JESUS! We Have Lost Baghdad And It Was Barely Reported! WTF???

[DistressedAmerican]

I just saw this on another thread but, wanted to post the original story. This is HUGE NEWS! I had not heard about it until I saw a thread by cocoa.

Thanks Cocoa!!!


Original thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4322796


Here's the story from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/international/middleeast/10iraq.html?oref=login

Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced

-SNIP-

Relatives visited Nasser Khathem Nasser
at Al Kindi Hospital after he was wounded
by a car bomb near an American patrol in Baghdad.

By JAMES GLANZ
Published: August 10, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9 - Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia.

The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life.

"This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal."

The group that ousted him insisted that it had the authority to assume control of Iraq's capital city and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri.

-MORE AT LINK ABOVE-

I know its not quite the fall of Saigon. But, when armed thugs can throw out the Mayor of the country's capital without fear, something had gone SERIOUSLY WRONG.

When it can happen and barely break the surface of the news, Something else has gone seriously wrong.

[PatriotGames]

1. Civil war is coming to Iraq. Don't doubt it at all.

[DistressedAmerican]

9. Not Coming! HERE!

There has been a state of civil war for a long time. It is just that we are fighting for the Shi'ites. If we weren't doing the fighting they most certainly would. Frankly, I'd like that better. This is not our jobs AT ALL!

[BrotherBuzz]

17. Try the past pluperfect tense of the verb 'come'....

I think they are already there. ;)

[TahitiNut]

28. "had came"?? (Sounds dirty.)

:dunce:

[BrotherBuzz]

40. LOL, do you moonlight as a cabbie?

This San Francisco business executive was a seafood lover who'd never had, and yearned to taste, Boston Scrod. He was in heaven when his firm sent him to Boston on business. He could hardly wait to get off the plane, and when he did he rushed to the first taxi he could find. He yanked open the back door, threw himself into the back seat, grabbed the cabbie by the shoulders and yelled "Quick! Where can I get Scrod?!" The cabbie happened to be a moonlighting Harvard undergrad with a minor in English Lit, and he slowly turned toward the man with an expression of bemused tolerance. "Buddy," he said. "I have to tell you. In this job I've heard that question a whole lot of ways. But never, ever in tha past pluperfect tense."

[Blue_Tires]

105. good one! n/t

[Gloria]

99. Wes Clark calls it a "bubbling cauldron" of civil war that we're

sitting on (comments on FAUX 8/22)

[HEyHEY]

2. Not to stray off the topic but uh.,...

"This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal."

Yeah buddy ... no one use force in the OLD IRaq

[DistressedAmerican]

3. Just Taking A Cue From Us...

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. There will be a draw down of troops

think Saigon... that is what this is starting to look like

[DesEtoiles]

5. Shock and Awe, Iraqi-style

[Spinzonner]

You can't lose what you never really had

It was all a delusion

[Zenlitened]

6. Is this the "good news we're not hearing about" as the repubi-bots...

... are so fond of saying?

:shrug:

[jobycom]

7. Bush loses interest in things rather quickly. Ask UBL. He's probably

forgotten we have troops in Iraq by now, wondering why someone opened a campground so close to his pig farm.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. bush has the attention span of a gnat!

My apologies to gnats! The only thing bush doesn't lose interest in, is money. He stays focused on that.

[jobycom]

26. Not completely.

His business career was one big failure after another. His only income came from his daddy's friends giving him large sums of cash and then sleeping in the White House. He may be the first president who rented out the Lincoln Bedroom before he became president.

I doubt he can concentrate on money much, either. But he's got people for that. They give him his beer, his gin and his coke, and he smiles and waves at the crowds.

[SammyWinstonJack]

34. Well I should have prefaced that with, he likes other peoples'

money! I thought that was clear. :evilgrin: I know his history of being a complete miserable failure at life.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

18. LOL!!!!!!!!!!

[Mr_Spock]

32. Lol - tell me about it

I say we have no more Boy Kings in the future.

[Swamp Rat]

8. Yep

What the fuck? Do we have to shout the news to everyone? in our neighborhood??

AMERICA THE SUPERPOWER LOST BAGHDAD!!!

[DistressedAmerican]

13. UN-FUCKING-REAL!!!

What are these assholes doing?

Maybe I need to school them on a little history!

