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During this holiday period, the days following Thanksgiving, here in the States, allow me to re-publish, and expand upon my earlier writing, "Now, A New interpretation Of The Bloodshed In Iraq."
"Now, a New Interpretation of the Bloodshed in Iraq
Shiite Badr Brigade Militia Are Taking Control of Iraq
November 20, 2006 - By BigBadJohnny
Now, with the Democratic Majority positioned and prepared to take over the American congress, we find ourselves looking at a new interpretation of the bloodshed in Iraq.
Bush's banner, "Mission Accomplished, has been dragged to the ground. It has been torn, bloodied, dragged through the gore. It's shreds are being used to hang Iraqis, and tie the writhing hands of those who oppose sectarian violence.
Bush's Iraq government over which he gloats is in fact powerless. Though primarily Shiite, and Kurdish, the unity government lacks the support of the very police which they train, pay, and uniform to support it. With 140,000 troops in Iraq, Generals say we will need more troops, with longer terms in Iraq, to support that government.
The Kurds and Shiite have for decades been enemies of the 20% Sunni minority.
The religious violence has pushed the country to a civil war of religious violence, which started when Sunni insurgents began attacking Shiite civilians, whom they view as collaborators with the Americans.
When U.S. and Iraqi forces were unable to stop these attacks, Shiite militias took the law into their own hands, sending death squads to extract vengeance on Sunni civilians.
Civilians and police have rebelled, and fight for the new Shiite Badr Brigade militia.
The Allied established government is so ineffectual that amnesty can't be granted to Sunni insurgents.
Killing, torture, violence in Iraq have increased ten-fold, perhaps primarily because of the Allied overthrow of Hussein.
Hussein had made great strides in halting sectarian violence. His show of force in killing opposition forces was not without effect. Now under the powerful American influence, Saddam is likely to be hanged.
Ironically,when we overthrew Saddam, we accomplished what the Shiite forces could not accomplish, and opened the paths for the Shiites, and Kurds to wage war on Sunnis, and to grow in power. Hindsight is 20/20.
The recent kidnapping from a government ministry illustrates this viewpoint:
Iraqi forces raid Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad searching for hostages
Sinan Salaheddin, Canadian Press
Published: Saturday, November 18, 2006
BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a stronghold of a Shiite militia in Baghdad on Saturday, searching for victims of a mass kidnapping from a government ministry, the U.S. military said.
Iraqi soldiers backed up U.S. helicopters swept through the Sadr City section of the capital after intelligence indicated that an armed group was holding some of the scores of Iraqis who were snatched from a Higher Education Ministry office building in Baghdad on Tuesday, the military said.
"No individuals were killed, injured or detained," the military told The Associated Press when it asked if the coalition forces had found any hostages during the raid, which was called to rescue captives and disrupt kidnapping and insurgent cells in the area.
And consider this:
Baghdad (AP)
By Bassem Daham, AP
The divide between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arabs further widened when Sunni Arab leaders threatened to boycott a constitutional committee, a move which would deal a blow to the Shiite-led government's efforts to include them in the political process.
Attacks killed at least nine Iraqis as the Sunni-dominated insurgency pressed on with its campaign against the Shiite-led government. The bodies of six others also were found.
A wave of violence broke out after the April 28 announcement of Iraq's new Shiite and Kurdish dominated government, killing at least 889 people. The dead include more than 10 Sunni and Shiite clerics, killed in apparent retaliatory slayings that raised fears the country was on the verge of civil war.
President Jalal Talabani's backing of the Shiite Badr Brigade militia came despite accusations by Sunni leaders that the militia has killed members of the minority. The Sunni leaders have demanded it be disarmed and complained it provides intelligence and support for some Shiite-dominated special security units.
Sunni leaders also threatened to boycott a committee drafting Iraq's constitution unless they are given more seats on the panel.
The demands came Wednesday at a meeting of two of Iraq's largest Sunni Arab organizations, the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Sunni Endowment, a body that runs the sect's mosques and seminaries in Iraq. The influential Association of Muslim Scholars did not attend.
