America kept in dark as carnage escalates

U.S. TV accused of ignoring situation - Iraq on brink of civil war, analysts say

"We are on the edge of civil war," said Noah Feldman, a New York University professor and chief U.S. adviser to Iraq on the writing of the country's new constitution.

Yet, somehow this sharp surge in deadly bombings, assassinations and kidnappings in Iraq has occurred largely under the radar in the United States.

No public figures have risen this week to decry this most recent carnage, no one is breaking into regular programming on cable news shows.

Perhaps Americans have simply become numb to the background hum of Iraqi violence. Perhaps the lack of graphic images on television mean that medium doesn't know how to cover the story. Perhaps, more cynically, Iraqis killing Iraqis is not as compelling a story.

The number of car bomb attacks in Iraq jumped from 64 in February to 135 in April, a record, according to U.S. military statistics

While American TV viewers turn to runaway brides, fast-food fingers and the daily Michael Jackson aberration, they are missing the story of an increasingly massive foreign policy failure.

source:
Information Clearing House

The US death toll is at 1611 and US legislators this week approved funding which pushes the cost of the Iraq war beyond $250 Billion USD.

And Iraq is on the brink of Civil War.

"The reason I say we are on the edge of civil war is that you can't have one if only one side is attacking. But the truth is, Shiites are only human and they will run out of patience. The only thing that can stop civil war is to bring this insurgency under control."

Most view it as acts of desperation from insurgents, most of them are not Iraqis. There is too much good news coming out of Iraq to consentrate on a few idiots.

Originally posted by Souljah
The US death toll is at 1611 and US legislators this week approved funding which pushes the cost of the Iraq war beyond $250 Billion USD.

Some of the apologists for the war argue that even though he didn't have any weapons the world is a better place without Saddam and with a forming democracy (maybe!) in Iraq. This might be true, however $250 Billion (and counting) would have built and entire education infrastructure in Africa. Now, how much better a would the world be for that? 10s of millions of children given some hope instead certain poverty and a short, brutal life.

People are worried about Iraq slipping into civil war - but you could argue it is already here. In April alone there were 128 car bombings - if you applied this to a country with the US's population this would be over 800! If that happened in one month in the US I think everyone would consider it a war.

That's aside from all the stuff that goes on "off the radar" - the mass killings of Iraqis by other Iraqis that seem to go on everyday, and are barely reported because much of the country is too dangerous for journalists....

Carseller4: Please support your statement. I would like to see what "good things" you speak of. Also, I would say the insurgency is no small number, especially considering many of the attackers use suicide tactics, yet still can replenish their ranks. I fear everyday of violence there is just ensuring terrorism against US interests for another half century.

FatherLukeDuke: Your point about the $250 B in Africa highlights just how hypocritical all the "freedom" talk is.

$250 B would have been enough to put humans on Mars, make a major dent in world poverty, and repair much of our dangerously decrepit internal physical infrastructure - all at the same time!

Instead we've blown it in a futile war against a nonexsitent threat, and an ill conceived resource grab. Mark my words, the Iraq War will be seen as one of our greatest national blunders for generations to come. We handed OBL just the recruiting tool he needed, and hell, we didn't even get the cheap oil we wanted!

If you ask me, Americans are kept in the dark, because of a massive ammount of Articles like this:

Iraq is a bloody no man's land. America has failed to win the war. But has it lost it?

"The battlefield is a great place for liars," Stonewall Jackson once said on viewing the aftermath of a battle in the American civil war.

The great general meant that the confusion of battle is such that anybody can claim anything during a war and hope to get away with it. But even by the standards of other conflicts, Iraq has been particularly fertile in lies. Going by the claims of President George Bush, the war should long be over since his infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech on 1 May 2003. In fact most of the 1,600 US dead and 12,000 wounded have become casualties in the following two years.

The ferocious resistance encountered last week by the 1,000-strong US marine task force trying to fight its way into villages around the towns of Qaim and Obeidi in western Iraq shows that the war is far from over. So far nine marines have been killed in the week-long campaign, while another US soldier was killed and four wounded in central Iraq on Friday. Meanwhile, a car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in central Baghdad yesterday, killing at least five Iraqis and injuring 12.

source:
The Independant

So - this operation Matador was declared a Complete Success.