[dxstone]

51. That's IT! Bagdad is now OFFICIALLY on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION!

And I'm sure Rumsfeld would tell you that there's nothing to be alarmed at here, because everything is going PRECISELY according to plan...
The saddest thing is, I'm quite sure blivet** STILL hasn't heard anything of this at all...
And why wake President Evil from his happy lil' pipe-dreams?



Let lying dogs sleep... that's always best.
d

[Swamp Rat]

62. Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!

LAUNCELOT: We have the Holy Hand Grenade.



ROBIN: The what?

ARTHUR: The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. 'Tis one of the sacred relics Brother Maynard always carries with him.

ALL: Yes. Of course.

ARTHUR: Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!



ARTHUR: How does it ... er ...

LAUNCELOT: I know not.

ARTHUR: Consult the Book of Armaments.

BROTHER MAYNARD: Armaments Chapter Two Verses Nine to Twenty One.



ANOTHER MONK: "O Lord bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the Lord did grin and people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orang-utans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and...

BROTHER MAYNARD: Skip a bit brother ...

ANOTHER MONK: ... Er ... oh, yes ... and the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.

ARTHUR: Right. One, two...



ARTHUR: three ... five ...

GALAHAD: Three, sir!

ARTHUR: Three.

ALL KNIGHTS: Praise be to the lord. Huzzah!

[Richard Steele]

67. Sir W* asks, "Perhaps we could confuse the insurgents if we ran away MORE?

[PuraVidaDreamin]

24. Pink is my favorite color

and green, and blue, and orange

Who's that in the fucking glasses,
Cheney.

No really aranajado is my most wicked favorite

[dxstone]

55. She's a really good singer too!

On another subject, though... I'm an artist, and I've never even HEARD of aranajado!...
Sounds nice, though... but can it possibly sound as nice as Pink?
...
(I dunno, I'm just babblin' here...)
d

[Swamp Rat]

58. Hastert the Big Fat Pig n/t

[Mr_Spock]

10. I dint heer duh Preznit says nutin bout it?

Musta nawt haypened.

[Stephanie]

11. OMG! It's like The Godfather

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/international/middleeast/10iraq.html?oref=login

The group that ousted him insisted that it had the authority to assume control of Iraq's capital city and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri.

The militia has been credited with keeping the peace in heavily Shiite areas in southern Iraq but also accused of abuses like forcing women to wear the veils demanded by conservative Shiite religious law.

"If we wanted to do something bad to him, we would have done that," said Mazen A. Makkia, the elected city council chief who led the ouster on Monday and who had been in a lengthy and unresolved legal feud with Mr. Tamimi.

"We really want to establish the state of law for every citizen, and we did not threaten anyone," Mr. Makkia said. "This is not a coup."

Mr. Makkia confirmed that he had entered the building with armed men but said that they were bodyguards for him and several other council members who accompanied him. Witnesses estimated that the number of armed men ranged from 50 to 120. Mr. Makkia is a member of a Shiite political party that swept to victory during the across-the-board Shiite successes during January's elections.

Mr. Tamimi, the deposed mayor, was appointed by the central government and held ministerial rank. He was originally put in place by L. Paul Bremer III, the top American administrator in the country until an Iraqi government took over in June 2004.

[Richard Steele]

14. Un-frickin-believable! What, no one noticed?

At least when Saigon fell, someone thought it was worth mentioning...

If anyone needed any MORE proof that our "PRESS" is a sad joke,
they just got it.

But at least we get hourly updates on Aruban pond-dredging!

[steve2470]

15. " (Insert some stupid-ass cliche by Bush)"

I'm rapidly getting numb. I feel so bad for the poor kids (and older ones) that have to survive over there.

[BattyDem]

16. The Bushies are looking toward Iran ...

they don't give a shit about Iraq anymore.

[ConcernedCanuk]

42. Ur sorta right - but they never DID care about Iraq as a country. .

.
.
.

They are just playing around with the "insurgents" at the wee cost of a few thousand American lives (OTHER lives are "collateral damage" - no need to count them)

The REAL action that the world is letting happen right under their noses is the BASES the US is building in Iraq, which just happens to be in the MIDDLE of the Middle East.

