Thursday, April 22, 2004

Posted here Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 5:43:35 PM     Fisk on civil war in Iraq - important I've just been watching over the Internet an interview from an Australian TV program called Lateline, with Robert Fisk - the excellent Middle East correspondent for The Independent newspaper. Fisk's remarks suggest that predictions about an impending civil war in Iraq may well be incorrect. This is some of what Fisk says: "I think, although unfortunately my prediction of serious resistance more than a year ago is proving tragically to be correct, I think I was probably wrong in saying there would be a civil war. The only people who are talking about civil war at the moment in Iraq are the Americans and the British and the Western journalists who suck up their lines and push it back out as their own analysis. I haven't actually met an Iraqi who wants a civil war or who's talked about a civil war. There's never been a civil war in Iraq. I rather suspect that this danger of civil war - and I'm guilty before the war quite rightly predicting there might be - is being pushed out by the Americans and the British in order to frighten the Iraqis into obedience. 'If you don't put your guns, down look what might happen, you'll have civil war.' I think the reason why they're wrong and why I was wrong is that they never appreciated that the Iraqi tribal system covers both communities - many Shiite tribes also are Sunnis, they're in the same tribes. We can take this as likely. But, the US has achieved something interesting in the negotiated settlement. It suggests that a political process may emerge. To me the question is, is there going to be an alliance against the US, especially given their recent statements from the admin that there will be only a limited turn over, no real sovereignty, to the Iraqi's ********

Posted here Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 3:18:25 PM     Good background on press coverage of Bin Laden and Iraq before 9/11 and the incursion. http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/affalert183.shtml ********