Martial law threatened for Iraq

[hightime]

Iraq's incoming government is considering imposing martial law to help stabilise the country after another two car bomb attacks on Thursday killed at least 41 Iraqis.


The first bomb, packed with artillery shells, exploded outside an army recruiting centre in central Baghdad killing 35 people. The centre had been hit in a similar strike earlier this year. A second attack north of Baghdad killed another six Iraqi civil defence soldiers.

The blasts were the latest in a spate of increasingly well-organised attacks, including suicide attacks against foreign civilians working for the US-led coalition, an assassination of a senior Iraqi official, and the sabotage of military and industrial targets.

Co-ordinated strikes on Iraq's oil pipelines in the north and south of the country have reduced exports to a trickle and depleted the country's prime source of revenue.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373067863&p=1012571727088

[Bluebear]

1. Sounds very "liberated and democratic", doesn't it?

nt

[bemildred]

2. Well, that should put the fear of God into those rebels. nt

[DavidDvorkin]

3. In other words, a "legal" free hand for the U.S. forces

Martial law would just be a legal cover for the U.S. to do whatever it wanted throughout the country, with the appearance of blanket permission by our puppet government.

[Barrett808]

4. I love the smell of Democracy in the morning

And if the contractors get a pass on Iraqi law, Bush will be able to act with impunity.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. How would martial law be any different from what they have right now??

[Doug Decker]

17. My thoughts exactly...

how could you tell the difference?

:hi:

[not systems]

18. The addition of the word "law" would be a change.

[Ouabache]

20. exactly, and the difference with the current situation would be ?

:shrug:

[eaprez]

6. Same thing...

...occupation...martial law....either way the Iraqi people loose.
One is imposed by an occupier the other by their own government.

[hightime]

7. their own government....picked by us!

[NNN0LHI]

10. True. But I bet Chimpy picked a good government for them though

:bounce:

[struggle4progress]

8. Wow! Martial law really says "liberation" and "democracy"!

[eaprez]

9. Since their Army and Police Force...

...basically suck....does this mean it will be U.S. Troops who enforce marshall law? Kind of a sneaky way to maintain military control while feigning 'pass off' of the country.

[Sabriel]

11. Coming soon to a democracy near you!

n/t
Sabriel

[PartyPooper]

12. I reckon this would throw a wrench into their upcoming elections, eh?

:eyes:

[54anickel]

13. Ewww!! Good Point PartyPooper!

[Gloria]

14. Just posted an article in the new WMW about how another class of

Iraqi security police graduated ...about 850...Add that to about 500+ from the previous class...

US want 35,000 in place by September!~!~! A little behind schedule??????

So who exactly would be imposing martial law?? (Does it start with "U.S."?)

[JaySherman]

15. My first thought upon reading this:

Isn't Iraq effectively under martial law already? What exactly would the difference be?

[Miss Authoritiva]

16. Mr. Rubaie has been around American functionaries too long.

"It should not have sweeping powers. It should be limited in time and space," he said. "(But) the terrorists are shooting people on sight. You need to be a little bit more proactive, a little bit more robust."

Sounds an awful lot like Rumsfeld, doesn't it?

[CPops57]

19. They're testing martial law plans for the US.....

....this is just a practice session for them.

[mike1963]

22. I'm terribly afraid you're right. Welcome to DU anyway...

;-)

[daleo]

21. Martial Law will mean they can keep the U.S. army there indefinitely

Also, no need for elections.
No need for human rights.
Saddam trial can be a court martial - no need for normal rules of evidence, etc.

Didn't this happen in South Viet Nam, too?

[dusty64]

23. A warmup to October

in America perhaps.