U.S. turns up ‘anti-Shi’ite propaganda’ in Iraq.
U.S. turns up ‘anti-Shi’ite propaganda’ in Iraq.
In a post at Danger Room today, Noah Shachtman, who recently visited Iraq, describes how the effort to turn Sunni groups against Al Qaeda in Iraq relies on “a steady diet of anti-Shi’ite propaganda” that could be creating the conditions for “an all-in sectarian battle royale”:
I worry that’ll be the case on the political scene, as well. Sunni political and tribal leaders are increasingly throwing in their lot with U.S. forces here against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent types. But, to get them to come over to our side, the American military has fed them a steady diet of anti-Shi’ite propaganda.
Arrests and killings of Shi’ite militants are announced from loudspeaker blasts; President Bush’s bellicose rhetoric towards Shi’a Iran is reported on friendly radio programs. But the majority of this country is Shi’ite. Are we setting ourselves up as the enemies of the majority here? Are we priming the pump for an all-in sectarian battle royale? It seems like a possibility.
(HT: Robert Farley)
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34 Responses to “U.S. turns up ‘anti-Shi’ite propaganda’ in Iraq.”
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Bush is the anti-Christ. He preaches peace, delivers war. His followers are the Phillistines who believe they are pious but they are phonies.
I am an agnostic but Bush is going to make a believer out of me before he finally pushes into WW 3 or 4 or whatever the fu*k the neo-cons want to call it.
-GSD
September 18th, 2007 at 12:54 pmEvery single American will be complicit if Bush/Cheney bomb Iran.
September 18th, 2007 at 12:57 pmComment by GSD — September 18, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
I’ve said numerous times before that if Chimpy isn’t actually the AntiChrist, he either sincerely believes he is, or this administration is doing its level best to make it appear as though he is.
Any way you slice it, it amounts to the same thing. This administration is using the Book of Revelation like an instruction manual.
September 18th, 2007 at 12:58 pmAre we priming the pump for an all-in sectarian battle royale? It seems like a possibility. - - Gosh, ya think?
September 18th, 2007 at 12:58 pmAlso, it should be mentioned, that Iraq’s government is currently majority Sunni, although the majority of the people in Iraq are Shiite.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:01 pmBush is setting the US troops up for a disaster. An unmitigated disaster of massive proportions a Custer at Little Bighorn, Hitler in Russia, Napolean in Russia, Russia in Afghanistan moment.
There will be many more thousands of dead Americans before Bush is done ruining this nation.
But at least he’ll have the blind cheerleaders behind him screaming and cheering his every misdeed.
-GSD
September 18th, 2007 at 1:04 pmWait a minute. I thought we liked the Shia?
Now we’re against them?
That doesn’t leave anymore sects for us to side with.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:04 pmMichael J. Totten has posted the second installment of his recent visit to Anbar: http://www.michaeltotten.com/
Part one is here: http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001514.html
September 18th, 2007 at 1:04 pmThe Neocon imperialists simply don’t care who dies in their war. The more death the better, it seems.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:09 pmIf we wanted the Sunnis to remain in power, as they were under Saddam, why did we remove them from power?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:11 pmThe Neocon imperialists simply don’t care who dies in their war. The more death the better, it seems.
Comment by VerbalKint — September 18, 2007
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Are you the fellow who was tasered at the John Kerry lecture yesterday?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:11 pmRingo, were you the creep that was tapping your foot and waving your hand under the stall when I was at the GOP debate last week?
-GSD
September 18th, 2007 at 1:14 pmHey look.
Ringo actually thinks people read his links.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:15 pmDivide and conquer.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:16 pmRingo actually thinks people read his links.
Comment by BARTLEBEE
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I’m well aware that Lefties rarely read anything that might challenge them.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:19 pmNot to worry Shiites, next week you’ll get truckloads of arms and wheelbarrows full of freshly printed dollars from the whackey Merkins.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:20 pmWell, atleast we still have the Kurds. (unless or until the Turks settle that score)

September 18th, 2007 at 1:21 pmI’m well aware that Lefties rarely read anything that might challenge them.
Comment by Ringo — September 18, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
#
I’m not seeing how this “challenges lefties”? Some dumbazz made a fool of himself at a Kerry speech and the police had to taser him. Whooptee doo! If McCain has a speech, and some idiot at the speech gets taken away by the police for being too disorderly, does that “challenge righties”? More importantly, though, what does that have to do with the topic “U.S. turns up ‘anti-Shi’ite propaganda’ in Iraq”?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:25 pmI’m not seeing how this “challenges lefties�
September 18th, 2007 at 1:29 pmComment by Chris L
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I was referring to my links at #8 in response to BARTLEBEE’s comment, “Ringo actually thinks people read his links”.
More importantly, though, what does that have to do with the topic “U.S. turns up ‘anti-Shi’ite propaganda’ in Iraq�
Comment by Chris L — September 18, 2007 @ 1:25 pm
Nothing; that’s the whole point, they come here to distract.
Plus, there is probably some Attention Defecit Disorder (ADD) mixed in.

