Iraqis Ask Why U.S. Forces Didn’t Intervene in Balad

[ECH1969]

American military units joined with Iraqi forces on Monday in maintaining a fragile peace between Sunni and Shiite communities in Balad, a rural town north of the capital where an explosion of sectarian violence over the weekend left dozens dead.

In the aftermath of the reprisals, some residents of Balad asked why American troops had not intervened when the killings began in earnest on Saturday. One of the largest American military bases in Iraq, Camp Anaconda, which includes a sprawling air base that serves as the logistical hub of the war, is nearby.

“People are bewildered because of the weak response by the Americans,” said one Balad resident who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. “They used to patrol the city every day, but when the violence started, we didn’t see any sign of them.”

The senior officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject, said that American commanders viewed the upheaval in Balad as a new test for the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has come under American pressure to crack down on militias that have been responsible for much of the killing in the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[babylonsister]

1. i.e., we can't let anymore American troops get killed than is prudent.

Until it is.

[ECH1969]

3. I think the US officers were probably happy to watch

the insurgents and the Madhi Army pound each other.

[babylonsister]

4. Or didn't want to be involved. I agree. I wish someone would ask

the troops, seriously, how they feel about maintaining a presence in Iraq.
My uneducated guess is they all want to come home.

[Rose Siding]

2. So which was it? A test, or....

“We were waiting for a request from the Iraqi government,” he said.

[babylonsister]

10. It's beyond sick now, R S. This admin is done with no clue. nt

[Erika]

5. This is sick

bring our troops home.

[ECH1969]

6. Then you will have to live with real blood letting

mass genocide going into the millions. Its important that people realize exactly what the US leaving quickly means. It won't be like Vietnam where one side moved in and totally took over. In Iraq you will will have total war with Shia killing Shia, Sunni killing Sunni, and Shia and Sunni killing each other.

The US was testing to see if Iraqi security forces were willing to put out this fight in Balad. They failed and the US had to do it.

It is fine to believe we should leave tomorrow, but it is important to know exactly what would happen if we did.

[spag68]

8. Don't be silly

Deaths if we stay, deaths if we go, they have to solve their problem and we can't get caught in the middle. I understand your point, but we are not there to help them, we are there to help oil company's. Bring them home or redeploy, but get them out.

[ECH1969]

9. No you don't seem to understand what I am saying

I am not taking about 2-3 thousands of deaths a month like we see now I am talking about hundreds of thousands of deaths a month for years and years. Butchery with modern weapons like the world hasn't seen in decades.

Why Bush took us to war has nothing to do with the question if we should let that happen or not.

[Egnever]

11. I agree with you completely

The question is what to do about it? Its a horrible situation we have put ourselves in. Clearly Iraq Required the heavy hand of Saddam to prevent exactly the Violence we are starting to see more and more of now.

Clearly we do not have the stomach for that kind of dominance over a population. So how do we address it?

It seems the option on the table at the moment is to prop someone up as quickly as possible. Put lipstick on the pig and hope no one see's through it.

[0007]

12. Put Saddam back in charge and then leave the country

This was total bullshit from the very begining.

[wordpix]

22. that was a funny joke at the beginning of the insurgency but now it looks

like a promising option. BushCo is so bad that Saddam now looks good in comparison

[whatelseisnew]

13. It is over 14,000 a Month, 14 freakin' Thousand a month

get off it already

[gratuitous]

15. I think the U.S. needs to leave and that right quick

Turn the peace-keeping aspect of things over to another agency, probably the UN. And we pay for it. It's our mess, but we are in no position to do any of the clean up. Nobody trusts us, and for good reason, and we can't be part of the solution because we're such a major part of the problem.

International peace-keeping force drawn from several countries, including Muslim countries, to establish order and begin a very difficult process of re-building a demolished society. And every bill gets sent to Washington DC, and we pay it with a smile. Anyone who objects and who favored this ruinous invasion in any way goes to empty bedpans at frontline hospitals without sidearm or insignia.

[ECH1969]

16. With whose troops does the world keep the Madhi Army

and the Sunni insurgency from killing each other?

[whatelseisnew]

17. You can't even get the death count right, but keep pushing that war

[mikeytherat]

18. With whose army did Saddam Hussein keep them from killing each other?

He didn't have anything near the military capability we have, and he kept them from going rogue on each other. In fact, with his decimated military, he kept most of the various factions from going rogue on each other. Now only the US military can keep the peace?

Sure, he ruled with no mercy and anyone who crossed the line (and their relatives, and their friends, and their pets) was crossed out, but we're using a similar model and we can't seem to keep everyone from smacking each other around.

We're not keeping the peace and we're not getting things under control - we're playing a deadly and futile game of Whack-a-Mole on a board the size of Texas. If this is our only plan, and our only course of action, we are fucked - stuck in the middle of a long, violent, deadly slog.

mikey_the_rat

[whatelseisnew]

19. How dare you question the new Noble Cause, only the USA can help!

sarcasm off/

[mikeytherat]

20. ONLY the U.S. Military can keep the "savages" from killing each other!

That, or a decimated, non-functioning military without an air force. Apparently, both work equally fine.

mikey_the_rat

[gratuitous]

21. I'm open to suggestions

How about the Saudis and Kuwaitis? Think of it as payment in kind for Gulf War I: The Beginning. We outfit them, pay them, and they patrol, police, protect and help their fellow Muslims re-build Iraq.

Your suggestion? Or are you here just to shoot down other ideas and complain about what a horrid mess the whole thing is as if by such complaint you're actually doing something?

[Rex]

7. I can sympathize, felt the same way after 911.

Why the hell didn't they shoot down those planes again? Can't use time as an excuse.

[wholetruth00]

14. Here's your answer, Irqis: THE US DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT IF YOU KILL

ONE ANOTHER!!! Wake up, fools!