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"Progress" in Iraq
If you've been following the media conversation, you may have figured out why there's not more Good News coming out of Iraq--there isn't any!
Good school stories? Hey, did you hear about the teacher who was beheaded in his classroom while his students watched in horror? And we're all still waiting to hear about one full day of water, gas and electricity in Baghdad.
While our government quibbles over what a Civil War might look like, there's a pretty good example for the world to observe--Iraq. May I suggest a good site to go for unvarnished war news: Today in Iraq.
As I write (on Monday afternoon), tensions are running higher than ever, thanks to a bloodbath at or outside a mosque. What's the difference? Check this out:
Iraqi police and residents said a U.S. raid on a Shiite mosque in the Shaab district of east Baghdad sparked fierce clashes with militiamen of the Mehdi Army loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. A medical source at Yarmouk hospital said he saw 18 bodies of Iraqis killed in the operation.
Police sources said 20 Mehdi Army fighters were killed in the fighting, close to Sadr's stronghold in the Sadr City slum, and five vehicles belonging to the militia were burned.
A senior aide to Sadr, in comments capable of inflaming passions among the radical cleric's supporters, accused US troops of shooting dead more than 20 unarmed worshippers at the Mustapha mosque after tying them up. The mosque's faithful follow Sadr but the aide denied they were Mehdi Army gunmen."
The American forces went into Mustapha mosque at prayers and killed more than 20 worshippers," Hazin al-Araji said. "They tied them up and shot them."
Naturally, we say this didn't happen. But the thing is, the only people who listen to what we say are the wingnut pundits back home who dare not criticize our leaders. The Iraqis believe the worst. And act on it.
I've said it before. I'll say it again now. Bush's line that withdrawal from Iraq will be a decision for the next president is whistling in the dark. This is Vietnam all over again. We may keep our troops on the sidelines--except for the occasional massacre, I guess--but in the end, these people will stop butchering each other just long enough to turn their guns on us. And then, as we did in '75, we'll have choppers rescuing our people from the Green Zone and platoons fighting their way to the airport.
The light at the end of the tunnel? The tail light on the last plane out. I wish it were otherwise--but then, I wish we'd never started this stupid war.
Good school stories? Hey, did you hear about the teacher who was beheaded in his classroom while his students watched in horror? And we're all still waiting to hear about one full day of water, gas and electricity in Baghdad.
While our government quibbles over what a Civil War might look like, there's a pretty good example for the world to observe--Iraq. May I suggest a good site to go for unvarnished war news: Today in Iraq.
As I write (on Monday afternoon), tensions are running higher than ever, thanks to a bloodbath at or outside a mosque. What's the difference? Check this out:
Iraqi police and residents said a U.S. raid on a Shiite mosque in the Shaab district of east Baghdad sparked fierce clashes with militiamen of the Mehdi Army loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. A medical source at Yarmouk hospital said he saw 18 bodies of Iraqis killed in the operation.
Police sources said 20 Mehdi Army fighters were killed in the fighting, close to Sadr's stronghold in the Sadr City slum, and five vehicles belonging to the militia were burned.
A senior aide to Sadr, in comments capable of inflaming passions among the radical cleric's supporters, accused US troops of shooting dead more than 20 unarmed worshippers at the Mustapha mosque after tying them up. The mosque's faithful follow Sadr but the aide denied they were Mehdi Army gunmen."
The American forces went into Mustapha mosque at prayers and killed more than 20 worshippers," Hazin al-Araji said. "They tied them up and shot them."
Naturally, we say this didn't happen. But the thing is, the only people who listen to what we say are the wingnut pundits back home who dare not criticize our leaders. The Iraqis believe the worst. And act on it.
I've said it before. I'll say it again now. Bush's line that withdrawal from Iraq will be a decision for the next president is whistling in the dark. This is Vietnam all over again. We may keep our troops on the sidelines--except for the occasional massacre, I guess--but in the end, these people will stop butchering each other just long enough to turn their guns on us. And then, as we did in '75, we'll have choppers rescuing our people from the Green Zone and platoons fighting their way to the airport.
The light at the end of the tunnel? The tail light on the last plane out. I wish it were otherwise--but then, I wish we'd never started this stupid war.
