More Than 1,000 in Iraq's Forces Quit Basra Fight, page 1

More Than 1,000 in Iraq's Forces Quit Basra Fight

www.nytimes.com

BAGHDAD — More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.

(visit the link for the full news article)

These insurgents must be heavily supplied if they can resist one thousand soldiers in a single city. Perhaps this is one of the best pointers so far to a proxy war in Iraq. Will this help incite the coalition to attack Iran?

Personally speaking. These men are my heroes. The only way a war will end is if people refuse to fight. Perhaps they see the bigger picture and disagree it is worth fighting for. It is also pertinent to note it is their countrymen they are fighting against.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This just in:

Maliki Orders Nationwide Freeze On Raids Targeting Militiamen

Good move. Don't embarass yourself trying to command uncommandable men. See what I said about refusing to fight ending a war?

[edit on 2008/4/4 by SteveR]

reply to post by grover

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I caught you with those edited smileys grover.

reply to post by SteveR

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What can I say? Ya laugh until you cry.

reply to post by SteveR

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The current state of Iraq was 3 separate kingdoms/city states before the British came in (Basra, Mosul, and Baghdad).

Iraq should not exist in its nation form. The people are very different. If they want to stay connected as one nation, fine, but I highly doubt it.

As for the Basra news...This isn't exactly great news. The militias are still armed (Mahdis Army and the Sadrists) although a temporary ceasefire has occurred.

Does that mean Basra is in great shape? I doubt it. We keep hearing calls from the White House how Iran is fueling the fire, but I think its really our mercenaries that are fueling this hatred.

Our soldiers aren't intentionally creating havoc, but I can't say the same about Blackwater, Halliburton, and kroll (by far the worst and we don't even hear about them).

I really hope the Iraqi people can figure this mess out on their own. It doesn't seem the coalition forces are helping that much. If it turns out the country splits up, that'll be fine with me as long as other countries don't decide to invade...which is quite possible.

I just wish we didn't disband the military in the first place, we'd be gone by now...Maybe that was part of Bush/Cheney/Rove's plan? We're there "protecting" the Iraqis when the Iraqis could have been doing that had we not screwed up early on.

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