Article about terrorism in Iraq
First, read this article.
Hmmm.. for some reason, the article keeps changing from the one Terran sent originally -- see if this link works (both articles are short, so please read both).
Whatever articles you end up reading, know that terrorists (nice discussion of who make up "terrorists" Michael -- there are many groups here) in Iraq are attacking Shiite pilgrims and blowing bombs in and around mosques.
In your posting, please consider these questions:
Hmmm.. for some reason, the article keeps changing from the one Terran sent originally -- see if this link works (both articles are short, so please read both).
Whatever articles you end up reading, know that terrorists (nice discussion of who make up "terrorists" Michael -- there are many groups here) in Iraq are attacking Shiite pilgrims and blowing bombs in and around mosques.
In your posting, please consider these questions:
Why do the terrorists attack mosques if religion is one of the reasons people become suicide bombers?
If a quiet day in Iraq is one bomb going off and one person dying, are the people in Iraq doing enough, or do there need to be more troops to stop this violence?
Are troops even the answer to stopping the violence?
Are troops even the answer to stopping the violence?
posted by Mr. G at 3/06/2007 08:34:00 PM
8 Comments:
I think that the terrorists are attacking the mosques because it is a way for them to get noticed. Terrorism works because people notice what is going on and are scared. If there were more troops stationed at the mosques, then every bomb that went off and killed us troops would be that more effective. I think that some of the people that are blowing themselves up wish that killing people were not the answer, but because one of the only ways they can be heard is through the media. Unfortunately, it is hard to send a good message through a bomb blast. Because the bombing have such a negative connotation, it is hard for people to see the message that is behind the bomb sometimes.
First, let me try to make some specifications on the terrorists within Iraq. You have extremist groups like Al Qaeda and just hate the US. You have what we call insurgents fighting against the US occupation of Iraq. These people really just hate the US because we're in their country, took away their leader and haven’t left yet; to keep the groups separated I suggest referring to them as nationalists. Most members of these groups are Sunni. Next resides the groups that are fighting each other, these Shiite and Sunni groups fighting each other. They do not care about the US and some Sunni groups like this have even asked Al Qaeda to stop attacks on the US and focus their forces towards eliminating the Shiites from the region. While simultaneously, some extremist Shiites have infiltrated the army and police force in Iraq and are attacking Sunnis, through death squads and various other means of intimidation. These two groups are the ones that would be responsible for destroying the Mosque Terran mentioned. However, I have no idea what role and how big a role Iran is playing now; there is only speculation from the United States on Tehran’s involvement in Iraq, no proof. What do you do...? I really do not know and I cannot pretend to, as Petraeus said, "any student of history recognizes there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq."
Oh crappy I left the article and it changed, so if I seem to be talking about a different article then your reading I am. Sending more troops to Iraq may lower the attacks on residents in the region, but if those attacks were lowered attacks on American troops would increase as a result.
i think that the US ocupation in Iraq isnt going to solve any thing very quickly. sure, it might eventually get it to the point were there is no violence but there will always be people who hate the US with a fiery passion. i also dont think that putting more troops in Iraq will have the desired efect. if their are more troops then it just becomes easier for the terrorists to target the US troops.
i agree with my brother about the mosques. the terrorists just know that people will almost always be at the mosques and that just makes it easier to kill people. also you have to think about the fact that they are bombing their own mosques which is kind of like us bombing our own churches, it would take a lot of guts and will to do some thing such as that and they would have to be really loyal to their cause.
i just dont think that we have achieved much in this war. we did unseat Saddam Husein but even then we made him a martyr by hanging him. other then that we have brought democracy to that country and thats it, we have done little else. it is my personal opinion that we as the US should be trying to focus our energy in this conflict else were, such as what state will the country be in when we finaly leave it and what will happen to it after that?
The terrorists are attacking religious mosques because those are the most sacred and honored things of their enemies, whomever that may be at the time of the bomboing. They aren't attacking their own mosques. I think that sending more tropps only makes the various terrorist groups angrier. Much of the time their primary target is US soldiers, they kill civilians for the reason zewek said, to get attention.
I think that trying to understand some of the less extreme groups' view point and such might actually help the US. I'm sure that many of the less extreme enemies just want this to be over as much as we do. I think that being there at all right now is necessary because if we leave then certain groups will have free reign. What we are doing though isn't helping the government. There needs to be some sort of weening off proccess right now, not a surge. I think that if a good day is one person dying, or only finding 10 bodies, then the definition of good here has seriously been warped, and that something needs to change. What that change should be is unclear to me as I am not a military strategist but what's going on right now is clearly just not working.
The terrorists are attacking religious mosques because those are the most sacred and honored things of their enemies, whomever that may be at the time of the bomboing. They aren't attacking their own mosques. I think that sending more tropps only makes the various terrorist groups angrier. Much of the time their primary target is US soldiers, they kill civilians for the reason zewek said, to get attention.
I think that trying to understand some of the less extreme groups' view point and such might actually help the US. I'm sure that many of the less extreme enemies just want this to be over as much as we do. I think that being there at all right now is necessary because if we leave then certain groups will have free reign. What we are doing though isn't helping the government. There needs to be some sort of weening off proccess right now, not a surge. I think that if a good day is one person dying, or only finding 10 bodies, then the definition of good here has seriously been warped, and that something needs to change. What that change should be is unclear to me as I am not a military strategist but what's going on right now is clearly just not working.
My computer's internet disconnects every time it trys to load the second article, so all I know is what is in the first article. I agree with what Philip said about how sending in troops makes the problem worse. It's sad that we have to stop violence with violence so often. Will the terrorists ever blow up the Western Wall or the Golden Temple? Because that would really get people's attention. I don't think that putting more troops in Iraq, will stop the violence. I think we need something else, but I have no idea what.
The current in-fighting in Iraq is an INSURGENT fighting force. They are guerrillas. I think that an escalation of the standing force in Iraq won't do much, if anything at all. Sure, we can maintain more a presence in more areas, but we still can't cover the entire country with patrols. I think a lot of people are disillusioned about the origin of these guerrillas. They are Iraqis. Iraq has ~27 Million people. Every single one of them could be an insurgent. The insurgency is evidence that at least some of the Iraqis don't want us occupying Iraq. However, we did destroy their infrastructure. We destroyed all the things we as Americans take for granted: water, electricity, good roads, an economy. Thus, I don't think pulling completely out is the solution as well. We need to have a plan! for pulling out, and we need to renew the effort for an effective reconstruction effort.
how long have we been in iraq? around 4 years now? what do we have to show that is a significant positive effect from us being there? i don't think sending more american troops is the right solution, especially along with what michael said, we are really not wanted and not welcomed. obviously the people that are blowing themselves up believe strongly enough in their religion and beliefs to think that such extreme measures are necessary- and i agree with what zewek said about it being a way to get noticed. unfortunately, we tend to not deal with problems and issues until they "blow up."
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