Iraqis increasingly view U.S. troops as foreign occupiers

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/6463815.htm

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Nearly four months after the defeat of Saddam Hussein's regime, the euphoria most Iraqis expressed over their leader's ouster largely has evaporated, replaced by growing resentment of the American presence.

The discontent suggests that, even as U.S. officials claim they are closing on in the deposed dictator with a $25 million bounty on his head, capturing or killing Saddam won't help restore order in the country the way some U.S. leaders have suggested.

Many Iraqis increasingly view American troops as foreign occupiers. And as attacks against U.S. troops continue, the low-level guerrilla war that American military officials say is being waged by former regime loyalists, foreign terrorists and criminals threatens to escalate into a wider nationalist struggle.

"The killing or capture of Saddam Hussein will do nothing," said Mungith M. Daghir, the vice president of the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies, an analysis group that Baghdad University professors founded after Saddam was ousted from power.

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[karlschneider]

1. Oh, dear...they ran out of rose petals?

:eyes:

[Jacobin]

2. The headline just say it all.....

Iraqis "view" U.S. troops as "foreign" "occupiers".

Hmmmm. Let's deconstruct, shall we.

The U.S. is foreign to Iraq.

We are occupying their country.

WOW. Those Iraqis are smarter than we all thought. They figured it out!!!!!!

What meaningless claptrap is splorped into the brains of U.S. citizens by the media.

(Not a shot at you Don, just amazed at the idiocy of Pravda)

[Junkdrawer]

3. If we were to leave, the Shiite majority would take over Iraq...

and Iraq would become Western Iran. That's why we put Saddam in power and gave him WoMD in the first place. Now that he's gone, the dirty work falls to our troops - until we can install a new "Saddam" and train his troops. Look forward to a long occupation. Walter Reed is full to overflowing.

Who'd a thought?

[jrthin]

4. 'Cause that's what they are. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

5. Related story refutes Iraqii resistance comes from al-Qaida

Aug 5, 7:57 AM EDT

Iraqis Deny al-Qaida Fighting U.S. Troops

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
Associated Press Writer

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) -- Senior American officials are sending a message that violence against U.S. soldiers in Iraq is increasingly the work of foreign fighters - by implication, Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

But Iraqis and American officers on the ground say the evidence is stronger that Iraqis angry at American occupation and Saddam Hussein loyalists are behind most attacks.

The U.S. officers blamed the persistent resistance on disgruntled Iraqis or officials of Saddam's Baath Party who lost out when his regime crumbled. Iraqis say American heavy-handedness in conducting searches and making arrests were recruiting local people to the insurgency.

Still, a drumbeat of comments by Bush administration officials depict the U.S.-led campaign in Iraq as part of the larger war on terrorism and seek to turn the focus away from the threat of Saddam's still unfound weapons of mass destruction. (snip/...)

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_FOREIGN_FIGHTERS?SITE=CODEN&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Malva Zebrina]

6. killing and assassination just accepted now as a matter of course

all decency, honor and pride in a country that once was a country of laws, has disappeared. In it's place we have cowboy lynch mobs and vigilantes seeking to track down and kill a leader before anyone gets to talk to him. It is so easy to slip into the acceptane of things llike this after headlines say it over and over--so easy to fall in to it.