Al-Qaeda seizes Iraq's third-largest city as terrified residents flee

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: shapur

Then which part of what I wrote previously do you disagree with?

"As with any other exterior country, the Iranian, the Saudis and ANYBODY else should leave the Iraqis to themselves.

Let's start there. "

Would Americans leave Mexico or Canada alone if Russians or Iranians were to manipulate their governing system by actively supporting and spreading terrorism?,,killing thousands of innocent people?

a reply to: shapur

Again, Whats wrong with EVERYBODY leaving them alone?

See, you cant answer, because you actually support Iranian interference *probably one who'll sit back and then claim Iran has never attacked [Overtly] anybody all the while ignoring their part in stirring the pot and bloodshed.

As far as Mexico and Canada, that sounds like the tired old argument used to justify Russia first invading then annexing the Crimea.

Just like in Syria, EVERYBODY * East, West and their brothers, should leave them the hell alone.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: shapur

Again, Whats wrong with EVERYBODY leaving them alone?

See, you cant answer, because you actually support Iranian interference *probably one who'll sit back and then claim Iran has never attacked [Overtly] anybody all the while ignoring their part in stirring the pot and bloodshed.

As far as Mexico and Canada, that sounds like the tired old argument used to justify Russia first invading then annexing the Crimea.

Just like in Syria, EVERYBODY * East, West and their brothers, should leave them the hell alone. Well tell that to the white house and the Saudis,,they are the ones who started this mass anyways...One can not start a fight and simply ask for the sides to politely withdraw!,,there are consequences to every action.

a reply to: shapur

I recall the overall view that the US pulled out and left Iraqis to their own situation as being a disaster on the first few pages of this thread. So there again, which is it?

Should the US have stayed? Then we'd have an ear full from those screaming about US occupation, then when the US /West does finally pull out, now, now all of sudden they shouldn't have left. Meanwhile, here we have those justifying foreign interference by one of the two antagonists, Iran on one side and the Saudis on the other. Both stirring the ancient sectarian conflict *Which started way before the US ever existed between Shiites and Sunni.

So, while that show goes on, here now, we have Al-Qaeda moving in and setting up shop.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: shapur

I recall the overall view that the US pulled out and left Iraqis to their own situation as being a disaster on the first few pages of this thread. So there again, which is it?

Should the US have stayed? Then we'd have an ear full from those screaming about US occupation, then when the US /West does finally pull out, now, now all of sudden they shouldn't have left. Meanwhile, here we have those justifying foreign interference by one of the two antagonists, Iran on one side and the Saudis on the other. Both stirring the ancient sectarian conflict *Which started way before the US ever existed between Shiites and Sunni.

So, while that show goes on, here now, we have Al-Qaeda moving in and setting up shop. [/quote) Despite what the western media is trying to say, Shiites and Sunnis lived peacefully side by side for about 1400 years just before recently say about 20,30 years a go starting with Iran Iraq war....There is an agenda right there and it is due to an old political assumption of divide and conquer.

a reply to: shapur


History is your friend ...

The division of Islam into Sunni and Shia branches goes far back in Muslim history to the aftermath of the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Its repercussions have rippled through history, with periods of peace and periods of war. With the recent turmoil, the conflict between Shia and Sunni is once again a driving force behind events in the Middle East. Read a chronology:

570: The Prophet Muhammad is born.

598: Ali, who will become the fourth caliph and the first Shiite Imam, is born.

610: The year Muslims cite as the beginning of Muhammad's mission and revelation of the Koran.

613: The public preaching of Islam begins.

630: The Muslims, led by Muhammad, conquer Mecca.

632: Muhammad dies. Abu Bakr is chosen as caliph, his successor. A minority favors Ali. They become known as Shiat Ali, or the partisans of Ali.

656: Ali becomes the fourth caliph after his predecessor is assassinated. Some among the Muslims rebel against him.

661: Violence and turmoil spread among the Muslims; Ali is assassinated.

680: Hussein, son of Ali, marches against the superior army of the caliph at Karbala in Iraq. He is defeated, his army massacred, and he is beheaded. The split between Shia and Sunnis deepens. Shia consider Ali as their first Imam, Hussein as the third Imam.

873: The 11th Shiite Imam dies. No one succeeds him.

