Yet another sign of how wonderful things are for the people of Iraq:
"(In downtown Baquba before a battle between the Shiites and the Sunnis) Shiite militiamen had distributed fliers in the morning warning Sunni store owners to keep their shops closed or face death, said (a shopkeeper). Sunni Arab guerrillas then put out fliers telling the store owners to open their shops or risk death."Slightly worse than being forced to choose between tossing the salad of Roseanne or Rosie. Tough spot.
And in other war related news, the Supreme Court steps up and essentially gives the Bushies a firm little spanking. Yes, it's certainly a defeat, and yes it's certainly nice to see the drunk with power Bush have those powers checked, but it still strikes me as a fairly narrow defeat because how many trials were we really going to have anyway?
By the way, Justice Thomas knows how to speak? Obviously kidding, but pretty strong move (I guess) in reading his dissent from the bench.
Good point. Because those Sunnis and Shiites got along just fine before we showed up.
Posted by: Jack Klompus | June 30, 2006 at 07:46 AM
"Good point. Because those Sunnis and Shiites got along just fine before we showed up."
Where did I say they got along fine before we showed up? Obviously, things were bad before we went in, but (i) were they really as bad as they are now; and (ii) wasn't it our administration who was painting a picture of how much better things would be?
Posted by: Jackie | June 30, 2006 at 07:51 AM
"(i) were they really as bad as they are now;"
Well, not for the Sunnis. Maybe because the ruthless dictator was himself a Sunni. But the Sunnis only made up 20% of the population. Thus, things are undoubtedly better for the Kurds and Shiites when they don't have to worry about Saddam's genocidal campaigns.
Posted by: Jack Klompus | June 30, 2006 at 08:41 AM
I say bring back totalitarian rule for Iraq.
Posted by: Bluehorseshoe | June 30, 2006 at 09:16 AM
There's comedy, there's high comedy and then there's Bushies desperately grasping at straws to justify the massive loss of life and money in Iraq by characterizing the terrorizing of Iraqi citizens as "better" since we got there.
Posted by: briandtw | June 30, 2006 at 10:29 AM
Hey, briandtw, you got facts to back up those comments? Or are you just throwing out brain farts?
Posted by: slinger | June 30, 2006 at 10:41 AM
Which facts? The cost in lives and money? That's kind of a given. The fact that the administration has been spinning every news nugget to say that things are improving? That's been kind of obvious too.
At least under Saddam, 20% of the population was able to live out their lives in some form of security. Now, the whole place (with the exception of the Kurdish north) has gone down the crapper. And even the north was doing fine pre-invasion because the no-fly zone had, for all intents and purposes, made the north an independent country. Pre-invasion, there was a government monopoly on wholesale killing, now everybody is in on the game. That is not an improvement.
Posted by: daveNYC | June 30, 2006 at 11:49 AM
too right, US should let em slug it out until one of the 3 gets the upper hand and can unleash a Rwanda-style ethinic cleansing, THEN back those guys.
It's what Kissinger would do....
Plus would be years of great TV and keep Christina Armanpour in nice outfits forever ( which she needs now the hubby Jamie got the sack )
Posted by: Bluehorseshoe | June 30, 2006 at 01:12 PM
Kissinger already learned the hard way not to make one of the classic blunders.
Posted by: daveNYC | June 30, 2006 at 02:50 PM
I'm no political scientist and am far from an isolationist, but I do the calculations this way.
Iraq (pre-invasion) -- Complete shithole. Almost entire country lives in fear of completely batshit madman and his terrorist thugs.
Iraq (post-invasion) -- Complete shithole. Almost entire country lives in terror of completely batshit mullahs and warlords and their terrorist thugs.
The difference in the math is 2,500+ American lives (and hundreds more from our allies) and $500 BILLION.
Posted by: briandtw | June 30, 2006 at 04:14 PM
I don't believe anything this Administration nor the news media says. I do, however, listen to the soldiers who are over there fighting. Maybe they are spinning when they say things are getting better. Maybe not. But the way I see it, if they are physically over there risking their lives, I'm gonna take their words until I see better evidence to prove otherwise.
Posted by: Jack Klompus | June 30, 2006 at 07:57 PM
Or maybe it's getting better for the soldiers because the locals are spending more time shooting at each other. Rock on bubble boy.
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