Sunday, November 14, 2004

Informed Comment

Informed Comment: "
Guerrillas at Mosul detonated a car bomb as an Iraqi national guard unit from Kirkuk went by, injuring seven of them.

Guerrillas at largely Turkmen Tel Afar also clashed with US troops.

The US arrested 4 Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars.

Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports that a Communist representative in the 100-member National Council in Iraq, which serves as a sort of interim parliament, was assassinated while traveling in the north near Kirkuk on Saturday. This would be like a senator being assassinated in the United States.

posted by Juan @ 11/14/2004 06:30:42 AM

Regionalist Model for Iraq

Fred Kaplan at Slate discusses the proposal of former Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie for consolidating the 18 Iraqi provinces into 5-- one Kurdish, two Sunni Arab, and two Shiite.

As Kaplan notes, I myself dislike this idea. It has the advantage of possibly mollifying the Kurds, who really want a 'Kurdistan.' But it has many disadvantages. First of all, 'Kurdistan' will either include Turkmen and Christian areas, and the city of Kirkuk, or it will not. If it does, that will cause a lot of trouble with the Turkmen and Christians (both of whom generally fear and despise the Kurds). If it doesn't, that could cause trouble from the Kurdish side. Better to leave the provinces like they are.

Another consideration is that multi-ethnic countries with just a few, largely ethnic, provinces, are at greater risk for civil war and breaking up than are countries that have large numbers of mixed-ethnic provinces. Creating Rubaie's 5 provinces now may contain the seeds of Iraqi civil war and partition in the future.

Examples of such instability include the original Pakistan, which included 5 provinces (Baluchistan, Sindh, NWFP, Pujab and East Bengal), and which broke up in 1971, with East Bengal peeling off to form Bangladesh. Or look at Nigeria and Biafra. Or Yugoslavia.

Eighteen multi-ethnic provinces would be more stable in the long"

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle

Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov 6 (AFP) - With US forces massing outside Fallujah, 35 marines swayed to Christian rock music and asked Jesus Christ to protect them in what could be the biggest battle since American troops invaded Iraq last year. Men with buzzcuts and clad in their camouflage waved their hands in the air, M-16 assault rifles laying beside them, and chanted heavy metal-flavoured lyrics in praise of Christ late Friday in a yellow-brick chapel. They counted among thousands of troops surrounding the city of Fallujah, seeking solace as they awaited Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's decision on whether or not to invade Fallujah. "You are the sovereign. You're name is holy. You are the pure spotless lamb," a female voice cried out on the loudspeakers as the marines clapped their hands and closed their eyes, reflecting on what lay ahead for them. The US military, with many soldiers coming from the conservative American south and midwest, has deep Christian roots. In times that fighting looms, many soldiers draw on their evangelical or born-again heritage to help them face the battle. "It's always comforting. Church attendance is always up before the big push," said First Sergeant Miles Thatford. "Sometimes, all you've got is God." Between the service's electric guitar religious tunes, marines stepped up on the chapel's small stage and recited a verse of scripture, meant to fortify them for war. One spoke of their Old Testament hero, a shepherd who would become Israel's king, battling the Philistines some 3,000 years ago. "Thus David prevailed over the Philistines," the marine said, reading from scripture, and the marines shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using their signature grunt of approval. The marines drew parallels from the verse with their present situation, where they perceive themselves as warriors fighting barbaric men opposed to all that is good in the world. "Victory belongs to the Lord," another young marine read. Their chaplain, named Horne, told the worshippers they were stationed outside Fallujah to bring the Iraqis "freedom from oppression, rape, torture and murder ... We ask you God to bless us in that effort." The marines then lined up and their chaplain blessed them with holy oil to protect them. "God's people would be annointed with oil," the chaplain said, as he lightly dabbed oil on the marines' foreheads. The crowd then followed him outside their small auditorium for a baptism of about a half-dozen marines who had just found Christ. The young men lined up and at least three of them stripped down to their shorts. The three laid down in a rubber dinghy filled with water and the chaplain's assistant, Navy corpsman Richard Vaughn, plunged their heads beneath the surface. Smiling, Vaughn baptised them "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Dripping wet, Corporal Keith Arguelles beamed after his baptism. "I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight," he said on the military base not far from the city of Fallujah. END

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