01-09-2004 01:27									#241
	Got spare money?

tribal leaders may not themselves be poor, but in the case of tribal leaders in Sadr City their constituencies are presumably among the poor.


Anyway, heres some detail from the CSM article you linked to.

quote: At Sadr Central Hospital in Sadr City, Dr. Kamel is making the rounds on a very busy day. In the female ward alone, there are five families with more than a dozen wounded children. Most are injured by mortars and other bombs, says Dr. Kamel, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. He blames most of those injuries on the Mahdi Army. "Ninety-nine percent of the injuries are caused by Mahdi Army fighters," he says, speaking in English to avoid being overheard by Mahdi Army officials, who now administer the hospital. "Every morning and night I see families coming in - father, mother, children, all injured by mortars. These are not simple injuries, but two or three injuries per person. It's terrible." Across town at the Kadhimiya Shrine - burial place of a revered Shiite leader, the Caliph Kadhim - Munthir al-Abbassly says that most Shiites admire the Mahdi Army for their bravery. But he says, most Shiites also worry that the Mahdi Army has taken things too far. "All Shiites - no, all Iraqis - have the same reaction to the Mahdi Army," says Mr. Abbassly, business manager of the Kadhimiya Shrine. "These people are very brave, but they are too young and too passionate, and sometimes they do things without thinking rationally."

Against this the headline writer has the quote of one, count em, one cleric whos shifted to a pre-Sadr stance. How then to justify the headline? Why not with more quotes from Iraqis, but with quotes from old reliable, Juan Cole, who can be trusted to spin things a certain way.

Of course its not like the CSM doesnt have an agenda in Iraq and the middle east, just as does the DT.

	01-09-2004 01:29									#242
	Tired of ads?

quote: Originally posted by Ramo quote: Ok, "pretty universal." Whatever. I said that the opposition to Sadr was pretty universal, not this appeal to the military. Some people who don't like Sadr don't like occupying troops very much either.

then we're back to the question of just whom the British officer was replying to.