News from Najaf and Samarra
From
No Watermelons comes
this link to an email from a soldier:
bq. Did you see the big headline or watch the top-of-the-newscast story about the success of our sons and daughters in Samarra, Iraq?
bq. Of course, you didn't.
bq. I found mention deep in stories from The Christian Science Monitor and The Associated Press. But it took e-mails from Marine officers in Iraq to relay the importance of this positive news — so I could tell you.
bq. It shouldn't be this way. Yet journalism in America is broken. It has no foundation of values by which many Americans can relate and depend. The moral of this column is not about one side prevailing in news coverage on the war on terror. It's simply about fairness — about Americans getting both sides with the same prominence.
And more from this article in The Tennessean quoting an email from a soldier over there, this news verified from another source (cited in the article):
bq. ''The Najaf shrine — HUNDREDS of dead women and children were brought out after Sadr left,'' Rose wrote. ''They (Sadr's supporters) rounded them up during the battle and brought them in to be executed. Why? Because they anticipated the Americans would eventually enter the shrine and walk into a media ambush. We never went in. The people of Najaf love us right now because of that. They hate Sadr and want him dead.
bq. ''Have you heard that one yet (in the media)?''
bq. No we haven't. We just get one side. That's bad journalism — by a news media acting in concert with Kerry.
These left-handed Islam pigs are masters at Western Public Relations -- they know how to play the Liberals like a two dollar violin and the Liberals lap it up like nectar from the gods because it allows them to express their justification for their beliefs in
Foucault and Multiculturalism. Sorry Charlie - this is a known-broken meme and it deserves to be tossed on the midden along with Disco and Pet Rocks.
There is more -
the Commissar weighs in with a
Somerset Maugham parable -- short so I will quote it in full with all of Commissar's links:
bq.
Appointment in Samarra
A
merchant in Baghdad sent his
servant to the market. The servant returned, trembling and frightened. The servant told the merchant, "I was jostled in the market, turned around, and saw
Death.
bq. "Death made a
threatening gesture, and I fled in terror. May I please borrow your horse? I can leave Baghdad and ride to Samarra, where Death will not find me."
bq. The master lent his horse to the servant, who rode away, to Samarra.
bq. Later the merchant went to the market, and saw Death in the crowd. "Why did you threaten my servant?" He asked.
bq. Death replied,"I did not threaten your servant. It was merely that I was surprised to see him here in Baghdad, for I have
an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."
Finally, Wretchard at
The Belmont Club does one of his usual excellent analyses of the situation past, present and future - go read about the beginning of the end for a very few, very nasty people:
bq. The "International Herald Tribune" describes the brigade plus attack on Samarra by US and Iraqi government forces. The objective of the operation was to establish government control after the city council had been disbanded under insurgent threat.
Samarra is a city of 200,000 on the Tigris river about 120 kilometers north-northwest of Baghdad. It was the capital of the Abbasid caliphate in the 9th century, when palaces and gardens stretched for 30 kilometers along the river. That history is recalled in numerous archaeological relics whose massive construction make it a potential offensive nightmare. The Great Friday Mosque with its spiral minaret, for example, covers nearly 40,000 square meters -- four hectares, or about 9 acres -- with walls 35 feet high and walls nearly 9 feet thick. It is also the site of a replica of the the Imam Ali Mosque of Najaf, holy to Shi'ites, excepting that it is domed in blue tiles, but with the potential, like its southern counterpart, to become a massive redoubt.
bq. The
International Herald Tribune reports that an overnight assault by four American and two Iraqi battalions (for reference note that a division has about 10 battalions) took 80% of the city, killing 100 insurgents outright, and capturing the Shi'ite mosque, the city hall and a pharmaceutical factory site. The assault on the mosque itself
was carried out by the Iraqi army in its first major public debut.
Emphasis mine - Wretchard wraps up with this observation:
bq. In that respect the earlier American operation in Samarra resembled any Israeli Defense Force incursion into Gaza or the West Bank -- overwhelming but temporary. In fact, any all-American incursion into Falluja would probably have shared the same temporary character. But the American commitment to building a new Iraqi Army and Iraqi State is the bearing strategic fruit which provides the crucial difference. Imagine if the Israeli Defense Forces and a Palestinian Government Force could jointly seize a terrorist stronghold and then garrison it with a Palestinian Force. What if they could seize and hold? This is what American and Iraqi forces are achieving in Samarra; this is what can be done in October that could not be achieved in April, 2004. The view that Iraq is descending into a quagmire represents a valid concern, but it ignores three crucial achievements by US policymakers.
bq.
1. The piecemeal defeat of the threatened Sunni-Shi'ite uprising in April by holding the Sunnis fixed while militarily and politically defeating Moqtada Al-Sadr;
2. Rebuilding the Iraqi Army from a near-zero condition in April; and
3. Establishing an interim Iraqi government.
bq. Both Saddam and Sadr believed they could outmaneuver the Americans, who were, if the press is to be believed, singularly lacking in nuance and intelligence.
bq. Doubtless Zarqawi believes he can do the same.
Long may he cherish that hope.
Again, emphasis mine...
Posted by DaveH at October 1, 2004 11:18 PM
