Comments on Informed Comment: Sunni Baghdad Dark on Satellite; Kagan Proved Wro...

Isn't it also true that the ethnic/sectarian clean...

2008-09-21T21:48:00.000-04:00

Isn't it also true that the ethnic/sectarian cleansing that took place in Baghdad was first initiated in operation "forward together"? That joint US/ISF operation reached its peak in the summer of 2006, at exactly the same time the sectarian "civil war" reached its peak in the number of victims showing up in the morgues every morning. It becomes increasingly evident that the spontanious civil war that burned through Baghdad in 2006 was in fact a joint US/ISF military operation to ethnically cleans Baghdad of the Sunni population that supported the insurgency. It's still a civil war, but not the one it was reported to be, as operation forward together was reputed in September to have been a failure.

saddam Hussein DID have his faults and lots of the...

2008-09-20T15:16:00.000-04:00

saddam Hussein DID have his faults and lots of them but he was not sectarian . 51 members of Parliament were Shias ( COmical ALI was shia remember him ??) he went after the Shias who wanted to harm him mainly the Dawa party (who lived in Iran and were financed in iran ) (AL maliki and AL Jaafari were part of it . they tried to kill him so many times at University campuses , in Dujail etc...

Saddam Almost eradicated Illettracy and the UNesco was aware of it and congratulated him. he eradicated many diseases and Now Cholera is killing Hundreds in iraq . Education was excellent and free and generous scholarships were offered to thousands their women had access to universities and all the jobs they wanted (whereas saudi only allowed women to study in the 80s )
women were given rights a long time ago in 1959 when other women are treated like property in saudi . Now women HAVE to wear the Burqa and they have no choice . even christian women .

Although I realize the point was made tongue-in-ch...

2008-09-20T13:56:00.000-04:00

Although I realize the point was made tongue-in-cheek, I don't think it's that the neo-Khans have trouble with reality.

It's that they adamantly oppose the notion that any reality they don't approve of matters.

They are the Leninist revolutionaries who will determine what is and is not true, what is and is not objectively pro-Enemy, what is and is not helpful to the cause.

If it helps the neo-Khans' cause, it is "true". If it hinders the neo-Khans' cause, then it is by definition "not-true".

ref : “technically would it not be appropriate to ...

2008-09-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

ref : “technically would it not be appropriate to refer to this as sectarian cleansing, as opposed to ethnic cleansing?”

Yes {grin} An excellent question ~ And your exploration of this English expression will lead the curious reader or scholar to discover many fascinating things...

Wiki => "ethnic cleansing"

...the genesis of the phrase, itself is surprisingly modern: “The term "ethnic cleansing" entered the English lexicon as a ‘loan translation’ [a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word translation] of the Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian/Montenegrin phrase etničko čišćenje; During the 1990s it was used extensively by the media in the former Yugoslavia in relation to the Yugoslav wars, and appears to have been popularised by the international media some time around 1992.”

imho, fwiw : "ethnic cleansing" is a euphemism (for an ancient horror) and a western media expression, thus ~ rather than a technical, or scholarly expression. it is often used, as it was here by our Professor without 'academic' rigor aforethought, yes ~ but with the intention, perhaps, to employ the media's own language narrative word-tools as counter-propaganda means to Informed Comment end.

Thanks for a very informative post. A question: te...

2008-09-20T11:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks for a very informative post. A question: technically would it not be appropriate to refer to this as sectarian cleansing, as opposed to ethnic cleansing?

He's back.Former Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmad Chalab...

2008-09-20T11:36:00.000-04:00

He's back.

Former Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmad Chalabi told Iranian state-owned media Friday the United States is seeking to establish secret military bases in Iraq.

In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, Chalabi, once a Washington favorite, said U.S. officials are trying to inject agreements for secret bases in Iraq as part of the long-term security contract slated to govern U.S.-Iraqi relations when the U.N. mandate there expires at the end of this year.

"Within the framework of the security pact, the United States does not wish to merely have open military bases (in Iraq), rather secret military bases (there)," he said.

__

Happy days.

I am sure that the wingnuts will soon have an elab...

2008-09-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

I am sure that the wingnuts will soon have an elaborate myth about Sunni fundamentalists not believing in using electricity generated by Shia or something like that.

Thanks Juan, for this needed reminder. The issue o...

2008-09-20T09:57:00.000-04:00

Thanks Juan, for this needed reminder. The issue of ethnic cleansing really needs to be pressed whenever someone raises the "surge" as indicative of Bush's wisdom.

This is a very enlightening post. I am saddened an...

2008-09-20T08:06:00.000-04:00

This is a very enlightening post. I am saddened and disturbed once again at the realization of how much propaganda MSM feed Americans and by the actions of the American government.

You reap what you sow.Before the illegal invasion ...

2008-09-20T05:12:00.000-04:00

You reap what you sow.

Before the illegal invasion of Iraq, on concocted pretexts, the country was far from ideal, but it wasn't a maelstroem of mayhem and despair.

There were some positives not even enjoyed by American citizens. Universal health care, a quite impressive ratio of physicians to inhabitants, working mass transportation, equal opportunity education, some of the Middle East's best university scholars, and people could safely walk the streets.

Women, girls, could safely walk about, without fear of being abducted or raped.
Women could seek employment freely, and achieved executive positions -- there were women in high government posts.

There was a downside. Saddam subjected the Shi'ite population to injustices, and played favorites among the Sunni -- to some, the system could be compared to apartheid. You needed certain connections in order to truly make way - which is why there was a purge of Baathists after the occupation began. Motivated by generated animosity towards this master class.

What will the US reap?
The USA has been discriminately and indiscrimantely murdering Iraqis for years. There is a considerable surge of animosity towards Washington and its playfellows in the Coalition. But it is the US that will get the brunt of the pent up ill-feeling.
As the US is forced to extract itself from Iraq, it is most unlikely that the "prize", all that oil and gas, will become easily available to Cheney and his friends -- the Iraqis will seek to balance the scales by withdrawing that palliative from America, and instead letting it go to other nations, particularly those that did not assault Iraq and murder Iraqis for oil. It will become a point of honor.

I live in a nation that was occupied by the Germans during WWII. It took decades before relations "normalized" between us and the Germans, due to the pent up animosity towards all things German, and due to a desire to right a wrong by withholding any favors to the former occupant.

You will see the same in Iraq's and the ME's attitude to the USA.

You reap what you sow. History will remember Bush the Delusional for a long, long time - the suffering and pain he has caused scores deep wounds.