Whats this I saw on CNN about Bush accepting a fundamentalist government

[Nicholas_J]

In Iraq?

They said that Bush said this in a recent interview. If so they must be worreid about the orders that Sistani gave to all of his followers to register to vote along with the members of the Mahdi Army.

This along with the news about shortening tours of duty might be an indication that things are going so bad that they are planning to pull out of Iraq

[Ron Green]

1. Why not? He's got one going here.

[SharonAnn]

2. And he likes the one in Saudi Arabia. His dad liked the one in Iran

since he sold weapons to them.

[LynnTheDem]

3. The Brits want to pull out in 10 weeks

That would leave...us. And 12 Moldovans.

[Nicholas_J]

9. Well I knew that the Brits were going to pull out

They had a scheduled troop reduction of 30 percent in a few weeks, which was why Bush was asking Blair to move troops out of the South and into the Baghdad area.

But this was something that scrolled along the bottom of the screen about something in an interview with Bush in the last few days.

Kerry could capitalize on this in the next few days if it gets more media coverage.

The Brits pulling out before the end of the year and the Poles going as well, leave no other nations with troops on the ground in Iraq.

Accepting a fundamentalist government is something Bush said absolutely no to when Bremmer left and the provisional government took over.

Things must be a lot worse than reported. Probably a lot more refusals from troops than we are being told.

Plus the indication that the terrorists have given allegence to bin Laden will bring many more terrorists into Iraq, as well as being proof positive that there were no prior links between the insurgents and bin Laden.

Kerry can have a field day with all of this.

[fearnobush]

4. Wouldn't be surprise if he annouced the war is over... Troops home

by Easter. Now that would be a disaster.

[BootinUp]

5. Seems like the repuke party

is going to fracture if they don't do something drastic. There just isn't going to be support for a long stalemate in Iraq. And they don't have a clue how to put this insurgency down.

[DBoon]

6. I predict...

After the pullout, Iraq vanishes completely from the US news media, so that US citizens have no idea how badly things there are going.

[sonicx]

7. bush said this in an AP interview

he said if iraq elects a fundie, it would be ok (since iraq's a 'democracy').

if course bush already knows who'd going to win, so it doesn't really matter...

[Nicholas_J]

11. I think Bush does not know who will be elected

as the elections are going to be under United Nations control. Ayatollah Sistani has issued orders for all of the Shia to register to vote and they will do so in a block, the Shia Mahhdi Army is now putting down arms and Ayatollah Muqtada has agreed to it. They are likely planning to run one of another Shia Ayatollah for Prime Minister, and theShia will vote Shia to a man, and they are 60 percent of the population, so they will be running the show, which will be unacceptable to the Sunni or the Kurds, so you are likely to see either a civil war, or a Shia run marjority government backed by U.S. force. Or the U.S. getting out quickly after the elections amd letting the whole thing fall to pieces and allowing Israel to pick up the piecesfulfilling the Biblical prophecy of and Iraq from the Eastern shores of the Nile to the Western Banks of the Euphrates.

Georgy does in fact fit the description of the anti-Christ in Muslim religious eschatology and in fact, the arabic word for BUSH does come up in the description of the dajjal(Islamic Anti Christ). But thats just playing with philosophical marbles.

Anyway, I think Bush knows that they have outfoxed him politically, but I think he really does not care as long as Haliburton controls the flowing of the oil, and we keep a military presence there to control the country. But I think he underestimates religious fundamentalism. No case in history has
a relgious movement been stopped by a secular one. If it is attempted it is very possible that the U.S. will be forceably converted to Islam in a hundred years time rather than the other way round.

[splat]

8. religious control is his theme

The separation of church and state doesn't matter to him here, so he doesn't see that as part of democracy.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Birds of a feather.

n/t

[Jacobin]

12. It's what they're gonna have, whether we like it or not

Saddam repressed the fundies, to our geo-political benefit. Now that Saddam is gone, the fundies are free to roam