6 Sunnis slain for talking with Shiites (news.yahoo)

[Yrys]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070303/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=AlaDH6_SXgKaIbG3pyutapj6OrgF

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Six Sunni men who had received death threats for meeting with local Shiites were killed Saturday in execution-style slayings, police said.
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Gunmen stormed a house in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of the Iraqi capital at dawn, police said. Inside, the men — all relatives from the Mashhada tribe — were separated from women and children and then shot to death.

The motive of the attack could not be independently verified. But police, citing information from surviving relatives, said the victims had received threats from Sunni insurgents after participating in a reconciliation conference with Shiites last month.

 

[Yrys]

Sunni group claims it kidnapped 18 Iraqi officials

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/02/iraq-kidnap-070301.html

An al-Qaeda-linked Sunni group claimed Friday that it kidnapped 18 government workers and soldiers in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shia-dominated police force. 

The claim by the Islamic State of Iraq was posted Friday on a website, accompanied by nine pictures showing up to 18 men. Seven were wearing Iraqi military uniforms and all had their hands tied behind their backs.

"This blessed operation is a response to crimes carried out by those infidels in their fight against the Sunnis," the statement said. "The latest of the crimes committed by these traitors was to rape our sister in religion."

The statement, the authenticity of which couldn't be independently verified, said the kidnap victims were all employees of the Ministry of Interior, which is Shia-led.

The group did not specify when the kidnapping took place, but Brig.-Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said 10 police officers were abducted Thursday morning while heading home for leave.

 

[career_radio-checker]

This is going to seem very simplistic but..... HOW do you stop such hatred?!!!

 

[KevinB]

If it where anywhere else the UN would intervene...
If you look at the FYR as an example - its what happens in a power vaccum -- evil people use race/religion to solidify their power.


Oh yeah I forgot most UN countries are cheering for the insurgents simply to make George look bad.



My guess is the world does not have the stomach to put UN troops into Iraq for a period of time and absorb the casualties it would require to bring about a semblance of stability to quell the ehtnic violence.

 

[Journeyman]

If it where anywhere else the UN would intervene...

:rofl:  That would be effective

 

[KevinB]

Your absolutely right JM.

  but IF one accepts that we dont think that Shiia and Sunni killing each other like no tomorrow is a good idea
Something needs to be done.
It cant be done by the USofA due to the "history"

The UN wont do it.


That leaves?


- China

 

[Journeyman]

France

They actually have a real (domestic) need to sort out Islamic extremism ASAP.....shame they're among the leaders of the anti-US cheering section  :

 

[vonGarvin]

Oh yeah I forgot most UN countries are cheering for the insurgents simply to make George look bad.

This is SO true....and a shame.

 

[1feral1]

This is going to seem very simplistic but..... HOW do you stop such hatred?!!!

You don't. Its like trying to stop a tide, you can't.

They don't think like us and can't rationalise like we do. Don't get me wrong, these are people, and they are not stupid, but what we take for granted, including our way of life and culture, they cannot comprehend, its not in the way they have be brought up.

Violence in Iraq was here long before the Gulf War of 1991, its a way of life, like Hockey Night in Canada. The whole region has been tainted with bloodshed since time began. if they can't fight with someone else, they tear each other a part.

Western influence will not change nothing here period (it just turns up the hatred for us all), and trying to force our way of life on anyone else for whatever reason, well that will not work.


Cheers from Baghdad,

Wes

 

[career_radio-checker]

They don't think like us and can't rationalise like we do. Don't get me wrong, these are people, and they are not stupid, but what we take for granted, including our way of life and culture, they cannot comprehend, its not in the way they have be brought up.

Wes you don't know how much I would like to say that to my peers (university) here. I think no one has a better sociological viewpoint than the ones actually 'over there'. Unfortunately I can't say that without getting ripped apart and labelled a racist and 'Islamophobist'. Thanks for saying it how it is.

CRC

 

[deedster]

I'm with CRC on that one...thank you Wes !!!!

 

[Yrys]

They don't think like us and can't rationalise like we do. Don't get me wrong, these are people, and they are not stupid, but what we take for granted, including our way of life and culture, they cannot comprehend, its not in the way they have be brought up.

Wow, you're so right! But it may be difficult for occidental people, accustomed to
meet people that shared the same way of life, that there is others thinking out there...

CRC, tell tell it's the point of view of somebody out there (you don't have to say
that you share it ).

 

[eerickso]

This is going to seem very simplistic but..... HOW do you stop such hatred?!!!

I don't know, but becoming Canadian doesn't solve their problems. I have witnessed small incidents here at univeristy.

 

[Yrys]

becoming Canadian doesn't solve their problems

Of course not!  Becoming Canadian ain't a magic wand !!!

I had once a young Canadian as a colleague. His father was
from Rwanda, and for the son, the massacre were perfectly normal.
It make me shudder that somebody born here could still think like that.
So I don't see how becoming Canadian could change somebody that much...

 

[tomahawk6]

Bill Roggio is very well connected and his blog is one of the best open source's of information on whats going on in Iraq and to a lesser degree Afghanistan. He is reporting a shift beginning in the attitude of the Sunni's in Anbar.

http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/03/the_amiriya_battle.php

 

[brihard]

Wes you don't know how much I would like to say that to my peers (university) here. I think no one has a better sociological viewpoint than the ones actually 'over there'. Unfortunately I can't say that without getting ripped apart and labelled a racist and 'Islamophobist'. Thanks for saying it how it is.

CRC

U of O or Carleton?

In either case, I understand what you mean... Carleton's a hotbed of radical leftism.

 

[ronnychoi]

This is going to seem very simplistic but..... HOW do you stop such hatred?!!!

My comment is also going to be simplistic.
Saddam was cruel, but he could always remind the Hen who the Rooster was. He knew the Iraqi well.

-Choi

 

[Colin Parkinson]

My friend is Iranian, as he puts it: The Persians and the Arabs have a "dark spot" on their hearts.

when people complain to me about the US being in Iraq, I carefully explain about the 1.2million dead in the Iran-Iraq war with nothing to show for it.