OBL/Afghanistan was the "justification" for moving all their equipment over there, then quickly moved on to Iraq, the REAL goal as a base for their intrusion to the ME

Watch out when those bases are operational, betcha they's getting loaded with an arsenal that'll make the "shock n awe" show look like a backyard fireworks show . .

and those subs lurkin' around under the gulf and in the mediterranean, they ain't just carrying conventional weapons.

Iraq was just target practice, and unfortunately, their guidance systems are murderously precise , ,

That's my fearful Canuk opinion anyhoo . .

(sigh)

[tabasco]

19. Tom Delay says Baghdad is no worse than Houston.

I must have missed that kidnapping and coup down in Houston.

[texanwitch]

29. Tom Delay has sucked in to much bug spray.

[Joanne98]

96. Good one! LOL!

[Fritz67]

97. Tom Delay...

Just sucks.

[Scout1071]

20. Maybe Rove and Co are somewhat thankful for the Cindy

coverage so that people don't realize the full extent of the situation in Baghdad.

[toey]

30. i wondered why he chose today to publicly speak about cindy

i have tears in my eyes right now and i'm not a cryer.

I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY

[Olney Blue]

102. I second that emotion.

:grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:

[chieftain]

21. Excellent observation

[tk2kewl]

22. It only illustrates how desperate the insurgency has become.

Another couple-two-three throes and it it'll all be over. :eyes:

[smartvoter]

23. Wow. I haven't heard a peep until this. nt

[FreedomAngel82]

25. This is awful

:(

[Triana]

27. I heard about this on NPR a few days ago...(n/t)

[Robeson]

31. Kind of reminds me of when Fundie Republican Ops here in America...

...stormed the building in Florida to stop a vote count so that the legitimately elected President - Gore - would be ousted in favor of their guy, Bush.

Hey, those Iraqi's are picking up on America Style Democracy quicker than I thought...:think:

[Cleita]

33. I heard this on the news yesterday.

I really wondered why no one was concerned?

[The Night Owl]

35. Today was supposed to be the "we just lost Baghdad" press conference.

Today was supposed to be the "we just lost Baghdad" press conference at Crawford, but they couldn't bring themselves to say it. That is why they all looked especially constipated today.

[frictionlessO]

36. Your argument against any repub that talks about the Iraqi democracy and

how much their votes matter and how this is the only "real" reason why we went there.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

37. Once we build up Iraq's army - if we ever do - a strong man coup d'etat

will always be on the horizon by the General of the same army. In that case, what would have been the point in deposing Saddam? Thus, the longer we stay, the deeper we sink into a quagmire. And the quicker we leave, the more danger of the Iraq army's generals imposing a military dictatorship, as the army will have an overwhelming monopoly on power. This no-win situation brought to you by ChimpCo.

[toey]

38. How many troops died defending baghdad

any why didn't we know?

[hiley]

39. amazing huh ?

:argh:

[dxstone]

41. I watched the regular ol' non-cable news tonight...

There was no news on it. NOthing. Just 15 minutes of canned elevator muzak, followed by 10 minutes of weather (lotta weather out there lately) and 5 minutes of who-really-gives-a-fuck sports.
I was looking for news about Cindy Sheehan protesting the war down in Crawford. Nothing.
If it was Cindy Crawford adjusting her bra down in Crawford, I bet they'd just HAFTA cover THAT.
Too bad we can't fool 'em into thinking it is.

I didn't see anything about Bagdad either.
Un-FUCKING-believable.
The ONLY place I get my news these days is the net. If they ever manage to take that away from us, I guess I will just hafta get my news about Cindy Crawford the old-fashioned way, by stalking her relentlessly.
d

[PuraVidaDreamin]

49. Hi friend!

Saw KO tonight (at work- don't have
those cable channels) 10 minutes
of Casey and Cindy Sheehan.

Keep watching- it'sa comin':hug:

[dxstone]

57. Hi! Long time no see!

:hi:
Actually, I just posted a rambling nonsensical reply to one of yours upthread; I'm loopy tonight. So MUCH news (here, that is)... I am getting burned out!!!
Nice to talk with ya again, though...
d
ps: Hope we'll all be able to meet up in Crawford soon!

:hug: right back atcha!

[usregimechange]

43. Reinvade Bagdad?

[DistressedAmerican]

45. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

53. Why not? They've re-pacified Fallujah, what, 4-5 times now?

[gee double you bee]

44. ha

This is one of those Twilight Zone moments where it's like, "uh, guys? The Mayor of Baghdad was just kicked out...guys? anyone?"