But the News from the other side report differently.

Baghdad, 14 May - After having killed at least 125 people, many of whom women and children, and driven thousands from their homes in the western Anbar province, Major General R.A. Huck, Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Division declared "Regimental Combat Team-2 started and ended this operation as planned, accomplished its mission and secured all objectives. Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces will return again to this area in the future."

source:
UrukNet.Info

And here is the Another Version.

After 1 week of intensive fighting between US forces and Resistance fighters in and around the town of ‘Al-Qaim’, the US has declared its defeat at the hands of the Iraqi Resistance fighters by announcing an end to combat operations and a withdrawal from the town and surrounding areas.

Iraqi Resistance commanders attributed the US retreat to the large losses suffered at the hands of highly skilled Resistance fighters in the town of Al-Qaim and the surrounding villages of ‘Rumana’ and ‘Karabla’.

The victory of Al-Qaim is the second major battle won by the Resistance after US forces were forced to retreat in April 2004 from the town of Al-Falluja after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Iraqi Resistance fighters.

source:
Islamo.Memo

So - what really happened in operation Matador near Syrian border?

What news will the average American receive over this event?


Anyway, I agree with this statement, that was in the original article in this thread:

Perhaps Americans have simply become numb to the background hum of Iraqi violence. Perhaps the lack of graphic images on television mean that medium doesn't know how to cover the story. Perhaps, more cynically, Iraqis killing Iraqis is not as compelling a story.

Perhaps its much "easier" to watch Michael Jackson trial, and blind one eye to the events that are happening in Iraq, and just forget about that "war stuff".

i havent been kept in the dark, maybe its because we Americans tend to watch other stuff and u know how news are, they are just boring. we can choose to watch the Iraq war or not. i watch the news all the time cause i like to be informed wats goin on around the world but the rest of the Americans its their choice to be informed or not.

Some of the apologists for the war argue that even though he didn't have any weapons the world is a better place without Saddam and with a forming democracy (maybe!) in Iraq.

Im all for war and puting the military to work doing what it is suppose to do, but I agree that removing Saddam was not the best thing at the time. It was alot more interesting in the world with him, plus he kept Iraq stable. There wasnt mass bombings. Every crazy AK-toting muslim wasnt flooding in to murder everything that moves.

Dictators might have thier faults, but its very efficient.

Yes you can watch the news all day, and you will get your daily dose of US Army propaganda, that tries to cover up the facts, that Iraq is burning and bleeding, as we speak.

Iraq is turning into a massive foreign policy failure, and its getting closer to a Civil War every day - yet still money hungry corporations get the best out of this.

And they are the ones that keep the carnage levels high, and the people in the Dark.

Throughout history, fighting for freedom has always been a bloody and long struggle. People die, people suffer but in the end most have achieved the freedom they desire. Why would anyone think that Iraq would be any different?

Originally posted by Souljah
Iraq is turning into a massive foreign policy failure, and its getting closer to a Civil War every day - yet still money hungry corporations get the best out of this.

And they are the ones that keep the carnage levels high, and the people in the Dark.

Money hungry corporations alway have benefited from war. In fact, one of the best ways to stimulate the economy is a war or large scale natural disaster.

I do think however you are drawing a very long bow in stating that 'money hungry corporations are responsible for keeping the carnage levels high and people in the dark...

Well it has probably gone under the radar because ever since we have been in iraq all you hear on a dily basis is a bomber killing someone. thats why no one really cares anymore.

Originally posted by Trustnone
Well it has probably gone under the radar because ever since we have been in iraq all you hear on a dily basis is a bomber killing someone. thats why no one really cares anymore.

Great - so who cares for the Iraqi people then?

Your Presients concern is fading ever day - as long as its Mission Accomplished, everything is "Good".

Does the Public care? Well, you clearly said, that no one really cares anymore.

So basicly, the only ones who care, are the Mothers of Iraq, that loose their children on daily basis.

I guess that people have gone Numb to the violenece in Iraq - its everyday news, nothing special, nothing sensational.

And thats what Sickens me.

Talking about, how much it means to Liberate these people from the hands of Evil and Ruthless Dictator - but now their Future is even worse then before.

Who will help these people Now?

The Corporations, with selling tonz of gunz and ammunition?

