Iraq: In The News, Now and Then
Jubilant Iraqis carry a flag of Iraqi militia Mahdi Army and a national flag after US troops dismantled checkpoints around Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City Tuesday Oct. 31 2006. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered the lifting of joint U.S.-Iraqi military checkpoints around the Shiite militant stronghold of Sadr City and other parts of Baghdad.
(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
AP reports: “U.S. troops on Tuesday abandoned checkpoints around the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the latest in a series of moves by the Iraqi leader to assert his authority with the U.S. administration.”
“More insurgent violence was also reported against civilians, with at least 11 people killed, including four children, and 21 others wounded when a suicide car bomber struck a wedding party in Baghdad.
U.S. forces disappeared from the checkpoints within hours of the order to remove the around-the-clock barriers by 5 p.m., setting off celebrations among civilians and armed men gathered on the edge of the sprawling slum that is under the control of the Mahdi Army militia run by radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.”
In related news…
Saddam trial witness describes massacre
AP reports: “A witness testified at Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial Tuesday that he survived a massacre by feigning death when Iraqi soldiers shot at Kurdish detainees lying at their feet.”
The witness, who testified from behind a curtain to conceal his identity, said he was one of dozens of prisoners who were taken in buses to an execution site in western Iraq in April 1988 during the crackdown by Saddam’s regime on the Kurdish population.
Saddam and six co-defendants are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the Operation Anfal crackdown, which the prosecution says killed some 180,000 Kurds. Saddam and one other defendant are also charged with genocide.
Ahhh, the good ol’ days. That’s what some must be thinking.
Right? Those folks that are calling for troop withdrawals, and suggesting that it’s America’s fault for creating hostility in the Middle East. That before Iraq, it was just a bed of tranquility. The U.N. was handling things, y’know. Like in Darfur.
Who would be saying that?
The day we hear a Democrat utter the words: “Maybe going into Iraq was a bad idea because these radical fanatics are blood-thirsty animals, they reject democracy, they resent Western culture, and perhaps it took a ruthless butcher like Saddam to keep them in line.” (And he preferred to wear Italian-tailored suits, too!)
The day we hear something like that from a liberal’s lips, then, maybe, we can all debate the issue from a fresh perspective.
But until then, we expect they’ll just keeping blaming Bush.
It’s politics, and it’s election season.