Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered In America's War against Iraq 4376
Muslims Always Victorious
4376
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered In America's War against
Afghanistan 990
U.S. Deaths in Iraq Confirmed By The DoD: 4376
U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan Confirmed By The DoD: 977
Coalition Fatality in Iraq: 4694
Coalition Fatality in Afghanistan: 1641
DoD Confirmation List
Also read
U.S. Military Cemetery Running Out Of Space;
http://www.uruknet.de:80/?p=m36550&hd=&size=1&l=e
Still lying about real Iraq deaths
IRAQ TOLL
US Iraq Toll - 12,000 Dead, 25,000 Wounded 26,000 Deserted?
The Republican's War: Thank you, George!
Harring Report: The National Young Men's Meat Grinder
by Brian Harring, Domestic Intelligence Reporter
ProstateTumor
We Bush haters called this one before you Bush lovers were duped by
your war criminal in chief to invade Iraq -- for its OIL!
Now tell us, dumb'uns, who was correct?
--------------------
"Just weeks before elections, specter of sectarian violence resurfaces
in Iraq"
By Leila Fadel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 17, 2010; A01
BAGHDAD -- It was only one killing, but it unleashed the demons of a
bitter and perhaps unfinished past.
The victim was a Sunni man in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of
Hurriyah, in northwest Baghdad. The death and the aftermath were
reminiscent of the prelude to the sectarian war, which began in late
2005 with a smattering of killings and threats and culminated with 100
bodies a day being dumped in the streets of the capital. With the
imminent departure of American forces and fierce competition for power
ahead of general elections on March 7, many here say sectarian strife
is reigniting.
But this time, there will be no outsider acting as a buffer between
the warring sects. U.S. military officials acknowledge that as Iraq
regains sovereignty, their influence is waning. A senior U.S. military
official who has spent years in Iraq said he fears that as the
drawdown begins, American forces are leaving behind many of the same
conditions that preceded the sectarian war.
"All we're doing is setting the clock back to 2005," said the
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a stark
assessment. "The militias are fully armed, and al-Qaeda in Iraq is
trying to move back from the west. These are the conditions now, and
we're sitting back looking at PowerPoint slides and whitewashing."
The violence goes both ways: Last month, as Shiites commemorated one
of their holiest days, bombings killed scores of pilgrims. And Sunni
extremists have been blamed for audacious attacks on targets
associated with the Shiite-dominated government, including key
ministries. Such violence widens the sectarian rift, and Sunni
civilians fear that Shiites may once again turn to militias for
protection when Iraqi security forces fail.
The Mashhadani family, which is Sunni, has lived in Hurriyah for 40
years, save two years when family members were forced to flee. They
say it's once again time to leave.
On Jan. 23, Omar Mashhadani sat on a flimsy mattress in his living
room, waiting to watch a soccer game on television. There was a knock
at the door.
When Omar answered, he was shot at least three times.
His brother, Jassim, and his mother, Nadima Taha Yasseen, rushed
toward the front door. Omar limped into his brother's arms, the Iraqi
flag on his green jersey soaked in blood.
No one came to the family's aid. No one helped load Omar into the
minibus that took him to the hospital. No men came to pay condolences
after he died last month; they were too afraid to openly mourn his
death.
His family has no doubt that Omar was killed because he was Sunni. His
name distinguishes him as a Sunni.
"The neighbors look at us with hate," Jassim said. "Little by little,
[sectarian violence] is coming back."
The Mashhadani family left Hurriyah in 2006 after many Sunni Arabs'
homes were marked with an X and an ominous warning: "Blood wanted."
Families flee, once again
Shiite militias took revenge against Sunnis for bombings that targeted
Shiite markets, pilgrims and shrines. Sunni families' houses and cars
were torched, and they fled in droves.
In 2008, the Iraqi government gave Sunni families a small stipend to
encourage their return. The Mashhadanis came back. They thought the
worst had passed.
But in the past two months, the Mashhadanis and others who returned
have grown afraid, according to interviews with members of several
Sunni families and leaders. Many families have left again, they say.
They talk of whispers in the markets about "Sunni dogs" returning to
cause problems. They say they see the faces of Shiite militiamen who
threatened them and killed relatives and friends. They fear the
hateful stares they receive when they're out on errands. And they
worry that as the elections near and mass-casualty bombings by Sunni
militant groups increase, Shiite militias have started to kill again.
Many top leaders in Moqtada al-Sadr's now-splintered Mahdi Army, a
large Shiite militia blamed for much of the sectarian violence, are
free again as the U.S. military empties its detention centers.
In the past two months, the Mahdi Army has been reactivated, said
Hussein Kamal, intelligence head at the Interior Ministry, which
oversees Iraqi police. Authorities have seen an increase in training
in southern Shiite provinces and heavy recruiting by the militia in
the capital, he said. Sadr had turned his militia into a civic
organization, but the group never disarmed. Kamal said Sadr may be
changing his tactics again.
"It's a bad thing and a dangerous sign," Kamal said. "They are trying
to scare people."
Sunnis not welcome
Jassim now sleeps on a ratty mattress in the back of the factory where
he works. Since his brother's slaying, he rarely goes home. His mother
is afraid that Jassim, her only living son, will be killed like his
brother.
"We feel like strangers now," he said. "The houses are the same, but
this place is different. There are very bad people here."
Along the main entrance to Hurriyah, a billboard with children
laughing welcomes visitors.
"We must have a better future," it reads.
But through the narrow streets, in the low-slung homes that were
cleansed of Sunnis before a few trickled back, the fear is palpable.
Sectarian graffiti sprayed on walls in 2006 and 2007 have been
scrubbed or scribbled out. But now, new tags are appearing. At one
Sunni mosque, security forces quickly removed a spray-painted message.
"Death to Baathists and Wahhabis," it said, referring to Saddam
Hussein loyalists and followers of a fundamentalist version of Sunni
Islam. Days later, another was sprayed across the wall. The message
was clear: "Death to Sunnis."
The warnings started appearing after hundreds of candidates were
banned from the elections for supposed Baathist ties. The ban, still
being fiercely debated, was perceived as an attempt to weed out Sunni
and secular candidates. Most Sunni Arabs worry that the Shiite-led
government will marginalize them. Sunnis, who boycotted the 2005 vote,
are concerned that next month's elections will leave them further
disenfranchised.
'It's too dangerous now'
At local cafes, where men play dominoes and cards as they drink sweet
tea and bitter coffee, threatening letters were slipped under the door
this past month, just as they were during the civil war when Shiite
militias controlled the streets here.
No playing dominoes during the holy month of Muharram, when Shiite
Muslims mourn the killing of the grandson of the prophet Muhammad, the
letters ordered.
Abu Hussein, one cafe owner, took the letters to the Iraqi army.
Soldiers looked at them and told him to ban the games for the month,
he said.
"The government put pressure on them before, and now they don't," he
said, speaking on the condition that only his nickname be used because
he feared retribution.
Next door, Jammaa Abd Ali, 60, said he plans to close his cafe after
nine years in business in the wake of a drive-by shooting that left
bullet holes in the cafe's wall.
"I'll rent it to another person," Ali said. "It's too dangerous now."
This month Yasseen mourned her slain son in the living room where he
died. She pulled down a picture of Omar standing in front of a
motorcycle. Then she turned it over. It was a cruel reminder of her
loss, and a cruel reminder that her family does not belong here.
"I'm afraid," she said. "I hope to leave this street that is filled
with destruction and tragedies. I can't believe that any Sunni will
stay alive."
[Special correspondent Qais Mizher contributed to this report.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021606003.html?hpid=topnews