Good news from Iraq
by Scoop Shachtman, 10 November 2007
As the surge continues to work, good news from Karbala. People are starting to say what they think about extremists in the open:
Iraqi police say the powerful Mehdi Army militia has been involved in killing of hundreds of people in the mainly Shia Muslim province of Karbala.
Maj Gen Raid Shaker told a public meeting the militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr had brought four years of terror and anarchy causing 670 deaths.
His allegations were backed by scores of angry people attending the meeting.
And more good news arising from religious activity in Iraq:
Senior religious leaders in Iraq are preparing to sign an unprecedented “fatwa against violence” that will help reconcile the rival Sunni and Shia branches of Islam and herald new hopes for peace in the war-torn country.
The fatwa, negotiated by the peace organisation run by the Anglican “Vicar of Baghdad” Canon Andrew White, will mark a significant move towards a settlement between the Shia and Sunni communities and ease the process towards a political solution.
It comes in the context of plummeting fatalities among both coalition troops and civilians and is a further vindication of the“surge” security strategy of US General and Iraq commander David Petraeus.
The title of this post is deliberately meant to annoy those who do not welcome good news.
Remember, wishing for bad news from Iraq to justify your position on the war is the sign of a diseased mind.
Saturday 10 November 2007 at 0:25
Turning out their names won’t be written in the stars after all.
I’ raising a glass to this tonight.
Saturday 10 November 2007 at 12:19
You can hear the suppressed joy in many newsreaders’ voices as they read bad news from Iraq.
But it is the right or wrong thing to do, whether it happens to be going well this month or not.
Tuesday 13 November 2007 at 22:18
Anyone in their right mind wants the violence to end. Well, anyone who isn’t benefitting from it. And even if what the Coalition did is “working,” I still heartily disagree with what we did and why we did it. But good news is always welcome, it means it’ll be easier to let them govern themselves and get our necks off the chopping block.
But a side note:
“Maj Gen Raid Shaker told a public meeting the militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr had brought four years of terror and anarchy causing 670 deaths.”
Last I heard civilian deaths caused by the Coalition’s invasion was estimated at 100,000. And that was two years ago. Sure Sadr isn’t a peaceful man, and probably needs to be put on trial, but if we’re using numbers, no way in hell does this “justify” what the Coalition did when we invaded a sovereign nation.