Wounded US Troops Face Lifetime of Disabilities
Karbala Province breaks off Relations with US
Reuters reports the other guerrilla violence in Iraq besides the car bombing in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, which killed at least 13 and wounded 40:
'HASWA - Five civilians were killed and another two wounded when gunmen shot at their cars near a police station . . . south of Baghdad, police said.
RAMADI - A U.S. patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Ramadi . . . west of Baghdad . . . [No word on casualties.]
KIRKUK - Gunmen seriously wounded a Kurdish captain in the Iraqi army. . . [Also a traffic policeman was shot dead, and the beheaded body of a peshmerga militiaman was found.]
BAQUBA - Eight people were wounded, including six civilians, when a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol exploded . . . '
Al-Hayat reports [Ar.] that tensions are running so high within the United Iraqi Alliance UIA] that its two major wings-- the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq [SCIRI] and the Sadr Movement-- are declining to talk. The Sadrists, followeres of young Shiite nationalist Muqtada al-Sadr, cancelled a meeting that was supposed to be held with SCIRI on Thursday. The Mahdi Army, the Sadrist paramilitary, is stockpiling arms in expectation of an American attack on them in Najaf.
Ibrahim Jaafari, who was elected the candidate for prime minister by the UIA by an internal party vote, said he preferred to have parliament decide whether he was acceptable, rather than repeating the UIA internal party vote. Actually, the Iraqi constitution requires that the president appoint as prime minister the candidate put forward by the largest bloc in parliament, so constitutionally there is no doubt that Jaafari should be so appointed, if the rule of law and democratic voting mean anything. But like any other prime minister, Jaafari would have to be able to survive a vote of no-confidence in parliament, which would require him to have the support of 138 MPs (out of 275). He only has 132 at most, assuming the UIA stands behind him, along with the Christians and Mithal al-Alusi. It is not clear where the other 6 would come from.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador in Baghdad, said of the building US confrontation with Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, "We have our ways in any struggle with any movement, and we encourage all to involve themselves in the political process." He warned against the growth of sectarian militias in Iraq, which threaten the stability of the country.
The elected civil government of Karbala province announced that it had severed relations with the Americans in protest against a Marine raid in the city against a Mahdi Army safe house, which the Americans carried out without any coordination with the local government.
American troops appear to be fanning out in Najaf after the car bombing there on Thursday, raising suspicions of the Sadrists in the city.
KarbalaNews.net says that a curfew has been imposed by the governor of Najaf until further notice.
KarbalaNews.net reports [Ar.] that Ayatollah Hadi al-Mudarrisi met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on Tuesday. Al-Mudarrisi complained that an attempt was being made to steal the Dec. 15 election by the erection of a so-called "national security council" that will constrain the elected prime minister. He said that if there was a dispute, it should be settled democratically, by a national referendum.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports [Ar.] that the "Committee for the Support of Democracy in Iraq" has called on the United Nations to intervene in the country immediately to protect Iraqi civilians from the daily death toll that they face. They warn that "a descent into a thoroughgoing civil war" could encompass the entire region with its flames. The Committee is made up of thinkers, politicians, academics, and businessmen and has a center in London. they also called on the Iraqi parliament to play an effective role. The parliament met for only the second time since the elections on Wednesday.
AP looks at the impact on US-Iraqi relations of the tendency of US troops in Iraq to shoot first and ask questions later. Of course, US troops have faced car bombs and have to be careful when a vehicle speeds at them. But from all accounts, some have been cavalier with innocent Iraqi lives. The incidents have caused tension with Iraqi leaders.
Reuters also reports on the impact of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence on mixed Sunni-Shiite families. Young Iraqis from such families jokingly call themselves "Sushis." The NYT did an article in which they argued that the incidence of such mixed marriages is plummeting because of sectarian hatreds.
The LA Times discusses a seldom-explored subject, the thousands of wounded Iraq veterans. Many of these Vets will need special help the rest of their lives, but the Bush administration has actually cut their medical benefits.
And, tricks are used to put them off the books. Some of the wounded stay in the service in Iraq, but head wounds or post traumatic stress disorder often make them discipline problems, and they are given less than honorable discharges, which have the effect of denying them access to the VA hospitals!
posted by Juan Cole @ 4/07/2006 12:30:00 AM
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6 Comments:
Today you criticize "the tendency of US troops in Iraq to shoot first and ask questions later." Yesterday you said US troops fire based on a DWI (driving while Iraqi) principle. You mention that, yes, there are suicide bombers, but that troops should be less brash or trigger happy.
Honestly, I am surprised that the US troops can show as much constraint as they do. What share of Iraqi clergy tells citizens to respect or obey "occupiers" or their "colaborators"? Don't most endorse an "any means necessary" stance to fight US troops?
Who would not be terrified to do check point duty? Imagine doing a sweep of a hostile neighborhood, where even the best intentioned residents might be terrified of terrorist reprisals. Imagine your only vocabulary were "Speak English?" and "Ali Baba?" (Where are the bad guys?). Imagine the rooftops and alleys full of snipers. Imagine the bigot in the turban waving his arms and inciting people to hate and suspect you. Imagine those gawking teenagers on the corner robbing your gear and burning your corpse if you fall. Or imagine the worse fate if they capture you wounded or alive.
