On Nov 19, 2006, at 1:58 PM, James Heartfield wrote:
> I do not think it is good news that the variety of paramilitary
> actors operating in Iraq are so emboldened. They do not seem to be
> a democratic movement to establish a free Iraq to me. They seem to
> be various shades of anti-democratic terrorism, dedicated to short-
> circuiting the difficult business of winning over the mass of
> people to their side with violent actions.
>
> I blame the Coalition for their ascendance, but I still think they
> are a net loss for humanity, not a gain.
After Christian Parenti met a bunch of them, he said many were nihilists with no political program. Others said they'd rather destroy their country than let the U.S. have it; I wonder how many Iraqis would share that POV. When I first quoted him saying these things, Yoshie & Co. disagreed strongly, but it sure seems like Christian was onto something.
Doug