A Guerilla War in Iraq

Discussion in 'Politics' started by rlb21079, Sep 17, 2003.

  1. "Terrorism Alert: 'Waste Deep in the Big Muddy' of Iraq". Under the subtitle, "A Guerilla War in Iraq", Professor Marvin Zonis writes:

    "Before the U.S. war against Saddam Hussein, I predicted that the outcome would, eventually, resemble the fate that befell the Israelis after their invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. The Israelis had liberated Lebanon from its near-total control by the PLO, which had fled to Lebanon after losing its war against King Hussein in Jordan in 1970. After a rapid and total Israeli military victory in the summer of 1982, Yasser Arafat and his PLO fighters were put on freighters in Beirut and exiled to Tunisia. But in 1983, hundreds of U.S. and French Marines were killed in separate terrorist bombings in Beirut and the U.S. pulled out.

    "By 1986, the Israelis had fled from Lebanon, unwilling to sustain the low level of casualties that were constantly inflicted on their armed forces. Before the U.S. war against Saddam Hussein, I suggested that the Iraqis would turn against the U.S., as the Lebanese had turned against the Israelis, seeing them as occupiers rather than liberators and that a turn against the U.S. would come to be one way the Iraqis could generate a national identity and create a unified Iraq. The turn against the U.S. has already occurred. (Like all other processes in our age, the transformation of the U.S. from liberators to occupiers occurred more quickly than was conceivable two decades ago for the Israelis in Lebanon.)

    "The most dangerous part of this story, however, is not in Baghdad, but in Washington. The Bush administration appears to be in a state of denial about the seriousness of the U.S. position in Iraq. What has become increasingly obvious is that the deaths of American soldiers and the looting in Baghdad and Basra are the product of organized opposition to the U.S. occupation. The U.S. is now in a guerilla war - a low-intensity conflict - in Iraq. The killings of Americans are not the product of disgruntled, lone, Saddam loyalists. They are the product of determined opposition to the U.S.."
     
  2. ElCubano

    ElCubano

    Its getting ugly as many predicted..... I wonder what the Warmongers have to say about this situation, or are they in denial as Washington....Not only is there unrest in Iraq, but the Oil they thought would be barreling thru was so overestimated its not even funny...Yes Warmongers (DOTSLAHFUTURE) pick up the latest issue of TIME and read for yourself..............
     
  3. tampa

    tampa

    We should have listened to the French - they tried to tell us. We ignored them, and changed the name of fried potatoes to spite 'em...
     
  4. msfe

    msfe

    We are facing death in Iraq for no reason

    A serving US soldier calls for the end of an occupation based on lies



    Tim Predmore
    Friday September 19, 2003

    For the past six months, I have been participating in what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom.

    After the horrific events of September 11 2001, and throughout the battle in Afghanistan, the groundwork was being laid for the invasion of Iraq. "Shock and awe" were the words used to describe the display of power that the world was going to view upon the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was to be an up-close, dramatic display of military strength and advanced technology from within the arsenals of the American and British military.

    But as a soldier preparing to take part in the invasion of Iraq, the words "shock and awe" rang deep within my psyche. Even as we prepared to depart, it seemed that these two great superpowers were about to break the very rules that they demanded others obey. Without the consent of the United Nations, and ignoring the pleas of their own citizens, the US and Britain invaded Iraq. "Shock and awe"? Yes, the words correctly described the emotional impact I felt as we embarked on an act not of justice, but of hypocrisy.

    From the moment the first shot was fired in this so-called war of liberation and freedom, hypocrisy reigned. After the broadcasting of recorded images of captured and dead US soldiers on Arab television, American and British leaders vowed revenge while verbally assaulting the networks for displaying such vivid images. Yet within hours of the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons, the US government released horrific photographs of the two dead brothers for the entire world to view. Again, a "do as we say and not as we do" scenario.

    As soldiers serving in Iraq, we have been told that our purpose is to help the people of Iraq by providing them with the necessary assistance militarily, as well as in humanitarian efforts. Then tell me where the humanity is in the recent account in Stars and Stripes (the newspaper of the US military) of two young children brought to a US military camp by their mother in search of medical care.

    The two children had, unknowingly, been playing with explosive ordnance they had found, and as a result they were severely burned. The account tells how, after an hour-long wait, they - two children - were denied care by two US military doctors. A soldier described the incident as one of many "atrocities" on the part of the US military he had witnessed.

