'Good & Honest' Iraqis Fighting US Forces--Gulf News (US general)

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalyhtical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com



1//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates Published: 9/6/2005, 06:25 (UAE)

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=168406



‘GOOD AND HONEST’ IRAQIS FIGHTING US FORCES

By Phil Sands, Staff Reporter



Tikrit: A senior US military chief has admitted "good, honest" Iraqis are fighting American forces.

Major General Joseph Taluto said he could understand why some ordinary people would take up arms against the US military because "they're offended by our presence".



In an interview with Gulf News, he said: "If a good, honest person feels having all these Humvees driving on the road, having us moving people out of the way, having us patrol the streets, having car bombs going off, you can understand how they could ."



General Taluto, head of the US 42nd Infantry Division which covers key trouble spots, including Baquba and Samarra, also said some Iraqis not involved in fighting did support insurgents who avoided hurting civilians.



SNIP



His comments come in stark contrast to the assertions of other top US figures, who persist in claiming all insurgents are either Baathists or Al Qaida terrorists.


SNIP



He added: "Who knows how big these networks are, or how widespread? I know it's substantial enough to be a threat to the government and it will be for some time."



(MORE)

[cliss]

1. I didn't realize the US military was also into alternate

realities. Notice the statement, "having us move people out of the way, having us patrol the streets...."

I'd say the US troops have been doing a little bit more than that: like scooping up innocent civilians and dumping them in Abu Ghraib; barging into homes & frisking women, children, even rooting around in baby cribs, even checking donkey carts for hidden explosives.

I think the situation is a little more complex than that, General. But I can see you're obviously not into subtleties.

[Supersedeas]

5. anxiety and self-deception is setting in

[ECH1969]

2. 'Good & Honest' Iraqis

Aren't the ones who make the news every night with spectacular suicide attacks.

[Jacobin]

3. Why not?

If the U.S. were invaded by China and occupied because of our WMDs and our belligerence and the fact that we invade other countries without a cause, and because they wanted to 'spread communism' (their form of government), would you fight to have the Chinese occupiers evicted from your country, or would you support the puppet government installed by the Chinese?

I know what I would do, and it wouldn't be cooperating with the occupying forces.

[ECH1969]

7. Because their names are added to militant web sites

After each suicide attack along with their family history. The Washington Post did an analysis of all the names and histories from different sites and information as did SITE and other groups. The WP even went so far as to get people in certain areas where the sites say that they are from to check with the family and in every case they confirmed the information.

[Jacobin]

10. So, using primitive weapons against a superior force is something

we should condemn as being, what? Unfair? Primitive? UnAmerican? Wrong?

That is an amazingly condescending attitude to have against an enemy ...reminds me of our characterization of the NVA.

[ckramer]

4. USA would be a paper tiger should this become a people's war

And that means

Iraq = Vietnam II

[annabanana]

6. For a Major General to admit that the people who are

fighting against us aren't all "jihadists or dead-enders" is a major departure. I'll bet he gets taken to the woodshed for this. To acknowledge that, oh, a shopkeeper who's been harassed and one of the HUNDREDS of new checkpoints recently set up in Bagdad might have a legit grudge against an occupying army is a very. big. deal.

[Sanity Claws]

8. I agree

Wonder where they are going to hide him. They don't want him talking like that.

[PassingFair]

12. He'll be sent to a timeshare

with Phil Sands, EX Staff Reporter

[burrowowl]

17. Is he up for promotion?

Guess he won't be or is it trying to look understanding to the Irakis whike whalloping to bits and pieces.

[u2spirit]

9. This General should be commended

and I'm sure he will also be retired, demoted or accidentally killed within 60 days!

[pinniped]

11. For starters, they leveled Fallujah.

Just an idea.

[sundancekid]

13. Taluto's unit is from New York state, how's that for context of "fearless"

here's a little squib and a video link too

Major General Joseph Taluto, Commanding General, 42nd Infantry Division, addresses New York Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to talk about the progress of the 42nd ID (Task Force Liberty) deployment to Tikrit. Video from 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detatchment.

http://www.dvidshub.net/video/?c=5

[Gloria]

14. Cool bananas!!

eom

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

15. wonder when the last time a MGen was KIA?

WWII?

[happyslug]

23. Vietnam, Air Force Major General killed in 1968

AF Major General ROBERT FRANKLIN WORLEY
http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7662

Lt Colonel John Paul Vann is often called a "Major General", but that was his rank in the South Vietnamese Army when he died in a helicopter Crash in 1972, his highest US Army rank was Lt. Colonel.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jpvann.htm


Whole list of Major Generals from the Civil War:
http://www.civilwarreference.com/people/kia.php
(During the Civil War a higher percentage of Generals died than any other rank, based on so few Generals and so many privates and the tactics of the time period).

I can not find a similar list for WWII, Vietnam or Korea, but a quick search came up with these two for Vietnam.

[happyslug]

25. After I did the above I Remember General Walker in Korea

Yes, a Lt General Not a Major General, but to my knowledge the highest ranking General to die in Combat since the Civil War (Walker died in a Jeep Accident while going to one of his units in Korea, while not shot, it was still a combat death in the sense he was in a combat Zone and with a fighting unit).

For more on General Walker:
http://www.geocities.com/generalwaltonwalker/11walkerbio.html

[geek tragedy]

16. It's not the Iraqis who are shooting at US troops who are the real

scumbags. It's the insurgents who are killing Iraqis that are the real villains.

[NNN0LHI]

18. Its the insurgents who are killing Iraqis that are the real villains?

I think the Iraqis who are getting killed by other Iraqis are being targeted as collaborators. Why does killing collaborators make someone a villain?

Don

[geek tragedy]

19. Because they're not collaborators.

Election workers and people trying to vote are not collaborators.

[NNN0LHI]

22. The elections were over months ago

I had no idea you were talking about elections. My mistake for not assuming you were talking about the elections.

Don

[northzax]

20. define collaborator

does not violently resisting make you a collaborator? if so, then your position is tenable, but driving a car bomb into a check point, killing the people waiting in line to cross, those are collaborators? setting off a car bomb on a croweded street, killing people going to market to get bread for their children? collaborators?

Just because something may be a legitimate military target, like a humvee, or a checkpoint, does not excuse the wanton disregard for 'collatoral damage' ON EITHER SIDE.

[NNN0LHI]

21. This on-line freesearch Dictionary definition fits mine

http://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/collaborate+%28support+an+enemy%29

collaborate (SUPPORT AN ENEMY)

verb {I} DISAPPROVING


to work with an enemy who has taken control of your own country:

- Anyone who was suspected of collaborating with the occupying forces was arrested.

collaboration

noun {U} DISAPPROVING

- She was accused of collaboration.

collaborationist

adjective DISAPPROVING

- a collaborationist government

collaborator

noun {C} DISAPPROVING

- wartime collaborators

- a Nazi collaborator

[Frederik]

24. Yes, but they're a small minority

within a vast insurgency.

[Disturbed]

26. The Insurgency is a mixed bag of various groups and goals.

There are probably some Iraqis that are part of the Insurgency that work behind the scenes and even part of their Govt. and Military. When the U.S. let the Iraqi Army go and fired scores of people in the de-Baathing they created many Insurgents.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. We'll be reading about his "voluntary retirement" very soon.