BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 6 - A dozen American marines were believed to have been killed today in fighting at a former government compound in the city of Ramadi, near Falluja, a military official in Washington said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said details were still sparse and that it was unclear whether the marines had been attacked or had launched an assault on forces believed to be linked to the former regime of Saddam Hussein. News agency reports cited reports of dozens of Iraqi casualties, as well.
Earlier, the American military said that five marines and three American soldiers had died in clashes in Baghdad and Falluja, 35 miles to the west, during the last two days, as fighting between the American-led coalition and Iraqi militias continued to roil Iraq.
Christine Hauser and Kirk Semple, The New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Supporters of maverick Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr controlled government, religious and security buildings in the holy city of Najaf early Tuesday evening, according to a coalition source in southern Iraq.
The source said al-Sadr's followers controlled the governor's office, police stations and the Imam Ali mosque, one of Shia Muslim's holiest shrines.
Iraqi police were negotiating to regain their stations, the source said.
The source also said al-Sadr was busing followers into Najaf from Sadr City in Baghdad and that many members of his outlawed militia, Mehdi's Army, were from surrounding provinces.
CNN
Not to mention all the other stories of soldiers and civilians dying.
Was this the plan the Bush administration had all along?
Or is this what comes from not having a plan at all?
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
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-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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quote:The only unequivocally good policy option before the American people is to dump the president who got us into this mess, who had no trouble sending our young people to Iraq but who cannot steel himself to face the Sept. 11 commission alone.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Bah! Listen, a LOT of this has to do with the fekking media spinning things out of control. The "Gulf Part II" as THEY dubbed it didn't go long enough for their ratings - so they have to do something so people can go back to having their channels on 24 hours a day like Sep 11, Afgahnistan and The Invasion of Iraq.
I think the situation in Spain - where the socialists were swept into power due to a terrorist act was a very bad thing as it just fueled the fire to terrorists saying if they do something heinious enough they can make a change on the way the Western World thinks. Terrorists aren't going to stop bombing people because they pull out of Iraq. A person is intelligent; 'people' are not. Our whole world has changed due to a handful of dispicable individuals (sep11). Who holds the greatest power in the world. Evil fear-mongers or the free peoples of the west? What lasting peace can be derived from cowtowing to thugs, petty criminals and murderers. These people have death-wishes. They should be pitied as their entire lives have involved death and destruction.
Turning to Iraq - there is a power vacuum. And this young Shi'ite mullah in that Iraqi town 'says' he's greatful Saddam is gone - but obviously he wants what Saddam had for himself. Is everyone so disillusioned!?!
These people are murderers - they killed and hacked to death innocent visitors to their country. If that happened in any civilised country they would be hunted down and brought to justice.
People are having the wool pulled over their eyes through fear and ignorance. The media has a LOT to answer for - but seeing as just a few many control our media now and have become so powerful - any chance of answering to anybody about what they report is NOT going to happen. Sounds like the propagandist television of Eastern Bloc and Soviet countries of the Cold War.
And in reguards to soldiers being killed in Iraq all the time - they were sent there, knowing that they could be killed. Don't give up on them - they are doing what few others of us could do, and I salute them - whole-heartedly.
Maybe one positive thing that came out of the Madrid bombing is that the US people - maybe that should read the US media acknowledges that there is more than just the US in Iraq... there are many countries there trying to bring peace to the Iraqi people's lives. Yet a few thugs and rabble rousers - that have no jobs and no hope decide to join these gangs and militias. Hello Taliban
If anything more troops should be sent to Iraq to bolster support. That might mean the United Nations should join. If France and Russia stand by and let the country destroy itself, then they are just as bad as the people destroying the country itself. Russia might not have the money - but that hasn't stopped them before. France - has a crazy leader, one who needs to be closely watched.
Pulling troops out of Iraq will do nothing but let thugs and criminals think they have 'won' and to take over. The BIG problem with Saddam Hussein (well amongst LOTS of other things) was the wealth he ammassed from Iraq's innate wealth. Iraqi citizens could be VERY well off if the natural wealth of their country had been put back into the social and economic pool of Iraq. The place is in abject poverty. A lot would blame sanctions and war... that didn't seem to stop Saddam and his Cronies from building hundreds of 'palaces'.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
Another case of the cancept being sound, just not the execution of it....
GUI and WIN is another example....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
Excuuuse ME, princess? The MEDIA have a lot to answer for? "They have to do something so people can go back to having their channels on 24 hours a day"? Has all that UV radiation pouring through the hole in the ozone layer begun to affect your brain or something? The media (for the most part) recount what this invasion has LED TO, what is actually HAPPENING in Iraq as a result, yet THEY should ANSWER for reporting the FACTS? THAT is propagandist television, fool.
Regardless, pulling out is no longer an option. Not because it would be an act of kowtowing or "let the thugs and criminals know they've won", but because the coalition is now morally OBLIGATED to rebuild the place for bombing it to the ground, NOT France and Russia. Thought of that? The UN should join, you say? Too damn bad it was SHUT OUT of the war and is now an international farce, eh?
Oh, and nobody's giving up on the soldiers. But everybody IS giving up on the people who order them around. You want to talk crazy leaders who need to be closely watched? Start with Bush and work your way east from there.
I'm gonna take a shower to put these flames out. G'day mate.
[ April 08, 2004, 04:23 AM: Message edited by: Cartman ]
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
"Another case of the cancept being sound, just not the execution of it...."
No, the concept of this war (pre-emptive unilateral invasion as opposed to international response to foreign aggression) sucked just as bad as the execution, really.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I hope the muslim fundamentalists don't get control over all of Iraq, then it could possibly be a worse regime than Saddam's.
Registered: Aug 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
Well, that's the risk of hastily installing a democratic government in any social and religious snake pit...
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I think we're trying to please too many factions all at once: we want democracy in Iraq, but we dont want them to elect a theocracy worse than Saddam's rule. We dont want to be stuck ruling over a colony but we want Iraq to be a progressive muslim nation moreso than any other. We want Iraq to police itself but as news yesterday showed, the police areaiding the insurgents in attacking US troops (with handguns we gave them to maintain order!).
The US needs to stop splitting hairs, back ONE person as Iraq's leader, kill these bastards that would drag our dead through the streets laughing and make sure Iraq doesnt become a terrorist breeding ground by improving the overall quality of life, thus making the man in the street out friend.
Somehow.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
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posted
The US already are backing one person: Ahmad Chalabi. Of course, there is the slight problem that the good man hasn't actually set foot in Iraq for, oh, fifty years and consequently has ZERO authority there, but he's the pentagon's heartthrob, so they must know something we don't, right?
[ April 08, 2004, 11:36 AM: Message edited by: Cartman ]
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posted
Or they're only backing a puppett and everyone already popular in Iraq got that way by being vocally anti-american.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Cause our backing puppet goverments has worked REALLY well in the past.
Paging the Shaw...Paging Mr. Shaw of Iran.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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