Thank you.
Posted on 03/07/2006 1:22:11 PM PST by Former Military Chick
FYI, all, today I saw a notice in Stars & Stripes about a poll that said 80% of Americans believe a civil war has started in Iraq following the destruction of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.
Let me offer another opinion.
While some of the hotheads in both of the muslim sects went after each other for a few days, that incident may end up being the catalyst not for civil war, but for civilization in Iraq. I have seen countless reports in the last few days that tell an entirely different picture of what you see in the news.
Many of the reports tell of local leaders from the government, military, police, and all religious and tribal sects COMING TOGETHER in response to the violence following the destruction of the Mosque. In one city, for example, about a half dozen leaders covering all religious sects and all ethnicities got together for a live press conference where they all called for calm and unity. That press conference took about 2.5 hours to give everyone the chance to say everything they wanted to say.
There have been plenty of other reports of Imams from both primary Muslim sects from all areas of the country calling for restraint.
In many cases, order was maintained by cooperation between Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army forces who had never quite been able to get their 'stuff' together to work together before.
In just about all cases, leaders of every stripe are referring to the terrorists and foreign fighters responsible for the Golden Mosque outrage, and so many others, as a common enemy of all Iraqis.
This country may have come farther towards unity in the last two weeks in response to that mosque being blown up than it has in all the days since the last round of elections.
While it may not last without some positive reinforcement (like the seating of a national government), the silver lining of the Golden Mosque bombing looks nothing like civil war.
Dave [No Longer Free State]
Beyond his talents as a writer he is also one of our finest serving in the US Army, as a Field Artillery Officer.
He has previously been deployed to Iraq, this is his second deployment. His updates during first deployment meant the world to me, while they were precious to me I decided to share them with friends and family. It became required reading for all, awaiting news from his adventures while in Iraq. The good, the bad and the down right ugly.
I have asked that he do the same this time, and I have decided to share them with our friends on Free Republic. If that is all right with you?
I would like to gather his updates from his first deployment, photo's and add to them these updates, posting them all on FR, so that we can see the success that has occurred since his first deployment. I know we will get an honest overview and his observations will help us put into perspective what we read in the news.
If there are any question's you would like for him to address, let me know and I will share them with him.
While this isn't a typical update, evidently the news of a civil war and the polls caught his attention and he felt it needed to be addressed. Perhaps I am biased but I happen to agree with him.
Thanks for taking the time to read his observations.
Please keep my beloved in your prayer's along with all those courageous men and women, who have selflessly decided to serve and protect our country. They deserve our greatest respect and I salute them all. I salute all the friends and families behind our hero's.
BTT and I thank your husband for his service and you for yours.
Thank you.
PING
A brief observation from my beloved deployed in Iraq.
Thanks for reporting this.
Bravo. I'll be looking for some honest reporting. Love and Semper Fi to you and yours.
Thanks and God bless both of you for your service to our country.
Keep posting the truth!!
Thanks so much for the post... and may God bless.
This country may have come farther towards unity in the last two weeks in response to that mosque being blown up than it has in all the days since the last round of elections.
that is an important observation and worth sharing and repeating. There is just not enough positive news arriving from Iraq. We need more. Hey I would even take the bad, as long as it were balanced. But nothing is WRONG.
Great news from the front. Thanks to Dave for the update and, most of all, for being there to do the heavy lifting.
It is wonderful and generous of you to do so, and I appreciate it very much.
DEf. THis stuff needs to get out. If it wasnt for milblogs I would be clueless on whats really happening.
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Yours, and all of them, are in my family's daily prayers. Please send our thanks...
God bless and protect your brave husband and all our brave troops.
Thanks to you and your husband for your service. I enjoy reading your threads, and appreciate your sharing the opinion of your husband, who currently serves. We appreciate hearing their opinions.
Thank you and your hubby for a slice of reality sorely missing from the Treason Media.
Thank you both.
Thanks for the ping - God bless.
Confirms what Rush was talking about earlier today.
Thanks for the ping FMC!
Please keep me on this list.
Best wishes to you and Dave!
Thanks for sharing and for you and your husbands service!
Pinging some friends....
It's so good to hear from NLFS and his analysis of the latest MSM efforts to convince people that a civil war is on the horizon. We'll be keeping him, and you, in our prayers, FMC. :)
You and yours have my gratitude. If 80% of Americans can get still get snookered like this in an era of instant information from the front, I am afraid that the "dinosaur" media is a long way from dying out.
Thanks for the post, FMC, and the update NLFS! Stay safe!
Thanks. It's refreshing to get good news for a change.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I want to see the stats on this Poll about who they polled, before I believe it.
Tremendous ....
Nice to see Rush is in good company. :)
Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for your posts and looking forward to many more. Our thoughts are with all in our military.
I thank you and your husband for your service from the bottom of my heart.
It is a tremendous relief to hear of this good news right from Iraq.
Well, this sure sounds like progress to me!
Stay safe Dave, and prayers for both of you.
I'm sure No Longer Free State probably heard it over AFRS (which carries the first hour of the Rush Limbaugh program), if he's not already a 24/7 member, because Rush devoted the most first hour to debunking the garbage in this poll. :)
Thank you so much..God bless your beloved.
My take on the Samarra Mosque bombing is that Al Qaeda *knew* that it would probably bring Iraqi's together.