An occupier is seldom loved and, thus, must rely on fear and pre-emptive action. Swagger and quick use of the trigger are perhaps necessary for survival. Turning the other check won't get much reciprocal cooperation.
Trouble is, no new indigenous army or police have emerged to do this job. They tend to function only when protecting their own sect or group.
You allege that US troops are the problem, not the solution. AEI's Gerecht argues the exact opposite. He says that US soldiers and Marines are the only effective counter-insurgency force, that pre-mature "stand down" only exacerbates the emergence of ethnic militia. He cites Tal Afar as an example.
See:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114401714390414708.html
Another major mosque attack.
BBC. Baghdad mosque attack 'kills 43'
At least 43 people have been killed and 138 injured in an apparent triple suicide bomb attack on a key Shia mosque in Baghdad, police have said.
Ronald Glassner did a piece on the plight of the returning wounded last year in Harper's that bares the lies Bush has been telling about his concern for the toys he calls our soldiers. I couldn't find it on the web at the time so I posted some of the essentials, here.
His points, unfortunately, have held up over time, and we can look forward to years more homelessness, untreated trauma, under-treated casualities for yet another generation of veterans.
Somehow we just keep stepping on this collective rake over and over again, and yet no one ever wonders why we keep getting our face smashed in.
It would be interesting to see some speculation about what Iraq would look like if the various factions had their way.
My take is:
The Kurds want autonomy and oil. They've pretty much got autonomy wrapped up with the constitution and their own military muscle to back it up. They may have to fight for Kirkuk's oil, but against who? I don't see the US military attacking Kudistan, and the Shiites have enough oil of their own in the south. So the Kurds have their Kurdistan.
The Shiites seem to want an Islamic state with lots of oil. There is no significant oposition to Shiite control of the south, and that's where the oil is. So the Shiite majority has its Islamic state in the south.
The Sunnis don't want to be left behind but they are pretty much left with the oil poor middle and some powerful, numerous, and well equipped enemies who have a lot of grudges to settle. Given the strength and objectives of the Kurds and Shiites, their best option is to develop their piece of the pie into a secular merchant/professional/industrial/ intellectual region with Bagdad as its center, and give up dreams of regaining rule of the country.
I think the problem with the current democracy enterprise is that, when the dust settles, no faction gets what it really wants. A unity governmant is a government of distrustfull, bickering, factions endlessly trying to achieve their own diverse objectives.
So my pee in the ocean of commentary is that to save Iraq by let the natural forces flow. Trying to control the shape of the country with abstact Western concepts (that often fail in the West) is a presription for more violence.
Juan, didn't Karbala sever relations in February? Am I missing something? Perhaps they restored relations and this is a recurrence?
John Koch, did you ever see Red Dawn? It's a movie that many Americans really loved. The plot was that America was invaded by the Soviets, and that the only resistance were a bunch of American guerilla fighters who retreated to the wilderness. Prof Cole once remarked, how would Americans feel if Iraqis invaded and setup checkpoints in America [and deprived you of rights, etc.]?
Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran, has a new book out called "Chasing Ghosts." He seems to have connected it beautifully to the Iraq war.
This is an excerpt he wrote:
Played by a young Patrick Swayze, Jed Eckert was the lead character in the horribly fantastic modern American classic Red Dawn. If you've served in the military in the last twenty years, you've seen this movie. Jed, a former quarterback, drives a pick-up truck and wears a baseball cap. He's an ordinary, straight-talking American kid until the morning the Soviets invade America and enemy paratroopers drop into his Midwestern town.?
At the dawn of World War III, Eckert leads his little brother Matt (Emilio Estevez) and a rag-tag bunch of high-school kids in a daring escape to the mountains, where they hide for the winter and survive by hunting deer and eating canned soup. After a covert mission back to town, they learn that their families have been killed or imprisoned in brutal work camps, and emerge from the hills with a vengeance. The film’s tagline is “The invading armies planned for everything -- except for eight kids called The Wolverines.”?
Jed and his band of guerrillas courageously take on the evil army of occupiers. They ride horses into battle against attack helicopters. With nothing left to lose, they rebel, inspiring others and giving birth to an insurgency that is emulated nationwide. They use creative asymmetrical tactics against a superior military force and incredible odds. And in the end, they win.?
Red Dawn was entered into the Guinness Book of Records for having the most acts of violence of any film up to that time. When I was ten years old I thought it was the greatest thing I had ever seen. The first time I watched Red Dawn, I lay awake in my bed for hours. My thoughts raced. With total specificity, I laid out in my head how I would lead my little brother, our dog Sugar and the McGuiness boys if the Soviets ever made the fatal mistake of invading Peekskill and coming onto Arden Drive. We would be ready. Hiding in the big tree at the end of our block and on the roof of old Mrs. Hertz’s house, we would set up ambushes and kill those bastards with rocks, BB guns and M-80s. The next day at school during recess, I ran around the playground carrying a stick like a rifle, climbing trees and screaming “WOLVERINES!”
Now, with the roles reversed, I was on my way to invade and occupy someone else’s country. America could soon create thousands of Iraqi Jed Eckerts in places like Mosul and Baghdad. We were going to kill Saddam and break his army. Dogs of war and all that shit. Ready to be unleashed. Grrrrrrrr. Warrior killers, steeled for death.?
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