Green Zone - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

LaRondo · #1 04-09-2008, 12:01 AM

I am sort of following on the most recent reports from Iraq. Not really, just sort of ...

Now, I didn't want to bug everybody with more Iraq postings, but something started to bug me.

The Green Zone is proclaimed to be a heavily fortified area within Baghdad.
As I look at it, I can't rid myself of the feeling, that something very basic seems wrong here.

The 'Good Guys' become literally more imprisoned inside the 'Green Zone Fortress', while the 'Bad Guys' are running around free outside the 'prison walls'.

Somehow, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around ...

Oops, I just noticed, I'm wearing my sweater inside out ... tzzsss, things happen, don't they

raslaje · #2 04-09-2008, 12:40 AM

We even need to sneak in.

Cheney's visit, under heavy security, was so secret that even Iraq's prime minister said he was surprised when he showed up for what he believed was a meeting with the U.S. ambassador only to see Cheney waiting to greet him.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,179046,00.htm

Jim B. · #3 04-09-2008, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaRondo

The Green Zone is proclaimed to be a heavily fortified area within Baghdad.
As I look at it, I can't rid myself of the feeling, that something very basic seems wrong here.

The 'Good Guys' become literally more imprisoned inside the 'Green Zone Fortress', while the 'Bad Guys' are running around free outside the 'prison walls'.

^^^^^^You just described Beverly Hills and Bel Air......

Dint choo???

mua hahahahahahahaha

LaRondo · #4 04-09-2008, 01:34 AM

Iraqi Army: 52 Blasts Hit Baghdad Green Zone Last Week - AFP

BAGHDAD (AFP)--At least 52 rockets or mortar bombs hit the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad in the past week, Brigadier General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi army in the capital, said Tuesday.
Atta said another 90 mortar bombs or rockets struck various other places in Baghdad over the same period.
The Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the U.S. embassy, has come under sustained attacks in recent weeks, causing the deaths of four Americans, including two soldiers, and two of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's Iraqi guards.
The U.S. military says the mortar and rocket attacks are by Shiite militants from eastern Baghdad's Sadr City, bastion of the Mahdi Army militia of anti- American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
His Shiite fighters are currently engaged in fierce clashes with Iraqi and U.S. forces in Sadr City. Dozens of people have been killed in the firefights.

LaRondo · #5 04-09-2008, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

^^^^^^You just described Beverly Hills and Bel Air......

Dint choo???

mua hahahahahahahaha

Today a friend called me with good news.

His '84 500 SEC was found and ready for pick at a downtown LA impound, after it was stolen about a month ago from its parking location on Malibu Road during late evening, while he was on his daily 45 min.-walk.

Nothing was removed from the car, everything seemed the way it is supposed to be.

They're coming ...

About 2 months ago a number of car burglary attemps were undertaken in my neighborhood ... unprecedented in this area.

Jim B. · #6 04-09-2008, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaRondo

Iraqi Army: 52 Blasts Hit Baghdad Green Zone Last Week - AFP

BAGHDAD (AFP)--At least 52 rockets or mortar bombs hit the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad in the past week, Brigadier General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi army in the capital, said Tuesday.
Atta said another 90 mortar bombs or rockets struck various other places in Baghdad over the same period.
The Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the U.S. embassy, has come under sustained attacks in recent weeks, causing the deaths of four Americans, including two soldiers, and two of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's Iraqi guards.
The U.S. military says the mortar and rocket attacks are by Shiite militants from eastern Baghdad's Sadr City, bastion of the Mahdi Army militia of anti- American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
His Shiite fighters are currently engaged in fierce clashes with Iraqi and U.S. forces in Sadr City. Dozens of people have been killed in the firefights.

I don't know. Call me naive or whatever.

But how come the CIA or whoever just can't fight smart and TAKE OUT this "anti- American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr"?

Give me one reason they shouldn't .... it might fragment the group so totally, that it would wander away in confusion , or be like a snake with the head chopped off.

Why the hell not identify and TAKE OUT all those damned militant clerics?

On the theory,

"Cut off the head, and the body will die"

LaRondo · #7 04-09-2008, 04:15 AM

I have no clue. Maybe it's all fabrication or maybe those Muslims know their terrain better than we anticipated.

Alltogether things just don't look too rosie.

As far as I have researched on the subject of wars being waged against the Muslim world, any Western Power and even Russia retreated at some point.

LaRondo · #8 04-09-2008, 04:30 AM

Algerian National Liberation 1954-1962

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/algeria.htm

blkntancj · #9 04-09-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

I don't know. Call me naive or whatever.

But how come the CIA or whoever just can't fight smart and TAKE OUT this "anti- American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr"?

Give me one reason they shouldn't .... it might fragment the group so totally, that it would wander away in confusion , or be like a snake with the head chopped off.

Why the hell not identify and TAKE OUT all those damned militant clerics?

On the theory,

"Cut off the head, and the body will die"

Because the U.S. doesn't officially sanction assassinations. There is a WHOLE lot more to the sectarian politics there than that. You should read "Killer Elite" by Michael Smith, it gives a good insight into the way Spec Ops and the Intel community operate. Other good books on Iraq are "No True Glory" and "The March Up" both by Bing West. They are primarily about the combat during the first part of the War, but they also touch on the sectarian politics.

LUVMBDiesels · #10 04-09-2008, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

I don't know. Call me naive or whatever.

But how come the CIA or whoever just can't fight smart and TAKE OUT this "anti- American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr"?

Give me one reason they shouldn't .... it might fragment the group so totally, that it would wander away in confusion , or be like a snake with the head chopped off.

Why the hell not identify and TAKE OUT all those damned militant clerics?

On the theory,

"Cut off the head, and the body will die"

CIA is NOT ALLOWED to do that any more! Thank Jimmy Carter for stopping the judicious culling of bad guys and Bill Clinton for not even letting us talk to 'bad guys'

I absolutely agree...with cutting off the head!

DieselAddict · #11 04-09-2008, 01:29 PM

It doesn't necessarily work that way. Killing Al-Sadr would probably lead to a massive revolt against US troops, plus there would be no one else to control the Mahdi Army, at least not immediately. Al-Sadr is actually the reason it's been fairly quiet in Iraq over the past several months because he declared a unilateral cease-fire and most of his followers obeyed.

DieselAddict · #12 04-09-2008, 01:38 PM

Regarding that unilateral cease-fire, it's currently under a big strain and almost dead because of the recent raids on Al-Sadr's followers. The shelling of the Green Zone isn't a coincidence though it's not clear what role Al-Sadr is playing in that and the perpetrators might be renegade units not under his control.