October 12, 2005
A few days ago, 22 bodies were discovered near the Iranian border, bound, gagged and executed.
One
report I read said that armed men dressed as police took the 22 men
away for questioning. In a separate paragraph, the report said that
Iraqi Sunni Arab insurgents were known (no proof was provided) to dress
in police garb and routinely abduct and kill Iraqi Shia.
In the
format it was written, the report sought to connect the killing of the
22 men to the "known" phenomenon of Sunni insurgents dressing as Iraqi
police.
A similar report went all out and just made the
statement that the bottom line is Sunnis are killing the Shia. You can
read it here: <He
said most of the bodies were blindfolded with their hands tied together
with rope or strips of plastic. Al-Mohammedawi said the victims seemed
to have been killed several days ago. Their identities were not
immediately known, but the district near the Iranian border is mostly
Shiite. Police have blamed many of the insurgency killings on Sunnis.
Question 1: Who comprises the Iraqi police? Answer at the bottom.
But
this is very sloppy reporting. The journalists (can I call them that?
what about Journalism 101 - fact-checking is the most basic tenet) did
not check to see who would identify the bodies.
So, bloggers
like Hammorabi and others who bestow endless thanks on America for
saving them from the Sunni horde, immediately jump on the story and say
"look, Amreeka stay in Iraq, we need your protection".
But such
bloggers are party to an injustice because they know the Elies and
Kevins and other gooblygooks of the world will just eat up what they
say hook, line and sinker.
Until the facts come hitting you square in the facts.
Those 22 bodies were not of Shia. They were of Sunnis.
According to the Washington Times: The
Sunday Times of London cites witnesses who said on Aug. 8, 40 police
and Interior Ministry vehicles lined a street in the Iskan neighborhood
and escorted masked members of a controversial militia as they rounded
up 22 men.
The 22 were found later in the desert more than 70 miles from home, blindfolded, bound and dead from one or two gunshots.
The
reason for the roundup is unclear, the Times said. They were accused of
being Sunni insurgents although all the men were married to Shiite
women.
Families of the victims deny they were involved in the insurgency.
One victim, 37-year-old Abu Baraa, worked for the Interior Ministry's special police force.
Some
suspect the killings were an ethnic cleansing and in Baraa's case, a
purging of the special police force of Sunnis so Shiites can control
it.
The Badr Brigade, the militia that detained the 22
victims, is the armed faction of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, the leading Shiite political party.
The Badr Brigade was supported heavily by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
The
suspicion that there is ethnic cleansing of the police force is
corroborated by US reports that the Shia-led government of Iraq has
refused to allow former Sunni officers into the police force and the
army.
An AP report has a rather fair assessment:Shiite
deaths are generally attributed to Sunni insurgents, who hit Shiite
sites with suicide attacks, bombings and shootings, but also carry out
targeted slayings, leaving groups of Shiite bodies to be found later.
Insurgents have disguised themselves as police - most recently in an
attack last week south of Baghdad in which they dragged five Shiite
teachers and their driver into a school and shot them to death.
But
there have been several cases of Sunni Arabs who turn up dead in large
groups after being taken by men claiming to be Interior Ministry
forces. The largest group of bodies found outside Baghdad was 36 Sunnis
discovered Aug. 25 in a dry riverbed near Badrah, close to the Iranian
border, after being kidnapped in Baghdad.
The grisly finds have
led Sunnis to believe that Shiite Muslims who dominate the government
and the Interior Ministry are waging a quiet, deadly campaign against
them. But the Interior Ministry denies any role and blames insurgents
using stolen police equipment. Question 2: Who comprises the Interior Ministry? Answer at the bottom.
Do you see where this is going yet?
Saddam
Hussein, former president of Iraq, was a Sunni. He led the Baath party.
Therefore all Sunnis are Saddam and Baathists. The psychology of the
manipulated word goes to work.
