U.S. blames Shiite militia for attacks

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

U.S. blames Shiite militia for attacks

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Rogue Shiite militiamen with Iranian weapons
and training launched three-quarters of the attacks that
killed or wounded American forces last month in Baghdad,
stepping into the void left as Sunni insurgents have been
dislodged, a top U.S commander said Sunday.

Attacks against U.S. forces were down sharply last month
nationwide, and military officials have expressed cautious
optimism that a security crackdown is working. At the
same time, the number of attacks launched by breakaway
factions of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia has increased,
said Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. second-in-
command.

He did not provide a total number of militia attacks. But
he said 73 percent of the attacks that wounded or killed
U.S. troops last month in Baghdad were launched by Shiite
militiamen, nearly double the figure six months earlier.

Odierno said Iran has sharply increased its support for
the fighters ahead of a September report to Congress on
progress in Iraq, leading to the surge in rogue militia
action.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070805/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[Botany]

1. And what about our good friends from the House of Saud?

The majority of the attacks on American troops in Iraq are from
Sunnis and they are backed by Saudi Arabia.

Iran = terror = al Qaeda = bin Laden = 9/11 = WMDs

"If you don't hate Iran than you must hate American troops."

[Igel]

2. Maybe.

Maybe not now, assuming what the article says is true.

You can't really tell. If you make the assumption that Shi'ites are 50% more lethal than Sunnis, they're about even. If the Sunnis go for lots of stupid spite attacks that have no hope of succeeding, so that Shi'ites are a lot more lethal, you're right and the status quo remains true. Hard to say definitively, though.

AQM won't be happy about this, though.

[dipsydoodle]

3. I think if anything its actually

Iran + 1953 + CIA + Savak = Blowback

[thunder rising]

4. dimes to dollars its Russia supplying the weapons

payback for Afghanistan.

Either way, everybody over there wants to kill an American. So far only the Kurds haven't been a problem. That's 'cause we haven't tried to disarm them. Kurds are "semi-autonomous" but we keep poking at the Sunnis and Shiites to stir up trouble.

Thinking about it, the Kurds are sitting back watching the mayhem since they will take on the winner of the first round. And they will take on the depleted US Military when it comes knocking. They have warned about the US, Sunnis, Shiites taking the oil fields.

Another random thought. We, the US, is quickly falling into the same financial trap that brought down the USSR. We are broke and our military is broken. We have to bail out of Iraq when the financial institutions fail. That's when we might have a lot of deaths. One reason to pull out now, before the financial collapse is to keep the troops safe.

[catnhatnh]

5. The United States has ALWAYS been at war with...

...Shitecia and allied with Sunnicia...

[Roland99]

6. omg. their lies are now hiding in plain sight.

[Timex]

7. Very confusing

I thought most insurgents in Iraq were related to Alqaeda - considered Sunni.

and I thought that the current Iraqi army- made up of a large percentage of Shiites - are helping the US fight the Alqaeda groups, so then why would Shiite militias backed by Iran fight them?