The constitution must be drafted by mid-August and approved two months later in a referendum. Sunni Arab approval is needed for the charter to take effect and new elections to be held in December.
The Badr Brigade was the military wing of the country's largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Republic in Iraq — or SCIRI. The party claims the Badr Brigade is no longer a militia but performs social and political functions.
"Badr is a patriotic group that works for Iraq's interest and it will not be dragged into sectarian or any other kind of conflict," said Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, SCIRI's leader and the former commander of the Badr Brigade. "Badr is for all Iraqis," he added.
There are no accurate figures on the size of the brigade, but it is thought to be smaller than the Kurdish Peshmerga militia, estimated at 100,000. The Peshmerga has been largely exempted from efforts to disband militias because of its close ties to the United States and its supporting role during the war.
The Badr organization's leader, Hadi al-Amiri, challenged the association's head, Sheik Harith al-Dhari, to prove his group involvement in the killings and said an investigation should be held.
"If the accusations prove to be true, then we will apologize and punish the offenders, but if they turn out to be false, al-Dhari should apologize," he said at Wednesday's gathering. "
In addition to this material, which I published last week, it should be pointed out that a rising polarization of the region is becoming evident. The 20% Sunni minority, who had support from Saddam Hussein, is now receiving substantial aide from neighbor, Syria. To further complicate matters, Iran, who are actively not co-operating with the U.S., who are determined to have modern developments, notably nuclear power, is supporting the Shiites, and the Shiite Militia.
The U.S., British, and allied forces, as well as, perhaps without realizing it, the American Media, have sided with the Shiite from the inception of the Allied intervention in Iraqi issues.
This, from the New York Times.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 24 - Defying a government-imposed curfew, Shiite militiamen stormed Sunni mosques in central Iraq today, shot guards and burned down several buildings in apparent retaliation for a series of devastating car bombs that killed hundreds of people the previous day in a Shiite slum.
Karim Kadim/Associated Press
All day today, funeral processions wound through the crowded streets of the Sadr City section of Baghdad that is home to more than 1.5 million people, mostly Shiites.
As the death toll from those bombings rose above 200, gunmen drove through neighborhoods in Baghdad and the nearby provincial capital of Baquba, shooting at mosques with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on the Muslim holy day, when many Iraqis attend a weekly sermon.
From morning until afternoon, at least seven mosques were attacked in a single mixed neighborhood in the capital. Three were destroyed completely, and at least three guards were killed, an Interior Ministry official said.
A related story:
U.S. Forces Raid Iraq Militia Stronghold
By THOMAS WAGNER
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces swept into Baghdad's Sadr City slum in an early morning raid Thursday, killing four Iraqis, wounding eight and detaining five, police said.
Police Capt. Mohammed Ismail said coalition forces searched houses at about 4:30 a.m. and opened fire on a minivan carrying Iraqi workers in the al-Fallah Street area, causing the deaths and injuries. Iraqis often pay a small fee to crowd into such vehicles and travel early in the morning to sites where they hope to be hired as day laborers.
The U.S. command said it could not immediately confirm Thursday's raid, which would be the fourth in six days on the Shiite slum home to the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Mahdi Army is suspected of kidnapping an American soldier last month and taking scores of Iraqi hostages during an attack on a government building in Baghdad on Nov. 14.
We have to wonder if the kidnapping of the Department of Education Employees was motivated by reason, perhaps inequities in educational opportunities between Muslim sects.
To conclude, we have seen an increase in the willingness of president Bush to "negotiate with terrorists" The oft repeated Bush/Chaney position "we do not negotiate with terrorists" has been subject to some criticism. Opponents of the Presidents policies have labeled the president "self-conscious", and "insecure", pointing to a preference of singing with the President of Japan or Touring Hanoi over making an attempt to understand non-Allied positions, and discuss important issues with those we have labeled as mad, and irrational.
In negotiations we are not compelled to make deals, not obligated to compromise; we are merely discussion points of dis-harmony.
Silence breeds mis-understanding.
We can only hope that the new aide to the President, many from the administration of his father, the 21st U.S. President, will improve the world situation, particularly during the next two years.

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