Just blow up the dang shrine

Good idea.

Almost as good as starting this thread.

 

Some appearantly would rather risk more US troops than blow up one building.

If Nazis were hiding in a church, I'm sure the Allies would just give 'em a deadline.

Go patriots!

 

We do have to consider the fact that we are in a war in an increasingly hostile country. If we want to turn a third of the population COMPLETELY against us and balloon the ranks of al-Sadr's "militia," then razing the building is the right thing to do.

If we are there to try to create a peaceful Iraq, we must use other tactics. If the population sees that they are using a holy site to stage attacks, eventually support for al-Sadr will wane.

 

The thing is, you aren't talking about pissing off al-Sadr's "militia," you are talking about pissing off a third of the country, or over 10 million people. You think things are hot now? Wait until we raze the building and we have ALL of the Shi'ites against us.

 

A third of the Country? there are around 120 million Shi-ite muslims worldwide - blowing up their most sacred site would probably be a mistake many times more disastrous than the disastrous invasion of Iraq in the first place. Imagine if just 0.5% of those Shiite's decided to become hardcore, ready to martyr themselves terrorists -- that's 600,000 potential suicide bombers aiming at the US and US citizens. IMagine if 2% of Shiites decided to to do so -- that number jumps to 2.4 million. The scale of potential catastrophe is so great it's not even comprehensible.

Not to mention it would be beyond Al Qaeda's wildest dreams -- a massive constant clash of civilizations.

What a stupid thread.

 

The US troops in Iraq are in enough danger already. Bombing a holy shrine would breed thousands of more terrorists looking to kill Americans. Thus more troops would be required, and more taxpayer dollars to fund this gay war.

 

Anyone else notice how this war has gone from a war against terrorism to a full blown war on Islam?

Yet another reason for change, IMHO. Dubya wants Armageddon.

 

Isn't this shrine already being abused by Al-Sadr-- the George Costanza of terrorists...

 

i find this logic both persuasive and frustrating. frustrating because it truly means these guys can hide out in mosques and command from there with near immunity. but persuasive, because i agree it may make a dangerous situation even MORE dangerous. it's long-term logic...this guy will eventually die...but you'd be breeding hate in others who might not be otherwise be disposed to act on it.

 

It's not like they're hiding at your local church.


If we blow the place up and and more shiites get pissed and join the ranks of the insurgents, that means even more americans will die. The best thing to do is cut them off and starve them. They can't last there forever. Also, the article said if they do attack the place, they'll use Iraqi troops.

 

The Shi'ites as a group will not see it as us fighting "terrorists" (especially since until we invaded, Iraq had very little to do with terrorism), they will see it as us fighting their religion or Islam in general. As Sam pointed out, this action could have ramifications FAR beyond Iraq since the Shi'ite population worldwide is MASSIVE.

 

ya think so? i just think this guy holed up in a mosque...and now we have to decide what to do about that.

 

We should just pull our troops out and nuke the dang city.