Before the illegal invasion and
occupation of Iraq (don't kid yourself, it's still illegal no matter
what O'Reilly tells ya), US media referred to the WMD as Saddam's WMD.
They referred to the invasion of Kuwait as Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.
They referred to the Iraqi army as Saddam's army.
Why? Simple,
erase the notion of a national identity. Focus all the propaganda on a
singular entity - Saddam. Build up him up to be a monster (yes, he was
the most brutal ruler in Iraq's history) and liken him to Hitler.
Keep saying Saddam and Hitler in the same breath.
Invoke memories of the Holocaust.
Repeat
Saddam's WMD over and over. Don't mention Iraq and most definitely
don't mention what the US-enforced UN sanctions did to the Iraqi
people. Don't talk about the Iraqi people unless you conjure up images
of dead Shia mothers and daughters and Kurds.
Missing from
this lovely scenario is the fact that thousands of Sunnis also died and
were persecuted under Saddam. But Sunnis can't be mentioned because
Saddam is Sunni and Baathist and so must they be as well.
But it
is easier for America to support a war when it believes the war is
targeted against one man and one man alone. Saddam's WMD, Saddam's
palaces, Saddam's this and that. It was also a morality shield for
hardworking, tax-paying Americans who could sleep better at night
knowing that the sanctions were targeting Saddam.
All the Iraqi children who died were Saddam's fault.
And
when Shock and Awe was underway, we heard "Saddam targeted", "Saddam
safehouse", "Saddam may be injured". On and on and on. As if Saddam
physically and spiritually sired 28 million Iraqis and we were all
attached to his right holster.
Are you getting the picture yet? This is how propaganda works.
Also missing from this scenario is that millions of Shia were in the Baath party.
"But they were forced to be Baathist because they couldn't get jobs otherwise".
Partially
true. My family was never Baathist, in fact, my father raised me to
despise the Baathists. But he got along fine, a university professor
who moved up and up ... Thank God, he died before he saw his country
unravel thus.
But some Iraqis did feel that becoming a party member was a shortcut.
However,
most people who come to this blog and call me an Islamo-fascist or an
enemy of this and that have no idea what Baathism is, or was.
Baathism
was a nationalist movement born in the 1930s to counter the growing
tide of Islamism. It was partially created as a new nationalistic ethos
for the Arab peoples by Christian thinkers (Michel Aflaq being one of
them) who understood that if Islamism were to grow, they would have no
role to play in the Arab world.
Baathism grew to merge with a growing pan-Arab socialist movement.
No wonder then, that a central tenet in Baathism was separation of state and religion.
Many
Arab Shia in Iraq embraced Baathism as did many Sunnis. But Islamists
hated it. Therefore all the hatemongering by Bin Laden against Iraq and
its rulers (you missed the one didn't you?).
The Iranians hate it. The Turks hated it. And eventually the Israelis hated it.
Who
want's a common socio-political movement incorporating all Arabs? Can
you imagine what that would mean? Yes, some did and so it was opposed.
In
the current US occupation of Iraq, the Sunnis are the bogeyman because
as we mentioned before, they are all Saddam. You hear Rumsfeld call all
opposed to the occupation as Saddamists.
What does that mean? Saddamists as opposed to what, Iraqis?
Interestingly,
there were hundreds of Sunnis opposed to Saddam's rule in Iraq. I was
one of them. But you never heard of them. They were erased from the
media.
Do you remember Sharif Ali? Come on all you people who lecture me on how my country should be run, surely you know the answer.
Sharif
Ali is a distant cousin of King Hussein of Jordan, now deceased, who
was himself the cousin of King Faisal of Iraq, who was massacred in
1958 by so-called Iraqi nationalists.
Sharif Ali said he could
hold Iraq together - its disparate ethnic minorities - in a
constitutional monarchy. He was featured many, many times prior to the
war, as a supporter of the war of course.
