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2005-01-03 Iraq-Jordan

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Posted by tipper 2005-01-03 7:13:44 PM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 He estimated that 40,000 of the 200,000 were core fighters, while the remainder were volunteers and part-timers.

I don't buy it. If those numbers were real, surely the Coalition and allied Iraqi forces would be reeling back on the defensive, rather than having it their own way wherever they choose to exert force.

I think this is a Baghdad Bob statement -- the bluster and exaggeration tyoical of the culture.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-01-03 8:28:14 PM|| 2005-01-03 8:28:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 TW, he's full of it. Now for the $64,000 question--why is this guy the Iraqi Intelligence Chief? Find Gerecht's article in the lastest Weekly Standard. He's wrong that insurgency is driving Sunnis away from the election, but he's dead on that Allawi has failed, and that the best thing possible is for the election to be held, and the Shia take over a legitimate, elected government with the mandate to finish this fight--a fight that Shahwani, Allawi's crony among others, obviously doesn't want to win.

Posted by longtime lurker 2005-01-03 9:06:42 PM|| 2005-01-03 9:06:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Is Allawi on our side? He's hardly more useful than a ba'athist mole would be

Posted by lex 2005-01-03 9:08:00 PM|| 2005-01-03 9:08:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 None of them are on "our" side, but some support our goals more than others. So how much support for our goals can someone give if this guy is his Intelligence Minister? If nothing else, Allawi is getting bad intel from him, and bad decisions follow. Shahwani is a Sunni who knows that an election delayed will more than likely be an election cancelled, continuing the pandering to the violent Sunni minoriy. An election completed is the end of disproportionate Sunni power, and the end of second-rates like Shahwani. Shahwani's peddling this kind of crap is crafty, one part of a larger Sunni anti-democratic strategy. He's only stupid if he actually believes it.

Posted by longtime lurker 2005-01-03 9:44:52 PM|| 2005-01-03 9:44:52 PM|| Front Page Top

17:23 Liberalhawk
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00:07 joeblow
23:58 Sock Puppet of Doom
23:45 lex
23:43 tipper
23:41 Asedwich
23:39 Zenster
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23:13 Mark Z.
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