THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, TENTH THREAD.

Hussein Saw Iraqi Unrest as Top Threat
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
and BERNARD E. TRAINOR
As American warplanes streaked overhead two weeks after the invasion began, Lt. Gen. Raad Majid al-Hamdani drove to Baghdad for a crucial meeting with Iraqi leaders. He pleaded for reinforcements to stiffen the capital's defenses and permission to blow up the Euphrates River bridge south of the city to block the American advance.

But Saddam Hussein and his small circle of aides had their own ideas of how to fight the war. Convinced that the main danger to his government came from within, Mr. Hussein had sought to keep Iraq's bridges intact so he could rush troops south if the Shiites got out of line.

General Hamdani got little in the way of additional soldiers, and the grudging permission to blow up the bridge came too late. The Iraqis damaged only one of the two spans, and American soldiers soon began to stream across.

The episode was just one of many incidents, described in a classified United States military report, other documents and in interviews¶The Iraqi dictator was so secretive and kept information so compartmentalized that his top military leaders were stunned when he told them three months before the war that he had no weapons of mass destruction, and they were demoralized because they had counted on hidden stocks of poison gas or germ weapons for the nation's defense.

It's obvious from the insurgencies in Iraq that "progress" so often repeated by this administration is not more than rhetoric repeated for the ignorant and unseeing public.

icant, ... the insurgency problem INCREASED since our illegal invasion of Iraq.
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Whether the insurgency will increase or decrease is not our problem. We shouldn't be sacrificing American lives and our treasury for a country that's been at war for centuries - with or without our presence.

cicerone imposter wrote:

Whether the insurgency will increase or decrease is not our problem. We shouldn't be sacrificing American lives and our treasury for a country that's been at war for centuries - with or without our presence.

Apparently, all you want to discuss is the "insurgency problem." You have me at a loss, because you have failed to define what you think is the "insurgency problem."

So not knowing what you think is the "insurgency problem," I can neither argue agreement or disagreement with your statement: "we shouldn't be sacrificing American lives and our treasury for a country that's been at war for centuries - with or without our presence."

However, fighting the Terrorist Malignancy problem is clearly in American self-interest in particular, and in human self-interest in general. We must exterminate the Terrorist Malignancy, wherever it has found or finds sanctuary, before it exterminates us.

Icann, I keep telling you, WE ARE THE TERRORIST MALIGNANCY!! When we leave, the Terrorist Malignancy will have left Iraq, and they can decide their own future!! Anon

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I'm afraid America will exterminate itself before it exterminates the "terrorist malignancy".

Icann,
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When we leave, the Terrorist Malignancy will have left Iraq, and they can decide their own future!! Anon

Those youths know that their rewards in fighting you, the USA, is double than their rewards in fighting some one else not from the people of the book. They have no intention except to enter paradise by killing you. An infidel, and enemy of God like you, cannot be in the same hell with his righteous executioner.

… when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"; and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said: "I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no one but Allah is worshipped", Allah who put my livelihood under the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders.

… to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it.

Once again, we repeat our call and send this clear message to our Muslim brothers, warning against fellowship with the Crusaders, the Americans, Westerners and all idols in the Arab Gulf. Muslims should not associate with them anywhere, be it in their homes, complexes or travel with them by any means of transportation.

Prophet Muhammad said "I am free from who lives among idols".

No Muslim should risk his life as he may inadvertently be killed if he associates with the Crusaders, whom we have no choice but to kill.

Everything related to them such as complexes, bases, means of transportation, especially Western and American Airlines, will be our main and direct targets in our forthcoming operations on our path of Jihad that we, with Allah's Power, will not turn away from.

The war in Iraq is central to al Qa'ida's global jihad.
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The war will not end with an American departure.
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Our strategic vision is one of inevitable conflict with a call by al-Zawahiri for political action equal to military action.
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Popular support must be maintained at least until jihadist rule has been established.
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More than half the struggle is taking place "in the battlefield of the media."

Al Qaeda's seven phase plan for world conquest:

Phase 1, the "wakeup call." Spectacular terrorist attacks on the West get the infidels to make war on Islamic nations. This arouses Moslems, and causes them to flock to al Qaedas banner. This phase is complete.

Phase 2, the "eye opening." Al Qaeda does battle with the infidels, and shows over a billion Moslems how it's done. This phase to be completed by next year.

Phase 3, "the rising." Millions of aroused Moslems go to war against Islam's enemies for the rest of the decade. Especially heavy attacks are made against Israel. It is believed that major damage in Israel will force the world to acknowledge al Qaeda as a major power, and negotiate with it.

Phase 4, "the downfall." By 2013, al Qaeda will control the Persian Gulf, and all its oil, as well as most of the Middle East. This will enable al Qaeda to cripple the American economy, and American military power.

