"7 facts you might not know about the Iraq War"

[Breeze54]

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=21254

7 facts you might not know about the Iraq War

Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch.com
08.21.06

By Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz, a Tomdispatch regular, offers seven facts that help explain why the lethal brew
our invasion let loose in that country will have no hope of "solution" under present conditions. Tom


With a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon holding, the ever-hotter war in Iraq is once again
creeping back onto newspaper front pages and towards the top of the evening news. Before being fully
immersed in daily reports of bomb blasts, sectarian violence, and casualties, however, it might be worth
considering some of the just-under-the-radar-screen realities of the situation in that country.
Here, then, is a little guide to understanding what is likely to be a flood of new Iraqi developments --
a few enduring, but seldom commented upon, patterns central to the dynamics of the Iraq war, as well
as to the fate of the American occupation and Iraqi society.

Go to Link to read about each: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=21254

1. The Iraqi Government Is Little More Than a Group of "Talking Heads"
2. There Is No Iraqi Army
3. The Recent Decline in American Casualties Is Not a Result of Less Fighting (and Anyway, It's Probably Ending)
4. Most Iraqi Cities Have Active and Often Viable Local Governments
5. Outside Baghdad, Violence Arrives with the Occupation Army
6. There Is a Growing Resistance Movement in the Shia Areas of Iraq
7. There Are Three Distinct Types of Terrorism in Iraq, All Directly or Indirectly Connected to the Occupation

One might say that the war has converted one of President Bush's biggest lies into
an unimaginably horrible truth: Iraq is now the epicenter of worldwide terrorism.

Where the 7 Facts Lead

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There is still some hope for the Iraqis to recover their equilibrium. All the centripetal forces in Iraq
derive from the American occupation, and might still be sufficiently reduced by an American departure
followed by a viable reconstruction program embraced by the key elements inside of Iraq. But if the
occupation continues, there will certainly come a point -- perhaps already passed -- when the collapse
of government legitimacy, the destruction wrought by the war, and the horror of terrorist violence become
self-sustaining. If that point is reached, all parties will enter a new territory with incalculable consequences.

[Breeze54]

1. Kicking for the hell of it!

:kick:

[Breeze54]

2. A kick for the morning crowd!

:bounce: :kick: