What Do You Think Will Happen if the US invades Najaf?

Report: Clashes in Najaf have begun

Reports are coming across the wire services that clashes between U.S. forces and Sadr's militias have begun in and around Najaf, with one U.S. coalition soldier already killed. Apparently the talks between Sadr and intermediaries have broken down, and U.S. forces are no longer simply surrounding the city, but poised to invade it. Both Sadr and Sistani have warned of a general Shiite uprising if the coalition enters the holy city, and that Sistani will be forced to support such an uprising.
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If the US is going to invade Najaf, it will basically escalate the level of conflict in there and turn all of Iraq against the US Army, and it's going to be a bloodbath. Maybe even worse than Fallujah. There'll be more dead soldiers by the end of this month.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=33526

but a far-ranging one which will initiate open revolt in Iraq.

hell, we'd be revolting against any country that tries to invade Israel or the Vatican in Rome.

They all might jump in.

And Bush would get his wish -- to fight the infidels in a holy war.

Why are we letting this man stay in office till January?

How many more people are gonna die while he's in office?

detonator & bomb.

That's what I believe. It may be a long fuse, but I think Iraq will spiral out of control.

Slink-- although I know you didn't mean it that way, I feel it should be emphasized that your statement "there'll be more dead soldiers by the end of this month" omits the equally important reality that there will be HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of dead Iraqis who tried to defend their holy shrines and their families from those soldiers.

in Najaf if the US invades---it will spark a full on jihad against the US in the Middle East.

The whole Islamic world will draw down on our stupid asses.

This may ignite the fuse of the Infitada!!!! There are around 15 Million Shi'ites. Most likey around 40% of them own weapons.
Iran and Syria might send in troops.
I can barely believe that the US leaders can be this
stupid!

:scared:

that's why we need to get rid of Bush NOW. Not wait for the elections. NOW.

If our military had any balls or sense, they'd coup him out on his ass yesterday.

i hold from them nothing is impossible, in their realm of stupidity. but we shall see... how long will they *pause* before rushing headlong in and sending in the airforce :)

whee, this is a good time to add a great quote from history:
---explanatory lead up---
"The result (of versaille treaty, post WWI) was best summarized by william bullitt in paris after he resigned from the american delegation. he declared that the peace treaty could result only in "a new century of wars." as he left his hotel, bullitt was asked by reporters where he would go.

"I am going to lie in the sands of the French Riviera," he replied, "and watch the world go to hell."

He went. And it did."

-The American Century: the history of the United States Since the 1890s, by Walter LaFerber, et al.

amongst fundamentalist elements at all levels of Iraqi culture, uniting them and harming US-mercenaries that have made huge campaign donations to the war president:grr:
Campaign Contributions of Post-War Contractors
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=contrib

children.

God, I hope the military isn't that stupid.

Matters will become very serious indeed.

Ay. al'Sistani is not a moderate, as he has been recently portrayed in press coverage: he is a pragmatic fellow, who understands that the U.S. occupation has till now been damaging his enemies, namely the Sunni, and more radical Shia factions, and also understands that any approximation of democratic rule in Iraq will leave him in substantial control of the country. Therefore, he accomodates the occupation by neutrality of expression regarding it.

An attack into Najaf by U.S. forces would render this position and strategy untenable for Ay. al'Sistani. The action would arouse such a storm of outrage among Shia believers that if he did not condemn it, and urge popular resistance to it, he would find a large proportion of those who revere him would in an instant turn to denouncing him as a tool of "Zionist Crusaders" or worse. Ay. al'Sistani would be left no choice, and it is one of Mr. Sadr aims to produce precisely this situation for the mainline leader, to force his hand to radical pronouncements.

"Where are the people? I must hurry there to lead them!"

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

worse quagmire there even though it's one already. I think there'll be 1,000 dead soldiers by the middle of may.

:hi:

Is shortly before Halloween. But this world is full of surprises, particularly where rulers combine incompetence and stupidity....

"I prefer the wicked to the foolish; the wicked sometimes rest."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

I heard from lunaville.org that 9 soldiers were killed today.

Doubtless there are many more Iraqis who have perished. It does not seem to me the U.S. total will get that high, but it is certainly conceivable, if it comes to a general uprising in urban venues. My estimate of a thousand before Halloween was formed before the recent events at Falluja.

It also seems to me that U.S. military casualties are being somewhat under-reported in any case. It is inconceivable that some do not die in hospital, for instance, but it is only those killed ouright in combat being reported as slain. It also seems to me that civilian contractors performing essential support services, such as ferrying fuel and food for soldiers, ought to be accounted as military casualties.

"What a world, what a world...."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

Think about it. This just hit me.

The biggest mistake in dealing with evil people is the assumption that they might actually think the way MOST people do.

I.E. we're all assuming Bushco wants peace in Iraq, peace in the middle east, harmony and television and pickup trucks in every driveway in Arabia.

But let's look at the actions these people have been making.

They seem stupid, but only to us. Look at what PNAC wants. Look at what Bushco might actually want --

A full scale war in the middle east, a World War II in Arabia, with all the Muslim countries rising up against us ....

Would give them the excuse to simply nuke the entire area, kill all the Muslims, and take it over.

Gosh, could Bushco actually be this evil?

