Running Commentary
by Matt Giwer, © 2004

2004 April 12
Arrest Sadr or kill him. No difference
Just as Hussein, or as his friends call him, Saddam, was last year's new Hitler, al-Sadr, or as his friends call him, Al, is the new Hussein. The truce was a nice gesture but now the mission is to capture or kill Al.

Those of you who tuned in late may remember this started with shutting down a newspaper in the name of the new freedoms in Iraq. Then loudmouth Al said it was not nice to shut down a newspaper run by his nominal supporters. It could have ended there if Al had not started talking about a free Iraq. And the US could have let it drop there if it had not gotten a friendly judge to issue an arrest warrant. If the Iraqi police had executed the warrant it still might have been a backpage item even in Iraq. However Lord Bremer sent his personal troops to make the arrest. The rest as they say in imperial circles is a bloodbath.

Lord Bremer's interest in a newspaper opposing the incorporation of Iraq into the American empire is understandable. The paper certainly did not show proper respect for the emissary of the imperial great white president in Washington. It is the duty of the emissary to strike down any sign of disrespect with excessive force to keep the natives in line. Any disrespect shown towards his emissary is disrespect for the President himself.

Now the man must die. At the least he must disappear into an american prison never to be heard from again. Either way it will provoke additional violence in Iraq. This will permit Lord Bremer further demonstrate the price of disrespecting the President who rules by the grace of God and the 2000 election.

It is now official from Iraq, thousands more troops are needed. This is on top of the thousands who were not brought home when their replacements arrived. US only troop strength is headed towards 140,000 in addition to the token troops from Britain and other subject states.

Reality has it they will takes weeks to arrive. To need additional troops means there are not enough to contain the present low level violence. Without needing to read tea leaves this means there will never be enough troops to bring Iraq to heel. But I said that when the whacko idea of invading Iraq first surfaced. Bush the First said the same thing way back when after the first Gulf War.

Demonstrating native Iraqi ingenuity, taking hostages has become all the rage. In his usual out of touch manner, Lord Bremer has no idea how many of the hostage claims are genuine.

We had a confirmation of the real reason Lord Bremer has it in for the so-called Arab press. They are reporting civilian casualties and showing pictures of the dead and injured. It seems the truth is anti-American and something only an Arab would tell.

Here is a funny one. Modern Major General Abizaid reports a number of US trained Iraqi police have defected to Sadr's militia. Defected from whom? Lord Bremer? Defect to whom? Their fellow Iraqis? Is there rhyme to this madness? Of course this means there must be more US troops sent to Iraq, as though we had any more.

To control Iraq America must have sufficient garrison troops all over the country to discourage uprisings and at the same time enough additional forces to put down the uprisings which will occur. How many additional forces can only be based upon an estimate of how many uprisings will occur at the same time. To expel the US from Iraq there need be only one more uprising than the additional troops can suppress. The deck of cards will fall.

Of course the number of uprisings also depends upon their size. We are in the process of a test case with the uprisings which started last week. Success is being claimed. Keeping in mind success was always claimed in Vietnam, if the claim is accurate then we know it has lead to keeping ten thousand troops longer and calling for ten thousand more. That suggests the present troop level is only sufficient with an additional ten thousand at the level of the present uprising. This is what the six thousand strong militia of only one man can do. It appears twelve thousand Iraqis could easily topple Lord Bremer.

Political power is up for grabs in any country and force is as good a way as any. Certainly any success in the use of force leads to a following in time of peace. That is human nature. If Sadr does succeed in any manner others will have to compete with him in the use of force in order to have political clout in the coming peace. Mindful of course that peace may not arrive in their lifetimes.

2004 April 11
Bush's Easter prayer was for reduced deaths in Iraq
One can only imagine his prayer was, "Lord stop me before I kill again."

In a surprising development when Lord Bremer ordered the newly formed Iraqi army to attack their fellow Iraqis they refused. At least his military counterpart expressed surprise. They must have expected Iraqis to act like Americans at Waco.

