Sunnis Want End to Iraq Military Actions

[cal04]

Sunni Arab leaders demanded Sunday that U.S. and Iraqi troops suspend military operations in heavily Sunni areas, accusing the Shiite-led government of trying to divide the nation ahead of next month's legislative elections. Some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers, meanwhile, said they withdrew from Saddam Hussein's defense team over the slayings of two colleagues representing co-defendants of the ousted leader. Their statement said other lawyers on the team continued to work despite the lack of security.

The U.S. military reported two Marines were killed Saturday by a bomb west of Baghdad and an American soldier died in a vehicle accident in western Iraq. At least 2,065 U.S. military personnel have died since the war began in 2003,according to an Associated Press count.
Officials in several Sunni Arab groups charged that U.S. and Iraqi forces are pursuing combat and police operations aimed at cowing Sunni Arab communities.

Salih al-Mutlaq, a spokesman for the National Dialogue Front and one of the Sunni Arabs who helped draft the new constitution, said military offensives in Sunni Arab areas are meant to prevent Sunnis from voting in the Dec. 15 election. "We strongly condemn the military operations and demand that they are halted immediately," al-Mutlaq said. "We demand that the United Nations, the Arab League and humanitarian organizations stop these massacres."

U.S. commanders insist the offensives are intended to encourage Sunni Arabs to vote by removing the threat of Sunni-dominated insurgents who want to scuttle the ballot. Ayad al-Izi, a member of the Islamic Iraqi Party, complained about the deployment of Interior Ministry troops to Diyala province, where more than 310 people have been arrested. He charged the arrests were politically motivated.
"Such practices are aimed at foiling the political process in the country and they ignite the strife in such areas," he said.
Harith al-Obeidi, a senior member in another Sunni political party, the General Conference of the People of Iraq, also criticized the raids.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_051113103036;_ylt=Aqlf3UtxN.zr_v0bWxtmzS1X6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[acmavm]

1. Just another day in our newest state. Things are going well too. About

like any other day.

[wtmusic]

2. Is it my imagination

or are we not over 100 military deaths for November alone? Has this received any MSM coverage?

[Enhancer]

3. Funny stuff.

Especially this the following: "U.S. commanders insist the offensives are intended to encourage Sunni Arabs to vote".

[Tempest]

4. Not yet, but close

There's been between 67 and 70 deaths in November.

And we're not half-way through the month.

[BikeWriter]

5. Can you say V-i-e-t-N-a-m?

[Tempest]

6. More U.S. troops killed in Iraq than in the first 4 years of Vietnam

"The nearly 2,000 Americans killed in combat (1,998 on October 24, 2005) in Iraq since 2003 are more than were lost in Vietnam combat in the first four years of U.S. combat (1961-1965, when just over 1800 died). This total is more than were lost in the last two years of combat (1971-1972, when just over 1600 died)," recounts Maurice Isserman, co-author of "America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s."

http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20051024.120319&time=13

[BikeWriter]

7. Yes, and it's intensifying more all the time.

[Tempest]

8. Shorter time between milestones in Iraq

It took half as long to go from 500 to 1,000 dead.

It took half as long again to go from 1,500 to 2,000 dead.

And it's taking no time at all to go from 2,000 to 2,100 dead.


And that doesn't count the number of wounded.

[BikeWriter]

9. Every troop killed in VietNam was my Brother and Sister...

These casualties are, too.