Look what Bush the first did with Kuwait. "Sure, it's none of our business if you invade Kuwait." they told Saddam.

Then he invaded, giving us the excuse. How many people died that time?

This time, 9/11. How many people died from that?

Gave him the excuse to invade Iraq. How many people died from that?

Now he's deliberately stirring up trouble in the middle east. Supporting Sharon in ways that are "shocking" our Arab allies, attacking Fallujah and massacreing civilians. Attacking Najf, forcing Sistani to declare against us and deliberately causing a full-scale uprising in the middle east.

Goading Iran into attacking Iraq to fight us.

Which would give us an excuse to invade Iran. Or NUKE THEM since we don't have the troops to INVADE them.

Think about it.

We need Bushco GONE. Outa there. NOW. We can't wait until the elections.

These people are gonna destroy the world as we know it.

Iraq was just the beginning.

the push towards a "Holy War"--Armegeddon.....

Israel might provide the weaponry, since we're a bit stretched right now...and Bush could say they were defending themselves and get himself off the hook

and so, the NUKing would begin.... Iraq, Iran, Syria, you name it............

Our good pal and patent medicine salesman Ahmed Chalabi has also come out on the side of righteousness, saying that the US must not cross the red line around Najab.

He knows which side his bread is buttered on. Gotta maintain that local credibility, even if you are planning on backing it up with a lot of fresh-faced American corpses.

i recommend stocking up on canned goods.

:scared:

If things keep going way, the country is SO fucked.

But remember, there's no difference between the two parties. :eyes:

There will an uprising by the Shia if the US invades the Shia's holiest city. In theory, the Shia were the ones who were suppose to welcome the US with flowers and dancing. The only way to have any stability at all in Iraq is if the US or the UN can get the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia to work together. An attack on Najal will kill this.

Wish I could offer more than clichés, but this waste of life and limb has me in a very foul mood, and I am not sure I can articulate my rage at this madness more than I have already.

Many of us hit the streets and flooded the phone lines, mailboxes, and email inboxes of our so-called 'representatives' trying to stop this descent into chaos.

What I predicted in an article I wrote back in the late summer of '02 was that the blowback - I knew Bush well enough to know the Iraqi war was a foregone conclusion - is going to haunt us for generations. The children and grandchildren - maybe beyond that - of today's young DUers will be able to pinpoint THIS WAR as the reason we will live with the spectre of revenge indefinitely. An endless death grip of hatred and vengeance will be the driving force of our foreign policy initiatives and subsequent reactions.

Was 9-11 prelude or an aberration? We are making those choices now, and it looks none too good.

Extricating ourselves from this mess will only accomplish 1% of what else needs to be done. What can we do to prevent what seems to be an inevitable blowback? But extricate we must, for we won't get the rest of the 99% without that first step towards peace.

The optimist in me that preaches peace and alternative conflict resolution is taking a beating these days, but I can handle it. I suffer nothing in the face of what the Iraqis and the people - human beings all - on both sides of the barrel are facing now.

Peace.

I'd like to read it.

Your words echo mine. I can barely believe this nightmare is taking place & as you say, we predicted it, we fought it, only to be shouted down and ignored.

We, you are so right, suffer nothing compared to the Iraqis.

Hope it does...

http://pages.ivillage.com/partisanwitchhunt/reports2.html

did after they allowed Hitler to lead them into the greatest crimes against humanity up to that time. It will take decades before we will be able to recover...if at all.

I do not believe this will be tolerated well in the Middle East, to put it lightly, nor in the rest of the world. I believe the general opinion will be that we have destroyed enough of the cradle of civilization. This would, IMHO, destroy any chances of a second * administration, the ramifications are that serious.

but that will unite all the Shiites and thus, probably the country, in joining in the intifada.

I think that if there is an invasion, that it will take place this week.

a general uprising is already occuring...

My source in Fallujah confirmed that Shia and Sunni are working together there.

Divide and conquer will no longer work, Iraqis are on the same page.

Just imagine how Catholics would feel if the Vatican were surrounded by foreign troops. Italians would be more than a little cross about that.

For the Shia, Najaf is more than even that... It's kind of the Vatican and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre all rolled into one!

If we go into Najaf, it will be a blood bath on both sides with thousands wounded.

We cannot win that war... no way, no how. The weight of millions will negate the 200,000 or so American troops.

Picture MacArthur's retreat from the borders of China. The defeat would be of that magnitude.

They wouldn't be able to completely destroy our forces, but their positions would be untenable.

or Sunnis as well?

Either way, the whole situation sucks and will suck even more, if (and knowing the incompetance of this administration -- WHEN) it will happen.

I'd expect Iran to start sending various militia squads, sort of like they did during the Iran-Iraq war. I don't know how involved Iran already is in supporting the insurgents. Perhaps, the insurgency would be more organized along the lines of Hezbollah.

That along with yesterday's assasination -- things do look like they are going to be getting any better in the near future (and as long as this administration is in office).

The Sunnis are already in full revolt mode.

The US would not be able to get the oil.

If there is a mass Uprising the US and other Occupiers would have to leave ASAP but most likey a few thousand US and allies would be killed,also about 4 times that of Iraqis, Iranians and Syrians.

Hmm..would any other Arab countries send in troops against Iraq?