Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
What's the Lesson?
I agree with Lynne totally .... blogger has been awful today and yesterday. We'll post as we're allowed.

Anyway, I ran across this summary story this a.m.:
At least 40 people, including 25 soldiers in the Iraqi Army, were killed in street battles that took place in the southern city of Diwaniyah, according to the LAT, which appears to have the latest casualty numbers. The NYT has the best explanation of what sparked the fighting. A week ago, at least two Iraqi soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb that the army believes was planted by Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army. The army responded with arrests, after which militiamen took to the streets and skirmished with police. That led to military raids on three neighborhoods, which sparked yesterday's gunfights and shelling.

"It was soon clear who had won," says the WP—Sadr's militia. Several papers mention that an Iraqi general said a group of soldiers who'd run out of ammunition were executed in front of residents in a public square. "Some Iraqi soldiers were captured and beheaded," says the WP.
I continue to hear most of the media describe Iraq as "on the brink" of civil war. Not sure what would have to be happening to become official.

Anyone in the Iraqi "army" must now be completely un-nerved (if they weren't already) about the future of the government and the U.S. occupation. I would guess that the those who are left are some kind of opportunists or hoping for an evac.

I've been watching the PBS documentary on the American revolution. The parallels with Iraq and the middle east are uncanny, up to and including the names of the two idiot rulers of the idiot empires. It's so depressing to watch history repeat itself over and over again. It's like every new narcissistic power hungry idiot who gains power thinks that in some way "it's different" for them. This flaw in our human existence has to be responsible for more deaths and destruction than any disease.
Written at 12:03 PM by Greyhair.
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