Al Qaeda had already seen all of Jordan united against them after they bombed the hotels in Amman, after all, so AQ had a pretty good idea that their mosque bombing would fail.
Why then, did they do it? For one thing, AQ is losing so badly on the ground in Iraq that they had nothing to lose. There was, after all, some small chance that it might give them the civil war that they needed to save their failing insurgency. Some chance is better than no chance.
For another reason, the immediate fallout from the mosque bombing gave AQ some "cover" as they moved high value assets out of Iraq.
There has been a dramatic shift in AQ's resources to lawless Southern Lebanon and to the Gaza Strip in Israel.
Likewise, AQ top tier personnel have begun issuing more frequent condemnations of Israel and praise of Hamas.
All of this is tied toghether, as are the Iraqi Sunni tribes who met and had 300 of their tribal leaders agree to declare war against Al Qaeda.
Since March of 2003, Al Qaeda has lost Liberia, Libya, and Lebanon. In Iraq, Al Qaeda has been humiliated by being unable to stop the January 2005 elections (60% nationwide voter turnout), then re-humiliated by seeing 63% of Iraqi voters turn out for the October 2005 Iraqi Constitutional referendum, then humiliated again by seeing almost 70% Iraqi voter turnout to elect the leaders of the new Iraqi government in December 2005.
Al Qaeda has alienated all of Jordan. Al Qaeda has been slaughtered on a massive scale in Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda has seen the government of Yemen turn against it.
In the meantime, Arafat "has died" and Palestinians have been unable to stop the Israeli wall and the unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip (an undefendable territory for Israel), all while Syria has pulled its protective troops out of Lebanon, exposing Hezbollah to potential Israeli or U.S. invasion/elimination.
Well, Al Qaeda can talk a good game all year long, but it's difficult for them to explain to like-minded radicals why they are unable to strike at Israel, and why all of their resources are attacking Iraqi's and Americans rather than Jews...especially since AQ is failing so badly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, etc.
From *their* warped perspective, they are having to explain to their own kind getting creamed in Iraq while not bothering with their Jewish Problem in the least.
To assauge some of this self-criticism in their own ranks, AQ has tried a few high profile attacks in Suadi Arabia and Jordan and Egypt, all failures by their own standards.
But at some point, AQ has to show itself as being a leader in the war against the Jews...something that it can't do while all of its assets are getting slaughtered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So AQ has been shifting its resources away from Iraq. For one thing, being in Iraq is quite risky for AQ today. Many Iraqi Sunnis and all Iraqi Shi'ites have reason to rat out AQ...making it problematic for AQ to remain hidden amongst the locals...and if they aren't hidden, the Americans routinely slaughter AQ like so many bird-flu infected chickens.
This is why U.S. fatalities in Iraq have dropped each month for the past half year. October of 2005 had 96 U.S. fatalities in Iraq (though not all were combat-related), but by February of 2006 that fatality rate was cut almost in half (and continues to show a further decline so far in March).
Well, a half year of month on month declines in U.S. fatalities is no mere fluctuation in statistical data; no, there is some larger trend behind that decline.
So the Samarra Mosque bombing was undertaken by AQ knowing that it would give them "cover" to move some high value assets out of Iraq, as well as was at least a "chance" to save their failing insurgency...but they had to know (i.e. after their hotel bombings backfired in Jordan) that the Mosque bombing would also probably work against them.
Which is to say, AQ knows that they've lost Iraq.
AQ has shifted its assets and rhetoric over towards Israel.
What's left in Iraq are some diehards and some useful idiots who will no doubt cause some more carnage and mayhem (especially since their cause has so little left to lose in Iraq), but AQ's major effort in Iraq has ended.
You heard it here, first.
Thank you for the ping. You and your beloved have my gratitude and prayers.
Interesting stuff!
What's his take on Iraqi attitudes towards Americans?
PS Both the soldiers and in general?
Think you've got this one conked, mate. Fine post!
The media is following the template of "Uncle Walt" and the Tet Offensive. Not saying that things haven't heated up, but it is NOT a civil war...but the media says it is so and hope it will affect the American people's support.
Thanks so much for this post, and tell Dave to stay safe and report whenever he can.
Thanks for that update FMC. FoxNews has had a few on who seem to echo Dave's sentiments. But coming from him being over there, it means much more. I am very curious as to the military's take on whether they see just an Iranian-al Qaeda connection or whether they see a Shia-Iranian connection. Sadr comes to mind and if he is welcoming Iranian help, how does the Iraqi military plan to deal with him? Thanks again for the update. Looking forward to more.
You bet they are, and according to the polls the MSM loves to report on, there are a few Americans who are falling for it hook, line and sinker. Polls are nothing more than a political tool used to shape public opinion when their attempts to misinform the public through media reports fail.
You know, if the conventional wisdom in the MSM is that there's a civil war, then no editor's going to ask their reporters for stories on all the normal or peaceful things that are happening in the country. Calm heads and calls for peace occur even during a real civil war. If "everybody knows" there's a civil war already going on, then yet another story of normalcy or order or "the center still holding" is irrelevant. So up & down the chain of command in the newsrooms, everybody's saying: "By god, we need stories that show a civil war happening!!!" And so that's all we see.
I'm not an expert by any means, but I think your analysis is accurate. Excellent post.
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