Here’s a question for you.
Has Iraq turned into another Afghanistan?
Will the war Israel is waging against Hezbollah Lebanese civilians effectively overshadow and bury the ongoing debacle in Iraq.
And yes, it is *still* a debacle.
Iraqi bloggers haven’t forgotten of course.
Citizen of Mosul is still active
Healing Iraq is healing Iraqis… but in Jordan
Star from Mosul is still trying to focus on her studies
From THe Mesopotamian on July 15…
Hi Friends,
Just to say Hellow and tell you that I am still alive. Things are really getting hot in Baghdad. What I have warned about always and since the beginning is sadly taking place right now. The battle of Baghdad is raging and we are still at the beginnig. Whoever wins this battle settles this business once and for all. Actually it may not a bad thing after all, and may bring a swift conclusion to this affair. A little bit of firmness, nay I would say justifiable ruthlessness and concentration of effort on this limited part of the map may bring things to a swift conclusion.
I shall try to find time to tell you some of my ideas but it is so difficult to spare the few minutes required in these treacherous and murderous times.
Regards to you all.
Your brother Alaa
And from Iraq the Model
This report from Radio Sawa quotes Omar al-Jubori the head of the human rights office in the Iraqi Islamic Party as saying that Harith al-Dhari, secretary of the association of Muslim scholars was “responsible for 50% of the blood of Sunni Iraqis who were killed in Iraq”.
I kind of agree with the above statement but in somewhat a different way; it is probably correct that al-Dhari and his gangs were responsible directly for 50% of Sunni deaths but they are equally responsible for the other 50% but rather indirectly.
Sounds like civil war to me…
But then, what do you call a war that involves not only national factions, but also foreign, international soldiers… soldiers that are still taking major casualties themselves.
The Iraq War of course.
415 US fatalities since Iraqi elections in January… US wounded… a number that is rarely seen in the MSM… over 8600 wounded since 2003, that did not return after 72 hours. over 10,000 that did return… of that, 2430, more than from the initial invasion –> to Dec 31 2003, this year so far.
Iraqi casualties? Who knows? The UN says 100 a day this past June. (that’s approx 50-100x more than US casualties).
(emphasis added)
The [Iraqi] health ministry revealed for the first time in June that 50,000 Iraqis have been killed violently since 2003, but added that this was probably an under-estimate. Medical care for the wounded is declining because so many doctors have left the country. The ministry says 106 doctors and 164 nurses have been killed.
That’s an average of around 40 people being killed “violently” since the 2003 invasion… and that’s an under-estimate?
By contrast, Iraqi Body Count, a website that has come under incredible criticism from Iraq war supporters… looks positively conservative in its’ “max” estimate of 43000+ Iraqi deaths… and just plain rosy eyed with 39000.
So, getting back to the topic at hand… is Iraq turning into… or being turned into, another Afghanistan? Is Israels war with Hezbollah going to overshadow the atrocities happening only a couple doors down?
If I was an overly cynical, conspiracy theory prone, nutbar, I’d probably say that Bush and Cheney put Israel up to this so that the heat would come off of them on the US homefront and support for Israel would turn into support for the Republicans in the mid-term elections in November.
But surely that is too cynical of me.
No, I’m sure the media will keep picking up the plight of Iraqis and US soldiers… surely they won’t move on to a more “fresh” story.
Surely.