Bomb attacks on the rise as 'New Baath party' is born

Just getting better all the time, it is.

The scale of the continuing violence in Iraq over the past year was underlined by a US report on the 4 March shooting by American troops of Italian security agent Nicola Calipari, the rescuer of the journalist Giuliana Sgrena who had been held hostage.

It also reveals there were 15,527 attacks on coalition forces, largely American, from July 2004 to late March 2005. Some 2,404 attacks took place in Baghdad from 1 November to 12 March.

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There has been an increase in the number of assassination attempts against Iraqi senior security officers based on precise intelligence about their movements. A bomb yesterday slightly wounded Major-General Fuleih Rasheed, the commander of a police commando unit linked to the interior ministry, and two of his men in the Huriya district of northwest Baghdad. The bomb exploded as Maj-Gen Rasheed's convoy raced past the point.

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The insurgents are less interested in participation in the present government than in direct talks with the US, a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces and the right to rebuild the Baath party. In Sunni Arab towns and cities a so-called New Baath party is beginning to emerge and is said to be very well organised.

Independent UK

Inquiring minds would like to know.

for "Dead Enders", but then again "freedom is messy"! Apparently a resurgent Taliban to boot. I just hope we find the best way out of this.

"the all new Baath Party" and Mr. Negroponte's death
squads being run by the goon Adnan meet up.

EXT. GREEN ZONE - NIGHT.


BOBBY:
Gee, Dad - I sure miss the OLD Ba'ath Party - they were so Stalin!

DAD:
We all miss the Old Ba'ath Party, Bobby. Who could forget their snazzy uniforms and pungeant mix of socialism and good old fashioned dictatorship?

BOBBY:
I know I can't.

DAD:
Well now you can! Introducing NEW Ba'ath Party - twice the violence, three times as pissed off!

BOBBY:
Where can I get NEW Ba'ath Party, dad?

DAD:
Why, Billy - they're all around us! Thousands of 'em! And we created them!

BOBBY:
Wow!

Massive explosion in the distance. AK47 gunfire.

NARRATOR:
NEW Ba'ath Party... from ConQuagCo.

--

whew... sorry... its 3am here. I need some sleep.

"The report was first issued by the US in a heavily censored form with sensitive information blocked out. But an Italian computer specialist discovered that the censorship was easy to remove."

:eyes:

I am sorry but my dog could have figured it out and she is none too bright. :eyes:

"I told you so" to all those who thought Bush et al weren't going to screw this whole country up just as he's screwed everything up that he's every touched.

Okay okay okay, let me try and put some logic to this...

First we said the Baath party was bad, then we said it was good, now they are bad again.

Weren't they the so called "deadenders"? The die hard hold outs?

So let me get this straight, the original Iraqi army, the one we disbanded then rehired are leaving the new Iraqi military in droves so then we hire back the ex-Baath party members to restore order, but they were the ones we threw out because of their brutal tactics towards the population were, shall we say, a little "heavy handed". Now that we have them back the population is still pissed off at them.

so here's the equation as I see it.

Invasion - Baath party = Good and good for population

Occupation - Baath party = Bad, but good for population

ergo

Occupation + Baath party = Good, but also bad for population

Bottom line, the US doesn't give a shit about the population.

The only question was how closely the US would embrace the Neo-Ba'ath party. I'm guessing pretty closely -- after a suitable period of mourning.