Baghdad’s Checkpoint Madness

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6848133/site/newsweek/

Madness indeed...


~snip~

Probably no single aspect of the American presence in Iraq has so infuriated Iraqis as their treatment at these checkpoints. The lines are long, and as everyone in Iraq now knows, a long line is an invitation to a bombing. Tempers fray among Iraqis and the beleaguered soldiers—usually reservists, often on their second, extended tour in Iraq. Iraqis are convinced the Americans only care about protecting themselves, not them. Iraqi troops and police, who have been so aggressively targeted by insurgents for the past few months, have imitated the Americans' methods, which only heightens their sense of alienation from their own people. And as Iraq gears up for elections, checkpoint madness is multiplying around police stations, possible polling places, public places of every description.

~snip~

Still, Iraqis are understandably frustrated. An angry Al-Janabi not only resigned from the government, but is now denouncing the American military as an anti-Iraqi occupation army. He is hardly a raving anti-American. An insider since the days of the former Coalition Provisional Authority and one of the country's most prominent Sunnis as leader of the huge Janabi tribe, he was given the minister of state portfolio in Allawi's government. For a while he served as justice minister. And he remains the campaign chairman for Allawi's slate in the elections, the Iraqi List.

~snip~

The minister's experience is hardly an isolated incident—nor even the worst example of it. Hachim al-Hassani, another minister, of industry and minerals, who was a long-time exile in the United States, has suffered two humiliating incidents. While in the Governing Council, he was denied entry on his way to an important meeting (Iraqi government offices, especially at the cabinet level, are nearly all in the American-controlled Green Zone). When he protested, a soldier lost his temper and punched him in the face, according to Al-Janabi. Al-Hassani confirmed the story, saying, "Yes, I was punched by a soldier. I was very calm with him. I just kept talking to him. He kept punching me, and I kept talking to him. The situation was very dangerous. We handled it very wisely at that time. I kept thinking I still have major things to do for my country. I was thinking about the party. I was thinking about my country. It could have been much worse."

~snip~

While Al-Janabi may have resigned from office, he has no intention of not running for the National Assembly and continuing to chair Allawi's campaign. "Every government we've had in various degrees has been imperfect but better than what was before it—Bremer, the Governing Council, Interim Government, these are all stages of better and higher representation." One of his key platform planks will be a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, something the Americans have so far refused to provide. It's a strange demand, coming from an associate of Allawi, who has said timetables play into the insurgents' hands. "We don't have to be terrorists to be against the Americans," Al-Janabi explains. "It's just representing how Iraqis feel."

with this issue ... also my elected officials

elect a madman - you get madness

and yesterday we get the photo of the newly minted orphans -- thanks to one of these INSANE road blocks.

Plus the dumb ass troops don't even know that their hand signals don't mean the same thing to the Iraqis.

Dumb ass bushie -- and the dumb ass troops who shouldn't even be in Iraq -- they are shooting so many bullets at the Iraqis that dumb ass troops are running out of bullets.

Dropping mostly ethnocentric American troops in the middle of Iraq -- in a war whose foundation is a series of lies . . . . only evil and death came come from this combination.

This is so much worse than just a punch. The minister should feel lucky!

I posted the BBC website yesterday with the series of 11 photos. Mike Malloy also saw the photos and he was extremely upset at the pain and anguish in the children's faces. His rage and rant about the pain on the children's faces (and their parents blood on their faces and clothes) was one of the best I've heard.

Those children saw their parents blown apart and their father's head is all over the kids.

Makes me so ashamed to be an American -- the world is NOT going to be as forgiving as they were four years ago. I'm overseas right now and I don't really want to return.

We are setting this thing up to fail. I know it, and this is an item of proof.

Bush wants this Iraq thing to fail, so that he has an excuse to raise oil prices. Once the Iraq production is offline, the $100/bbl game can commence. A sham of epic proportions.

:kick: