The Financial Times is reporting that Iraq’s interim government "is considering imposing martial law to help stabilise the country after another two car bomb attacks on Thursday killed at least 41 Iraqis." While the article fails to say what martial law would entail in a country which already lacks many of the legal protections that we in the US considered waived by the imposition of martial law, Muwaffaq Rubaie, Iraq’s National Security Adviser was quoted as saying "It [the new law] should not have sweeping powers. It should be limited in time and space. . . . [But] the terrorists are shooting people on sight. You need to be a little bit more proactive, a little bit more robust." It is at this point that the FT writers seem to forget whether they are writing for the news page or the op-ed page: "Such laws carry uncomfortable echoes of the legal fabrications used by the former regime of Saddam Hussein and many current Arab governments to justify repressive and totalitarian rule." While it is sensible to question whether the cure of martial law is worse than the disease it seeks to remedy, this statement struck me as a bit over the top--and a bit demeaning to the Arab world. Would the authors use the same tone if London were the subject of daily terror attacks, and the government established martial law to restore order and protect its citizens? Admittedly Iraq does not have the history of respecting human rights that London does, but the authors’ open disdain seems to be a bit too dismissive of Iraq’s new government, and its interest in protecting its people.
Its my understanding the Martial Law already exists in Iraq...its that the type of justice the US is administrating now? How would things be different?
dear frank and wally
frank, how ya doin bro. wally, salam.
i read both of your opinionated conversations and one thing i agree both of you on is that both of you seem well educated and both of you have background on your summaries. i feel the biggest enemy sometimes is the media. and the media im talkin about is not one spacific news. al jazeera is an excellent media station for the arab world. theres alot of american news reporters over here that lie and dont know what they are talking about. what the human eye sees sometimes isnt always true when the eye seesthrough the camera. when that hotel was suicide bombed some reporter were saying it was shot with a hellfire missile.
thats a bunch of bullS&#!. how are we suppose to win the peaceif bad reporting is sending wrong info to the right people. wally you know like i do is that the bombings that occur often, are not from us. the people that are causing it are insurgents from other countries terrorists and iraqis that are baath party loyalists.
when you both call each other friend do you both mean it or are you both hiding a more malignant word behind the word "friend".
i am a volunteer. i knew when i signed my name on that dotted line and i swore in that there was that chance of me going out to a distant land and risking my life for the cause. wally i am over here and i am glad that im over here. theres many reasons i came over here. im getting a chance to promote democracy. im giving and showing what it is like to live with personal choice. if i didnt want to be herei wouldnt have. i could have seen a doctor and write a false report saying i was medically uncapable to go. but im a soldier that has a purpose and job of being here.
first of all the individuals that are responsible for the Al Ghraib prison abuse are not my friends. i have never met those poor bastards that were not doing their job. the personel that laid harm to the prisoners are not soldiers. they are liers. they lied to the flag for not doing what they swore to do. they did not withhold the values of my armed forces. they were people that lied to wear this uniform and they will be dealt with. what about the guy from PA thatgot his head chopped off or the 4 us contractors that were hung froma bridge. do you ever hear of us doing that sick crap to insurgents or terrorists?
the answer is no. they will get a fair trail like the americans do in the justice system. In the operation the men and women serving have not massacred no one. when u say F16 do you mean our aircraft? wally you have no idea what and how the U.S. military equipmentworks and im just going to leave it at that. OUr equipment operates better than you could possibly think. Shock and awe was used to disrupt ,disable and destroy targets that could hurt the offensive. there was no intent to harm civilian life. Since you are arguing about innocent casualties why dont we start with the spain train bombings, 9/11, bombings in iraq?thats 100 percent innocent civilians. but nooooo, you are to stuck on the American aircraft dropping bombs and cruise missile strikes we did over a year ago. not every operation goes smooth;you can look in your history books about that. you think since we came in and started this operation that we should just get up and leave? i dont know about you but when iam finished going to the bathroom i wash my hands. if we leave here now, this country will turn into a breeding ground for terrorists. yes i get paid for being here but do you think i shouldnt get paid? before i came here i was working full time because i have expenses. i still have expenses to pay for even though i am over hear. you work your job for free? idoubt it. the only way to find out what is exactly going on over here is to be here now. thats why i can back my opinions up. i have seen the people of the this country. most of them were friendly. i have sat with the rest of my platoon and have lunch with the locals and drink chi(which i happened to love) and talk about issues,family,etc. theres a lot of people that still want us here. ive been to many towns and cities where the life is improving. wally you have nothing to worry about when it comes to the u.s. going into egypt. one thing i dont understandis suicide bombers. i hope you can explain that to me sometime. i have little knowledge on if someone kills them self to harm others. they get 20 virgins and they get to see allah himself, i dont know about that so please inform me about that. it would be greatly appreciated. also there is alot of countries that have troops in this country so america isnt an individual on this operation. the day the entire world is on the same channel is the day that there is world peace. i also read that your professor said and you believe that the majority is always wrong. how do you figure? the individuals is what makes up a majority. i believe the page turned when 9/11 happened. it was an eye opener;i remember that day clearly. i was in boot camp. what did we do to them? they attacked first. they wanted to fight so they got one.
as far as i am concerned is that i will do my job over hear. for the better of a changed nation and to protect my homeland from these terrorists getting to my house. i will see my family when i am done with my deployment so i can have a beer with my bro and i can go to school and become a police officer. have you ever seen saving private ryan? Tom Hanks says "if thats what it takes for me to get home to see my wife,then thats my mission". he is later killed fullfilling his mission that brought private ryan home even though tom hanks never got to see his wife. there are many men and women here that are willing to risk their chance of being with their loved ones for their cause. i am
SPC David James