View Full Version : Confussion in Baghdad!


nico
11-01-03, 01:32 PM
Well it seems that the Americans just can't get their story straight:

Guerrillas in Iraq seem to have a deadly answer to every claim by U.S. military officials that they are in despair and on the run.

Sunday's bold rocketing of a Baghdad hotel that just missed the U.S. deputy defense secretary and a string of suicide bombings the next day were only the latest in what the generals dismiss as the violent acts of doomed men.

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Saddam Hussein loyalists, Syria, Iran, al Qaeda and its associate Ansar al-Islam -- all, in recent weeks, have been implicated by U.S. officials in the relentless violence.

Confusingly, U.S. comments have alternately highlighted and minimised the role of foreign fighters in attacks on U.S. forces, the United Nations, the Red Cross, foreign missions, Iraqi police and others close to the occupation.

In the latest example, U.S. Brigadier General Mark Hertling said coordinated suicide bombings that killed 35 people and wounded 230 on Monday "certainly...have a mode of operation of foreign fighters". He pointed to the capture of an assailant said to hold a Syrian passport.

The same day, Major General Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, took a seemingly different tack, saying the Iraqi resistance contained only a "very, very small percentage of foreign fighters".

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Sebestyen Gorka, fellow of the Terrorism Research Center in Virginia, said the mixed messages partly reflected crossed wires between the State Department, Pentagon, military commanders, special forces and newly created regional authorities in Iraq.

"There are far too many chiefs, basically. The lines of communication and command are confused and overlapping...It's a mess," he said.

Toby Dodge, author of a new book called Inventing Iraq, said foreign militants could well pose a future threat, but derided the idea that they already had organised networks in place capable of orchestrating bombing campaigns.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, the resistance and the bombings are all homegrown," he said.

Whatever their identity, the attackers have shown themselves able to strike effectively at short notice.


source (http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/031028-iraq-torment.htm)

What is going on here? The Americans obviously are having much trouble even understanding each other, and the situation at hand. This only adds fuel to the fire of the fact that the (mis) information we are getting out of Iraq is showing the weakness of American policy. Here is a list of all the nations, and what reports give them in terms of Press Freedom:

http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=8247

Special situation of the United States and Israel The ranking distinguishes behaviour at home and abroad in the cases of the United States and Israel. They are ranked in 31st and 44th positions respectively as regards respect for freedom of expression on their own territory, but they fall to the 135th and 146th positions as regards behaviour beyond their borders.

135 United States of America (in Iraq) 41,00


Can we really trust anything that is coming out of Iraq? The US is obviously twisting the stories around, and trying to "goebell -ize" it, but really to no avail. If American commanders can't even agree about who is shooting at them, then what hope does the US have at stopping this?

ele
11-01-03, 02:38 PM
I agree there is a lot of rubbish being talked and not everything is being reported in western press. More US soldiers have died than during the war since the supposed end of major hostilities.

I have though recently seen an article in which senior Americans in Iraq suggest it is likely Hussein is coordinating attacks. This was reportedly said after the recent bombings and an incident which hasnt reached tv news here in which two Iraqis were shot dead for being part of a crowd of protestors who gathered in a large group to protest the American occupation waving posters of Saddam Hussein.

hypewaders
11-02-03, 06:37 AM
Obviously the result of desperate spin. The Bush Administration thinks Americans can't handle the truth when it comes to Iraqis unhappy with the modus of foreign rule from Washington which has become an insult to many, due to American administrative, military, and policing mistakes, due to American cultural misunderstanding throughout the ranks, due to the insensitivity, self-importance, inscrutability, and arbitrariness that have become hallmarks of this occupation.

Several indigenous resistance movements are of course alive and growing in Iraq, as would be exactly the case in were the US to be invaded by a greater and even more self-righteous power, regardless of any reasons for such an occupation, let's say an irritating leader and/or WMDs and/or stuff they want, etc. etc.

Colonialism had its day when there was greater technology- and culture- shock available to empires for use in subduing territories. Now, far more information flows in all directions, and the jig is up: Would-be colonialist supporters at home are confronted with a filtered but disturbing view of the business-end of forcing political change on a foreign country better-experienced in war, loss, and sacrifice. Those who resist neocolonialists understand the world outside much better today, and so can operate more effectively. Participation in events by those ostensibly on the sidelines in neocolonialist occupation also influence the outcome: Neocolonialism stinks to them, and even when governments make gestures, there is hollow support for helping the US to trade in pain and death for long years in order to build airbases and petrobusiness in Iraq.

nico
11-02-03, 01:34 PM
I think now that we have seen the increasing sophistication of the Iraqi people in the fight against the US, the Al Rashid hotel mortar or Rocket attack, the Helicopter attack today done with a SAM. I think the Americans are now fighting the war that escaped them in March and April. The problem with Americans is that they are impatient and they are too quick to assume victory, and success. Also Americans have a tendency to underestimate their enemies, which like in Vietnam has proven their downfall. The thing about the US which I think is largely unique to the US is the influence of public opposition to war. The American people it seems never have a set mind, prior to March 17, 63% or so of Americans supported the war. Now it's barely 50%, I see a Vietnam syndrome coming to the US. All the US needs is a nuveau Tet Offence to start the path of Iraqi meltdown.

hypewaders
11-02-03, 05:08 PM
It's very simple: You can't threaten people to make them like you: This will not make them like you in the sense originally intended.

Alas we can't see the people for the terrorists.

So we'll have more trouble until it's obvious to the last idiot with major influence, that this is a fucking mistake.

(sorry):(
I'm angry gotterdammerungit das ist fukinstupid:bugeye:

nico
11-02-03, 05:13 PM
That will never happen! These Chicken hawks in Washington are the stubborn and most ruthless men we have seen since the days of Nazi Germany. They honestly believe that the Iraqi people will shower the US with praise and glory, they want and they percieve Paris 1944. Not has Iraq turned into a organized front against the US, Afghanistan is now quickly falling back into the "Taliban's" hands. 60% of the South of that country is literally un-governable. Poppy production has reached record levels, and the "Taliban" have even gotten back some legislative control. It's a total and complete mess ,that the US has created.

hypewaders
11-02-03, 06:26 PM
And soon as it begins to look like shit, smell like shit, and taste like shit

Americans won't eat it anymore.

I've been gagging since I first heard our President speak, and I feel less alone every day.