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Commentary ~ April 8, 2004: George Bush has succeeded in
bringing unity to where division has dominated for most of the last
one thousand years: he has united disparate Sunni and Shiite populations
– against his hegemonic plan for occupation.
One year after the Americans took Baghdad, Bush's plan to "divide
and rule" has collapsed. For the U.S. occupiers, this is the
ultimate nightmare: Sunni and Shi'ite, united. From Kirkuk in the
north to Karbala in the south, from Fallujah to Nasiriyah, from
Ramadi to Baghdad, Iraq exploded this week. And the propaganda coming
out of the Bush Camp, that this is the work of "Saddam Fedayeen",
"remnants of the Ba'ath Party" or "foreign terrorists"
is starting to sound like classic White House Whitewashing from
the Vietnam era [see related story].
From here on out, this could get really interesting: the serious
possibility that the Shi'ites - 60 percent or so of the Iraqi
population - will be tempted to actually lead the multifaceted
Iraqi resistance.
The irony is that when the United States invaded Iraq more than
a year ago, one of its chief concerns was preventing a civil war
between Shiite Muslims, who make up a majority in the country, and
Sunni Muslims, who held all the power under Saddam Hussein.
Now the fear is that the growing uprising against the U.S.-led occupation
is forging cooperation between the two groups -- in the common cause
to kill Americans.
The American Military, instead of calming the situation, seems
intent on making it worse. While trying to catch Iraqi Resistance
Fighters in Falluja, they have killed dozens of Iraqi civilians,
including many women and children. At least 40 were killed when
the U.S. marines dropped a 500-pound, laser-guided bomb onto a mosque.
Links:
Chronology (from The Guardian Newspaper)
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