No idea why this isn't huge news, but thanks for doing your part to get the word out by making this thread!

:kick:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

46. I'm not sure that the puppet mayor being run out of town is the same as

U.S. forces being routed from the Green Zone, but pretty damning development in any case.

It engenders the question, what do U.S. forces really control in Iraq, outside of the Green Zone and wherever a big force of Marines is, reconquering Fallujah for the 5th time or whatever? What the hell is really going on?

[Eloriel]

71. I don't think the U.S. EVER controlled much other than the green zone

and at times, even that was -- well, not as clearly under their control as most conquering nations would prefer. (Who was it who was killed while waiting to get into the compound?? Of course, that seemed like the inside job it looked like. Who was that, anyway?)

[anarchy1999]

47. How convenient. Know wonder Cindy and everyone else are being

allowed to be where we are. It all makes sense.

[usregimechange]

48. Kick, I can't believe no one reported this?

[hexola]

50. Overheard on FreeRepublic...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460234/posts

"We need to have a secular Sunni strongman in charge. One who allows Christian and even Jewish worship and keeps the hammer down on the Shi'ite theocrats."

D'oh!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

52. Hmm a little irony is good for your blood, eh... A little 'subversion'

there perhaps? NAAAAH!

[DistressedAmerican]

54. So Freeps Love Saddam? I Figured As Much!

What hypocritical pigs!

[Maddy McCall]

60. No WAY! Is a DUer trolling over there?

I can't believe that anyone is THAT stupid.

[hexola]

64. I know - you gotta wonder about that one...

no clear sign of sarcasm though...

I actually had to google quickly to make sure it was saying what I thought it said...

[Raksha]

65. A Sunni strongman who keeps the hammer down on the Shiites????

So what was wrong with Saddam? I realize that ONLY a freeper could be that dense, but that remark seemed a little over the top even by freeper standards. So I had to click on the link just make sure...and sure as hell, NOTHING is over the top by freeper standards!

[Cocoa]

69. great catch

some DUer is flying under the radar over there. :-)

[Daphne08]

76. Does this idiot realize what he's just written?

:rofl:

[DistressedAmerican]

78. The Message Just Before That One...

To: Crackingham
Yep, the Busheviks are fully in control of the situation. Uh-huh.


FUNNY!

[jmowreader]

98. It's bad when the Freepers want Saddam back!

[Jacobin]

100. Oh. My. God.

Tell me you are making this up.

Are their memories reaaaaaallllly that short?

:wow:

[EC]

56. I don't know, I really wonder if maybe

we had something to do with this. Doesn't this sound familiar to anyone? How about how we took out Aristide?:think:

[Oilwellian]

63. It only makes sense

Bushco caters to fundamentalists.

[crispini]

59. Holy crap!

We have to send this around!

[nadinbrzezinski]

68. yep done with my lists

one of them has a hell of a circulation

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

61. WTG, Bushies... waaay to go.

[Norquist Nemesis]

66. Yep! Heard it here at DU yesterday!

And watching the "news" today for the better part of the day...not a PEEP! Not even on that brand-spaking, fast-paced, as-it-happens Situation Room.

Hmmmmm. I guess they only wanted the good news from Iraq this week. Keep the Truth Squak from quacking incessantly like a flock of geese.

[seaglass]

70. The mayor was a squatter. He was appointed by the US

and another party won the election. Granted not the smooth turn-over of control that the US has. And very odd that it didn't make the news.

http://www.juancole.com/

"Meanwhile, Jaafari has thrown his support behind the ousting of Baghdad mayor Alaa al-Tamimi by SCIRI. SCIRI won the Baghdad provincial council elections last January and therefore has the right to appoint its own mayor. Often in contemporary Iraq, incumbents put there by the United States or its proxy interim government have refused to leave when ordered to do so by the winners at the ballot box, and Tamimi was one of those who had ensconced himself, apparently with a private guard. The change of mayor therefore had to be accomplished by the elected governing council through a kind of coup whereby Badr Corps (the paramilitary of SCIRI) occupied the mayor's office."

