Greed's intrinsic anarchy sprouts terror, and this war is its favorite child. The endeavour of Democracy is not served by it, nor any recognizable human endeavour other than crime, whereby criminal intent is duly indicated.

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"An All-Out Civil War In Iraq. Could It Be a Good Thing"? That was the question recently posed on a segment of FOX News. Well...umm...gosh, it's kinda hard to know how to respond to such a mind-alteringly stupid question, isn't it? One thing is for certain, you could only hear something that wierd on FOX.

I'm a fan of Don Imus. One might find his humor a bit crude at times and his friend, Bernie McGurk occasionly goes over the line. Still, other than Washington Journal, Imus In The Morning is THE place to go to find out what is happening in the country and the world at large. Although primarily a radio program, it is simulcast on cable TV's MSNBC. On occasion when the I-Man is ill, I tune in to FOX and Friends. I know what you're thinking but I just can't help it. It is like watching old episodes of Three's Company. It is so jaw-droppingly bad that it's factinating. It is a morning "News" program that is actually designed to keep people stupid. You don't believe it? Try tuning in one of these mornings. Not for the whole program - don't punish yourselves - twenty minutes will prove my point. It's THAT bad.

But enough of that, let us ponder their question, shall we? Civil War In Iraq: Could it be a good thing? No. No it's not. Hmm! That was easier than I thought it would be. Apparently the people at FOX aren't so sure.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

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There's something about this article I don't particularly like. Perhaps that's my fault given it's location, but I think it's symptomatic of a larger problem.

I would encourage readers to have a look back over the article with a specific thought in mind and see what you think about it then: The thought to cling onto is: "America is not the centre of the world."

And, you see, this might be where it becomes my problem. As I mentioned, I've hopped on to an alternative news website, based in America and, presumably, written with an American audience in mind. So, perhaps it is my fault that I expect so much more.

Then on the other hand, the internet is meant to be a global enterprise in which the barriers and borders previously defined by other men really don't apply. Moreover, it's an international news topic in which the portrayal of one specific state as key to the entire story means any such story can't (by definition) be anything other than biased. Besides, there’s a part of me that refuses to believe (or maybe simply can’t understand) how such a large group of people are happy being represented in this way.

For example - take a look at the piece itself. It's about Iraq and their civil war yet not once is any mention made to total numbers of Iraqi's killed. Indeed, single specific American deaths are 'linkable' for further investigation. No attempt is made for Iraq's (then, who's counting in the first place?). It’s talked about in terms of what American soldiers should be doing, what American politicians should be doing and has only one paragraph relating to what the Iraqi’s themselves think should be happening – and even that is slanted towards an American perspective (militia’s comprise the death squads rather than the Iraqi police which is a common complaint in Iraq, for example).

(Also the article makes the fantastic claim: "At least 200 people have died since last Wednesday, when Sunni insurgents bombed the Golden Mosque in Samarra...", which will undoubtedly come as a surprise to everyone else who was waiting for justice to work it's course before deciding the guilty. Still, why let that get in the way of what is probably the most convenient answer to the foreign observer?)

Maybe the problem is the title. In reality the article isn't about ‘Iraq's Anarchic Civil War’. Instead, I’d suggest something more like: ‘Empowering Americans. How To Cope With The Mess Through The Fantasy Of Control.’ That seems to reflect the output of the essay more than the previous title.

Still, its got to make you wonder when even the supposedly leftie sites are prattling off this rubbish.

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Iraq cannot experience peace while being occupied by violent American troops and by violent American bombers. Withdraw all Americans NOW and all American hardware NOW for every day of occupation means more death and more American failure. The Bushies are doomed to fail in every country they occupy & bomb.

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"As of January 17, 2006, the rap sheet listed 2,229 American military dead in Iraq together with an unknown number of Iraqi civilians; what looks to be the sum of $1 trillion to $2-trillion, already committed to The Project for the New American Century’s real estate development in the Mesopotamia desert.

"Better reasons to impeach a president than the one pressed into service against Bill Clinton, whose penis was known to be aimless and shown to be harmless.”

-HARPERS p.32 March 2005 cover story:
"THE CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT"

More on the WAWA Blog
Monday Morning Manifesto Feb 27, 2006:
http://www.wearewideawake.org

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If one can remember that far back, it was the wish of the Bush policy-makers to remove its bases from Saudi Arabia to a more friendly, secular clime. That was one of the main reasons for invading Iraq: permanent military bases to provide a "footprint" in the Middle East and to accommodate our Saudi friends. Now that Iraq has blown up in our faces, can it still be that we will cling to these heavily fortified bases? I see no reason to think the Bush strategists will give them up without a fight. If this is so, then, even if we remove our troops to outlying areas, the bases will serve as a flashpoint for more violence. Nearly all Iraqis want us to leave their country, and that means to remove our troops from any enclaves we wish to retain. Once we do that, the chances are far better for feuding Arabs to make arrangements with one another. After all, they were able to do that after they deposed the king that the British presented them with in the 1920s. Set a timetable for removing all our troops, then do it. That is the best way to prevent the incipient civil war from getting worse.