September 18th, 2007 at 1:31 pmMaybe Kerry should have called the kid a little jerk and joked that he’d just been drafted, huh Gringo?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:35 pmActually, Kerry had nothing to do with this matter. He actually defended the student and said he’d answer his “important question” just before the campus police tasered him and carried him out.
Actually, Kerry had nothing to do with this matter.
Comment by A Patriot Acting
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I never said he did.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:37 pmwho’s michael totten, and why should we waste our time on him?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:42 pmBush has NO idea what he is doing in Iraq and the scary part is that he does NOT care either.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pmPart one is here: http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001514.html
Comment by Ringo — September 18, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
Thanks for the link. I don’t agree with his assertion that al-Qa’ida in Iraq is the main force we’re fighting in Anbar. There is a well-documented overuse of the term “al-Qa’ida” to describe every Sunni insurgent group, whatever their ideology. The ISI is also a shameless self-promoter, so the CDs with “AQI” written all over them don’t make them the main enemy.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pmronjazz,
Michael Totten is an independent journalist and blogger who reports from the middle-east. He has also written articles for Wall Street Journal, the Jerusalem Post, Beirut’s Daily Star, Reason Magazine, the LA Weekly, Newsweek and others.
His reports from Iraq are illuminating and are not written with any political ax to grind.
Go ahead and read his blog, don’t be afraid.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:50 pmNow the dems don’t want us to work with the Iraqi’s?
September 18th, 2007 at 2:03 pmNow the dems don’t want us to work with the Iraqi’s?
Comment by Roger_Roger — September 18, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
“Manipulating with propaganda” is not the same as “working with.”
September 18th, 2007 at 2:28 pm#1, GSD
September 18th, 2007 at 2:32 pmI agree - Bush is the anti-christ for believers of the world.
We are fomenting the civil war, inserting ourselves into the age-old theocratic and political differences existing in Iraq. We are alienating one segment of the population — the ones we initially supported — we have made “friends” with warlords who were recently shooting at our forces — we have armed those warlords and provided funding — we are pushing the majority shiite population into closer alliance with Iran — we are rattling sabers against Iran and Syria, while we provoke them into creating a scenario for a repeat of Gulf of Tonkin non-incident.
The tribal leaders of Iraq are laughing up their sleeves at us and our foolishness, our ignorance of their history and culture; we make it easy for them to exploit us for their own self-serving purposes.
How, exactly, are we supposed to induce Sunni Arabs (i.e., the Anbar tribes) to attack Sunni Arabs (i.e., al-Qaeda) by using anti Shiite Arab propaganda? Perhaps I’m missing the connection here. Anyone care to enlighten me?
September 18th, 2007 at 3:11 pmOh, I see now. After a vist to Robert Farley’s post at American Prospect it seems TP’s lead in into the quotation miscontextualizes and confuses the issue. C’mon TP, do better.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pmHow, exactly, are we supposed to induce Sunni Arabs (i.e., the Anbar tribes) to attack Sunni Arabs (i.e., al-Qaeda) by using anti Shiite Arab propaganda? Perhaps I’m missing the connection here. Anyone care to enlighten me?
Comment by Jim — September 18, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
It’s an old military tactic. “The enemy of my enemy’s enemy is also my enemy, so if we arm our former enemies against our current enemy, it will embolden them to fight our future enemies.”
I think Sun Tzu wrote that.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:25 pm>There is a well-documented overuse
> of the term “al-Qa’ida†to describe every
> Sunni insurgent group, whatever their ideology.
Oh the overuse goes even deeper than that.. its pretty much thrown out there to describe any sort of spectactular attack… I read an article about it somewhere I need to dig up… talking about how when pressed to substaniate these claims of al-queda they usually said something like “well it was al-queda style” etc….
Idiots like Ringo dont want to admit the insurgency is largely nationalists, probably 95 percent. And now we’re cutting deals with them. Recent word is the sheik who shook bush’s hand and later got taken out by an IED 60 yards from his heavily guarded compound ,likely by a fellow sunni, was getting a cool 75 million dollar bribe (er, aid package) from us… a year ago, these were the “terrorists” attacking us, now thier our “awakened allies”.. funny how things change, huh?
is ringo the only troll on this thread?
September 18th, 2007 at 4:49 pmSweet Savior is right. Listen carefully to press releases , and you’ll hear the term “Al Qaeda LIKE attacks”.
Andrew Tighlman, a reporter for Stars and Stripes wrote a great article in Washington Monthly about Al Qaeda in Iraq. Google ” the myth of AQI”.
from the article:
How big, then, is AQI? The most persuasive estimate I’ve heard comes from Malcolm Nance, the author of The Terrorists of Iraq and a twenty-year intelligence veteran and Arabic speaker who has worked with military and intelligence units tracking al-Qaeda inside Iraq. He believes AQI includes about 850 full-time fighters, comprising 2 percent to 5 percent of the Sunni insurgency. “Al-Qaeda in Iraq,” according to Nance, “is a microscopic terrorist organization.”
Bush is choosing sides in the Iraqi Civil War. He’s giving the Sunni Insurgents cash and weapons to not blow our troops up. Maliki just requested that “Blackwater Leave Iraq”. What happens if the democratically elected Govt. of Iraq asks our troops to leave also???
September 18th, 2007 at 5:01 pm