2004 April 10
Surprise!
The US called a ceasefire in Fallujah and is sticking to it. This is perhaps the first intelligent thing the US has done during the occupation. In fact it may be the first smart thing since the US started supporting Hussein back in the 1980s. So far it looks like the message at evening prayers was peace.

2004 April 9a
Before Friday prayers
US forces retook Kut facing no resistance. Guerrillas do not stand and fight.

2004 April 9
Move along. Nothing to see here.
The news reports were of US saying there was really no problem in Iraq. That the US would not be swayed and (by the way) more troops would be sent to Iraq. Leaders of other members of the occupation forces agreeing they would not be run out and would stay the course and (by the way) they just don't happen to have any more troops to send. The coalition of the sort of willing to go along a little bit but not very far and no further.

From Iraq we hear reports of which entire cities and towns and which parts of others are controlled by the liberation fighters. No reports of US successes only of more deaths. Oddly there have not been enough reports of deaths total to indicate there is much fighting going on. The US appears to have refrained from massive air strikes.

Friday in Iraq is the critical day. The future depends upon the messages delivered after evening prayers in the mosques. They can call for peace, passive resistance or active resistance. They can simply give an honest assessment of US actions which will be negative.

2004 April 8
The Shia have hit the fan
Not even a week later Iraq is in open revolt against the foreign troops. I said this was going to happen six months before the invasion started. I saw it therefore the bush league saw it. I did not want this to happen. They did want it to happen. What can be foreseen to happen is intended to happen. We hold children to that standard.

At the moment there is only one second tier leader calling for resistance. If anything he sponsors appears to be a success to Iraqis they will join him. If enough join him other leaders must call for armed resistance to remain leaders. US actions such as dropping a 500 lb bomb on a mosque killing forty women and children will impel them to call for defense and punishment. There is nothing that can turn this around for the US.

There are not enough troops in Iraq to deal with a full scale uprising. About 1/6th the population is of prime fighting age and male. That is between 3.5 and 4 million men. Although it sounded terrible that 50,000 Iraqi troops died defending their country, that leaves at least 350,000 alive, trained and with their weapons. The army was disbanded not disarmed. The largest believable number of US troops in Iraq is 135,000 thus outnumber 2.5 to 1. If only ten percent and I emphasize only ten percent of the civilians join the fighting the US is outnumbered 5 to 1.

Both US and Iraqi troops are spread out across the country. The US can bring overwhelming force to bear on any one city. The US cannot deal with an uprising all across Iraq. The US did deal with them very easily when the stood and fought to stop an advance even though they were sabotaged by Iraqi traitors, their own officers who sold out, at every opportunity.

Hussein was not afraid of an armed populace. Per capita civilian gun ownership is higher in Iraq than in the US. When the invasion was imminent, Hussein handed out rifles to anyone who wanted one. Those combat age men all over Iraq either have a gun or can get a gun. If women take part in the fighting it will be that much worse but it will cement their liberation and prevent going the way of Iranian women so it is in their long term best interests.

This leaves enough armed men all over Iraq to keep US troops occupied with a guerrilla conflict. This prevents the US from bringing overwhelming force to bear in any location.

At this time there are only two possible futures. Iraqis themselves choose to clam the situation or they escalate. It is guaranteed the US will attack every sign of resistance while punishing Fallujah and other places which have dared to fight. That will make it impossible for Iraqis to calm the situation.

The US knows that is what will happen therefore that is what the US wants to happen.

2004 April 2
Four dead in Fallujah
Let me get this straight. Four american civilians were killed and their bodies mutilated in Fallujah in Iraq. Bush is outraged. The media is searching for upset Americans to put on the air.

So what would you do if armed foreigners were cruising through your town? And if they were backed by a foreign government that at most might require them to leave the country as the worst punishment for killing your mother but probably not. And these armed thugs were making up to a thousand dollars a day to protect carpetbaggers getting rich off your country after the war with shady deals and bribery? And there are 15,000 people just like them in your country?

