IRAQ

Targeting Pilgrims and Protesters

Suicide bombings in two Iraqi cities raise fears that more attacks are yet to come.

By Lennox Samuels | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jul 28, 2008 | Updated: 5:08  p.m. ET Jul 28, 2008

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: Spanna-anna @ 10/10/2008 5:13:17 AM

    why has the iraq war happened

  • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 08/08/2008 11:38:33 PM

    In Answer to TheVigil???s post.
    As you noted Iraq is a "never ending war, Bush tried very hard to keep troops in Iraq beyond his thankful departure and had McCain all lined up to do just that.
    But as far as fighting a WWII conflict, this country could not do it; WWII was won in 4 years and was won because of the incredible manufacturing capacity and the skills of American workers that shifted to a war time effort unparalled in the world. America has lost that manufacturing capacity and with it the skills.

    You also made the comment of the immobile stupidity of this war, You no dougbt think the fact bin Laudin just walked accross the border to Pakistan was part of that, Surely you realize tha had bin Laudin been captured or killed GWBush would not have had the emotional response he had to invade Iraq.
    30% of people in this country still believe Iraq and al queda are for all practical purposes linked.
    Now of course as long as the war continues, we have Haiburton and KBR pulling in tens of billions of dollars. and those billions are not tracked since that money ultimately goes to Dubai and then to accounts in the Cayman Islands.
    Vietnam was the same, Lady bird Johnson held substantial stock in Brown and Root, (the BR in KBR). Lyndon Johnson began escalating the war in Vietnam before Kennedy was even buried. JFK by the way was planning to get out.
    These are wars for profit, whether you produce munitions or services to the military, and on a no bid contract he sky's the limit, and the cash cow produces as long as the war continues.
    Hard to call someone stupid who can fool a whole country and pull in a few billion.while posing as a President and convince you he is keeping you safe.
    The boomers will move on but the Military industrial complex Eisenhower warned about will still be there looking for the next war and the big bucks that go with it, It's already in its third generation



  • Posted By: MoJabar @ 07/30/2008 1:07:29 PM

    If I were a woman in a Muslim country, I'd probably kill myself too. Killing innocents is just part of the cultural flavor of Islamic countries. Allah Akbar! Boom.

  • Posted By: olderwiser @ 07/28/2008 8:29:57 PM

    Still in their last throes. Another couple of hundred years and they'll get her straight. Or, surge 'em. That'll fix it. We don't have one war bride from this war. Now, the brides are blowing themselves up. What kind of crappy war is this?

    • Posted By: TheVigil @ 07/29/2008 2:36:48 PM

      It's an asymmetrical war.

      America is *stuck* in the 1950s militarily in terms of strategic thinking. Our weapons are better, and our training is more intensive, but we're still training to fight "the next big war" - a massive WWII-style battalion vs. battalion conflict with ranks of infantry, tanks, missiles, etc. that is almost certainly never going to take place.

      MAD - mutual assured destruction due to the nuclear arsenals possessed by us and our most likely combatants - almost certainly prevents any large-scale assault between major powers anymore. The conflicts taking place these days are almost universally between powers of such military power disparity that any notion of "traditional" conflict is irrelevant. The greater power can reduce its opponent's army and installations to rubble within weeks, if not days, and then we get stuff like the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner.

      But the truth of the matter is that far from being ended, the conflict becomes *never*-ending, because the smaller opponent then adopts practices of guerrilla warfare, which can't hope to *defeat* the larger opponent in traditional terms, but also make it impossible to achieve peace or stability in the conflict. That's when you see roadside bombs, scorched-earth tactics, suicide attackers, etc. This enrages people with "traditionalist" thinking who just advocate for more soldiers, more weapons, "smart" bombs and et cetera - resulting in a feedback loop that just goes on interminably. You can see examples of this kind of thinking in the comments right below yours.

      I'm waiting with bated breath for the passing of the baton from the aging boomers who just *do not* get the entire concept of asymmetrical conflict to a younger generation, raised on Korea and Vietnam, who have some idea of the paradigm shifts in modern warfare. And I *devoutly* hope that the Bush administration is the last example of the kind of immobile stupidity that tries to fight 2008-era conflicts like it's 1945. But we still have a lot of members of the same boomer generation stuck at home whose minds are filled with World War glory and don't understand what's going on.

  • Posted By: jim_sport @ 07/28/2008 6:33:41 PM

    The suicide bomber incidents would stop immediately if all governments simply took any identifyable body parts from the bombers, placed them in a casket of pig fat and shipped the parts home to relatives. Simple, effective and not likely to be done.

    • Posted By: TheVigil @ 07/29/2008 2:21:02 PM

      Yeah, bullshit.

      More than likely, that would inspire other relatives of the deceased to become suicide bombers themselves. I am so goddamned sick of conservatives who don't know a *thing* about Islam or Arabic nationalism commenting on these things and advocating hate. Go back to school before you start posting dogshit like this.

    • Posted By: raddave @ 07/28/2008 6:42:02 PM

      If it were only that simple

      • Posted By: James_K. @ 07/28/2008 7:13:50 PM

        I agree. If only it was that simple. if anything, it would have the opposite effect and encourage them to do more.

      • Posted By: James_K. @ 07/28/2008 7:13:49 PM

        I agree. If only it was that simple. if anything, it would have the opposite effect and encourage them to do more.

  • Posted By: Bass Pro @ 07/29/2008 8:35:12 AM

    John McCain's campaign says he's close to choosing his VEEP. For him to choose anyone other than Charlie Crist of florida would be terribly unfair. Gov. Crist has went the extra mile for McCain.

  • Posted By: slimpundit @ 07/28/2008 9:01:49 PM

    Check out a great blog at: http://slimpundit.wordpress.com/ ... this covers how to overcome all sorts of addictions, and you can support the author by sending a small donation to the author's paypal account: digital_velocity@hotmail.com

  • Posted By: Loden Green @ 07/28/2008 7:52:42 PM

    John McCain tells us that the surge is working, so we don't really need to be bothered by little espisodes of "mini-violence" like this. And we all know that ol' John is always right.

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse