[antimedia] antimedia: Seven "insurgent" groups in Iraq....

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< everybody except for the Sadrists and the association of Muslim scholars> 
and the liberals, mainstream media and assorted fellow travelors

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Subject: [antimedia] antimedia: Seven "insurgent" groups in Iraq....

Posted by antimedia:
Seven "insurgent" groups in Iraq....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1151373838.shtml


   ....have [1]accepted the terms of the Iraqi government's
   reconciliation agreement.

     Initial information indicates that the seven groups are: the
     brigades of the 1920 revolution, the army of Mohammed, Heroes of
     Iraq, the 4/9 organization, Al-Fatih brigades and finally the
     general command of armed forces.

   I expect this means that the war, for all intents and purposes, will
   be over soon.

     This announcement seems to have been preceded by a lot of work but
     a declaration of amnesty was the militants' condition to join the
     reconciliation project mostly to save face.
     So far, everybody in Iraq feels good about Maliki's plan and
     expressed their hopes for it to meet success and ease the suffering
     of the Iraqi people; everybody except for the Sadrists and the
     association of Muslim scholars who both criticized the plan and
     said it wasn't acceptable and expected it to fail.

   Yes, there are details to hammer out, but the "insurgents" risk
   alienation if they don't lay down their arms during the negotiations,
   and the militants will feel the wrath of the Iraqi government and a
   suddenly-available massive force of arms, if they do not fall in line.
   One sticking point is bound to be [2]the amnesty proposal.

     Amnesty for detainees not involved in terrorist acts, war crimes or
     crimes against humanity, as long as they condemn violence and
     pledge to respect the law.

   Precisely defining "terrorist acts" will take some wrangling.
   There's an [3]interesting dynamic taking place here in America over
   that. The very people who have been opposed to this war from the
   beginning are now opposed to amnesty for anyone who killed American
   soldiers. They seem not to notice the absurdity of their position.
   They're against the war, yet they're against any effort to end it
   short of kiling or imprisoning every single "insurgent", an impossible
   goal that would ensure that the conflict went on forever. (If you
   can't smell the political angle of that, your nose is stopped up --
   they want to put Bush in a no-win situation so bad it hurts them to
   think about it.)
   When a war ends, the fighting and killing stops. You don't go back and
   arrest all the enemy soldiers. The "insurgents" who fired mortars,
   fired and sniped at and attacked American soldiers with IEDs were
   doing nothing different from any enemy we fight. The ones who used
   women and children as human shields, slaughtered civilians
   indiscriminately and beheaded people would not (and should not) be
   included in this agreement.

References

   1.
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2006/06/seven-militant-groups-accpet-al.htm
l
   2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5114932.stm
   3.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/23/opinion/main1746459.shtml?source=R
SS&attr=Opinion_1746459

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