Irak 36

Dankzij het Westers wetenschappelijk en industrieel vernuft kan elke splintergroep waar dan ook ter wereld zijn eigen oorlog beginnen. Hier ziet u een Irakese opstandeling met zo'n handige RPG raketwerper, geladen met een uiterst effectieve OG-7V fragmentation warhead, waarmee je een tank of pantserwagen buiten gevecht kunt stellen als je beetje kunt mikken. Zie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-7 Was de Amerikaanse bezetting eerst bedoeld om de oliebronnen te kunnen beheersen, nu zitten de troepen er om een burgeroorlog te voorkomen. De Washington Post bericht: 'In the Battle for Baghdad, U.S. Turns War on Insurgents... Interviews with U.S. soldiers -- from top generals to front-line grunts in Tall Afar, Mosul, Ramadi, Balad and throughout Baghdad -- as well as briefings at the U.S. military headquarters for the Middle East in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, reveal a markedly different war from that seen in 2003 and 2004, or even last year. Current U.S. military commanders say they have come to understand that they are fighting within a political context, which means the results must first be judged politically. The pace and shape of the war also have changed, with U.S. forces trying to exercise tactical patience and shift responsibilities to Iraqi forces, even as they worry that the American public's patience may be dwindling. The war also has changed geographically. Over the last three years, it has developed a pattern of moving around the country, from Fallujah to Najaf to Mosul and Samarra and back to Fallujah. Last summer and fall it was focused in Tall Afar, in the northwest, and in the upper Euphrates, in the remote western part of Anbar province near Syria. This year the war seems to hinge on the battle for Baghdad. Inside the capital, that promises to be primarily a political fight over the makeup of the future government of Iraq -- and whether it can prevent a civil war, a threat that appeared much more likely this week with the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra and retaliatory attacks on Sunni mosques and clerics.
U.S. officials don't talk much about the prospects of civil war. It is unclear what role the United States would play if such a war broke out, but military strategists said American forces would be used to try to minimize violence but not to actually intervene between warring groups.' Lees verder:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/25/AR2006022501738.html?referrer=email&referrer=email