McClatchy Report: Are Americans Getting Truth on Iraq?

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003532412

<snip>

"But in 2006, the opposite happened. The violence in Iraq - particularly in Baghdad - overwhelmed the political gains Iraqis had made. Al-Qaida terrorists and Sunni insurgents recognized the mortal danger that Iraq's election posed for their cause. And they responded with outrageous acts of murder aimed at innocent Iraqis.

"They blew up one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam - the Golden Mosque of Samarra - in a calculated effort to provoke Iraq's Shia population to retaliate," Bush said. "Their strategy worked. Radical Shia elements, some supported by Iran, formed death squads. And the result was a vicious cycle of sectarian violence that continues today."

That version of events helps to justify Bush's "new way forward" in Iraq, in which U.S. forces will largely target Sunni insurgents and leave it to Iraq's U.S.-backed Shiite government to - perhaps - disarm its allies in Shiite militias and death squads.

But the president's account understates by at least 15 months when Shiite death squads began targeting Sunni politicians and clerics. It also ignores the role that Iranian-backed Shiite groups had in death squad activities prior to the Samarra bombing.

Blaming the start of sectarian violence in Iraq on the Golden Dome bombing risks policy errors because it underestimates the depth of sectarian hatred in Iraq and overlooks the conflict's root causes. The Bush account also fails to acknowledge that Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite groups stoked the conflict.

[heldmyw]

1. Raise your hand..

...if you're surprised that the people who survived Saddam aren't a liiiiiitle bit desirous of whackin' a few Sunnis.

Geez! The Sunni-Shiite hatred is 10 times anything that they feel against us!

[ellenfl]

2. but the shi'ites have plenty of resaon to hate us.

after all, poppy urged them to rebel against saddam and then left them high and dry. i'm not at all surprised that they are not heeling to dimson.

ellen fl

[heldmyw]

3. True dat,

True dat!

But historically, the hatred of all of Islam for America, George Bush, Christianity and even Israel is about the same level as your hatred for your new puppy peeing on the rug, as opposed absolute HATRED of Sunnis and Shiites!

Why one group believes that the mantel of divinity goes down the line based on heredity (think "kings and princes", and the other thinks that they should "pick" (Popes)), and that this division started about 10 minutes after Mohamed died...

They should take a vote or something. Maybe a raffle.