[Cid_Yama]

So far, at least, the only political bloc in Iraq to support the US-Iraq agreement that would allow the continuation of the American occupation are the Kurds. It doesn't look like there will be any agreement at all before November, and possibly -- as I've been predicting since last spring -- they simply won't reach an accord at all.

Making the chances for a pact worse, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the pro-Iran Shiite clerical leader in Lebanon -- who has lots of connections in Iraq, and who is himself an Iraqi -- called for an immediate end of the occupation, in a fatwa, and added:

"No authority, establishment or an official or nonofficial organization has the legitimacy to impose occupation on its people, legitimize it or extend its stay in Iraq,"

Fadlallah said that any pact should call for an "unconditional withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq," and put a "fixed and imminent timetable for a complete American withdrawal from Iraq."
link

[ColonProwell]

American people want US out, but that don't count with the hijackers of the us government.

[bodigami]

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[mos6507]

other remarks deleted per COC section 2.1.4. by Eastbay

[Taghayee]

Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the pro-Iran Shiite clerical leader in Lebanon --

Fadlallah is not Pro Iran. He could be termed as one of the opponents of iran and Iranian Shi'i school. Alot of Iranian Ayatollahs in fact question his legitimacy as a Grand Ayatollah.
He is pro social justice. Thats his duty and his entire legitimacy in the eyes of tens of millions depends on it. Ayatollahs are not to be mistaken with puppets like ubl or the mullah omar of the taliban. These guys are very educated. They are like the modern versions of Thomas Aquinas or Gratian.

[Cid_Yama]

<i>He supported the ideals of Iran's Islamic Revolution and advocated the corresponding Islamic movement in Lebanon. In his sermons, he called for armed resistance to the Israeli occupations of Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, along with opposition to the existence of Israel. He holds relatively liberal views on the status of women.</i>
link

[Taghayee]

There appears to be a big gap between the ideals of the Khomeni's revolution and the realities that it has brought about according to a good chunk of shia scholars. Fadllalah is one of them.

[Cid_Yama]

<i>Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah’s liberal fatwas, or edicts, have shocked conservative Muslims around the world.

Borzou Daragahi (Los Angeles Times)

“… Fadlallah is more of a reference for modern Shiites [than Sistani is]…” [said Fadlallah's aide, Hani Abdullah.]

On gender issues in particular, he takes positions that raise eyebrows among his conservative counterparts, such as questioning the conventional Islamic prohibition on female judges and challenging the traditional view that a woman’s place is in the house and the man’s in the workplace.

“The belief that it is disgraceful for the man to manage household tasks is derived from the social culture and not from Islam,” he says in a statement on his website. “Personally, I think that no woman would be obliged to bring her social life to a standstill just because she is being occupied with her children.”

Also from his website: “Knowledge is a merit for man and woman equally, and the importance of acquiring it is identical to both of them.”

A statement from Fadlallah’s office said he opposed a man “using any sort of violence against a woman, even in the form of insults and harsh words….”</i>

link

He is certainly not conservative, but he is still Shia.

Frankly, his views are extremely radical in the Islamic world. A man after my own heart. Let's take the world to task, and make a better place to live.

[Carlhole]

On Iraq, McCain doesn't have a clue - Salon.com

The result was that while McCain stumped the country this summer, berating Obama for his willingness to "surrender" in Iraq and promising to win "victory" and "honor" for America, the Bush negotiators quietly capitulated to the Iraqi demands. A final draft of the SOFA terms that has circulated recently sets Dec. 31, 2011, as the date for full withdrawal and includes withdrawal of U.S. troops from all cities and villages by next summer. Changing those terms would require a full renegotiation of the treaty and ratification by the Iraqi Parliament.

In other words, the White House abandoned its own long-held position and completely undercut McCain at the same time.

So much for the fantasies of the neoconservatives, who once imagined the new Iraq as a permanent base for American troops in the Middle East, with a client government that would reflect U.S. priorities. What has come to exist instead is an Iraq much closer to Iran than to the United States, one that will countenance no permanent U.S. bases and prefers that our troops depart sooner rather than later.

[bodigami]

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[bodigami]

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[timmac]

U$A, get the f_ off all other countries. That is a direct order from me; samael.cero

anagami get the f@# off this website with your weird assclown posts...