Originally posted by xmotex
$250 B would have been enough to put humans on Mars, make a major dent in world poverty, and repair much of our dangerously decrepit internal physical infrastructure - all at the same time!

Instead we've blown it in a futile war against a nonexsitent threat, and an ill conceived resource grab. Mark my words, the Iraq War will be seen as one of our greatest national blunders for generations to come. We handed OBL just the recruiting tool he needed, and hell, we didn't even get the cheap oil we wanted!

Excellent writing again, xmotex. I also have thought that it was just mind boggling, how much could have been done, in real terms, with this money that's wasted.

Your comment on oil prices is also correct. Instead of getting chepa oil, we keep lining the pockets of corrupt regimes in the Middle East and Russia, and the big oil companies.

For $250B we could have had alternative energy in the US right now.
Seriously.

Oh Lord, please send us wise and honest leaders.

Before things get better they often get worse.

In a case such as Iraq, this is driven by those endeavouring to maintain control, fighting to keep their domination. Fighting can and does take many forms. It can be physical acts of terrorism and butchery or in the case of corporations like oil companies manipulation of resources. The creation of fear and suppression is another for form of fighting. But it is all about control and manipulation.

I hold onto the hope that although globally we are going through a very rough patch in our history, the reactions we are seeing (in places such as Iraq) are the last death throes of the suppressors and manipulators and that, we are truly on threshold of starting to move into a new age. Aquarius rising.

A very wise man by the name of Dr. Peter Ellyard (a futurist and strategist) calls this the age of Planetism. I share his dream of the creation of an ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable Planetist society. It is a society that values above all else inspirational leadership and management. It is about education and learning. After all, if people are ignorance and they live in poverty you can control and manipulate them. It is a society where health and wellbeing is a priority for all. It is a society built on sound practices in the areas of industrial development, production and environmental management and most importantly it is society based on non judgemental and understanding of intercultural relationships.

Before things get better they often get worse.

In a case such as Iraq, this is driven by those endeavouring to maintain control fighting to keep their domination. Fighting can and does take many forms. It can be physical acts of terrorism and butchery or in the case of corporations like oil companies manipulation of resources. The creation of fear and suppression is another for form of fighting. It all leads to control and manipulation.

I hold onto the hope that although globally we are going through a very rough patch in our history, the reactions we are seeing (in places such as Iraq) are the last death throes of the suppressors and manipulators and that, we are truly on threshold of starting to move into a new age. Aquarius rising.

A very wise man by the name of Dr. Peter Ellyard (a futurist and strategist) calls this the age of Planetism. I share his dream of the creation of an ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable Planetist society. It is a society that values above all else inspirational leadership and management. It is about education and learning. After all, if people are ignorance and they live in poverty you can control and manipulate them. It is a society where health and wellbeing is a priority for all. It is a society built on sound practices in the areas of industrial development, production and environmental management and most importantly it is society based on non judgemental and understanding of intercultural relationships.

This is my dream and my hope. I also believe in self-fulling prophecy the more we talk about the carnage and destruction the more there will be. To change the balance we need to look to the future and talk about the new world we wish to create. One voice leads to another and another and another – this is how change becomes a reality. Simple? Yes, but often the most important things are.


[edit on 18/5/2005 by Lady of the Lake]

Civil war? Hmmmph?

The insurgents (the enemy of the Coalition) are mostly now from Syria. This is a fact. Hence Operation Matador near the SYRIAN border.

It may be on the brink of civil war, but the participants are from outside Iraq. =/

The media chooses to ignore this.

-wD

The only thing that can stop civil war is to bring this insurgency under control."

So the insurgency must be crushed, and the Shi'ites must be protected. If the sunni leaders can't get the militias under control, then the sunnis are just going to be slowly pused out of the functioning of the state anyway.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Three weeks of relentless attacks offer ample evidence that Iraq's nascent democratic process hasn't yet undermined the insurgency. More than 500 people, nearly all of them Iraqis, have been killed in more than 70 attacks. Here, in a question and answer format, is what Iraqi, U.S. and independent authorities said this week about the insurgency:

QUESTION: Has the insurgency changed?

ANSWER: Yes. While the insurgency is decentralized, attacks are more coordinated and insurgents are using more remote-control devices to set off explosives. The targets have shifted from U.S. troops to Iraqi security forces. The insurgents are becoming more clearly defined.

