Iraq: Gates of Hell - Now Open
azzaman: The Gates of Hell
The headline of this article is not a title of a science fiction film. It truthfully translates what is currently taking place in Iraq.
The gates of hell are now wide open - thanks to U.S. invasion - and their fires have enveloped almost everything in our country. There is no electricity, no water, no fuel, no food rations, no security, no sewage...
There is terror everywhere and there is fear of everything - fear of the present and of what lies ahead in the future. All indications tell that our future is bleak as there is nothing left in this country that makes you feel secure about your own future and that of your children.
What is happening is not a war, rebellion or insurgency. It is mass killing and annihilation coupled with torture and brutal and barbaric dismembering of innocent people. Bombing and shelling of towns goes ahead and no one gives a damn for the lives lost and property damaged.
Politicians have not honored any of the promises they made during elections. There is a dangerous decline in the public services and government performance. The shock we have received since U.S. troops landed in our midst and the new is beyond description. Fear and terror have gripped the nation.
Wherever you are at any time of the day you are liable to be killed by a stray bullet. Stray bullets are no longer the prerogative of U.S. troops and their tormentors - the insurgents.
Almost everyone in Iraq now use their guns to shoot in order to scare, wound or kill. If the bodyguards of a senior official want to reach a destination on time and are delayed by traffic jam, they fire in the air to scare other drivers to give way. If someone is injured or killed as a result it is his or her problem.
Killing by mistake is now perhaps one of the main causes of death in Iraq.
Trust between the people and the government has collapsed. And now we are at the mercy of the stars because neither U.S. troops nor the government have the slightest idea of who is blowing up whom and why? Link
db: Unless the US/UK are willing to negotiate on the political demands of the insurgency this will go on for ever. It is only with the help of the Ba'thists, Nationalists and other factions of authentic, Iraqi resistance that we have any hope at all of defeating the terrorists - the people blowing up bombs outside places of worship and destroying the lives of civilians on a massive scale in the belief that they have some god-given right to do so.
Michael Ware - Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief - was interviewed on BBC Worldservice Newshour program last night. This is a guy who has not only been embedded with US forces, but has done the same with the insurgency. He sees the Iraq conflict as primarily secular in nature. Let me repeat. He sees the Iraq conflict as primarily secular in nature - with authentic political demands relating to the occupation and the shape of a future Iraq. The insurgents are for the most part historical enemies of the foreign fighters and extremists - they are united only in the 'an enemy of my enemy is a friend' sense - hence settlement with Iraq's bona fide insurgents may well lead to a quick cooling off in relations between them, and demands that the jihadists leave. Of course this might lead to bloodshed between the insurgents and groups wishing to continue the fight - however you would hope that such violence - unlike the current illogical going-nowhere bloodletting - may result in a more stable country. Furthermore, how valuable is the information that the insurgents hold concerning the terrorists to the so-called 'war on terror' - or whatever they are calling it now?
Michael Ware estimated that there are somewhere between 25 to 50,000 insurgents - he noted that they have a remarkable ability to 'replenish' themselves - and maintain that level of active, violent resistance regardless of the attrition. Behind them more than 100,000 people are actively supporting them by way of shelter, and logistics. In other words this is a popular movement - not the simpleton clash of cultures - masterminded by al Qaida - or other nonsense that Bush/Blair peddle. Any footprint that al Qaida now enjoys in Iraq has come about since the occupation and because of it.
Instead of a serious attempt at negotiation what are we getting? "We fight them there so we don't have to fight them at home" A more honest way to put it would be "we manufacture and train them there, then our sons and daughters die fighting them there - and we pray that we don't have to fight them here".
The headline of this article is not a title of a science fiction film. It truthfully translates what is currently taking place in Iraq.
The gates of hell are now wide open - thanks to U.S. invasion - and their fires have enveloped almost everything in our country. There is no electricity, no water, no fuel, no food rations, no security, no sewage...
There is terror everywhere and there is fear of everything - fear of the present and of what lies ahead in the future. All indications tell that our future is bleak as there is nothing left in this country that makes you feel secure about your own future and that of your children.
What is happening is not a war, rebellion or insurgency. It is mass killing and annihilation coupled with torture and brutal and barbaric dismembering of innocent people. Bombing and shelling of towns goes ahead and no one gives a damn for the lives lost and property damaged.
Politicians have not honored any of the promises they made during elections. There is a dangerous decline in the public services and government performance. The shock we have received since U.S. troops landed in our midst and the new is beyond description. Fear and terror have gripped the nation.
Wherever you are at any time of the day you are liable to be killed by a stray bullet. Stray bullets are no longer the prerogative of U.S. troops and their tormentors - the insurgents.
Almost everyone in Iraq now use their guns to shoot in order to scare, wound or kill. If the bodyguards of a senior official want to reach a destination on time and are delayed by traffic jam, they fire in the air to scare other drivers to give way. If someone is injured or killed as a result it is his or her problem.
Killing by mistake is now perhaps one of the main causes of death in Iraq.
Trust between the people and the government has collapsed. And now we are at the mercy of the stars because neither U.S. troops nor the government have the slightest idea of who is blowing up whom and why? Link
db: Unless the US/UK are willing to negotiate on the political demands of the insurgency this will go on for ever. It is only with the help of the Ba'thists, Nationalists and other factions of authentic, Iraqi resistance that we have any hope at all of defeating the terrorists - the people blowing up bombs outside places of worship and destroying the lives of civilians on a massive scale in the belief that they have some god-given right to do so.
Michael Ware - Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief - was interviewed on BBC Worldservice Newshour program last night. This is a guy who has not only been embedded with US forces, but has done the same with the insurgency. He sees the Iraq conflict as primarily secular in nature. Let me repeat. He sees the Iraq conflict as primarily secular in nature - with authentic political demands relating to the occupation and the shape of a future Iraq. The insurgents are for the most part historical enemies of the foreign fighters and extremists - they are united only in the 'an enemy of my enemy is a friend' sense - hence settlement with Iraq's bona fide insurgents may well lead to a quick cooling off in relations between them, and demands that the jihadists leave. Of course this might lead to bloodshed between the insurgents and groups wishing to continue the fight - however you would hope that such violence - unlike the current illogical going-nowhere bloodletting - may result in a more stable country. Furthermore, how valuable is the information that the insurgents hold concerning the terrorists to the so-called 'war on terror' - or whatever they are calling it now?
Michael Ware estimated that there are somewhere between 25 to 50,000 insurgents - he noted that they have a remarkable ability to 'replenish' themselves - and maintain that level of active, violent resistance regardless of the attrition. Behind them more than 100,000 people are actively supporting them by way of shelter, and logistics. In other words this is a popular movement - not the simpleton clash of cultures - masterminded by al Qaida - or other nonsense that Bush/Blair peddle. Any footprint that al Qaida now enjoys in Iraq has come about since the occupation and because of it.
Instead of a serious attempt at negotiation what are we getting? "We fight them there so we don't have to fight them at home" A more honest way to put it would be "we manufacture and train them there, then our sons and daughters die fighting them there - and we pray that we don't have to fight them here".
posted by exoplanet at 11:50 AM
<< Home