[mattduke]

In 2007 I did a seven-month deployment to Iraq. I was posted in multiple farming and fishing villages in al Anbar province. However, I do not wish to discuss the war or national defense. I want to concentrate on what, in my estimation, was a much more important issue to the people in the villages: money.

A nice story and a bit of hope for American dollar crash survivors.
http://mises.org/story/3724

[mattduke]

At least 132 people have been killed and 520 injured in two car bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraqi officials say.

The blasts hit the ministry of justice and a provincial government office near the heavily fortified Green Zone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8324546.stm

[Mesuge]

ERROR

In fact the place went ballistic in early 1990s after BND & friends talked Slovenia and Croatia into rapid Yugo Fed. brake-up trajectory as they will be guaranteed all the political, financial and military help they may ask for.

Similarly, each faction then supported their little enclave inside the most contested region, i.e. inside Bosna aka the traditional keg of gunpowder.

[dukey]

You yanks should not have killed Saddam. You should have given him a suit and put him back in charge, whilst "watching" over him. Yes, he was a brutal despot but he kept a kind of law and order.

Bit like Tito in Yugoslavia. Place went ballistic when he went.

You cant control these people with our western "democracy"

Gasmon

They did, Saddam was groomed and put into power by the CIA.

[rangerone314]

Iraq should be divided into Kurdistan, Shiastan, and Carbombistan.

[Oilguy]

The elections in Iraq on March 7, 2010, are likely to serve as an important indicator of the prospects for a resolution of the long-running dispute over the administration of the ethnically mixed and resource-rich province of Kirkuk in the north of the country.

The Iraqi Kurds have repeatedly called for Kirkuk to be transferred to the control of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which already administers three provinces in the predominantly Kurdish north of Iraq. The other ethnic groups in Iraq – including the Arab-dominated government in Baghdad – are equally insistent that Kirkuk should remain under central control and that any oil or gas revenues should be divided between the entire population of the country rather than all going to the KRG.

The failure to resolve the issue of the eventual status of Kirkuk threatens not only prospects for permanent political stability in Iraq but also hopes of extracting the province’s huge reserves and building new oil and gas pipelines from Kirkuk to Turkey, and from there to energy-hungry Western markets.

“We are very interested in the oil and gas reserves in Kirkuk. Who wouldn’t be?” said one executive from a leading European energy company. “We would like to invest in the region, perhaps even become involved in building one of the pipelines. But we can’t do anything unless this issue is resolved. At the moment, the risk of political instability is just too great.”

The Iraqi Kurds have long maintained that, historically, Kirkuk is a Kurdish province but that it was subjected to a process of Arabization under former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who deported a significant proportion of its indigenous Kurds and replaced them with ethnic Arabs. No one doubts that such a campaign was launched, although the scale of the deportations is hotly disputed.

Since the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, the KRG has assumed de facto control of education and security in Kirkuk. Other ethnic groups have accused the KRG of resettling hundreds of thousands of ethnic Kurds in the province, including not only those who were originally from Kirkuk but also a large number of Kurds from other areas. They claim that the KRG’s ultimate aim is to change the demographic balance in the province in the run-up to a constitutionally required – but long overdue – referendum on the status of Kirkuk. They fear that, if a referendum results in a vote for union with the KRG, the Iraqi Kurds will attempt to use the revenue from the province’s oil and gas reserves as the economic foundations for their long-held dream of an independent Kurdish state. It is a prospect which alarms not only the Iraqi government in Baghdad but also several of the country’s neighbors. Syria, Iran and – particularly – Turkey all worry that the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq will further fuel secessionist tendencies amongst their own already restive Kurdish minorities.

The evidence on the ground in Kirkuk suggests that there is some truth to the allegations of demographic manipulation. In September 2009, local officials in Kirkuk estimated that the population of the province stood at 1.4 million, up from 850,000 at the time of the US invasion in March 2003. More significantly, the voter registry in Kirkuk has increased from 400,000 in 2004 to 900,000 for the March 7 elections. A dispute between Kurds and other ethnic groups over how many seats to allocate to Kirkuk to accommodate this huge increase in voters resulted in the entire election being put back two months after originally being scheduled for January 2010

Full article at: http://www.oilprice.com/article-iraqi-e ... erves.html

[Plantagenet]

Ten years ago today the US invaded Iraq. The most recent poll shows 53% of Americans think the war was a mistake while 45% of Americans think the war was justified

What do you think now? What did we learn from the war? What lessons didn't we learn ?