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I can't say I like this article either. I've been trying to find authentic voices coming out of Iraq to listen to, rather then more of "The Pentagon said blah, blah, blah". Try riverbend.blogspot.com. The central fear that ordinary Iraqis seem to have now is of the Ministry of the Interior, which is using US money to sponsor death squads, as in Central America in the 80's. The above article fails to mention this at all! That's why FOX was saying civil war in Iraq was 'a good thing'. Considering that the neocons who are running this have referred to the "El Salvador solution", and that people in Iraq are far more terrified now of the state security forces then of the 'men in black masks', and you see what is happening. It is highly likely that the recent shrine bombing was a black ops deal designed to split the country in three, as in Phoenix in Vietnam, Iran-Contra in Central America, etc. Ordinary Shias and Sunnis are trying to band together to show solidarity - something the US media doesn't dare cover.

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Who empowers us to have plans for Iraq anyway? Guess I'm just out of it because I simply don't understand how we can be all encompassing of another "sovereign nations" ideologies and existence! This country was well aware of the ramifications of blowing up "The Chrome Dome" but we did'nt want to see a civil war so don't know anything about what happened. We don't know anything about "divide and conquer" stratagem neither. We don't belong in Iraq nor meddling in the affairs of other countries, PERIOD! The U.S, should just get to hell out!

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This article looks like more robber baron pablum for us ignorant sheep. Redploy? How stupid do you think we are? Redploy to go destroy some other country? Which one now? Iran? Either this author never bothered to learn about the military, or he did all his learning from official reports.

Here's a plan:
- begin immediate withdrawal from Iraq today, send no reinforcements, and as soldiers tours end just pull back base by base until it's mostly over by the November election.

- reduce the funding of the CIA and NSA by 10% a year, every year until they stop using their money to depose democratically elected leaders. As long as they have money to attempt to oust Chavez and read this note, they obviously have too much money

- reduce funding for the DoD overall, 10% a year. As long as they have money to bomb people and make enemies, it looks like they're over-funded. When they can go a few years in a row without causing harm to us and others, then consider leveling funding.

- cancel all classification extensions. There are tons of documents that were due for declassification decades ago, but remain classified. The reason is they would embarass the military and politicians. If they don't like being embarssed, they shouldn't go around torturing, spying, bombing, lying, and assassinating. Shine the bright light on them. The flood of evidence will result in war crimes trials, criminal investigations, and more important remove that last myth that the ideals WW2 are still alive.

- fix the tax code so the millionaires pay their share again, and bring the robber barons back down from their demi-god status.

- next time some psychos attack us, be real men and take the hit and turn the other cheek. Then the world will be able move in the direction of peace and pursuit of happiness.

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Gosh, I'll bet Rummy and his buddies are just dying to hear all the plans for Iraq from the eggheads on this thread. (Dying laughing, maybe.)

Ever heard of "Divide and Conquer"? An Iraq with factions will be much easier to deal with than a united Iraq. Their civil war keeps them off our necks and gives us the chance to sell all of them more arms to keep the fight going (in return for some oil, of course)

Bush could bring home troops tomorrow, or at least as soon as our air bases are secure. American voters have such a short-term memory, he's waiting for the elections. As many troops as necessary to win the Fall elections will be brought home.

Approval ratings? He's a lame duck prexy. He don't need no stinking approval ratings. You think he needs more power than he already has? As soon as he is able to tell voters that it was the establishment of air bases that was what we really needed all along, he will have voters swooning. I'd love to write his speech. "Dear fellow Americans. I was wrong about bringing democracy to Iraq. They have showed they are just not up to it. I'm sorry. But instead we now have strategic bases next door to all the biggest oil fields. Our future is secure."

When will progressives get their head out of the clouds and deal with the reality. Bush can only be defeated by making the charges of liar, thief, law-breaker stick. Get on with that job, and we may have a chance next Fall. Otherwise, kiss the future goodbye. America will go the way of all empires.

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to the peoples of this scorched land for the end result will be the same,they WILL kick you out. The US is not fighting Iraq anymore...They (U.S.)are fighting something so much bigger and they cannot possibly win. They are now fighting a religion. Just as the proud vietnamese peoples measured and calculated your end so are the peoples of Iraq. When I say Iraq, just how many Sunni's and Shite people are there and where do they live?..and you are in their backyard....not for me ..not for all the money in China. Good luck with your permanent bases....EL Da Nang..etc...but once again you (US.Gov)know better...

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