Q: How so?

A: The insurgency breaks down to four major groups, all dominated by Sunni Muslim Arabs. The groups:

•Baathists from the former regime of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who want to return the old government.

•Nationalists who want foreign troops gone.

•Muslims fighting a holy war against the United States and Shi'ite Muslims.

•Foreign Muslim fighters who think Iraq is a good battlefield to take on the United States.

Q: How many insurgents are there?

A: 20,000, according to the U.S. military. But Gen. Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani, the Iraqi intelligence chief, estimated in January that there were 40,000 hardcore insurgents. It's unclear how authorities count insurgents.

Q: How many are foreign fighters?

A: Unknown. And there's no consensus on what the relationship is between them and Iraqi insurgents. The last estimate on foreign insurgents was given shortly after the Fallujah offensive in November. Then-interim Iraqi Interior Minister Faleh Hassan al Naqib said no more than 6% of the fighters in that city were foreign.

Q: So if the attacks are more coordinated, who is coordinating?

A: Another unknown. Iraqi military officials say Baathists are the most likely to coordinate the groups because they remain the richest and best organized in Iraq. Iraq's deputy defense minister, Bruska Noori Shaways, says the Baathists are hosting foreign insurgents.

Unknown, Unknown and another Unknown.

"All insurgents "share a common enemy, the government of Iraq and democracy, so they cooperate with each other," said Sabah Kadhim, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

There's nothing to suggest that the groups are assigned specific tasks or areas, Kadhim said. Instead, they are fluid, mobile groups.

Decentralized and working independently in a cellular structure, the insurgent groups are extremely difficult to defeat.

Great work with with this "Foreign Policy Stuff" by the US Goverment!

Now,

Who created this Problem?

Who is going to be Responsibility for it?

Who is going to Pay the Price?

And who is going to Take the Money?

Souljah, I'll not entertain as evidence articles from "news outlets" such as the ones offered. The Arab propensity to lie for strategic gain is well-known, and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that a "news outlet" reporting from an "Occupied Iraq" might be just a wee bit biased, huh?

Having said that, I also would like to say this: Lies and distortion are not only from the opposing team, and I am totally aware of this. The fact ofhte matter is not that America is being kept in the dark, but EVERYONE is being lied to and propagandized.

It doesn't take any biased media to cause one to believe that there is nothing but trouble in store for Iraq, considering the splintered factions vying for power. There will be no peace (absence of struggle; submission), until one faction has ultimate control and the others are dominated. That is to say, another Hussein.

The Illuminati want to bring the Middle East into its fold, and it is using the U.S.'s military, primarily, to try and achieve this. I do not believe it will be successful in this attempt.

Originally posted by Souljah

Great - so who cares for the Iraqi people then?


Does the Public care? Well, you clearly said, that no one really cares anymore.


I guess that people have gone Numb to the violenece in Iraq - its everyday news, nothing special, nothing sensational.

And thats what Sickens me.

Talking about, how much it means to Liberate these people from the hands of Evil and Ruthless Dictator - but now their Future is even worse then before.

Who will help these people Now?

Good question Souljah, whats your answer?

Personally I`d rather die free then be tortured for wanting to be. I can`t speak for the average Iraqi citizen though.

Whats the real difference between now and before the war? Before there was a small minority of people who ruled and walked all over everyone else. Those who opposed were dumped into mass graves. Now people are still dieing but they are trying to overcome huge obstacles. They are taking they`re country back slowly but surely. You see this in the Iraqi military and there police force.

Now is not the time to argue about whether or not the population is better off. Idle thinking about the past and second guessing every move will not make anything better. Whether or not it was right to invade is not the point anymore.

Is the current course of action the right one? What can be done to better stabilize Iraq? This is what you should be asking. Are you just another America hater Souljah or do you have some real opinions about what should be done?

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
Souljah, I'll not entertain as evidence articles from "news outlets" such as the ones offered. The Arab propensity to lie for strategic gain is well-known, and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that a "news outlet" reporting from an "Occupied Iraq" might be just a wee bit biased, huh?

Having said that, I also would like to say this: Lies and distortion are not only from the opposing team, and I am totally aware of this. The fact ofhte matter is not that America is being kept in the dark, but EVERYONE is being lied to and propagandized.

