Deadly violence rages in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's capture

[Tinoire]

Wednesday December 17, 1:03 AM
Deadly violence rages in Iraq after Saddam Hussein's capture

US forces shot dead 11 attackers who ambushed them in Samarra, northwest of Baghdad, in an upsurge of violence in restive Iraqi towns and as debate raged over the fate of captured former president Saddam Hussein.

US troops in Samarra "repelled a complex ambush", a US military statement said Tuesday, in one of the fiercest of a series of rebellious incidents north of the capital, in which US forces killed at least five other Iraqis.

In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, reporters saw three US soldiers, one with head wounds, evacuated by helicopter after their Humvee vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

The army later sent hundreds of troops and dozens of tanks through the centre of Tikrit to calm locals whom 122 Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steven Russell described as "uppity".

Police had earlier fired in the air to disperse a pro-Saddam protest by 250 girl students in the tense city, a correspondent said.

<snip>

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/031216/1/3gpa1.html

[aquart]

1. "Uppity"?

Oh, that is so the wrong word to use.

Guess they aren't properly humble before the might and majesty of America. Maybe if they could manage to shuffle, do a nice buck and wing, bring a mint julep on a tray...

All would be well.

[wabeewoman]

2. Was thinking the same thing

What a racist thing to say! Of course, those in charge get to define who is 'uppity'.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. Gosh - me too... I'll bet it's a word the commander has used...

...frequently in the past, but about people under his command who are a different... um, race?

[mmm]

11. Ah yes, but of course you are right

[mmm]

10. All the incidents in this article indicate the bad things to come

This is not a prison population they are dealing with...
Iraq belongs to these girls.

[Barrett808]

3. At least they didn't fire into the crowd of protesting girls

That will have to wait for next week.

[demdave]

5. The 12 year old girls must really miss The Saddam boys.

After all the attention Uday used to lavish on them. <sarcasm> I will not miss any of these vermin.

[mmm]

8. That was then; this is now

there is absolutely no good reason for US troops
to be silencing peaceful demonstration with brute force and ignorance.
I wonder if the US soldiers tried talking 'with' these
girls in a kind and sensible manner before breaking out the artillery.

[Tinoire]

12. Ever cross your mind that that was US propaganda?

Kind of like the old babies thrown from the incubators stories.

[NickB79]

13. Compared to how it is now, maybe the do

Before we came in, they had to worry about Uday and Qusay abducting and raping them, right? Well, now when they walk down the streets, they have to worry about EVERY male raping them! There is no law anymore, no security, no police. The murder, rape and assault rates throughout Iraq have skyrocketted. I won't miss any of the Saddam vermin either, but compared to what the women now have to deal with, I'm sure many of them long for the old days when they actually had MORE security under Saddam than the US!

[mmm]

7. First the US will bulldoze their homes and fence them in

[hippiechick]

4. They sent in troops to 'calm' the locals ??

:wtf:


:hippie:

[nolabels]

6. Challenging 'Pre-emption'

Senators from West Virgina have such a lonely job

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031229&s=byrd

Posted December 15, 2003

Challenging 'Pre-emption'
by Senator Robert C. Byrd

Remarks on the 138th Anniversary Celebration of The Nation Magazine, December 14, 2003, in New York City


he older I get, the more I become convinced that wisdom is enhanced by age, and I think the same can be said of The Nation magazine. It is more than a good read. It has become, over the years, an essential publication and a voice for the loyal opposition that is needed today as perhaps never before.

Tonight, I have been asked to speak about Iraq.

Early this morning came news of the capture of Saddam Hussein. That is good news. Despite his fall from power many months ago, the specter of a possible return to power had cast a constant shadow over Iraq and the Iraqi people. I applaud the tenacious work of the military and intelligence communities for their success today.

But that success does not diminish the challenges that remain in Iraq, and it certainly does not tamp the passions inflamed against the United States throughout the Muslim world by our actions in Iraq. The capture of Saddam Hussein will not be the keystone for peace in that volatile region. This day's news does not lessen the danger that the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strike poses to international peace and stability.

In order to bring lasting stability to Iraq, that nation needs the help of the entire world, not just America and her fighting needs.

As each day passes and as more American soldiers are killed and wounded in Iraq, I become ever more convinced that the war in Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place for the wrong reasons. Contrary to the President's rosy predictions--and the predictions of others in the Bush Administration--the United States has not been universally greeted as a liberator in Iraq. The peace--if one can use the term "peace" to describe the chronic violence and instability that define Iraq today--the peace is far from being won. Iraqi citizens may be glad that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power, but they appear to be growing increasingly resentful that the United States continues to rule their country at the point of a gun
(snip)

Thanks for birthday present Robert