>Finally, as for the indiscriminate violent nature of the insurgency,
>that's more a begged question than any serious analysis. Look at how
>indiscriminate the US has been in its bombings of Sadr City, Najaf,
>and Fallujah. The recent attack on the US military in Mosul wasn't
>indiscriminate; if it's war, that was a military target.
Henwood replied:
>Yup, it's a legitimate military target. But what kind of argument is
>this? The U.S. does it too! The U.S. is fighting a barbaric war and
>isn't much of an ethical or political cover for anything.
If I recall, that part was mostly in reply to Chris D. At any rate, what kind of argument is it to ask 'what argument is this'? You took a quote from a longer piece, which belonged to a longer discussion. The point I was making was that some have said that the insurgency is violent and indiscriminate (you yourself just wrote that the 'nature' made support contingent). I was pointing out that here is a case where the attack was violent and quite discriminating. And I would add that killing American military and the occupation collaborators seems to be their priority, and that makes them, in a very understandable way, discriminating. Now ask me, do I care that they are killing American soldiers or contractors? Whatever it takes, is my answer.
Let me also reiterate here that I think a lot of the violence that we have seen has been the US's Occupation working behind the scenes to intimidate people. Sure, we see some of the smoke rising on bombed out houses after a CentCom airstrike, but a lot of the 'terrorism' that is getting reported, I'm quite sure, stems from the US and Allawi (they used acts of terrorism before the troops left Kuwait to invade, afterall). They will use any means they can to get what they want, and that doesn't exclude bombing of Shia funeral processions. Shia on Shia violence could well involve Allawi supporters (ex-Baathist Shia for example, which is what Allawi is) against the pro-Iran Shia clerics. The fact that the Occupation cites the 'Zarqawi is everywhere' argument just makes me think it even more possible. What have you been thinking lately? All I've seen is indignation and snarling.
F
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