by Eric Martin
As I was mentioning the other day at American Footprints, the highly touted truce between Sadr and the Iraqi government/US forces (the one that supposedly rendered my complaints of civilian casualties "late") hasn't actually, you know, stopped the fighting or prevented innocent civilians from getting blown to pieces:
Clashes between Shi'ite militiamen and security forces in Baghdad's Sadr City slum killed seven people and wounded 19 overnight, Iraqi police and hospitals said on Thursday.
The dead were all men and the wounded included three women and three children, they said.
The Washington Post has more on the continued hardships borne by civilians. Part of the impetus for the ongoing fighting has to do with a certain wall that US forces are erecting around the southern region of Sadr City. Oddly enough, Iraqis don't seem to like large concrete walls dissecting their neighborhoods. Must be an Arab thing.
(cross-posted, with slight variaition, at American Footprints)
Those crazy arabs are so irrational! I mean, what's not to love about concrete? And the nice Americans are not only giving the arabs concrete for free, they're also building stuff with it. Talk about ungrateful and crazy...
Posted by: Turbulence | May 15, 2008 at 03:58 PM
Wow, it really IS just like the German occupation, only instead of separating Europe from Russia, we're separating one neighborhood from the rest of the planet. That's almost exactly the same, and I know our liberating troops will now be welcomed with flowers by the free and independent people of the Green Zone, now to be re-named "Iraq."
The country previously known as "Iraq" will be renamed either the VMZ (very-militarized zone) or with an unpronounceable symbol which will ensure that everyone stops talking about it.
Thus, our predictions of victory are proved correct. Take that, America-haters!
Posted by: trilobite | May 15, 2008 at 04:11 PM
Hey, the Berlin Wall was was extremly popular!
The West used it as an open air art gallery and the East had all citizens regularly sign declarations how happy they were about the anti-fascist protective barrier (antifaschistischer Schutzwall). Both sides also had lots of look-outs to allow to truly appreciate the panorama (low ones for many people on the Western side, high ones for just 2-3 on the Eastern side. The shouts of "rebuild the wall" (Baut die Mauer wieder auf!) never fell silent after the reunion and it could (and still can) be heard in East and West. Obviously the US are in need of a concrete appreciation campaign for Iraqis. What about painting great portraits of Mohammed and Allah on those walls and having a big pork&beer session after the completion of each major segement? If that does not work, I don't know what to do with those sandn|ggers?
Posted by: Hartmut | May 15, 2008 at 05:10 PM
"Those crazy arabs are so irrational! I mean, what's not to love about concrete? And the nice Americans are not only giving the arabs concrete for free, they're also building stuff with it. Talk about ungrateful and crazy..."
Wait until the concrete is painted. That will make all the difference.
Also, we may eventually serve lemon chicken in Sadr City, and that will wipe away all possible grievances.
"Wow, it really IS just like the German occupation, only instead of separating Europe from Russia,"
How's that? How did any part of German occupation separate Europe from Russia?
Posted by: Gary Farber | May 16, 2008 at 08:03 AM