Iraq's George Washington?


Muqtada al-Sadr
The cleric, thought to have been in Iran in recent months, reiterated
the need for a foreign troop withdrawal timetable, ordered his militia
members to refrain from fighting Iraqi security forces and reached out
to Sunnis, who have been locked in bloody sectarian struggles with
Shiites in Iraq.

Dont shoot me....LMAO
but maybe, hmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
What if we negotiated with him, would he pull their country together?

We are negotiating with him. Probably have been since this whole thing
started. This is one of the hidden realities of war.

And yes he might just be able to pull that country together. I notice
that his retoric has toned down a bit since his return.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

I think they are trying to kill him AD.

What if someone in this government said to him, "Hey run for President,
if you are elected we will support you by starting immeadiate troop
reductions, and provide financial support to help you rebuild Iraq. In
return though, you have to stop, or at least show us a major reduction
in American Military casualties."

I wonder what could be!!!!!!what could be!!!!what could be!!!!

Negotians allways contain a mix of the carrot and the stick.

Be nice and we will also. (and by the way or assassin has you in his
sights so be nice)

be nice if the olive branch worked, however it has failed in that part
of the world for the last several thousand years so I don't hold much
hope of it working now.

I have often wondered how many times the olive branch has been used like
a switch to beat others into accepting the unacceptable vs how many time
it has just been extended with out attached strings.

Gardenforge, in the past the Us has actually done VERY well with
diplomacy in the Middle East. See, for example, the Wilson Fourteen
Points, the King-Crane Commission, AUB and AUC, the Roosevelt-Saud
talks, the Eisenhower-Dulles work on the 1956 invasion of Egypt by
France, Britain and Israel, etc. Appreciation for the US in the Arab and
Muslim worlds was sky-high for a long time, and, in my opinion,
deservedly so.

Then came Israel, and things started to fall apart, culminating with
this war on Iraq that the US neocons, led most prominently by Paul
Wolfowitz, got us into, thinking that it would be good for Israel.

It will take us decades to recover, but there is in the Arab and Muslim
worlds a deep reservoir of appreciation for the decency of the American
people, despite what our government has done.

Our military adventures in the Middle East have all failed, but one:
Lebanon (remember when the USS Missouri, IIRC, was hurling massive
shells around the place); Somalia; our backing of the Israeli military
which has created chaos in Palestine andits neighbors; Afghanistan; and
Iraq.

The one exception is the Gulf War, in which and with Kuwait's request,
we liberated Kuwait from Iraqi invasion. The Arab and Muslims worlds
generally applauded this, and admired the way Bush Sr. wisely stopped
the US troops when the Iraqis had been expelled. Even then the neocons
wanted Bush Sr and Collin Powell to push on to Baghdada. Bush Sr saw
through their motives, a thing the son was not able to do when he became
president.

So I think there is no reason to give up on diplomacy and friendliness;
there is a lot of reason to give up on bullying military action.

Oceans

Don't forget Sistani.

We have been and will want to continue talking with him. he may be more
of a key than Sadr, though Sadr's recent moves have elevated him
dramatically.

The us is now in Iraq on Sadr's sufferance, and this will become more
and more the case. If Sistani and Sadr ever unleash the Iraqi people
against our presence there, it will be all over. So far they have been
restrained, I think, while they tackle the question of
Sunni-Shi'i-Kurdish-Christian reconciliation. Once they get that sorted
out, and the shape of the future Iraq settled, will be the end for the
US presence there and Bush's posturing.

Meanwhile, more US and other troops will have died, and more money
wasted, and more antagonism to the US built up world-wide -- all for
nothing.

The US April 2006 NIE explained how every day longer we stay there is
WORSENING the terror threat to the US. And it is ironic that it is Sadr
and Sistani -- of all people -- who will bring this nonsense to an end.

Oceans

sadr, the next gw? are you kidding me.

where is all the womens groups up in arms, force submissions, burka's,
no freedoms to speak, stonings in the streets, islam shiite rule- sounds
like a good plan to me, who cares about women anyway right oceans?

you know the way that women are treated in that area, and to pretend
like human rights arent being violated in the shiite ran governments is
not telling the truth, but your the resident expert.

sadr should be shot, his rhetoric has cost the lives of good american
men, glad you have dismissed them so easily in your joy for some corrupt
individuals.

done

have you even been in the middle east, or is your a knowledge based on
books? just wondering.

if sadr was to be a defacto leader of iraq, the civil wars thats you
claim to be happening now would surely kick off in earnest. sunni
executions, and a war with the kurds, who are the bastard children of
iraq anyway.
sadaam would have been a better person the lead, before even considering
sadr...but his voice is the LOUDEST, and people respond to that for what
ever reason.

i believed you knew some very good insights about the happenings over
there, you almost had me convinced, then you went on the whole, hes a
great guy to finally put this behind us (paraphrased) rant and i about
lost my lunch in my shorts, my dog was looking at me like he might
actually get some human food, hahahahaha.... but seriously folks, WOW!!!
oh wow.

a real life Tom Clancy character DR Ryan. hahaha

Ocean the Dome of the Rock one of Islam's 3 holilest sites sits on the
ruins of the old Hebrew Temple so that blows your then came Israel
theory. The Jews were there a thousand years before Mohammad crawled out
from under his rock and decided that he and he alone was Gods Messenger.
These people have been killing one another for thousands of years and
there is no indication that they will ever stop. Oh and by the way one
of the headlines on the news today was that the U.S. had just attacked
an al-Sadar stronghold in Iraq, could it be that this rat is also
feeling the pressure and trying to negotiate a way to save his sorry
hide.

i apologize for the cut and paste...this was just sent to me from my
daughter...she was confessing to loosing our bet...lol

i bet for WW3 by end of year

she has more optimism




http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/52388/

Somewhere, somehow, Doc..You will reap what you sow..

Bull****..May your crop ripen!!

sure, thanks for the site link,,,,,

bobby-

would you advocate supressing a persons freedom to speak simply because
i doesnt match your own? thats crazy! you would have me not speak if you
could, thats simply absurd to me, its only freedom of speak if we're
iline with each other.

who's the real crock of shlt here, me or you.

i say speak your mind- however dilusional it may be

hey stay off my crop

bobby-

would you advocate supressing a persons freedom to speak simply because
i doesnt match your own? thats crazy! you would have me not speak if you
could, thats simply absurd to me, its only freedom of speak if we're
iline with each other.

who's the real crock of shlt here, me or you.

i say speak your mind- however dilusional it may be

hey stay off my crop

oooops.

im a goof, make you happy?

No, Doc..I don't want to suppress any one, not even you..

I just want the truth, something you can't quite seem to grasp..

You blame everything on the Democrats, when you know this is not
true..They are no worse than the Republicans..They BOtH suck!

You are a man, a soldier..Look into the mirror and place blame where it
belongs...Not where you would like it to be!!!