No cause for alarm; it’s just a small band of thugs.
(Lifted from Whiskey Bar.)
This just in, and if true, it is absolutely devastating.
THOUSANDS of Sunni and Shiite Muslims forced their way through US military checkpoints Thursday to ferry food and medical supplies to the besieged Sunni bastion of Fallujah where US marines are trying to crush insurgents.
Troops in armoured vehicles tried to stop the convoy of cars and pedestrians from reaching the town located 50 kilometers west of Baghdad.
But US forces were overwhelmed as residents of villages west of the capital came to the convoy’s assistance, hurling insults and stones at the beleaguered troops.
Some 20 kilometers west of Baghdad, a US patrol was attacked just moments before the Iraqi marchers arrived. Armed insurgents could be seen dancing around two blazing military vehicles.
Two US Humvees tried to stop the marchers but were forced to drive off as residents joined the marchers, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).
US troops again blocked the highway further west, but were forced to let the Iraqis past as they came under a hail of stones.
I keep hearing on TV — from Rumsfeld, Bremer and all the Fox News staff — that we are up against a small group of thugs. Something here absolutely doesn’t click. As John Kerry wondered aloud today, to whom do we turn Iraq over come June 30? I’ve got a sickening feeling that a lot of those marching against us are the very ones we went to iraq to liberate, at an awful cost in terms of American lives, money and our national reputation.
What now?
[Link via Atrios.]
Update: Good analysis of how we got into this mess. Did we really need to shut down that newspaper? Was it worth it?
1
By jack
Bush, the one-term president.
The good news is Bush’s presidency is numbered.
April 8, 2004 @ 3:17 pm | Comment
2
By vaara
If the Sunnis and Shiites are indeed uniting against the coalition, that is bad news indeed.
Naturally it’ll be spun as further proof that Li’l George truly is “a uniter, not a divider.”
But seriously, I’m willing to believe that this still represents just a small revolt in a small area of the country. For the sake of everyone involved, let’s hope the U.S. and its allies can end it quickly, because the alternative is too awful to contemplate.
April 8, 2004 @ 3:23 pm | Comment
3
By richard
It’s so hard for us to assess the scale of this uprising. As Atrios remarks in the link I provided, the US networks news shows seem to have a total news blackout on Iraq at the moment. This is probably because they’re so focused on Condi, but if the article is anywhere near the truth, it’s astounding that there’s nary a word being spoken about it here.
April 8, 2004 @ 3:28 pm | Comment
4
By Jackson
Quit looking at that right wing POS Faux News then.
Try BBS world, or even CNN.
April 8, 2004 @ 6:28 pm | Comment
5
By Jackson
Why they love us there
I know about the news. We need Collin Powell back in charge. Discipline is slipping in the forces and it reminds one of the Viet-Nam pictures of old. Instead of a professional military outfit here we have a bunch of cowboys and vigilantes running wild in the streets. The ugly American has never been so evident. Someone in charge needs to drop the hammer on this lack of discipline, especially that which is being hown by the Special Forces, security contractors, and “other government agencies”. We won the war but that doesn’t mean we can treat the people of this couotry with contempt and disregard with no thought to the consequences. Those contractors, just like the last ones who were killed, were out running free with no military escort. Armed or not, that is a breach of protocol and a severe security risk. While I grieve for the families of those persons I would like to see the person who decided that it was alright for them to convoy out there without the military brought up on charges, unless of course that person was in the convoy, in which case at least he won’t be getting anyone else killed. I’m angry about how we’re treating peope here. I know it’s not the entire military, in fact it is a very small, select group that believes they are somehow above the law of not ony this land but also the law of the military and those laws we hold dear in ouor own country. If someone were to try to treat our fellow Americans the way some of these people are treating the Iraquis the courts would certainly lock them away. I would phrase that last line harsher, but in light of recent events that would be cruel. Discipline is needed here, and I’m not certain that our current administration is prepared to take the steps necessary to crack down on all of this. In order for discipline to be restored I do believe Donald Rumsfield would have to admit that perhaps Powell’s rules of war were in fact valid.
Please feel free to send my comments to any Senator, Member of the House,
Governor, President, or Secretary of Defense that you would like.
April 8, 2004 @ 6:42 pm | Comment
6
By richard
Jackson, I listen to them all. I believe in a well-rounded perspective. (And I like to know the lies those mofos are out propagating.)
As to your second comment — didn’t I see the same comment on some other lefty blogs? Either way, I like it.
April 8, 2004 @ 6:44 pm | Comment