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View Full Version : We are in Iraq to help Iraqis - riiiiight!


DrChinese
2nd September 2003, 09:11 AM
Right before we went to war, George W. added a new reason to his impressive list of reasons to invade: it's for the Iraqis' own good, they want us to come and liberate them. He even called the invasion "Operation Iraqi Freedom". Of course there were the liberal naysayers (some with the initials DrC) who questioned this logic.

Since the war has been over for a few months now, can we discuss this? Please note the following excerpted article, from MSNBC:Top Iraqi blasts U.S. occupation (http://www.msnbc.com/news/960209.asp):

NAJAF, Iraq, Sept. 2 — In a funeral eulogy, a member of the U.S.-picked governing council demanded Tuesday that American occupation forces leave Iraq, blaming them for last week’s killing of his brother, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim.

SOME 400,000 FAITHFUL listened during al-Hakim’s burial ceremony in the holy city of Najaf. Men clad in white robes and dark uniforms brandishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard every 16 feet along the roof of Najaf’s gold domed Imam Ali shrine during the funeral.

Black mourning banners were draped across the mosque, which on Friday became the site of the country’s bloodiest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein. There are varying accounts of how many other people died in the attack, ranging from more than 80 to more than 120.

“The occupation force is primarily responsible for the pure blood that was spilt in holy Al-Najaf, the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that was present near the mosque,” Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim said in a funeral oration broadcast live on Hizballah’s al-Manar television.

“This force is primarily responsible for all this blood and the blood that is shed all over Iraq every day,” the governing council member said. “Iraq must not remain occupied and the occupation must leave so that we can build Iraq as God wants us to do,” he said.

I am sure this is simply one Iraqi's opinion. Riiiiight!

ssibal
3rd September 2003, 02:33 PM
Originally posted by DrChinese
I am sure this is simply one Iraqi's opinion. Riiiiight!

So what do you propose? Do you want the U.S. to just get up and leave Iraq? Why do I have the feeling that you would then criticize the U.S. for leaving too early?

Jon_in_london
4th September 2003, 12:17 AM
Originally posted by ssibal


So what do you propose? Do you want the U.S. to just get up and leave Iraq? Why do I have the feeling that you would then criticize the U.S. for leaving too early?

Exactly. There is a protest march planned in london in september by the "Not in My Name- Stop the War" bunch demanding an end to the occupation. This is just such a stupid idea. Abandon Iraq and see it plummet into civil war and anarchy. Of course afterwards these self-same people will bitch and moan about how the US/UK coalition abandoned Iraq to its fate :rolleyes:

However! Its hardly suprising that people resent the occupation of their country by a foreign military. How would you like it if, say, Nigerian troops occupied your country? Even if they were there to rid you of a brutal dictator you would pretty soon start to feel very pissed off indeed, specially if they were incapable of restoring security and basic services.

In this case, the Shias need to be pissed off at someone. No medals for guessing who that someone is going to be.