"Iraq's Top Shia Cleric Warns of 'Genocidal War'"

[GreenPartyVoter]

The slaughter of hundreds of civilians by suicide bombers shows that a "genocidal war" is threatening Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's most influential Shia cleric, warned yesterday.

So far he has persuaded most of his followers not to respond in kind against the Sunni, from whom the bombers are drawn, despite repeated massacres of Shia. But sectarian divisions between Shia and Sunni are deepening across Iraq after the killing of 18 children in the district of New Baghdad last week and the death of 98 people caught by the explosion of a gas tanker in the market town of Musayyib. Many who died were visiting a Shia mosque.

There are also calls for the formation of militias to protect Baghdad neighborhoods. Khudayr al-Khuzai, a Shia member of parliament, said the time had come to "bring back popular militias". He added: "The plans of the interior and the defense ministries to impose security in Iraq have failed to stop the terrorists."

Against the wishes of the Grand Ayatollah, who has counseled restraint, some Shia have started retaliatory killings of members of the former regime, most of whom but not all are Sunni. Some carrying out the attacks appear to belong to the 12,000-strong paramilitary police commandos. Mystery surrounds many killings. A former general in Saddam Hussein's army called Akram Ahmed Rasul al-Bayati and his two sons, Ali, a policeman, and Omar were arrested by police commandos 10 days ago. Omar was released and one of his uncles paid $7,000 for the release of the other two. But when he went to get them he saw them taken out of a car and shot dead.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0719-11.htm

[leveymg]

1. Salvador Option +Divide and Conquer=Genocide

The war crimes tribunal can now add another charge -- knowing assistance to and preparation for genocide -- to the growing list of offenses against humanity committed by BushCo.

The 3-way division of Iraq under contending warlords -- the sickeningly predictable outcome of a criminal invasion and occupation strategy done on the cheap. 1700 Americans and 120,000 Iraqis thank you for their enduring freedom, Mr. President. Mission accomplished. :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :evilfrown:

[welshTerrier2]

2. "training Iraqi troops" - to do what ???

the American government continues to tell us that by training Iraqi troops, we will be able to provide Iraqis with a stable government ... "when they are able to take care of themselves, the US can withdraw" ... it's incredible that Democrats actually buy into this stupidity ...

for decades we've allowed US arms manufacturers to peddle their weapons all over the world only to have those weapons used for illicit purposes against innocent civilian populations and against the US itself ...

why is it that so many believe that providing more power, either through the direct sales of weapons or by training foreign military forces, that stability, peace and a better world will result ??? it really is pure insanity ...

training Iraqi forces, I assume the belief is we're training the "good guys", will yield nothing more than a heightening of deadly force in Iraq ... what are the loyalties of these forces now and what will they be when the inevitable civil war breaks out? does the US believe that these forces will just toss away their heritage and not take sides? do we believe these forces will really be an "army for democracry" that will fight to diffuse the warring factions? it really is pure insanity ...

the process in Iraq has never been right ... the US cannot impose a democracy by training soldiers ... nor can we assure peace and stability by making more warriors ... the path to a renewed Iraq could only have come via the negotiating table under the auspices of the UN ...

what we're doing in Iraq was a failure before it began ... and Democrats keep voting for more occupation, more troop training, more of whatever bush asks for ... leadership is needed to put an end to the insanity; we sure ain't gettin' much of that ...

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Did we try to build an army of Democracy in Viet Nam as well?

[leveymg]

4. To kill other Iraqi troops, since we won't be there to do it. n/t

[bribri16]

5. Time to bring back Saddam. The US has f****d up Iraq totally!

If not Saddam, some of the Baaitists who can run Iraq.