It doesn't take any biased media to cause one to believe that there is nothing but trouble in store for Iraq, considering the splintered factions vying for power. There will be no peace (absence of struggle; submission), until one faction has ultimate control and the others are dominated. That is to say, another Hussein.

The Illuminati want to bring the Middle East into its fold, and it is using the U.S.'s military, primarily, to try and achieve this. I do not believe it will be successful in this attempt.

First off, ALL media are bias, ALL media. But that doesn't mean that the truth is an unreachable thing. And that doesn't mean you can't check if the story from that media has SOME truth in it.

Hear me! I am an arab living in a western country, i am on an island between all bias and propoganda. I can see clearly from here. I can see all sides. So open your ears and HEAR ME, what i say is not without relevance or weight, you may not agree with me and i don't mind that at all, but atleast hear me.
" It is a sign of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea with out accepting it" Aristotle. Then maybe if you are able to do that, you will have the sort of mind that can find the truth your looking for.

About the illuminati, they like to play both sides of everything, they play the communists and the capitalists in the cold war, they played the Axis and the allies in world war 2. They infiltrate and corrupt all groups from the inside out. I know this. They like to controll bothl sides.

The US, military, goverenment, majority of people etc.. etc... have already been infilitrated and they are under the controll of the illuminati.

Now the illuminati are attempting to infiltrate the Iraqi resistance, with their newest tool, 'al Qaeda'.

And you are right crowne, they will NOT succeed. And they have NOT been succeeding. Because wether you hear about it in the illuminati owned media (Yes that's including Al Jazeera) or not. The iraqi resistance has rejected Al Qaeda, Osama, Zarqawi etc, as US creations.


The illuminati, all their lies and their all their psy-ops, planting bombs in churches and mosques, etc. It cannot defeat the will, the strength and the intelligence of the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people know who is truly behind these things.

No matter how much they (the illuminati) try to spark cival war (divide and conquer), they have failed, and they will continue to fail.
No matter how much they try to get the resistance to be corrupted, and follow their masked men, Al Qaeda, They will continue to fail!
They are getting desperate though, and they are getting all their controlled media sources to pump out crap saying that iraq is on the brink of cival war etc.. If you don't think Al Jazeera is owned by the illuminati, i have a used car to sell you.

I discovered something though in all this... they like to controll both sides, and it seems anything you do they can somehow benefit out of it. But there is one side they CAN'T controll. The right side! So long as you walk the right path, always, they will cannot succeed. But the minute you walk of that path, if you cross lines and forget that the ends don't justify the means, they own you. Wether you know it or not.

Some groups have tried to defeat the illuminati. In the process they crossed to many lines, justifying the means with the ends ... "When fighting monsters, you must see to it that you do not become a monster, when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you" Nitzche.
So in essense, they became what they where fighting, so they didn't really win did they?

So how can we win? when you never betray your morals, when you don't become the monster your fighting, When you walk the right path always, and fight for the righteous thing in the righteous way. That's when how youl win! If you can do that, you have already won!

That's why i love the Iraqi resistance, Despite what the propoganda media invents about them (yes, that includes al Jazeera), the iraqi resistance are on the right path, they are fighting to with honour to defend their homeland, they are fighting for the righteous thing in the righteous way, they have nothing to do with any of that al Qaeda crap. INFACT, they openly declared those "groups" as enemies. To them, anyone that tries to hurt iraq and iraqies are enemies. In that way, the Iraqi resistance is our front lines against NWO. They are fighting for us out there, for all of us, for the true freedom, not the orwellian version. And they said it themselves in one of their videos to the world (which Al Jazeera didn't air ofcource since it didn't have al qaeda in it or any beheadings), knowing about the imperialist ways of the US regime, they said "Know that by supporting the resistance, you are helping yourselfs, because tomorow might bring the same destruction to you". Indeed the imperialist US regime seems to be saying "who is next?", well the whole world is next, the NWO is next. And the resistance is the only thing between now and then.

The illuminati underestimates, how much the iraqies love their country... and how much that love brings them together.

I belive in the Resistance, i belive in the Iraqi people, i belive in Iraq.
They are fighting for all of us....
We will be Victorious.

[edit on 21-5-2005 by Syrian Sister]