[Marxism] re: I feel a draft coming (was Re: CNN poll...)

["M. Junaid Alam" <junaidalam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jose Perez:

"Right now the administration is hoping a political solution will drop
into its lap that will take the steam out of the rebellion. In fact
things have been going the other way. The more time goes on, the more
they kill, they more enemies the Americans make, the more they convince
the Iraqis that the ONLY way to get them out of the country is to DRIVE
them out."
===


Militiamen attacked a military convoy made up of Polish, Bulgarian,
Lithuanian and Latvian soldiers near city hall in the center of Karbala
around the time of weekly Muslim prayers, said Lt. Col. Robert
Strzelecki, spokesman for Camp Babylon, the main Polish base. Gunmen and
soldiers exchanged fire . . . On Wednesday and again Thursday, the
coalition base in Karbala, known as Camp Kilo, was pounded with rebel
mortar rounds. No one was injured, the division reported. Mortar attacks
on coalition bases throughout south-central Iraq - including those in
Karbala, Najaf and Hillah - have grown more frequent in recent weeks. '
[Dutch troops came under mortar fire in Samawah Friday, and such
exchanges seem to be routine if under-reported.]

Muqtada said to thousands of worshippers who crowded the mosque that
Najaf "will never fall to the hand of the Occupiers." He added, "The men
of the resistance will spill their own blood in defending their holy
city." He said that numerous men and women had come to him asking
permission to implement a suicide bombing.

He went on to say that he had repeatedly requested them to wait, but if
an attack on "our cities"or on the Shiite religious authorities took
place, they will transform into time bombs and will not stop until they
have demolished the forces of "the enemy."

Muqtada likened the situation in Iraq to the condition of the
Palestinians, saying that Iraqis "confront the same enemies and they
must unite to defeat them." He added that the Iraqis must "unite their
ranks for the sake of a common goal, that is, the liberation of their
country."

The thronging crowds chanted slogans in support of Muqtada and
criticizing not only the occupation forces but also the Interim
Governing Council, whom they branded infidels.

Al-Sadr said that Najaf had survived wars all through history but tht it
had always "emerged victorious." He observed, "The British were
altogether unable to subdue Najaf, and nor had the Ottoman Turks, and
nor will the American occupation succeed in razing it."

The Washington Post quoted more of his sermon: ' "My goal is to liberate
Iraq," Sadr said, calling on Arab nations to support the insurgency. He
equated the plight of Iraqis to that of Palestinians and vowed to avenge
Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi this month "by
act, not speech."

The WP noted that clerics are weighing in on the other big current
crisis, as well:

' In prayers at another major mosque in Baghdad, a Sunni cleric warned
U.S. commanders not to launch another attack on Fallujah. "We warn you
against another massacre in Fallujah," said Ahmed Abdul-Ghafoor
Samaraie. "If there will be more bloodletting and more people killed in
Fallujah, one hundred Fallujahs will stand against you." '

www.juancole.com



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