How many innocent Iraqis will be killed in the Basra 'crackdown'?

[bigtree]

Iraqi PM promises crackdown on Basra violence

Staff and agencies
Wednesday May 31, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1786889,00.html

{snips}

The Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, today said "an iron fist" would be used against gangs threatening security in Basra.

Speaking on the first day of a visit to the southern city, intended to stem escalating violence between rival Shia factions, he said security should come "first, second and third".

He denounced a series of killings and kidnappings that Sunni religious leaders have blamed on Shia-run death squads, saying: "We will beat with an iron fist on the heads of gangs who are manipulating security.

"What is going on in this city, the city of martyrs and sacrifices? We will not let Basra keep bleeding with the existence of these gangs while there are full security forces in it."

report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1786889,00.html

Is this self-defense? Can our soldiers be 'excused' for any atrocities that will likely be committed in the course of the Basra 'crackdown'?

Notice: I won't 'support' any soldier who kills innocent women and children in this 'crackdown', orders or not.

[Virginia Dare]

1. If this is what it takes to win this war....

then fuck it, get our troops the hell out of there. We are heading straight for Armageddon. We never should have been there in the first place.

[Sparkman]

3. R U justifying the wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians? Please expla

ine. The U.S. soldier-volunteer can go awol-insubordination, his/her choice, rather than participate in the slaughter of non-combatants. This of course would result in the forfeiture of any freedoms for awhile, and no honorable discharge and the military pension and the military benefits for the soldiers' families. Then there's the comradary at stake and the team sustaining additional moral erosion from consciencious insubordination.

[Virginia Dare]

6. No...

I'm just saying get our troops out of Iraq, we never should have been there in the first place.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Hard number to come up with but one thing is for sure

"Compassionate christian conservatives" in America won't give a fuck how many die. They are way too proud to admit they have been wrong, lied to, duped and made to look like fools by their heroes. So let the killings continue; praise the Lord.

[Taxloss]

4. This may prove to be very ugly indeed.

For a start, the governor of Basra is no fan of the coalition, and local forces aigned to him regularly clash with British forces. It's a real tinderbox.

[Sparkman]

5. Soldiering is OPTIONAL, killing is a CHOICE, we choose our MASTERS.

When we lie with dogs...

[gratuitous]

7. I'd put the over/under at 125

Anybody want some action on that? I mean, as long as there's wholesale killing involved that I can't stop, I might as well turn a buck on it, right?

The foregoing post is meant as sarcasm, a concept that eludes some folks of low intelligence (lurkers, you know who you are), and is meant as a parody of the sentiments of those known as the 101st Fighting Keyboarders, warmongers who cheer on death and mayhem for others while sitting safely at home, denouncing people who oppose such things.

That said, if any lurkers are dishonest enough to copy-and-paste any of the foregoing as "evidence" that the progressive left is somehow cheering on the deaths of innocents, you might at least have the decency to include the entirety of this post. But I know you won't.