Phase 5, "the Caliphate." By 2016, the Caliphate (i.e., one government for all Moslem nations) will be established. At this point, nearly all Western cultural influences will be eliminated from Islamic nations. The Caliphate will organize a mighty army for the next phase.

Phase 6, "world conquest." By 2022, the rest of the world will be conquered by the righteous and unstoppable armies of Islam. This is the phase that Osama bin Laden has been talking about for years.

Phase 7, "final victory." All the world's inhabitants will be forced to either convert to Islam, or submit to Islamic rule. To be completed by 2025.

… eight reasons for global jihad ... the U.S., Israel and India are existential enemies of Islam and lists ... objectives include the restoration of Islamic sovereignty to all lands where Muslims were once ascendant, including Spain, "Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Sicily, Ethiopia, Russian Turkistan and Chinese Turkistan. . . parts of France reaching 90 kilometers outside Paris."

1996
June 25: Khobar Towers bombing, killing 19 and wounding 372 Americans.

1997
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1998
August 7: U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000.

1999
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2000
October 12: USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors.

2001
September 11: The attacks on September 11 kill almost 3,000 in a series of hijacked airliner crashes into two U.S. landmarks: the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

October 12: Bali car bombing of holidaymakers kills 202 people, mostly Western tourists and local Balinese hospitality staff.

October 17: Zamboanga bombings in the Philippines kill six and wounds about 150.

October 18: A bus bomb in Manila kills three people and wounds 22.

October 19: A car bomb explodes outside a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Moscow, killing one person and wounding five.

October 23: Moscow theater hostage crisis begins; 120 hostages and 40 terrorists killed in rescue three days later.

2003
March 4: Bomb attack in an airport in Davao kills 21.

2003
May 12: Bombings of United States expatriate housing compounds in Saudi Arabia kill 26 and injure 160 in the Riyadh Compound Bombings. Al-Qaeda blamed.

May 12: A truck bomb attack on a government building in the Chechen town of Znamenskoye kills 59.

May 14: As many as 16 die in a suicide bombing at a religious festival in southeastern Chechnya.

May 16: Casablanca Attacks by 12 bombers on five "Western and Jewish" targets in Casablanca, Morocco leaves 41 dead and over 100 injured. Attack attributed to a Moroccan al-Qaeda-linked group.

July 5: 15 people die and 40 are injured in bomb attacks at a rock festival in Moscow.

August 1: An explosion at the Russian hospital in Mozdok in North Ossetia kills at least 50 people and injures 76.

August 25: At least 48 people were killed and 150 injured in two blasts in south Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India at the other at the Zaveri Bazaar.

September 3: A bomb blast on a passenger train near Kislovodsk in southern Russia kills seven people and injures 90.

November 15 and November 20: Truck bombs go off at two synagogues, the British Consulate, and the HSBC Bank in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 57 and wounding 700.

December 5: Suicide bombers kill at least 46 people in an attack on a train in southern Russia.

December 9: A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds at least 11.

2004
February 6: Bomb on Moscow Metro kills 41.

February 27: Superferry 14 is bombed in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf, killing 116.

March 2: Attack on procession of Shia Muslims in Pakistan kills 43 and wounds 160.

March 11: Coordinated bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, kills 191 people and injures more than 1,500.

April 21: Basra bombs in Iraq kill 74 and injure hundreds.

April 21: Bombing of a security building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills 5.

May 29: Al-Khobar massacres, in which Islamic militants kill 22 people at an oil compound in Saudi Arabia.

August 24: Bombing of Russian airplane kills 90.

August 31: A blast near a subway station entrance in northern Moscow, caused by a suicide bomber, kills 10 people and injures 33.

September 1 – 3: Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia, Russia, results in 344 dead.

September 9: Jakarta embassy bombing, in which the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed, kills eight people.

October 7: Sinai bombings: Three car bombs explode in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 34 and wounding 171, many of them Israeli and other foreign tourists.

December 6: Suspected al Qaeda-linked group attacks U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 5 local employees.

December 12: A bombing at the Christmas market in General Santos, Philippines, kills 15.

2005
February 14: A car bomb kills former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 20 others in Beirut.

March 9: An attack of an Istanbul restaurant killed one, and injured five.

March 19: Car bomb attack on theatre in Doha, Qatar, kills one Briton and wounds 12 others.

April 7: A suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing three foreign tourists and wounding 17 others.

May 7: Multiple bomb explosions across Myanmar's capital Rangoon kill 19 and injure 160.

June 12: Bombs explode in the Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Tehran, leaving 10 dead and 80 wounded days before the Iranian presidential election.

July 7: London bombings - Attacks on one double-decker bus and three London Underground trains, killing 56 people and injuring over 700, occur on the first day of the 31st G8 Conference. The attacks are believed by many to be the first suicide bombings in Western Europe.

July 23: Sharm el-Sheikh bombings: Car bombs explode at tourist sites in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing at least 88 and wounding more than 100.

