Comments on: Deadly Clashes Break Out In Basra, Baghdad

Iraqi Leaders Face Grave Shiite Crisis As U.S. And Iraqi Troops Battle Militia Loyal To Al-Sadr

[feelfree1]

%u201CWhy we stand for immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq%u201D

%u201CTHE U.S. occupation of Iraq has not liberated the Iraqi people, but has made life worse for most Iraqis.%u201D

%u201CTens of thousands of U.S. service people have been killed or maimed, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the ongoing occupation, and the violence unleashed by them.%u201D

%u201CIraq''s infrastructure has been destroyed, and U.S. plans for reconstruction abandoned. There is less electricity, less clean drinking water, and more unemployment today than before the U.S. invasion.%u201D

%u201CAll of the justifications initially provided by the U.S. for waging war on Iraq have been exposed as lies; the real reasons for the invasion %u2014 to control Iraq''s oil reserves and to increase U.S. strategic influence in the region %u2014 now stand revealed.%u201D

%u201CThe Bush administration has insisted again and again that stability, democracy, and prosperity are around the next bend in the road%u2026But the U.S. has deliberately stoked sectarian divisions in its ongoing attempt to install a U.S.-friendly regime, thus driving Iraq towards civil war.%u201D

%u201CWe call on the U.S. to get out of Iraq %u2014 not in six months, not in a year, but now.%u201D

www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow

[apprxam]

Gordon Brown isn''t going to let Britain get caught up like Blair did. But I''m real concerned about this cease-fire agreement. The splinter factions have already been causing hell. Then Al Qaeda is gonna team up with the Sunnis. Anything to be against the U.S.

[arlt1627]

The tenuous cease-fire is not going to hold much longer and the U.S. is going to feel pressured to kill Al Sadar and then all hell is going to break out. We might try and flush out the malitia, but I fear they''''ll hold back and keep coming intermittingly and finaly force the U.S. to choose the Sunni.

This is going to get real F*CKED UP soon. So people get ready.

Posted by apprxam
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I have to agree with you. The British hate being involved in Iraq and are mostly there to support the US. The cease fire was the greatest thing ever for them. However, with new violence in the Basra region, we''ll see problems with Shiites and the Sunnis and a bunch of pressure from Great Britain too.....we''ll have to see how this turns out and how it impacts the "surge"!

[apprxam]

Here would be good news in Iraq---- Good Bye

[feelfree1]

Leave it to a regime bobble-head to view British abandonment of Basra, and the U.S. inability to patrol there, as "good news".

[apprxam]

The tenuous cease-fire is not going to hold much longer and the U.S. is going to feel pressured to kill Al Sadar and then all hell is going to break out. We might try and flush out the malitia, but I fear they''ll hold back and keep coming intermittingly and finaly force the U.S. to choose the Sunni.

This is going to get real F*CKED UP soon. So people get ready.

[the74blaster]

I know you lefties can''''t ever acknowledge good news from Iraq,

Posted by fredgrad2000,

It would be easier if you could believe the Bush adminstration says. Can you provide a single truthful statement that the Bush administration has made regarding Iraq?

Considering the facts that not a SINGLE justification for invading Iraq has withstood the test of time and proven true, do you blame us?

Do you care to comment on all those WMDs they found in Iraq?

How many trillions of dollars have been spent without any tangible return on ivestment in Iraq?

Where is the evidence that supports the claim that Saddam Hussein was allied with Al Qaeda?

How about the mission accomplished banner?

The fact is I firmly believe in the saying fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

I am proud to say that I am doing my patriotic duty and voting for change this November, even if it means voting for Hillary.

[feelfree1]

"fredgrad2000" wrote:

"...there are NO US or coalition troops involved in this operation."

From the very first paragraph of the article:

"Shiite militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr...fought U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad and unleashed rockets on the Green Zone."

At least this poster is consistent...consistently wrong, that is.

[feelfree1]

nrgmizer,

Re: "The only good thing about war is the end of it."

Agreed.

[fredgrad2000]

Now, is inter-Shiite fighting in Basra good news? No, of course not, but as no one here will obviously do since all our usual Daily Kos-ers are here too busy bashing Bush and the now 5-year decision to invade Iraq (which sorry, can''t be reversed unless Soros funds a time machine), let''s note some positives out of this. First, the Iraqi Army is handling this; there are NO US or coalition troops involved in this operation. Second, the operation is to end the stranglehold and influence of illegal militias (many funded by Iran of course) which even our erstwhile left-wingers have been calling for from Maliki''s gov''t; Third, this is Shiites cleaning up their own house - not sectarian strife. Lastly, Sadr''s response to all this? To call for a day of "civil disobedience" - not "martyrdom" or "jihad" or "ousting the occupiers", but "civil disobedience"; does anyone believe that one of the primary militia leaders in Iraq calling for non-violent protest rather than jihad is a BAD sign? I know you lefties can''t ever acknowledge good news from Iraq, and this isn''t Christmas news, but its evidence of action of a key point that all YOUR kind have been pressing for; action against militias, and being undertaken on the initiative of the Iraqis, by the Iraqis, and by members of the same sect on their own renegade sect members. Not such a bad thing.