If you had the chance would you do anything different? I would. Instead of feeling satisfied with the accomplishment I would say there are 14,996 left to be killed.

2004 March 25
Antisemitic Acts
These are a subset of hate crimes which are reported by jewish organizations not by the police. These organizations have no formal criteria for what constitutes an antisemitic act. They accept any report anyone makes without investigation. They do not investigate to determine if in fact such a crime occurred. They do not require a complaint be filed with the local police.

All of this means if you want to increase the number of antisemitic crimes in your country, simply make reports of them to jewish organizations. Rest assured you will not be the only one doing so.

2003 November 10
Bombing Israelis
Israel's military does in fact impose its will upon the Palestinian people making it an occupying force. In international law occupied people have the free and unrestricted right to attack the occupying force and their equipment.

Therefore any attack upon any member of the Israeli military at any time and at any place is legitimate. They can be attacked any place inside or outside of Israel. They can be attacked whether or not they are in uniform. They can be attacked whether or not they are on active duty. They can be attacked if they are in a disco bar or if they are celebrating Passover.

Israel uses commercial buses to transport its troops. Therefore buses are a lawful targets in international law.

International law regards civilian losses as a consequence of such attacks to be permissible collateral damage. International law requires the military to stay away from civilians. International law prohibits the military from hiding among civilians.

2003 November 8
Another six Americans die in Iraq when helicopter shot down
According to Bush that means things are getting better in Iraq, that he is making progress, that Iraqis are better off today than they were yesterday. He refuses to explain why he considers dead Americans good for the US and Iraq.

2003 November 8
A middle eastern nation can achieve progress towards democracy by supporting US middle eastern policy rather than actually promoting democracy. That is the clear message President Bush gave when the praise and criticism in his speech was based solely upon that criteria. Governments which were essentially identical and had never made changes towards democracy were praised or criticized solely upon their support.

There is inherently nothing wrong with doing so. That has been the essentially hypocrisy of US policy in the region for more than half a century. The problem is the people in the Middle East see the obvious hypocrisy while Americans can't find the middle east on a map.

2003 November 5
The National No Call List
You 40 million idiots. Did you ever read the exceptions to the list? Charities, politicians, anyone you have done business with in any manner including their parent companies and subsidiaries.

What you did in trying to prevent aluminum siding salesmen from calling you was give your current name and phone number to every real and fake charity and every politician and political party.

Despite what you were lead to believe, it is not a no call list. By participating you are giving away numbers for free to any group that can claim to be one of the exceptions. And those groups do not have to pay for the collection of phone numbers. They are required by law to download them from the government. And they are free to call you any time they want.

The bottom line is this law will increase not decrease the number of annoying phone calls you receive. Do not bother writing your Congressrat. He is using the list to call you to solicit your money and your vote. What a tool.

2003 November 4
Say by chance Iraqis conquered America to save us from Bush. And then they slaughtered Bush's daughters. Correct me if I am wrong but Americans would love Hussein and his army for doing this, right?

But if we would not praise Hussein in the streets for his conquest and slaughter, why would anyone expect the Iraqis to love Americans for doing the same thing?

Iraq did not surrender. In law and morals, any Iraqi had the right to kill off any invader even if just for the target practice. I have never written a law in my life. Therefore I am not responsible for the international laws which approve of Iraqis killing Americans in their country. Do not say I am responsible. I am totally irresponsible.

But if Iraqis were patrolling the streets in my neighborhood I would have clocked a few of them by now. It is not as though there is any moral consideration. They are foreign troops and therefore they are fair game. There is nothing else to consider.

2003 November 3
Americans have been told it is good to have troops in Iraq because it draws terrorists to Iraq and not the US. And Iraqis are supposed to love us for bringing terrorists into Iraq. What is wrong with this picture?

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