873-940: In the period, known as the Lesser Occultation, the son of the 11th Imam disappears, leaving his representatives to head the Shiite faith.

940: The Greater Occultation of the 12th or Hidden Imam begins. No Imam or representative presides over the Shiite faithful.

1258: The Mongols, led by Hulagu, destroy Baghdad, ending the Sunni Arab caliphate.

1501: Ismail I establishes the Safavid Dynasty in Persia, and declares Shiism the state religion.

1900: Ruhollah Khomeini is born in Persia.

1920-1922: Arabs, both Shia and Sunni, revolt against British control of Iraq.

1922-1924: Kemal Ataturk abolishes the Ottoman sultanate and the Turkish Sunni caliphate.

1925: Reza Khan seizes power in Persia, declares himself Shah, establishing the Pahlavi dynasty.

1932: Iraq becomes an independent nation, under King Feisal, a Sunni Arab.

1935: Persia is renamed Iran.

1941: Reza Shah abdicates throne in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Shah. British and Soviet military forces occupy Iran.

1953: A joint CIA/British intelligence operation in Iran keeps the Shah on the throne and ousts nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.

1963: Amid widespread protests in Iran against the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini is arrested, then exiled to Najaf in Iraq.

1967: Israel defeats Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the Six Day War.

1968: The Baath Party seizes power in Iraq.

1973: Israel defeats Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur War.

1978-79: Widespread protests force the Shah to abdicate and flee Iran. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran to lead the revolution.

1979: Saddam Hussein seizes power, becomes president of Iraq. Iranian revolutionary students seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran and take diplomats hostage. They are released in January 1981.

1980: Saddam Hussein orders the Iraqi army to attack Iran.

1980-1988: Iran-Iraq war. Hundreds of thousands die on each side and the war ends in a stalemate.

1982: Israel invades Lebanon, seizes Beirut. Hezbollah is formed in Lebanon.

1983: Suicide truck bombers, believed to be Hezbollah, kill 241 American servicemen in Beirut.

1989: Ayatollah Khomeini dies in Iran.

1990: Saddam Hussein orders his army to seize Kuwait.

1991: The U.S. military ousts the Iraqi army from Kuwait. Shia of southern Iraq rebel against Saddam Hussein, who puts down the rebellion brutally. Thousands of Shia are killed.

1991-2003: Iraq is placed under economic sanctions. U.N. weapons inspectors destroy most of Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs.

2001: Al-Qaida, led by Sunni Muslim fundamentalists, mounts attacks in the United States, killing 3,000 people. The United States invades Afghanistan and ousts the Sunni Taliban government.

2003: The U.S. military invades Iraq, topples Saddam. An Iraqi insurgency erupts, led by Sunni Baathists and al-Qaida.

2005-2006: Iraqi elections bring Shiite political parties to power in Baghdad, backed by Iran. Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence intensifies.

2005: Hard-line fundamentalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is elected president in Iran. Iran pursues acquisition of nuclear technology.

2006: War breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The U.N. Security Council imposes economic sanctions on Iran in response to nuclear activities.

2007: The United States sends additional troops to Iraq.

a reply to: SLAYER69

There has always been an outsider interference that kept the pot boiling for centuries...Iranians have had nothing against the Sunnis ,Jews,Christians or anybody else throughout the history...But past and recent Empires have always tried to pull this plot by spreading fear and propaganda against Iran and the Shiites in general...They have won a few times and lost a few,and this time it doesn't look like they are winning at all.

This is gonna be a major disaster and possible WW3.

a reply to: shapur

Iran openly supports the Alawite minority regime in Syria, and their brutal assaults on the majority Sunni rebellion... In both Iraq and Syria it is Sunni vs Shiites.

It is a conflict that is very old... The Iranians have been involved covertly and overtly in all of it... Peace in Iraq from and Iranian perspective would be a Shiite dominated Iraq fully allied with iran... For that to happen there will be bloodshed and war.

It's too bad that the Iranians and Saudis fight these proxy wars like this, and don't have the balls to confront each other directly in battle and end it all one way or another... Until they do, there will never be peace in that region.

In one fell swoop WE totally destabilized that entire part of the world and are thereby responsible for everything that happens there since the execution of Saddam.