BLOG VIEW | HEADLINE VIEW

ALL

GEEK

Hezbollah East: Baghdad

MONDAY OCTOBER 29 2007 9:00 AM

Submitted by FearTheReaper. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: Iraq, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Shiite, Sadr

Hezbollah was started in 1982 by a group of Muslim clerics, with a lot of help from Iran, after Israel invaded Lebanon. Iranian Revolutionary guards were sent to Lebanon to create a militia that would resist the Israeli occupation. Now 25 years later, we get to watch the exact same circumstances create the exact same radical political and military organization, but this time in Iraq.

Iran is certainly funding Shiites in Iraq. Why shouldn�t they? Their greatest enemy, the US, is constantly banging the war drums. The only logical and smart path for Iran to take is to set up another Hezbollah type organization in Iraq. They have certainly learned from their mistakes in Lebanon and will know how to implement a plan that will win over the locals quickly.

Hezbollah gained favor with many Lebanese by providing social services that the government was unable to provide. The US invasion and pathetically planned occupation of Iraq has created the perfect environment for a new Hezbollah to rise out of the chaos and win over the locals. In the '80s Hezbollah provided desperately needed social services, hospitals, schools, along with radio and TV stations. They basically provided the basics to build a society, something the US has not done in Baghdad.

According to CBS News, a Hezbollah type organization is taking root in Iraq. The Mahdi Army has always been a problem for the US. The smart, brutal and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is their leader. Much of our fighting in Baghdad has been against the Mahdi Army. They rule a slum and the street fighting can be quite dangerous. But now it seems they have stopped fighting, and that is not a good sign.

Those in the movement have shifted from gunmen to Iraq's equivalent of men in suits.

Last week, US ambassador Ryan Crocker warned that Sadr�s men were taking over businesses, like gas stations and other �basic services,� in Shiite neighborhoods. They are beginning to use control over necessities and social services as their main weapon.

The move suggests what Crocker called a "Hezbollahzation" of parts of Iraq, a reference to an emphasis on social networks as a base of strength that has been the hallmark of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Now the US finds itself in a delicate situation. To attack the Mahdi Army will be to attack those giving basic services to the people. Whoever wins the support of the street, wins the war.

"If they arrest people who are Mahdi Army but who are not doing military things, people will not like them for it," said one resident of a neighborhood where the Americans are trying to crack down. The sweeps also tend to collect suspects regardless of age.

But the US is doing exactly that, in an attempt to find the �bad guys.� So, one day maybe we pick up the guy who was delivering medicine to sick people, or the guy who supplies clean water, or the mechanic who fixes your car. Maybe we destroy a building some insurgents run into and it turns out to be a medical clinic. This is a situation built for our failure. We don�t understand the culture or the language. Iran and Sadr do.

Looking back on the invasion, this should have seemed so obvious when the looting was going on, as our soldiers stood around and watched. They were not given orders to stop the looting of the entire country. Hospitals, offices, schools; everything was torn apart and carted off. Iraq�s entire infrastructure was demolished in a month. Not enough soldiers on the ground meant massive security problems. Nearly every choice the Bush administration made in Iraq was the wrong one. Now, out of the chaos will rise an organization that can provide help and it�s not the USA. It is a radical Islamic cleric, with support from Iran.

It turns out one country had very shrewd leaders and another one was full of idiots. Too bad the idiots have all the planes and bombs.

60 Comments

PAGE:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

jpaul256

Spring, TX

June 2006

OCT 29, 2007 07:27 PM

Chainlink said:
The best part of this whole thing is you supposing that anyone would take you seriously.

Good one !

I don't get my sense of self worth from this site. But thanks for your concern.

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

OCT 29, 2007 08:16 PM

jpaul256 said:

FearTheReaper said:
Hey lofty guy, just so I'm aware of how terrible we are and you are above it all, please explain why you are threatening another member in this post.

