Now his loyalists bomb the hotel which is used as UN Headquarters in Baghdad. Fifteen dead so far. They continue to dismantle the infrastructure (oil, water, power) through ongoing terrorism... and see the blame shifted to the US for the ongoing problems.
I was watching Nightline, and I couldn't believe that they are sabotaging everything they can. They are hurting their own country! Are they that stupid? They blew up some water pipes and some oil well, costing the Iraqi people billions of dollars in revenue.
I heard Tom Friedman on IMUS in the Morning the other day. He revealed the truth behind part of the problem with the electrical supply in Iraq. Saddam only ever ran the system at 2/3rds capacity AND he directed virtually all that capacity towards Baghdad and Tikrit. Since the war, the US is running the system to as much capacity is capable but distributing it evenly around Iraq. We are just so terrible!
I'm saddened by this bombing. I am particularly sad that the UN didn't feel strong security was necessary. This left the open a door for a terrorist act. No matter how well-intentioned the UN's mission is...it makes no difference to those who are willing to strike with violence. These terrorists are not making a distinction between anyone no matter why they are there and how noble the reason. I hope the UN decides they cannot operate without strong security from here on out. Damn.
You're not by any chance a psychic, are you? Shouldn't John Edwards know if Saddam or Usama is still alive?
It would definitely seem counterproductive for the Iraqi Resistance to be blowing up infrastructure as it could turn the people against them. I saw a CNN report this morning in which a US official or a reporter? was explaining how hard it will be to defeat the resistance militarily unless the people turn against them. From a tactical point of view I guess you can argue that if you stop oil production, it makes the occupation more expensive for US taxpayers and less desirable for US oil companies. Also if you have to guard every kilometer of pipeline and electrical transmission line it makes it harder to keep US troops safe. It is confusing. At times the Adminstration and war supporters claim Sadam is just an old man in hiding , cut off from communication. When resistance flares, they blame him for it. Those who opposed the war always claimed that there would be horrible unknown repercussions due to the war and it wouldn't be like Parisians cheering the troops as they were lberated from the Germans. So far I would say that the anti-war faction was much more accurate on the postwar mess, while the pro war faction was more accurate on the ease with which Baghdad initially fell.
What's ironic is that there are far more Islamic terrorists active in Iraq now than before the invasion.
Um, right or wrong, we hostilely invaded and conquered their sovereign country, and killed almost ten thousand innocent mothers, fathers, sons and daughters in the process. Why are we surprised when this violence is reciprocated? They're human, just like we are: they feel pain, anger and vengeance just like we do. All violence is terrible, but these bombings shouldn't come as a surprise. Would you sit by and welcome with open arms Iraqi invaders after they slaughtered half your family? Of course not. Why are we allowed to feel pain, but they aren't?
I don’t have time to get too drawn into political thread, but I’d just like to comment that I doubt that this or much if any of the other terrorism that’s been taking place there recently has anything to do with Saddam’s loyalists. Every anti-American terrorist group in the Middle East must be in Iraq by now, and they’ll all have the goal of trying to make the American efforts there fail. Some will just be taking advantage of the fact that the US has provided targets for them right in their backyard, and other will be more focused on ensuring that any western backed government fails and that an Islamic theocracy is the end result. As we discussed before the war, this war was never really about Saddam. Nobody like him. It was and is for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, because that is what will define the nature of the next state of Iraq and determine whether the intervention actually resulted in the liberation of the people of Iraq and a lasting positive change, or not.
It seems they should be use to pain since they were ran for years by Saddam, he along with his sons killed 34,614 innocent women, children and man...I'm sure they have felt pain for longer than any could imagine...unfortunately, "somebody", wants to take the bandage off the wound and make it worse for the people of Iraq. Somebody wants the people of Iraq to suffer even more pain, and this is gravely unfortunate...
Most of yall know this, but it's reported...Sergio Viera de Mello, top UN envoy to Iraq has been confirmed dead in the attack.
It still boggles my mind that the US continues to attribute these attacks to "Saddam Loyalists". I believe that it is quite possible that some of the attacks may be perpetrated by pissed off Iraqis, happy that Saddam is gone but pissed at the US forces, who they see as occupiers rather than liberators.
I don’t think the terrorist really care about the people of Iraq. They just want to show that the US can’t manage the situation, can’t succeed at what it’s trying to do, and they want the US to be blamed for the failure. That is why this was such a tricky operation from the beginning. It was never as simple as just removing a corrupt tyrant who nobody liked. It was a situation that involved the political situations throughout the Middle East.
Counterproductive? Probably the opposite, terrorism thrives on human misery. What's a little inconvenience to Iraqis, anyway, when you've got martyrdoms commit?
