Tom Hayden reports that secret talks have occured between the U.S. and Iraqi Armed Resistance. The goal of the talks would be a cease-fire in exchange for a rollback of the de-baathification edicts issued by Paul Bremer, amnesty and prisoner releases among other things.

According to Nir Rosen," "whether these reports are true or not, none of these meetings have ever amounted to anything, because Shias own Iraq, now. Sunnis can never get it back. There is nothing Americans can do about this.

So, for Sunnis to imagine that they can ever regain power , that Americans actually matter in Iraq anymore is naive in the extreme...what you are going to see in Iraq, I think, in Baghdad especially, is virtual genocide of the Sunnis. And the Americans are going to be unable to stop that. As for the Bush and Maliki meeting, I think both Bush and Maliki are absolutely irrelevant in Iraq. Neither of them has any power." He goes on to predict that one day there will be no Sunnis left in Baghdad and that Jordan and Saudi Arabia will provide more support for the Sunni militias, elsewhere. The entire region will be destabilized: not a pretty picture. What IS Cheney doing In Saudi Arabia? Has anyone else noticed the absence of the mention of Al Queda in recent reports about Iraq?

W mentioned them! See?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061128/ap_on_re_eu/bush

Apparently the violence in Iraq is an Al Qaeda plot. But then again, what's not?

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

I see I spoke too soon. According to W. there is no civil war in Iraq , just Al Queda stirring things up, again.

Virtually ALL the problems in the Middle East, including Iraq, emanates from the Palestinian/Israeli conflict which has been going on since the middle of the last century.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

How is Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq and the coming Civil War related in any way to Israel and the Palestinians?

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

They are all crazed Islamofascists intent on the destruction of Israel because they hate American freedoms, but they want to get in a little practice first by slaughtering one another before they move to take on the big guys.

See, this proves that it is part of the war on terror but at the same time has nothing whatever to do with the US invasion and liberation/occupation of that country. Of course, as we all know, because the President has told us, this both was and was-not a part of the war on terror so their slaughter-training has nothing to do with aything we may or may not have done in the past, or are or are not currently doing (or not doing) again, right now.

Nothing whatsoever to do with us.

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

Ahhh. You just can't argue with logic like that. Are you sure you don't work for the Bush administration?

Of course not. If the U.S. didn't invade this would still be happening. It was merely bad timing and dumb luck. But at least they are killing one another over there, which means they can't kill one another over here. Whew! Now I can sleep at night. Thank you Mr. Bush.

If I've learned anything since W took office it's this: Everything is part of the "War on Terror"tm.

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

I wasn't referring to the internal conflict between religous factions. I was referring to the fact that terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, have said our involvement in the Gulf War in 1991 which was due to Saddam Hussein's invasion of one of it's neighbors, is ONE of the reasons they declared "jihad" on us. And yet our involvement in the Gulf War was 100% UN supported. Actually, the truth of the matter is that Al Qaeda and all these groups would find something to hate us for no matter what we do. Bottom line is they object to our influence in the world, period. They object to our support of Israel because they all want Israel gone. That's what I mean when I say everything is related to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Here's just a part of that indictment. (Red comments are mine)

"the indictment states that Al Qaeda reached an agreement
with Iraq not to work against the regime of Saddam Hussein and that
they would work cooperatively with Iraq, particularly in weapons
development. And this is the reason that after 9/11, Bush decided we could no longer risk the threat of Saddam Hussein.


According to the indictment, Bin Laden's group also tried to recruit
Americans to travel through the United States and the West to deliver
messages and to conduct financial transactions to aid their terrorist
activities. The indictment also states that Al Qaeda used humanitarian
work as a conduit for transmitting funds to affiliate terrorist
groups.


The indictment also claims that Bin Laden's supporters purchased land
for terrorist training camps; bought warehouses where explosives were
stored; transferred bank accounts using various aliases; purchased
sophisticated telecommunications equipment; and transferred money and
weapons to Al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist organizations.


The indictment also states that beginning in 1993, Al Qaeda began
training Somali tribes to oppose the United Nation's humanitarian
effort in Somalia. In October, members of Al Qaeda participated in an
attack on U.S. military personnel where 18 soldiers were killed and 73
others wounded in Mogadishu. In another reference, the indictment
noted that an unnamed "co-conspirator" transported weapons and
explosives from Khartoum to Port Sudan for transshipment to the Saudi
Arabian peninsula.


The Grand Jury document, which usually does not provide a great amount
of details in advance of a prosecution, also stated that Bin Laden and
"others" tried to develop chemical weapons and attempted to obtain
nuclear weapons components in 1993.


The indictment noted that Bin Laden issued his Declaration of Jihad
with the aim of recruiting others to "kill Americans and encouraged
other persons to join the jihad against the American enemy."

AND......this reason:

"2. Al Qaeda opposed the United States for several reasons. First, the
United States was regarded as "infidel" because it was not governed in
a manner consistent with the group's extremist interpretation of
Islam. Second, the United States was viewed as providing essential
support for other "infidel" governments and institutions, particularly
the governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the nation of Israel and
the United Nations, which were regarded as enemies of the group.
Third, Al Qaeda opposed the involvement of the United states armed
forces in the Gulf War in 1991 and in Operation Restore Hope in
Somalia in 1992 and 1993. In particular, Al Qaeda opposed the
continued presence of American military forces in Saudi Arabia (and
elsewhere on the Saudi Arabian peninsula) following the Gulf war.
Fourth, Al Qaeda opposed the United States Government because of the
arrest, conviction and imprisonment of persons belonging to Al Qaeda
or its affiliated terrorist groups, including Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman."
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1998/11/98110602_nlt.html


So, in other words, they want to be free to conduct their terrorist operations against us and other "infidels." Just because of who we are--because we don't live as they think we should. All that has not a thing to do with anything we were doing to "cause" it----as some on this board think.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

I'm sure it is.

Lots of people do. I would, too. Our foreign policy is one of the myriad reasons we have a "War on Terror" tm. It's not the only one, of course, but it plays a substantial role. From sea to shining sea people hate us because we are always meddling where we don't belong. Just like my neighbor (who everyone hates, too).

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Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?