US fights back against 'rule by clerics'

[VegasWolf]

KARACHI - Given the widespread Sunni boycott of Iraq's January 30 elections for a National Assembly, with voting concentrated among the Kurdish north and Shi'ite south, the polls served more as a referendum to prove Shi'ite and Kurd strength.
<snip>
Now it emerges that there is a strong movement in southern Iraq for the establishment of autonomous Shi'ite provinces as a precursor to introducing vilayet-e-faqih (rule by the clergy) in the whole country.
<snip>
To head off this threat of a Shi'ite clergy-driven religious movement, the US has, according to Asia Times Online investigations, resolved to arm small militias backed by US troops and entrenched in the population to "nip the evil in the bud".

Asia Times Online has learned that in a highly clandestine operation, the US has procured Pakistan-manufactured weapons, including rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition, rockets and other light weaponry. Consignments have been loaded in bulk onto US military cargo aircraft at Chaklala airbase in the past few weeks. The aircraft arrived from and departed for Iraq.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB15Ak02.html



Once again a simple history lesson would have taught bush and
the Neo Conservatives that occupation does not work. But fearless
leader does not believe in history.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Bush don't read history...so he is doomed to repeat...pathetic...sad...

wasteful, depressing, counter productive......

[atreides1]

7. I Disagree A Little

Bush is not doomed to repeat anything, it's the American people who will be doomed by Bush and the neocons.

[opihimoimoi]

23. Yes, I agree with you....its WE who will suffer misery under this baffoon

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. When the majority votes for a theocracy....

Wouldn't that still be through a democratic process? Or are we going to once again change our reason-of-the-week for this war? First it was WMD, then it was the moral high-ground of "he was a brutal dictator", then it was freedom to vote democratically....

what's next, arm the new counter-revolutionaries fighting the shi'ite?!?!?! IDIOTS!!!!!

[Halliburton]

3. Theocracy?

I thought Allawi was victorious! That's at least what the corporate media told me!

[bemildred]

4. This "movement" has been present for over a year now.

The smoothbrains in the occupation are not happy with the result of their
own "election", and are now out to re-engineer a descent into chaos.

[gratuitous]

5. Ya know, if people weren't dying by the tens of thousands

And we weren't flushing billions of dollars down the toilet, this whole fiasco would be almost funny. Instead, it's tragic almost beyond the telling. Which means our fearless media talking chuckleheads will want to tell us about practically anything else.

[yebrent]

6. Great. Like we aren't doing enough in Iraq to cause a civil war.

[xxqqqzme]

20. evidently not.

The US is going to start the civil war that everyone has been warning us about.

[Redstone]

8. Hey, how about the "rule by clerics" we have right here

in the good old USA? Aren't the fundies right in bushboy's knickers, proud of it, and proclaiming it all over the place?

Redstone

[hatrack]

9. Little late, NeoCon boneheads!

The cat is well and truly out of the bag on this one, and there's not a damned thing you can do.

[expatriot]

10. but I thought our "values and our interests" were in line with eachother?

Looks like the same old same old.

[VegasWolf]

11. bush smirks, "Oops I did it again!" to the tune of Brittney. n/t

[Ian David]

12. Do as we say, not as we do

[Massachusetts]

13. LOL little georgie boy! Hahahahahahahah

[LynnTheDem]

14. Iraq marching to FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

rotflmao!!!

[LinuxInsurgent]

15. so...

now we are gonna fight Shiite theocrats and their followers? With who?
We can't make a dent on the Sunni insurgency and we can't train Iraqi Army security officers. Are we willing to virtually provoke civil war by arming certain elements against the Sunni insurgents AND the Shiite theocrat factions?

That's a sure policy for failure...as much as i hate it, the best hope for a unified, national Iraq, on the path to development, seems to be with acquiescing to Shiite control, whatever form of government it makes. The Iraqis will either like theocracy or reform it in the coming years...but that need not be our concern.

What should be our concern is leaving an Iraq that is relatively stable, theocracy or democracy, so that the Iraqi people can successfully reconstruct their destroyed country...and be able to mount successful, interstruggles for more freedom and democracy.

If we get involved in the factional politics of the country, especially by arming one faction over the other, that's a sure policy for entrenched, never-ending warfare.

This is not our war...let the Iraqi people sort out what society they will construct. Get our troops out now.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

22. Iraq that is relatively stable, theocracy or democracy

uh..... Imagine trying to get Sistani to sell out his country's riches for pennies on the dollar... so that he may live like a Saudi Royal.... the problem with theocracy is that they don't corrupt well. Come out all wrinkled and stuff.... hee hee.... and THAT is why they despise theocracy.... they don't need no steenking people in there that they cannot buy off to the detriment of "their own people".

[DavidDvorkin]

16. Wow! Wait till this hits the mainstream US press!

Er, well . . . Never mind.

[geniph]

17. I wish they'd fight back against it here

Personally, I'm getting rather sick of the Talibush.

[whosinpower]

18. dupe.

[Hell in a Handbasket]

19. how ironic.

have they met falwell or robertson?

[Anakin Skywalker]

21. Umm...Ironic, considering

how The Bush Base wants a theocrazy right here at Das Vaterland. Maybe the neo-cons are just jealous that the iraqis get to have theirs first. Heh heh. :)