if the surge can be sold as effective in solving our basic problem, which is HOW TO GET OUT OF IRAQ! Invade Iran? Digging deeper.
You tell me.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:01 am