    Thankfully, I have not personally been a witness to atrocities - unless, of course, you consider, as I do, that this war in Iraq is the ultimate atrocity.

    So what is our purpose here? Was this invasion because of weapons of mass destruction, as we have so often heard? If so, where are they? Did we invade to dispose of a leader and his regime because they were closely associated with Osama bin Laden? If so, where is the proof?

    Or is it that our incursion is about our own economic advantage? Iraq's oil can be refined at the lowest cost of any in the world. This looks like a modern-day crusade not to free an oppressed people or to rid the world of a demonic dictator relentless in his pursuit of conquest and domination, but a crusade to control another nation's natural resource. Oil - at least to me - seems to be the reason for our presence.

    There is only one truth, and it is that Americans are dying. There are an estimated 10 to 14 attacks every day on our servicemen and women in Iraq. As the body count continues to grow, it would appear that there is no immediate end in sight.

    I once believed that I was serving for a cause - "to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States". Now I no longer believe that; I have lost my conviction, as well as my determination. I can no longer justify my service on the basis of what I believe to be half-truths and bold lies.

    With age comes wisdom, and at 36 years old I am no longer so blindly led as to believe without question. From my arrival last November at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, talk of deployment was heard, and as that talk turned to actual preparation, my heart sank and my doubts grew. My doubts have never faded; instead, it has been my resolve and my commitment that have.

    My time here is almost done, as well as that of many others with whom I have served. We have all faced death in Iraq without reason and without justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed before Americans awake and demand the return of the men and women whose job it is to protect them, rather than their leader's interest?

    · Tim Predmore is a US soldier on active duty with the 101st Airborne Division, based near Mosul in northern Iraq. A version of this article appeared in the Peoria Journal Star, Illinois
     


  5. Nice lying propaganda piece you posted....first of all , all communications in and out of iraq are closely monitored..A girl who works for me has a husband over there....once a week they can talk for about a minute and he cannot ever divulge where he is....secondly, they would arrest him on the spot if he actually is serving in iraq right now and published this article that among other things; gives his location, his age, ect....BTW ....he's only a Soldier??? no rank, no title...just a 36 YEAR OLD PRIVATE????? I Don't think so....what a bunch of lies you just posted...how do you live with yourself???
     
  6. tampa

    tampa

    I'm with you, TM - a bunch of fibs, fibs, and more fibs.

    Our boys are thrilled to be over there - keeping us safe at home from the, ahhh, from the...well from someone, I'm sure.

    They like getting shot at and bleeding and stuff...and all to save us from, well something, I'm sure.

    They are thrilled to be wasting their time and their lives for President George, and Secretary Rummy, and all the other swell guys who sent them there to protect us from, well I'm not really too clear on that, but so what. God bless America...that's what I say. And anybody who doesn't like it can move to France, or something...and eat French Fries with the bastards who tried to tell us that this is what would happen...
     

  7. Im pointing out the fact that this soldier does not exists....secondly, I do feel safer and I do have confidence in our troops and I also don't know why you think there was no danger there...In fact, I'd like to clean out the rest of the middle east while we are there. The French are cowards and as george patton once said " Id rather have a German division front of me then a French Battalion behind me".......BUT all that aside: Yes or no: do you think this story that was just printed is true? Do you believe that this soldier wrote this and said this and is still there?
     
  8. tampa

    tampa

    Come. come TM. What's all this "we" stuff? "We" should do this - and "we" should do that. All the while you sit safely at home calling the French "cowards". What a big brave guy you are - with someone else's blood and life.
     
  9. maxpi

    maxpi

    Some statistics regarding the soldiers and safety in Iraq: A male between the age of 18 and 35 in Washington DC has a higher chance of being killed by a gunshot than an American of the same age does in Iraq!!!
     

  10. Did you change your bladder bag this morning??? so by your token, only Army people can have an opinion? Hey , Im cool with that because they deal with these scum all the time and protect mine and your rights as you sit there in your comfy home lambasting the country they are fighting for .......but lets not digress to far: again. Yes or No : Do you believe the story that MSFE posted? Do you believe that the soldier is 36 ( seems a little old for a private) and allowed to write from Iraq an anti war statement????

    I think you are smart enough to know that the story is false and total propaganda.....and if you were a true american, you would lambasted him as well for printing complete and utter lies at the expense of our boys shedding their blood.
     
    #10     Sep 19, 2003