He arrived in Iraq
with the other so-called exiles in April 2003. Within months, he had
been so distanced from the Iraqi political process that he left the
country in disgust.
Who were the other anti-Saddamists? Ahmad
Chalabi - Shia. Iyad Allawi - Shia. Chalabi worked feverishly to purge
ALL Baathists - some five million people - of their jobs. Engineers,
scientists, doctors, military officers, university professors - every
staple of Iraq's skilled infrastructure.
Chalabi was not Sunni, therefore, what he said was gospel.
He told the Pentagon US soldiers would be greeted with flowers. They weren't - nearly 2000 coffins is testament to that.
He
told the world there were WMDs. Nope. Later he nearly admitted he lied
when he said he would have said anything to ensure an invasion of Iraq
and removal of Saddam.
Chalabi, who the US intelligence
community said was passing secrets about US designs in Iraq over to the
Iranians. The same Iranians who US and Arab media are now suspecting of
playing a covert, subversive role in Iraq.
Do you wonder how entrenched the Iranians got? Chalabi.
The same Iranians the Brits say are training fighters in the south of Iraq.
Who are these fighters? Why the Badr brigades of course, many of them Iranians.
And who comprises the Iraqi police? Who comprises the Interior Ministry? Badr, SCIRI officials, Iranian infiltrators and so on.
I
have to point out that hundreds of Shia have also been killed by the
notorious death squads of Iraq. Arab Shia. Arab Shia who fought and
bled against the Persian horde.
Do you see where this is going?
I
am not against the Shia Arabs of my country (how could I be, there are
Shia in my family). I am not opposed to any Iraqi who supports
pluralism, gender rights, recognition of minority rights, and the unity
of the country.
But I am opposed to those who would prostitute this great country to an occupier, whether it be the US or Iran.
I believe the Americans have been royally duped into this. The greatest threat for Iran was Saddam. He has been removed.
The only deterrent to an Iranian takeover of the Middle East is, was, and always will be Iraq.
This is a conflict that is as ancient as it is modern.
Thanks
to all who were worried about my health. Fret not, a sore throat will
not keep me from educating those in dire need of an education on Iraq.
I
also want to thank all those who claim they fought in Iraq and
therefore believe they have a clear vision of what Iraq is, who is
fighting whom, and how the Iraqis should govern themselves.
Thank
you. I wonder if you came to your conclusions walking and living with
Iraqis without your high-gear killing technology strapped to your side.
Or whether you camped in our front yards rather than in your camps or
the green zone where Burger King fed you wholesome gringo grub.
Or
you helped us start up the generators when the electric grid went
offline. Or you brought us clean drinking water that is shipped to you
every week.
I wonder if you came to your conclusions when our
daughters were kidnapped, raped and killed. I am sure you were there
crying with us.
Or when US forces come crashing into our houses
in the dead of night (are you afraid to do it during the day?) beat up
the men, scare the children, scream obscenities, vandalize and steal
only to find out it was the wrong house? Were you sleeping on the floor
and startled when that happened?
Don't talk like you know Iraq. You don't. You didn't even take time to learn our language, except for stuff like sadeeqy.
Don't
tell me terrorists destroyed Iraq. Oh, wait, you meant the illegal
invaders, the foreign occupiers. The ones wearing the stars and stripes
on their sleeves, the ones wearing the union jack. Yes, they are
terrorists and they have destroyed Iraq.
They started destroying
Iraq in 1990 and it hasn't stopped. Yes, I worry about all my people
from these terrorists. And you also recruited misguided Arab youth who
were fed up with their lives of luxury to come and kill some more of my
people.
You created a battleground in my front yard and a morgue in the backyard for my children, my sisters and my brothers.
Yes, the terrorists TRIED to destroy Iraq. But they are failing.
I
bid you a hearty welcome here. Stay as long as you want. Say what you
want. Am going to say what I want. I hope you evolve in the
process.
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