August 17: Around 100 home-made bombs exploded in 58 different locations in Bangladesh, Killing two and wounding 100.

October 1: A series of explosions occurs in resort areas of Jimabaran Beach and Kuta in Bali, Indonesia.

October 13: A large group of Chechen rebels launched coordinated attacks on Russian federal buildings, local police stations, and the airport in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. At least 137 people, including 92 rebels, were killed.

October 15: Two bombs exploded at a shopping mall in Ahvaz, Khuzestan in Iran. Six people died and over 100 were injured.

October 29: Multiple bomb blasts hit markets in New Delhi, India, leaving at least 61 dead and more than 200 injured.

November 9: Three explosions at hotels in Amman, Jordan, leave at least 57 dead and 120 wounded.

Anon-Voter wrote:

Icann, I keep telling you, WE ARE THE TERRORIST MALIGNANCY!! When we leave, the Terrorist Malignancy will have left Iraq, and they can decide their own future!! Anon

Anon, I keep implying by virtue of the evidence I have frequently provided you here WE ARE NOT THE TERRORIST MALIGNANCY. So, ok, I'll make it explicit. I am now telling you explicitly WE ARE NOT THE TERRORIST MALIGNANCY.

I have repeatedly defined Terrorist Malignancy:
The Terrorist Malignancy consists of a group of humanoids who have all declared their intention to mass murder civilians, or do mass murder civilians, or who abet the mass murderers of civilians, or who advocate the mass murder of civilians.

We Americans do not:

(1) declare our intention to mass murder civilians;
(2) mass murder civilians;
(3) abet the mass murderers of civilians; or,
(4) advocate the mass murder of civilians.

If you think otherwise, please provide some evidence to support your thinking. Please remember that murdering civilians is intentionally killing civilians. Also, please avoid the common LIEbral bigotry of attributing to all Americans (or to all American military) -- or even to a majority of Americans (or to a majority of American military) -- the murders committed by a small number of Americans (or by a small number of American military).

icant, Your so-called "evidence" is only in your eyes. You fail to see the evidence presented almost daily from Iraq on the increased instability and chaos that Bush created.

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We have done all these things you delinate in every definition of the terms and sense of the words!! All you have to do is look at the incursions of the American Military into Iraq to see the truth of this!!!

WE, INDEED, are the TERRORIST MALIGNANCY

We Americans DO:
(1) declare our intention to mass murder civilians;
(2) mass murder civilians;
(3) abet the mass murderers of civilians; or,
(4) advocate the mass murder of civilians.


When we leave the TERRORIST MALIGNANCY will have left Iraq, and Iraq will sort itself out!!Anon

Trying to rationalize why Bush created this problem in the first place is one of your biggest problem. Get over it; he started it and we are all paying for his mistakes. Three years later, and we're still losing on average two service men/women of our military daily. That's a high cost that we should have never been involved in for a goal that's impossible to determine even today. Most experts are saying a civil war is already in progress.

We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

The President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

Tonight we are a country awakened to danger. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.

Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq;

Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations, including organizations that threaten the lives and safety of United States citizens;

I consider you a "terrorist malignancy" for advocating the killing of people that may be innocent or guilty.
I advocate exterminating (e.g., killing) humanoids who advocate murdering civilians, who declare their intention to murder civilians, who murder civilians, or who abet the murder of civilians.

That is not acceptable to most fair-minded people with any sense of humanity and ethics.
Such people you classify as fair-minded think little of being fair-minded to future civilian victims of Terrorist Malignancy. I reserve my compassion for those who are murdered by the Terrorist Malignancy or who will be murdered by the Terrorist Malignancy, if the Terrorist Malignancy is not exterminated first. I think that far more fair-minded and humane than what you appear to advocate.

By the way, who was ever able to fight a war against murderers and not kill some innocents as well as guilty along the way to winning that war?

I think your problem is you ignore the horror perpetrated by the guilty in order to pretend to a sense of humanity and ethics you yourself would not even think about exhibiting when defending yourself while among innocents, against would be murderers of yourself -- the word hypocrite speedily comes to mind.

Our military continues to torture Iraqis and the prisoners in Gitmo; that's also not acceptable. But people like you defend and promote this kind of treatment of some innocents to get at the guilty. Our country has turned into the "terrorist malignancy" through people like you. We have lost the war on terrorism; we are the terrorist to many around the world - and they are right.
You have lost the war on terrorism. We have not lost the war on terrorism. That paragraph of yours is an excellent example of pure bigotry. A small number of our military have killed, maimed, disabled, or injured war prisoners. It is pure bigotry to claim all our military, or even all our military interrogators, do that. Our military interrogators humiliate, frighten, and cause pain to war prisoners to learn what they can to save civilian lives. To not do that enables inhumane treatment of civilians. I think enabling inhumane treatment of civilians is far worse than humiliating, frightening, and causing pain to war prisoners, some of whom may be innocent.