[Theduckno2]

81. I had read this too and was going to post the same link.

In my opinion Juan Cole is a great read for anyone trying to understand what is going on in Iraq (Middle East for that matter). Most days I stop at his site before heading to the DU. His latest postings indicate that Shites of southern Iraq are trying to form a confederation comparable to the Kurds in the north of Iraq in a bid to secure the same autonomy that the Kurds have in relation to the Iraqi central government.
Enough of my paraphasing, read for yourself. Trust me, it's good for you.

http://www.juancole.com/

[seaglass]

85. Yep, I read about that - this Constitution writing is not going

well but as long as it's done by 15 Aug., it will be considered a victory - no matter what is actually in (or not in) the Constitution.

[oxbow]

72. This is HUGE. How the hell did it get under our radar?????????????

I know we're still starting out, but how could ALL the lib blogs and websites miss this one? Something is very wrong here...

[anitar1]

82. Someone did not miss it as I read it Tuesday

With a link to the Guardian newspaper. But can't remember which blog it was. I read too many.

[oxbow]

95. you know what I mean though. where was the frontpage coverage?

Where was the speculation on civil war and unrest in the country? I thought something as big as this would have made more reverberations

[shelley806]

73. I would love to hear what Saddam H. thinks about this!! This explains

the demeanor of the group of thugs today at Crawford (especially Rice...she LOOKED GUILTY...like sin of omission; now I know about what.) And I was naive enough to think that it was remorse about Cindy Sheehan.

[lonestarnot]

74. Holy damn shit! Unfuckingbelievable incompetence!

[SoCalDem]

75. Our leader probably likes the "Wild west" aspect of the place

:(

[DistressedAmerican]

77. Kick

[Disturbed]

79. There are only two places in Baghdad that matter to ...

the Bush Regime and the Multi-Natls. The Green Zone and the place

below.

[DistressedAmerican]

84. Well That's True!

[magellan]

80. This is now officially a lost cause and we ought to bring our troops home

...AT ONCE. The SCIRI are very tightly aligned with the Iranian Islamic Revolution (I believe this is the same ultra-conservative party as the new Iranian president). They claim to have become moderate but believe, as in Iran, that power should reside with Sharia scholars. If Iraq's Prime Minister Jaffari supports this coup as the article says (and he probably has no choice as SCIRI are powerful and had already taken over many parts of Baghdad on the ground like the thugs they are), Iraq's ties to Iran and fundamentalist Islam are strengthened even more.

Way to screw things up big-time, Bush**. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!!

[NewJeffCT]

83. It has to be said - Why do you hate America?

Our gentle eyes & ears cannot handle any bad news, and you know 6 million new schools opened today in Baghdad and Iraqis are dancing in the street with our troops, and anybody that says otherwise is hurting morale.

:sarcasm:

[DistressedAmerican]

90. Not So Much America As GEORGE FUCKING BUSH!

:evilgrin:

[Maru Kitteh]

86. Everything is going GREAT in Iraq, we are making progress

'specially political progress. I know, because our dear leader told me so............ :puke:

[Supersedeas]

91. hard werk...making progress...hard werk...some Iraqis are willing

[pointblank]

87. You CANNOT go around forcing your will on other people/countries/cultures

...never has worked, and never will....not the way we are trying to do it.

(unless you do it by sheer brute force, which even though it may seem like we are doing now...we are not....I am talking old skool colonialization here...)

[leftchick]

88. the US never had Baghdad

The ONLY thing the US is in control of in Iraq is the Green Zone. It is only a matter of time before they lose that too. Yep, Saigon is not far off..

[newportdadde]

89. Never heard a word about it.

MSM sucks.

[shadowknows69]

92. I think the only part of Baghdad we've held for a while

is the green zone.

[progressoid]

93. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!?!

[ComerPerro]

94. Nobody ever reports all the good stuff happening in Iraq

:sarcasm:

[usregimechange]

101. kick

[Gman]

103. The Iraqi people are TASTING FREEDOM and they LOVE IT!

All hail the American occupation! They are free now to circumcise women and throw out any politician they don't like. Just like America! Isn't occupation wonderful?

[PassingFair]

104. Anyone know if the new guy is friends

...with Chalabi? That little roach keeps scurrying around.

[Nothing Without Hope]

106. Doubtless this is due to Iranian "terrorists" - must invade Iran!

:sarcasm: