WAR: Baghdad is Not Under Control, page 1

posted on Jan, 27 2005 @ 10:02 AM

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"Baghdad is not under control, either by the Iraqi interim government or the American military," reports John Burns of the New York Times. "I would definitely say it's enemy territory," confirms Col. Stephen R. Lanza, the commander of the Fifth Brigade Combat Team, a unit of the First Cavalry Division stationed in Baghdad. As the nation's capitol, securing Baghdad is critical to making Iraq's election process succeed.

www.nytimes.com
Starkly put, Baghdad is not under control, either by the Iraqi interim government or the American military.

..."I would definitely say it's enemy territory," said Col. Stephen R. Lanza, the commander of the Fifth Brigade Combat Team, a unit of the First Cavalry Division that is responsible for patrolling a wide area of southern Baghdad with a population of 1.3 million people.

...In the week that ended Sunday, according to figures kept by Western security companies with access to data compiled by the American command, Baghdad was hit by 7 suicide car bombings, 37 roadside bombs and 52 insurgent attacks involving automatic rifles or rocket-propelled grenades. The suicide bombs alone killed at least 60 people and injured 150 others.

...for the elections' credibility, Baghdad may matter most, because it is the nation's capital, and because, with its intermingled population of Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and other groups, it is Iraq's most cosmopolitan city and thus, American officials believe, the most promising place for the civic norms represented by the election to take root.

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Burns also sees residents too scared to go to the polls, reporting, "In one Baghdad office, only one of 20 people who were asked said he intended to vote."

The insurgency is widespread and growing, says another piece in the New York Times:

"More than two-thirds of all Iraqis live in districts that have experienced insurgent attacks in the past month, according to an analysis of new intelligence data."

www.nytimes.com...

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Meantime, reports the LA Times, "the 1,000-member police force (has) abandoned its posts" in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province.

In an odd and eery way, the Iraq situation foreshadows a similar, if extreme, version of the recent US Presidential election. One cannot help but wonder how many people courageous enough to go to the polls will be turned away, or how many ballots will be "lost" or "spoiled."

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[edit on 27-1-2005 by Banshee]

LazarusTheLong

posted on Jan, 27 2005 @ 12:54 PM

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Maybe the morale of the soldiers is starting to wain, as their benefits are being cut to shreds... and as more and more of the cities are being "given" to the insurgents...

the bad thing is that Iraq is so imbalanced as far as the different groups that want control, the only way things will get stable is by accepting democracy...
if they don't, then we will eventually give up and pull out... and things would get worse very fast...

where is a Saddam type tyrant when you need him to control the warlords/mullahs?

soficrow

posted on Jan, 27 2005 @ 01:12 PM

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Originally posted by LazarusTheLong

the bad thing is that Iraq is so imbalanced as far as the different groups that want control, the only way things will get stable is by accepting democracy...

where is a Saddam type tyrant when you need him to control the warlords/mullahs?

Hmmm. IMO - the corporate controllers don't want democracy - so they light fires, encourage intolerance and fighting, and find some puppet-tyrant to prop up and front for them...

Ie., Check out the link at the bottom of this post:
www.atsnn.com...