Gates: Restricting U.S. military operations in Iraq could unleash ethnic cleansing

[maddezmom]

Source: Associated Press

Gates: Restricting U.S. military operations in Iraq could unleash ethnic cleansing
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press writer
April 05, 2007 6:00 AM

WASHINGTON — Congressional proposals to restrict U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing only targeted funding could unleash more ethnic bloodshed there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday.

Limiting war funding to only certain training or counterterrorism missions could pull troops from Baghdad neighborhoods, which have been the focus of the latest military buildup in Iraq.

"One real possibility is, if we abandon some of these areas and withdraw into the countryside or whatever to do these targeted missions, that you could have a fairly significant ethnic cleansing inside Baghdad or in Iraq more broadly," Gates said in a radio interview yesterday with conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week said he will propose legislation to cut off funds for combat operations, and provide money for only three missions: targeted counterterrorism operations, training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, and to provide security for U.S. personnel and infrastructure.

~snip~

Recent Pentagon and U.S. intelligence reports have characterized some of the suicide bombings and other attacks by Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents as a "civil war," a description that members of the Bush administration had been loath to use.



Read more: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070405/NEWS/704050385

[ProudDad]

1. Hey, Gates!

Yeah, over here.

So you think ethnic cleansing would start if the occupying army is removed?

You dumb fuck. IT'S BEEN GOING ON EVER SINCE YOU PRICKS INVADED!!!!



Damn, do they think we're idiots??? :mad:

[EFerrari]

4. That was one of their excuses for the "Contra" War, too.

That those big bad communists who wanted to build roads and schools would go after the Miskitus on the north coast of Nicaragua. So, Gates Iran Contra buddies conscripted Indians and hauled many of their families into armed camps in Guatemala for their "protection".

I still hate these guys. :mad:

[Faux pas]

2. Gimme a break, like that's not what we're doing there? Genocide,

ethnic cleansing, whatever they want to call it, we're guilty.

[truthisfreedom]

3. Hey Gates... you think you have Ethnic Cleansing LEASHED NOW?

You prick. Shut the f*** up. And pull your nose out of cheney's sweating ass.

[krispos42]

5. Randi Rhodes was right (again)

She said, right after the MSM finally began calling the situation in Iraq a 'civil war', that what it was going to be was a genocide. I guess it's not really 'genocide', because both sides are Arabs. Maybe 'theocracide' or something like that.

Oh, and another thing... what in God's green earth do you think has been happening the past three years or so!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. Genocide is not necessarily based on ethnicity.

It can be based on religion.

[aquart]

7. Genocide is used way too loosely here.

Mass murder works just fine.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. I know.

It irritates the hell out of me. A lot of people overuse it to the point where it loses its proper meaning.

[w4rma]

9. I don't see how U.S. forces are in any way impeding the civil war going on over there.

In fact, I would suggest that our forces' being there is inflaming the civil war/genocide.

[bdamomma]

10. oh, isn't that being done right now with the US death squads.

I hate these people.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Where has this guy been?

We haven't yet restricted US military operations in Iraq, and ethnic cleansing was unleashed some time ago.

[sutz12]

12. I think deposing and killing Saddam started that. nt

[anotherdrew]

13. but just a couple months ago they were saying that US forces would NOT stop a civil war

"we're not going to put them in the middle of a civil war situation" - something like that was one of the quotes, from one of our generals IIRC.

[damntexdem]

14. "Could unleash ethnic cleansing"!

Yeah, and too many tax cuts for the rich could lead to federal deficits.

Poor diets and lack of physical activity in the U.S. could lead to an epidemic of obesity.

And missing too many shots could lead Ohio State to defeat in the NCAA men's basketball championship game.

Where has Gates been for the last few years? Has he ever heard of the Golden Mosque?