Simultaneous post, sorry

[Barrett808]

One by One, Iraqi Cities Become No-Go Zones
By DEXTER FILKINS
September 5, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq — At a recent meeting with a group of tribal sheiks, an American general spoke with evident frustration about the latest Iraqi city to fall into the hands of insurgents.

"Not one dime of American taxpayers' money will come into your city until you help us drive out the terrorists," Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste said in his base in Tikrit, tapping the table to make sure he was understood.

The sheiks nodded, smiled and withdrew, back to the city that neither they, nor the American military, any longer control.

The city under discussion was Samarra, a small metropolis north of Baghdad known for a dazzling ninth-century minaret that winds 164 feet into the air. In the heart of the area called the Sunni Triangle, Samarra is the most recent place where the American military has decided that pulling out and standing back may be the better part of valor, even if insurgents take over.

In Iraq, the list of places from which American soldiers have either withdrawn or decided to visit only rarely is growing: Falluja, where a Taliban-like regime has imposed a rigid theocracy; Ramadi, where the Sunni insurgents appear to have the run of the city; and the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf to the south, where the Americans agreed last month to keep their distance from the sacred shrines of Ali and Hussein.

(more)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/weekinreview/05filk.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

1. "We think the elections will be fake," said Abdul Salam al-Qubesi,

a leading Sunni cleric and a member of the association.
<snip>

The U.S. will be relegated to the "Green Zone" by the time January rolls around. Bushco, in office or not, will declare that a form of progress in Iraq.

[zanana]

2. Thanks for the link.

It's a very interesting article. It makes me wonder if the military is waiting until Nov. 3 to do anything.