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When Will Americans Punish Bush for His Errors?

Given what he describes as the ongoing political, military and moral disaster being committed by the United States in Iraq, the writer wonders if the Republican Party will pay a price at the ballot box.

By M'Hamed Ben Youssef

June 6-June 12 Issue

Tunis Hebdo - Original Article (French)    

The question on lips everywhere lately, since the number of daily deadly attacks is rising rapidly, is “where is Iraq going?” According to a secret Pentagon report that appeared in the Cairo paper “El Isboui,” more than 15,000 guerilla attacks against coalition units have been recorded in nine months (from July 2004 to March 2005). The capital of Baghdad alone has seen nearly 3,500 offensives, two thirds of which are against the GIs.

This river of blood – which, unfortunately, never falters due to the professionalism of the inexhaustible human reservoir of Jihadists, who have enormous logistical means – prompts experts from various backgrounds to predict that even in the long term, any sort of American victory in Iraq, even a partial one, is utterly uncertain or even impossible. Thus, the American forces are condemned to camp there for at least ten more years in order to wage war against an uncatchable “enemy” that has tremendous support from the population, where it evolves like a fish in water.

With a few variations, this is a model colonial war that can only benefit the children of the country who fight for what they are to become and their self-determination, all the more so because they can clearly count on the support of Arab volunteers from around the world for the Jihad against “the Great Satan”… From Morocco to Indonesia, willing Muslims, both rich and not rich, including executives, are dropping everything – comfort, friends, parents, even wives and children – to cross through the Syrian, Iranian or Afghan borders in order to offer their lives for the cause of Islam, seeking an effective way to respond to Bush’s arrogance. After all, didn’t he dare to threaten Muslims all over the world in declaring a “Crusade” and by including several Arab or Muslim states in the “axis of evil?”

It is a reaction particular to man and his dignity, especially to Arab-Muslims who are born fighters with legendary pride. Recall, for example, the legendary courage of the North Africans at Cassino for the liberation of Italy, or the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan! Not to mention the victories of the ALN in Algeria and the Chechens – forgotten by Western public opinion to please Putin – in the Caucasus!

In the month of May alone, there were 672 Iraqi deaths; 1,174 were wounded by 19 car bombs, 30 offensives and 10 bomb attacks. As for the Marines, 77 of them died during the same period. The month of May turned out to be even deadlier than April (a 19% increase). This shows, if further evidence was necessary, that the Iraqi insurgency is in “good health” and that it has many days ahead of it. No sign of tiring and no respite for the occupiers who, as soon as they leave their camps, are faced with challenges.

The American invasion of Mesopotamia, with its daily setbacks, has, according to observers in the know, exasperated the entire population and spurred religious and ethnic antagonism. Furthermore, in September 2004, a ridiculous initiative was adopted by the American command and was adopted by the defunct Allawi government. Five thousand former soldiers were recruited and armed to the teeth to become shock commandos. This is a matter of letting Arabs settle their problems amongst themselves. Among the recommendations meant for the American soldiers and pulled from the text of “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence, “Better to let the Arabs do it tolerably … It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them.”

HELLO DISASTER!

At the dawn of each day, there are unheard of barbarous acts, sometimes inside mosques. Many Sunnis and Shiites have lost their lives in gunfights. It has happened that prominent religious leaders with great renown in both clans are killed at their homes or in their pulpits. Veritable massacres against the Sunnis have been committed “in reaction to” unarmed Shiite attacks. Anyone would think that the policy of “a tooth for a tooth” was elaborated upon to corner the Sunnis into dissociating from the guerillas. It seems that a list of 4,000 prominent Sunnis was drawn up. They are targeted for these terrifying physical liquidations … have the Iraqis entered a civil war? The question should be asked.

This is the result of the American army’s intervention in Iraq! We are far from the made-in-the-USA “benefits of democracy” that Bush vaunted incessantly during his hawkish calls for action …

Tangled up as he [Bush] is in the wasp's nest effectively constructed by Saddam Hussein on the eve of Baghdad's invasion, he must now deal with the weariness of the average American. This is a dirty war to which even he doesn’t see an end! Won’t the silent masses on the other side of the Atlantic make the voracious Republicans pay for their serious distraction in the Gulf in the 2007 legislative elections? Wait and see …

— BBC NEWS AUDIO: Tour of Iraq's Embassy in London Turns Up Some Interesting Items, June 8, 00:04:21
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