Iraq "Being Pushed Towards Civil War" says Iraqi President

[sabra]

http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=52998&CFID=16270274&CFTOKEN=57077418

Iraq "Being Pushed Towards Civil War" says Iraqi President

Following the bombing of one of the most revered Shiite shrines in Samarra, Iraqui President, Jalal Talabani has issued a warning that extremists are pushing Iraq towards civil war.

Whilst receiving a delegation from Salahuddin province Talabani told reporters “We are facing a major conspiracy that is targeting Iraq’s unity,” adding “We should all stand hand in hand to prevent the danger of a civil war.”

The attack at the Samarra shrine comes at the worst time for the countries stability following the elections held there last December. Talabani, told reporters he was working towards a government that would “bring stability to Iraq.”

[htuttle]

1. Pushed, pulled, kicked and dragged is more like it

[Roland99]

2. Something we've known for a couple of years now.

[gasperc]

3. no, yah think

with the golden dome severely damaged and no less than 29 mosques attacked recently, today I guess, on top of the SEVENTY PER DAY attacks on US personnel.

Gee, what makes him think that Iraq is on the brink of civil war? examples pleasssssssssssse.

[Hosnon]

4. I'll go ahead and call it now: RUSH: "Liberals have snuck into Iraq and

are aiding the insurgency to start a civil war to prove they were right and Bush was wrong. These folks are dangerous and will do anything to bring down the man they hate the most: President Bush."

Any day now I expect he'll say that...if he hasn't already.

[karynnj]

5. Well Kerry was there in January

AND just last week he disagreed with Dr Rice that Iraq's election meant they were making a lot of progress. He spoke of "low intensity civil war" and was lectured by Rice who said twice that no democracy ever started without an election - Kerry countered with an example that was likely obscure to Rice - the US became a democracy after a revolution.

[Hosnon]

6. Hmm...so Kerry himself is aiding the insurgency? The liberals will stop

at nothing in their quest to destroy American and its allies!

:eyes:

[karynnj]

8. If by acknowledging it exists, yes

That they have for 2 years ignored the advice that Kerry and others gave on ways to diminish the insurgency is the real problem.

In all seriousness, Bush has thrown away every chance. In October, Kerry's plan would have given the Sunnis the incentive they need to cooperate with the Shiites rather than to fight them. The November Cairo plan also dealt with the same thing.

[Hosnon]

9. All seriousness? Boo:) But yea I agree with that the possibility of civil

war was not properly addressed by the Bush Administration. They just went flying in guns blazing expecting those flowers to be thrown at them.

What were Kerry's plan and the Cairo plan?

[karynnj]

14. Kerry's plan and the Cairo plan

Kerry gave a speech at Georgetown University in late October last year. He had gone to Iraq the previous August, where he spoke with military leaders and Iraqi leaders. The basic things he called for were:
- To publicly say that we intended to be out in 12-15 months and that we wanted no permanent bases. The point of this was that it would make clear that we did not intend to be occupiers.
- To immediately take a lower profile - moving our soldiers out of the front lines. This included handing the Iraqis the search and destroy and policing functions. This would decrease thae anti-American sentiment and would shift the responsibility to the Iraqis.
- Do the diplomatic work to get minority rights for the Sunnis and help them work out their relationship

Here is a summary on his web site:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2005_10_26.html

Here's a truthout article on the Arab League effort from a meeting in Cairo.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/112205A.shtml

[VegasWolf]

7. Who could'a seen this coming? Fucking idiots! Wonder if Bill Maher

still thinks Bush policies might have worked to bring peace in the middle-east. Otherwise, I
love listening to Maher.

[Hosnon]

10. Yeah I love Maher and have agreed with him that the whole idea of

bringing democracy to the region is a wonderful idea. However, it appears that it cannot be done with force (Iraq) and even if it is, the people are not going to "cooperate" (Palestine, Iran).

If you give a country full of religious zealots the right to elect a leader guess what...they are going to elect a religious zealot.

We have to educate and change the mindset of the people in these countries. Bush's plan would have been wonderful if it worked but that does not seem likely and it appears that it may be a cardinal rule of democracy that it must be homegrown.

[VegasWolf]

11. Bill should stick to local American politics and forget about foreign

policy issues.

[Hosnon]

12. That's true...he's not very good at foreign issues. nt

[IsItJustMe]

16. Can we all agree that the NeoCon Idea of Democracy in every

country is not particularly a good idea. Look at what happened in Palistine.

These theories all sound good on paper but have some quit remarkable devestating consequences when placed in action.

[BattyDem]

13. Wow! We didn't see that one coming, did we?

No one could have possibly predicted it! :sarcasm:

[IsItJustMe]

15. It's a matter of 'when' not 'if'. I think I hear the fat lady.

and I think I can hear her singing. And when Iraq does split wide open, there isn't a chance in hell that the US will be able to control it.

What a horrific blunder.

[bemildred]

17. Destruction of holiest Shia shrine brings Iraq to the brink of civil war

By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 23 February 2006

Iraq took a lethal step closer to disintegration and civil war yesterday after a devastating attack on one of the country's holiest sites. The destruction of the golden-domed Shia shrine in Samarra sparked a round of bloody sectarian retaliation in which up to 60 Sunni mosques were attacked and scores of people were killed or injured.

---

In a number of respects civil war in Iraq has already begun. Many of the thousand bodies a month arriving in the morgues in Baghdad are of people killed for sectarian reasons. It is no longer safe for members of the three main communities ­ the Sunni and Shia Arabs and the Kurds ­ to visit each other's parts of the country.

"Iraq is in a Weimar period like Germany in the 1920s which will either end with the country disintegrating or in an authoritarian government taking power," said Ghassan Atiyyah, an Iraqi political commentator.

---

Although the US and the Kurds are demanding a national unity government, Shia leaders suspect that this is a manoeuvre by the US to keep them out of power. Washington has long been worried that the outcome of its invasion and overthrow of Saddam would be a Shia-dominated Islamic republic closely linked to Iran. It is also concerned with the rise of Mr al-Sadr, always against the occupation, to the position of power broker in the Shia coalition.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article347140.ece

[rodeodance]

18. (AP) Mosque Attack Pushes Iraq Toward Civil War

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=AnceHUojl3Kb1FeQohe3jNSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
Mosque Attack Pushes Iraq Toward Civil War

By ZIAD KHALAF, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago

SAMARRA, Iraq - Insurgents posing as police destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines Wednesday, setting off an unprecendented spasm of sectarian violence. Angry crowds thronged the streets, militiamen attacked Sunni mosques, and at least 19 people were killed.


With the gleaming dome of the 1,200-year-old Askariya shrine reduced to rubble, some Shiites lashed out at the United States as partly to blame.

The violence — many of the 90 attacks on Sunni mosques were carried out by Shiite militias — seemed to push Iraq closer to all-out civil war than at any point in the three years since the U.S.-led overthrow of
Saddam Hussein.

Many leaders called for calm. "We are facing a major conspiracy that is targeting Iraq's unity," said President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. "We should all stand hand in hand to prevent the danger of a civil war."....

[radfringe]

19. did anyone tell bush*?

or are they afraid of bursting the rose-colored bubble that he lives in?