Intellectual freedom is the only guarantee of a
scientific - democratic approach to politics, economic development, and
culture.
-Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov-
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-Benjamin Franklin-
Mark Adams is [in no particular order] a Lawyer, Restauranteur, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Landlord, Singer, Guitarist, Political Scientist, Amateur Historian and Rhetorician with no sense of reverence for anything except the freedom to speak one's mind. To visit Mark's Family Law Website
The Saudi London daily ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports that Muqtada al-Sadr called Friday upon US President George W. Bush to "withdraw his forces from Iraq or face a true revolution." At the same time, one of al-Sadr's aids affirmed that US civil administrator Paul Bremer had rejected attempts to arrive at a ceasefire. Muqtada wrote in his Friday prayers sermon, which was read out by Jabir al-Khafaji, one of his aids, in the Great Mosque of Kufa before hundreds of his supporters,
"I direct my words at my enemy, Bush . . . If your justification for the war on Iraq was Saddam and his weapons of mass destruction, then these issues are past, and you are now making war on the entire Iraqi people. I advise you to withdraw immediately from Iraq, otherwise you will lose the elections for which you are now campaigning, and you will lose your own people, and other peoples, as well." He explained, "America is not confronting a popular resistance, but rather a genuine revolution."
There has been many historical comparisons to the situation in Iraq over the last few days. Many to Vietnam, and specifically the Tet Offensive, also I have seen or heard stories likening and/or differentiating this to the German or Japanese occupations after WWII, Kosovo and Somalia have been batted around, even the Soviet experience in Afghanistan.
I am surprised we haven't seen more of the obvious, and that is the comparison to Iran's 1979-80 revolution to the current Shia revolt. This is what we've been afraid of right along, and this is precisely what is happening. Bush Inc. better get it's act together damn quick on this one or the whole house of cards caves in.
Could this be the third most catastrophic intelligence failure in US history looming on the horizion, all three of which occured on the Shrub's watch? Where else have we seen kidnapping as an acceptable and somewhat effective tactic? When it came to influencing US elections, far more decisive than terrorism as I recall.