Heathen_Dave said:
The only proper response to this in real life would be, of course, to punch whoever said it right in the fucking mouth.

jpaul256 said:
Send me a private message and I'll be happy to schedule a face-to-face next time I'm in Fayetteville. Should be around Thanksgiving. My family has lived in Fayetteville for the past 15 years.

Obviously, Dave made the threat by saying I should be "punched in the fucking mouth." I simply responded by saying that I would be happy to meet him.

Yeah, well good to see you rise above the horrible name calling that is so beneath you with a challenge to fisticuffs. Are you going to meet by the flagpole?

jpaul256 said:
You are really straining your credibility by focusing your venom on me. Do you really believe that your middle-school approach to discourse is having an impact? The name calling?

No, you're right. I shouldn't call you names. But you should tell members you will be in their home town to kick their ass in November. Obviously that is what we should all be striving for.

As far as "credibility" You do realize I am a comedy writer who writes on a titty site, right? Get the fuck over it.

Dipshit, you have been ranting about me for several posts an now, ooooooo shit, here comes the victim card again - I am "focusing on YOU." Oh dear. Oh, Lord. Poor guy.

(I called you a name, please don't beat me up)

jpaul256 said:
The repeated references to my living in Texas (where, by the way, I have lived for less than two years)?

You actually have not even seen me call you names as of yet. Yes, I refer to Texas often. Because you fit a Texas stereotype. Most people in the country do not like Texas. I do not like Texas. I do not like you. I manage to put the two things together.

jpaul256 said:
I have a great life in Texas just as I had when I lived in Atlanta, Raleigh, St. Paul, Indianapolis, and Edinburgh. There isn't really anything that you are going to say on this site that will impact that. You simply aren't someone to be taken seriously.

Please, explain to me who on the internet should be taken seriously, I would love to know, because I have yet to find that person. Thanks for making another obvious point in the form of a jab.

But, seriously, you are awesome. You are showing me how to debate with honor and dignity, as you say, like it was like in the good old days, before all this political anger raised it's ugly head. (Remember how awesome and lovey dovey the sixties were!)

I appreciate you ability to rise above it all and remain the amazing moderate that you are. And thanks for staying brave in the face of such horrible attacks.

jpaul256 said:
Email is another perfect example. Some of the notes I have received on this site have contained threats and insults...

Man, I have no idea what that is like. Please tell me, Mr Never a Victim.

And finally, welcome to Suicide Girls:

The news is totally biased! Why don't you publish the truth???
The news is submitted by random fuckbags like you and me. For the most part we're not career journalists, just interested onlookers. Editors do strive for a certain degree of quality in news postings, but if you feel your point of view or area of interest is being overlooked, the best thing to do is submit some news yourself!

We are not a reputable, objective news source. Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow and other fat senior citizens who think of news as objective would/do hate the SG Newswire. We are part gossip rag, part talk radio, part daily show, part djs (spinning you the newspaper stories instead of songs). Other sites report; we mangle, spin, pontificate upon, slant and direct you to the stuff on the web we think worthy of your notice, whether for humor's sake, or because it's important.

We report, you decide!

Element_103

Killeen, TX

September 2005

OCT 29, 2007 08:41 PM

Heh, these from Texas. Good thing I'm not native, bad thing that he isn't either.

attn_ho

Brooklyn, NY

February 2004

OCT 29, 2007 08:59 PM

oh god, another article by FTR has devolved into nutbag rightwingers insulting him and shocked (SHOCKED) that the editorial content on a site that caters to liberalism (hint. republicans arent goth, indie, alt or punk by any large margin) in every other way has liberal editorial, and the resultant smackdown by FTR on these trolls.

It must be monday.

fountainofdreams

Mokena, IL

January 2005

OCT 29, 2007 09:18 PM

Is it sad that I miss trolls from the past? It seems like every few months we get the new crop and I wish for the zotted ones. They seem so logical now that they're gone.