Five British citizens who were kidnapped in Iraq over a year ago are being held inside Iran by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. … Um, this ain’t good news: a direct link between terrorism inside Iraq and the government of Iran. Right. This will give the US more reason to consider military force against Iran for its meddling with Iraq. Basically, this nightmare just got prolonged. Ugh.
Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening full-scale war with the US in Iraq. 
Listen up White House: do you plan on doing anything about this guy and his army? We tried fighting him (via the “Iraqi National Army”) in Basra and lost. Maybe it’s time for a different approach? A little “thinking outside of the box”? A little nuance.
Calling Tehran to the table to negotiate a peace, a truce, an anything! (You know it’s bad when you need Iranian mullahs to wax diplomatic on your behalf.)
Like it or not, al-Sadr cannot be ignored. He is and will remain a permanent fixture of Iraqi life. And we can’t go in there and simply “obliterate” him in some Sadr City bloodbath - that will only make things worse.
Where is the State Department?! Where is the Pentagon?! Where is the White House?!?!?
Message to Bush: Start doing your (insert expletive) job!!!
Presidential “hope”full Senator John McCain still can’t tell his Shia’s from his Sunnis, or Maliki from Sadr, or a ceasefire from all out defeat. He keeps on getting it wrong. All wrong. You just can’t make this stuff up!
But, hey: cut him a break! McCain’s just calling it as he sees it … through McCain-colored glasses that is. Keep on livin’ that dream, McCain!!!
I’m sure McCain will find all sorts of stuff to forget about if he makes it to the White House. (Anybody seen my “Straight Talk Express” lying about?)
Check out these peacenik grannies:
The New York Times is reporting that the Pentagon has sought to mold public opinion starting from the buildup to the War in Iraq through a cabal of retired generals posing as “independent military analysts” on television news channels. And shocker: these retired generals have strong financial ties to the military industrial complex and to the military contractors on which they are supposed to be commenting.
The generals’ mission? To plant seeds of untruth about the War in Iraq.
The thing is that I am actually shocked. Really shocked. If we can’t trust our retired generals to give us objective, honest, sobering analysis on the state of our nation’s security, then who can we trust? I
mean, it is becoming seriously difficult not to drown in complete cynicism here!
And this whole thing reeks of one name: Donald Rumsfeld.
Citizens! We must demand a more transparent government!!! We elect (most of) these people! We can vote (most of) them out!
Moral of the story: don’t trust retired generals posing as military analysts on television news.
Is anyone surprised by this report from the National Defense University??? Shouldn’t be. Our failure is one (of many) reason we are building walls in Baghdad. Building walls = failure of policy, failure of strategy, failure of diplomacy, failure of basic communication.
The war in Iraq is far from over. The battle lumbers on in Baghdad and Basra between Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army and Iraqi and American troops. But, as the fighting in Basra a couple weeks ago showed us, without American support the current Iraqi army is all but irrelevant. And American opposition to Sadr shelves nothing of the incredible respect Sadr enjoys in hearts and minds throughout Iraq.
Why am I even bothering writing about this? Because it is high time for Americans to know as much of the truth of what is going on in Iraq as possible. These ongoing conflicts and battles barely get reported in the media. And the casualties keep piling up.
Does anyone actually feel any safer because of this war?!?
Told you so. Would bet money that this has something to do with the assassination last week of one of Sadr’s top aides. Clan warfare: not fun.
Drumbeat of war that is. U.S. officials are finally waking up and smelling the coffee, realizing that Iran has more influence over Iraq than they do. … And Iran doesn’t want the U.S. in Iraq. Shocker! Anyone with a layman’s knowledge of history (or who’s read the headlines for the past 5 years) could connect these dots. … So U.S. officials are sounding the alarm and once again accusing Iran of training and suppling weapons to anti-American Shi’ite militias inside Iraq. And of course what is their first response: WAR! Ugh.
Note to the Bush Administration: a war with Iran is not going to fix your legacy. Or redeem you in the history books. Get a clue.
Why don’t we start actively engaging Tehran with diplomacy??? Haven’t tried that route yet. And nothing
we’ve done so far has produced any good results. Just a thought. Duh.
Obviously, Tehran is just as guilty here - more so - of stoking the passions of war. Most of the mullahs are simply trying to prove their worth by poking a stick at America. Mullahs: wake up! This pissing contest will not turn out good for you. It’s time for Iran to put away their weapons and rhetoric and start revisiting their wonderful poetry. Calling on the spirit of Hafiz!
The pot might boil over in Iraq if someone (Sistani?) doesn’t step in to diffuse the situation after today’s assassination. We need to institute something like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa. Who could play Desmond Tutu? Calling Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani …
