COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, June 03, 2016

In Iraq, an attack on Falluja, where Isis has been holed up since January 2014, has entered a second week

Baghdad advances on Fallujah but “slows down” for fear of Civilian Casualties

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –

Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi said Thursday that his troops were in position to move into the city of Fallujah from the south, after advances made during the past two days, but that he would “slow down” the assault for fear of civilians trapped in the city. The Iraqi military and its Shiite militia auxiliaries have met with fierce resistance by Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) fighters holding the city, which fell to them in January 2014.

Estimates of non-combatants still inside the city range from 20,000 to 50,000 and there is fear they will be caught in the crossfire or hit in artillery barrages or aerial bombardment. Daesh has more or less kidnapped them and is making it very difficult for those in the city center under their watchful eye to flee.

Yet Russia Today reports that Iraqi forces are continuing a steady advance on the city from all four directions, especially from the south, where they have taken Apple Bridge. They unfurled an Iraqi tribe over the bridge.

Iraqi Sunni lawmakers have criticized the participation in the campaign of Shiite militias, given that Fallujah is a bastion of Sunni Islam, and they have also been scathing about the planning role assumed by Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, head of the the special forces or Jerusalem Brigade (Quds Brigade) of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps.

Iran is alarmed that Daesh considers Shiite Muslims to be apostates who renounced true Islam (this is not true). Daesh is therefore a strategic danger to Iran, which is why that country has played such a forward-leaning role in the Fallujah campaign.
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14 comments:

  1. Wrong again, Juan.

    You are uninformed.

    The advances have slowed down not because of concerns over civilian casualties but because of ISIS resistance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been butchered by Assad and Hezbollah (in Syria) Iran and the proxies in Iraq (Sadr militia example)

    The numbers are staggering.

    In Syria over 450,000 civilians butchered by the civilized forces of Iran, Assad, Hezbollah, and now helping Russia & America.

    In Iraq? Obama handed the keys over to Iran's hegemony, it was the slaughter by the Shiites in Iraq that caused the reconstituted Batthist Sunnis to form into ISIS in Iraq. Hundreds of thousand of Sunnis dead by the hands of the civilized forces of the Revolutionary Guard forces of Iran.

    Now to be fair, Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, a minority in Iraq, controlled and slaughtered untold numbers of SHiites, marsh arabs and kurds.

    But let's remember it's the Jews and Israel that are the true butchers of the world, after all they shot and killed terrorists who put down their homemade weapons (slingshots) for a moment...

    Maybe the Jewish state should treat the palestinians like Hamas does?

    Hamas who drags their enemies from the backs of motorcycles, tosses them off rooftops, for just kneecaps them...

    Or maybe Israel should treat the palestinians like America does it's victims of drone strikes in numerous nations....

    I wonder why no video of those wedding parties America has blown up?

    Rufus lists dozens of hit a day by the USA, says that America has killed 30,000 headcutters in the last few years...

    And yet, not one video, not one mention of one civilian taken out....

    Let me ask this...

    Quirk says the IDF taking out 2 palestinian "boys" is a snuff film, since they were not actively pulling the trigger, throwing the firebomb or flinging the rock at the moment of the shooting...

    What standards?

    Should we accept Deuce's nonsense that Israel is uncivilized because he posts a video of the "civilized" south koreans or French?


    Let's remember the South Koreans? Killed 680 people in the riots, deuces shows a video of 3 minutes of the protest with no violence.

    France? killed 65,000 algerians and after the war, in france? Arabs and moslems ARE murdering citizens and the "civilized" response is to allow the moslems of France to make areas NO GO zones....

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's funny watching the video of the palestinian girl that deuce claims Israeli "storm troopers" shot and left to die...

    His video shows the IDF ambulance taking the girl for medical assistance...

    Notice no real information just a propaganda snippet....

    Storm Troopers?

    I wish...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Since 1920, the total number of arabs killed by Israel, all arabs, soldiers, civilians, all...

    91.000

    70 years of war.

    In 3 years? Syria, Hezbollah & Iran killed 450,000 in syria alone.

    In the Iraq/Iran war?

    The war is often said to have caused half a million or more deaths. The Battle Deaths Dataset, developed by a team of political scientists, estimates fatalities at more than 600,000. The Correlates of War Project, another major scholarly dataset, estimates 500,000 Iraqi dead and 750,000 Iranian dead.

    LEBANESE CIVIL WAR, 1975-90: An estimated 150,000 people killed. More than 1 million, a quarter of the population, were displaced. ARAB-ISRAELI WAR, 1973: Israeli casualties were 2,569 killed and 7,500 wounded in the three-week conflict.Mar 8, 1991

    I could go on for hours...

    Israeli Storm Troopers?


    More like you are crying wolf

    ReplyDelete
  5. HAMAS KILLED 160 PALESTINIAN CHILDREN TO BUILD TUNNELS


    What difference does it make?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The moslems hold life cheap.

    "We love death more than you do life"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Got my first e-mail from Donald Trump today.

    Subject: Crooked Hillary

    Haven't opened it yet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. TRUMP SUPPORTERS TERRORIZED BY MOB

    'NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN AMERICA'...
    TRUMP CAMPAIGNERS CHASED DOWN LIKE PREY...
    DOZENS PUNCHED...
    POLICE ASSAULTED...
    SAN JOSE MAYOR JUSTIFIES VIOLENCE...
    VIDEO: FEMALE PELTED WITH HUEVOS...
    MEXICAN FLAGS RAISED AS AMERICAN FLAG BURNS....DRUDGE



    If totalitarianism comes to the USA it will come from the left not the right"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SAN JOSE MAYOR JUSTIFIES VIOLENCE....DRUDGE

      "If totalitarianism comes to the USA it will come from the left not the right"

      Delete
    2. Mediaite: Vox editor openly supports violence: “If Trump comes to your town, start a riot”

      Ezra Klein: Vox suspends editor for encouraging riots aimed at Trump

      Hot Air

      Delete
    3. In defense of Vox -

      Ezra Klein

      Vox suspends editor for encouraging riots aimed at Trump

      We at Vox do not take institutional positions on most questions, and we encourage our writers to debate and disagree. But direct encouragement of riots crosses a line between expressing a contrary opinion and directly encouraging dangerous, illegal activity. We welcome a variety of viewpoints, but we do not condone writing that could put others in danger.

      http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2016/06/03/vox-suspends-editor-for-encouraging-riots-aimed-at-trump/

      Delete
    4. Did the Mayor of San Jose order the Police to stand down ?

      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/outrage_compounded_san_jose_mayor_emblames_trumpem_for_violence_committed_against_his_followers.html

      Delete
  9. Record 94,708,000 Americans Not in Labor Force...

    Only +38,000 jobs in May...

    Lowest in 6 years...

    Private sector puny +25,000....Drudge


    Tens of thousands drop OUT of the job seeking so the 'official' unemployment rate goes 'down'.

    :0)

    R....i...i...i...g...h...t

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Fight for Fallujah’s Highway 11


    The crucial highway linking Jordan to Baghdad runs right at the heart of Fallujah — and retaking it could keep Jordan from economic collapse.
    By Paul McLeary
    June 2, 2016

    http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/02/the-fight-for-fallujahs-highway-11/

    ReplyDelete