Palestinians threatened
posted at 7:33 pm on December 25, 2006 by see-dubya
Send to a Friend |
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
It may not be quite as interesting to the world press as when Israel does it, but Sunni Palestinians are “under siege” by Sadr’s Mahdi army. One of the Palestinians with whom Times bureau chief Ned Parker spoke with for the original article spoke with him again, and claims Sadr’s men are throwing Palestinian families out of the complex to take it over for themselves.
Many Iraqi Shiites just see it as payback:
The seeds of communal hatred lay in the privileged status given to the Palestinians by Saddam. He provided the community, which settled in Iraq in several waves after the creation of Israel in 1948, with government-owned and subsidised housing. In return, he appropriated the Palestinian cause, portraying himself as the defender of Arab nationalism.
Saddam (who was quite chummy with Arafat) used the Palestinians like most Arab despots do: as props in his little Arab-nationalism stage play. Now after Saddam, they’re not faring well under Sadr, who is shelling the compound in which many of them live. Now he’s the one using the Palestinians for his own little Shia-nationalism game.
Unlike many of the problems in Iraq, however, this one has a definite source at the head of the Mahdi army. Moqtada al-Sadr is not just a racist thug, but a threat to Iraq’s future.
What’s it going to take to eject him from play? Would catching his men with thirty million dollars worth of heroin make people realize he is simply never going to be a credible and honest player in Baghdad politics? No, since that happened two years ago, I guess it wouldn’t.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Everybody likes the Palestinians as a cause. None of the Arab leaders actually like them in their country.
MayBee on December 25, 2006 at 7:49 PM
Palestinians are some of the greatest farmers in the middle east. If you look at film of the Palestinian territories around Israel, you can easily see that nobody in the region can raise such piles of rocks and garbage like the Palestinians can.
They are the Katrina victims of the middle east…..gimme gimme gimme……when is someone gonna save us…..blah blah blah
quax1 on December 25, 2006 at 7:54 PM
Personally, I love the Palestinians. They are the Hollywood of the Middle East, better known as Pallywood.
One makes stuff up, the other makes stuff up. One has crappy actors, the other has crappy actors. One is owned by Jews the other is pwned by Jews…So they have a lot in common with Hollywood.
Tim Burton on December 25, 2006 at 8:32 PM
Ah yes, someone hit it right on the head, everyone loves the Palestinians as a cause, but not as a neighbor. This has been the lot of the problem for decades now. The Jordanians threw them out, Egypt said no, Syria said no, Saudi Arabia said no. Who is left? Israel. That’s right, we hate the jews anyway and we can make claims on this land based on religious history. What a convenient convergence, Arab self-hatred combined with anti-semitism…..
Think about this for a second folks; Islam claims as it’s mantle “the religion of peace”. But all throughout the teaching of Islam is the nobility of death via martydom. How can a religion, teaching as a basic philosophy the necessity of matrydom, ever see a time where they can denounce extremism and victim-hood? In other words, how can you embrace the new century with tolerance and respect for all when your whole philosophical underpinning is based on oppression and the muslim obligation to fight this perceived oppression? It’s like claiming you support the troops but not the mission. Well, the troops are the ones carrying out the mission so you can’t have it both ways. You can’t on the one hand claim to be peaceful while on the other hand teaching and preaching the oppression of your faith and the religious obligation to fight and die to overcome it. Quite a paradox is it not???????????
ritethinker on December 25, 2006 at 9:54 PM
Its just like the liberal mantra…. as long as there is an oppressed people there is a vote for me.
frreal on December 25, 2006 at 11:53 PM
Big Surprise, Iran is sponsoring groups using brutal tactics for their own self gain.
For the “Palestinians”, remember their reaction to our suffering on 9/11? They were dancing in the streets and celebrating a victory over their enemy. I hope the “Palestinians” listen real close, it is the world’s smallest violin playing in response to their grief.
Our enemies, those who call themselves “Palestinians”, do not deserve our charity or support. I wish no one harm, but we certainly do not have to expend our resources to help those who would hurt us.
Remember the recent vent on aid to Indonesia being misused to support Islamofacist values and actions? The same is the case with the “Palestinians”, we should direct our charity to those with values similar to our own, who want and deserve our attention, and show indiference to the plight of those who would harm us if they have the chance - such as the “Palestinians”.
omegaram on December 26, 2006 at 2:23 AM
“can’t have it both ways”
Damn right … uh, I mean Damn Rite!
Oh, and how about this? Four IRANIANS captured by U.S. Troops in Iraq, two are released because … get this … they have DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!
My friggin’ head’s gonna explode!
Tony737 on December 26, 2006 at 4:53 AM
Tony, I think an exploding head might be the answer to See-Dubya’s question:
Enough with talk of dealing with this criminal on a political level. When his “army” is taking shots at our soldiers and slaughtering innocents, we have left the realm of politics. We have entered the realm of dropping him on the street like a black-robed side of beef. Yes, his followers will engage in a frenzy of blood-lust, retribution killings. But that is what they are doing now.
I’m looking for the downside of taking out this human excrement, but I fail to see one. It can even be given a public service hook: Kids, brush your teeth after every meal or end up like this a-hole.
SailorDave on December 26, 2006 at 5:35 AM
Well, I guess it’s gonna be hard for them to blame this on the Israelis.
Wait, what the hell am I talking about? You can always pin any problem in the Middle East on the
Joooooos!er, “Zionists.”Ah, there we go. I bet “they” already knew this would happen 58 years ago. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Sean M. on December 26, 2006 at 7:08 AM
give both sides, hand held nukes and le tthem run at each other,, couldn’t be 2 people’s who most deserve each other..
retired on December 26, 2006 at 7:46 AM
Hmmm … Mookie’s head exploding … roger that, Dave!
Tony737 on December 26, 2006 at 8:38 AM
Take out sadr NOW It will save hundreds of lives on all sides, Just see in the next 3 months what is going to happen. I think he is digging his spidey hole already, he is a lost man in Iraq for sure. No more fun and games. Time to kick butt and get it over with and fast.
bones47 on December 26, 2006 at 10:25 PM
Way-to-go ! ! POLELAND
oldelpasoan on January 22, 2007 at 10:30 AM