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Baghdad Life
Journal correspondents report on evolving conditions in Iraq

‘Maybe War Is Our Fate’

By Gina Chon

We were sitting at our desks when we heard a thunderous boom that shook our house. It was just one of countless explosions heard today. But this one was much louder.

We later found out one of the rockets launched in Baghdad today landed at the end of our street. There is a shop there that I go to at least once a week; I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the workers there were OK.

It’s been an extremely intense day in Baghdad and southern Iraq as rival Shiite groups have escalated their battles. I knew there were clashes that began this morning in oil-rich Basra. And I had heard the Mahdi Army, controlled by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was planning something big today in Baghdad. But the morning seemed quiet. Then I got a call saying fighting had broken out in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, and I could hear gunfire in the background.

“It’s chaos here,” I was told.

About an hour after that, the attacks started again against the International Zone. It reminded people of last summer, when things were really bad and mortars and rockets seemed to rain down on the IZ every day. Sirens warning of indirect fire went off all day.

Parts of Baghdad were empty of regular citizens, as the Mahdi Army told shop owners to stay home and students to stay home from school. Curfews were imposed in several cities in southern Iraq, including Basra, Kut and Diwaniyah.

I worried about staff traveling in Baghdad and I called Iraqi friends to make sure they were OK. Many of them had stayed at home. Checkpoints were closed and certain parts of the city blocked off to traffic.

It’s still too early to say where this is headed. The groups could decide to calm down, or things could get much worse. But for some of my Iraqi friends, the cautious hope of the beginning of this year is fading.

“When is this going to end?” asked one of my friends. “It seems like the time when I stood on the streets celebrating the New Year is already so long ago. Maybe we are never meant to have peace. Maybe war is our fate.”

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    • @Anon…
      Just looking at recent history as an example: before going on the offensive the terrorists were fighting us here. Afer going on the offensive we are fighting them ‘there’ and not ‘here’.
      Based on that observation the notion is clearly not absurd or laughable. In fact it appears to be a success purely by that measure.

      Aside from which, terrorism around the world as a whole is now down significantly. You may have a parochial view and not care what happens outside America but others of us do; so that is also a benefit of our taking action.

      Additionally we uncovered and dismantled the A/Q/Khan nuclear weapons trading network and induced Libya to admit and stop their nuclear weapons program…both results (again) of our taking action.

      The supply of international terrorists (not tied ot regional conflicts; e.g. Hamas) seems to be drying up. We have definitely *attracted* a lot of terrorists from many countries to Iraq…but that’s a good thing. They are much easier to dispose of (kill) in the open with our highly skilled and professional military than they are when mixed into European countries with lightly armed police forces.

      Lastly; bin Ladin’s reasons for why they attack/attacked us are all over tha map. Included have been: ‘we are infidels’, ‘troops in muslim lands’, ‘to reclaim al andalus’, ‘because we support Jews’, ‘because we support Israel’, ‘insufficient concern for Palestine’, ‘injustice’ etc etc.

      I’m beginning to think he is actually a professor at Columbia instead of a radical wahhabi nut.

    • Can’t any one see that we’re not preventing terrorism, we’re helping to create more terrorists?? The absurd notion that if we fight them over there, we won’t have to fight them here in the U.S., is laughable. The primary reason al qaeda attacked the u.s. on 9/11 was opposition to the U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. support of Israel (financial and military arms), and support of oppressive dictators in oil rich middle eastern countries.

    • Before you go saying “Six years ago, Iraq was a relatively peaceful place with an aging leader who, for the most part, was minding his own business.” You better check out the below link about the findings of the Harmony Project that showed what Iran is doing today as far as backing Hamas, and other global rogue elements, the Persians are simply slipping into pockets of influence vacated by Saddam.

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120631495290958169.html

      I was originally on the face when this thing broke out six years ago, but it around the time when things got bad that and I’d seen a lot of background on the situation leading up to the invasion that it was and still is the right thing to do.

      Suicide bombers don’t stick to set borders, Zarqawi was sent to Iraq after the fall of Afghanistan to train for large scale attacks in the US, but we showed up on the ground in ’03 and fought him there.

      7,500 servicemen died during the peaceful 8 year tenure of Clinton versus the 10,000 total under Bush during a very difficult time.

      And still no new domestic terrorist attacks.

      The war is costing hundreds of billions but compare that to a nuclear attack in LA or NY that would cost trillions

    • This is becoming a really sad situation. Every time I read about Iraq now, all I want to do is either get angry or cry because I’m so frustrated that people don’t seem to have a grasp on the severity of the situation that we’ve created. Six years ago, Iraq was a relatively peaceful place with an aging leader who, for the most part, was minding his own business.

      One thing that I am ashame of is that at one time, I supported the Iraq effort. Not because I believed in the principle of liberating a people or nation-building in the Middle East (sound nice, but impractical and also none of our business). No. The reason I’m so upset is because I TRUSTED the words of our president, et al. It’s clear to me that the lies, fabrications, and stretches of truth put forth by this administration are what got us into this mess. What really happened is this: a small oligarchy of individuals essentially comandeered the US Army and the financial backing of the wealthiest country in the history of the world. They capitalized on the emotions of a nation that felt wounded and vulnerable in order to achieve a goal that they saw as noble and beneficial, without giving much thoughts to how the goal would be reached or what it would cost.

      The worst part? Americans have been encouraged to shop and support our economy at home while blindly reciting the mantra of “Support Our Troops” without considering that by supporting the troops we are getting more of them killed every day without an end in sight (if you don’t believe me just ask John McCain about the 100 year war).

      Nobody has truly stepped forth and proclaimed Iraq for what it is: an irresponsible foray into disastrous imperliastic policy. Nobody has demanded accountability from our leadership. WHY???

      The Bush Administration has shown us how men and women can act like dishonorable people, (and worse yet, neener-neener children) for their sheer refusal to accept ANY responsibility for their actions. When was the last time you heard Bush or anyone in his administration stand up and take the heat for anything they’ve done? I for one cannot recall a single incidence where they didnt at least qualify their language in order to share responsbility.

      I’m tired of living in this country. Its run by despicable people. Can I just move into a cave? Seriously though, through our partisan bickering we just continue to dig ourselves deeper into the muck of divisiveness while a few people stand by and profit handsomely.

      Thats all.

    • For those being slaughtered, not going to end. Sheep before a 7th Century schism about the true descent of Mohammed. The majority of Iraqi’s Sunni and Shia, unable to prevail over the irrational. Centuries of slaughter. What to do, What to do.