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January 15, 2007
OT 07-006
Comments
bea, this is an excellent link describing the efforts made by PTB to move the 250,000 strong iraqi jews to israel. it takes a lot of effort to move communities and the tactics used to blame it on racism/sect divisions are being appropriated today imho.
The Jews of Iraq by Naeim Giladi
conchita, here is the link i mentioned to you in #76. the comment section is interesting, to say the least. i grabbed 2 links you sent me around the time (halper piece) and posted them.
slothrop! you don’t trust us to follow your links 🙂 i promise i am going to read the WHOLE THING……. now
Posted by: annie | Jan 18 2007 17:50 utc | 101
annie,
Your 95 hits what I was trying to say in a more historical sense above.
I think another reason for this specific narrative construction is American guilt over encouraging the Shia revolt after the Gulf War, then watching Saddam put it down. This was an error they wanted to rectify by helping the Shia achieve the political power which they failed to get in ’91.
Posted by: Rowan | Jan 18 2007 18:16 utc | 102
rowan, i should have hat tipped you for the post, it was what inspired me to post.
I think we’re dealing with a bit of a false dichotomy here. Sectarian religious violence, and revolution, take place within political context. It occurs in cases where power dynamics change dramatically, leaving a vacuum which needs to be filled both with people taking power, and an explanation for their deserving power. Religion can be used as an explanation for the new power dynamics, as in Iraq currently, or it can be created on the fly to start a revolution or justify an already existing one
“battle of the narratives” !
after reading your post i read Thrasyboulos’s following another of cobban’s link and bingo! battle of the narratives, exactly what you were saying.
thanks
Posted by: annie | Jan 18 2007 21:18 utc | 103
rowan,
I think another reason for this specific narrative construction is American guilt over encouraging the Shia revolt after the Gulf War, then watching Saddam put it down.
i would add ” ‘using’ american guilt”
This was an error they wanted to rectify by helping the Shia achieve the political power which they failed to get in ’91.
the PTB? or the american people? personally i don’t think they (ptb) care one way or another as long as their long term goals are met. perhaps i am too ruthless in my assessment. la di da
Posted by: annie | Jan 18 2007 21:27 utc | 104
annie,
narrative creation isn’t entirely the term I’d use. When I think of creative a narrative creation, I think of an explanation for something. This is further than that, further even than reification. This is the forcing of the world to match the narrative. If Uncle were around, he might chime in with the link to the famous NYT Magazine article where the Bush aide talks disdainfully about the “reality-based community” and says they create their own reality.
“They,” in this case, I think works for people who pushed for the war, both in-government and in media. I’m tempted to suggest Wolfowitz, whose combination of ideology and idealism makes me want to call him a bleeding-heart neoconservative. For most others, I think guilt might be too strong. Perhaps “obligation” or even simply “memory.”
By the way, whatever happened to the Ayatollah Sistani? two years ago he was the most important person in Iraq, right?
Posted by: Rowan | Jan 19 2007 1:30 utc | 105
whatever happened to the Ayatollah Sistani? two years ago he was the most important person in Iraq, right?
actually he played a very important part in negotiations just recently when the maliki/US camp tried to get him to sign off on eliminating sadr, didn’t work. nyt wrote this total bs piece trying to spin the meeting as a success but it was clear they had nothing. that was last month. just recently
After the announcement of US President George W. Bush’s new strategy on Iraq, the political Shiite leaderships are heading towards the Supreme Shiite Authorities in Najaf.
Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, the Shiite coalition leader, met the religious guide Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, as did Mofaq Al Rubaei, the national security adviser who previously met the young Shiite leader Moqtada Al Sadr.
Some sources confirmed that Shiites are preparing a plan to settle the Iranian influence in Iraq and the fate of the Mehdi Army led by Al Sadr before the stable Shiite-American relationship turns to escalation and confrontation.
he is alive and kicking so to speak, very influential. his concern is keeping the shiites united which is why it is runs against the grain for maliki to make political choices to have sadr eliminated, or let the US eliminate him.
Posted by: annie | Jan 19 2007 4:05 utc | 106
Annie, can’t tell you how much I appreciate your comments… they are always informative, and enable me to follow the flow of groups and alliances – which on my own I would never be able to do…
Posted by: crone | Jan 19 2007 5:16 utc | 107
thanks so much crone. i’m still learning alot and not an expert at all. in fact i just reread my sistani comment and realized i just kinda fouled up the last sentence. maliki of course has other reasons besides sistani to keep sadr around,he needs his support in parliment. missing links is a great resource. here’s an interesting recent link , someone is speculating allawi will replace maliki. hmm
Posted by: annie | Jan 19 2007 7:36 utc | 108
annie #108
there is something brewing in Bagdad today. The US just nabbed a top “death squad leader” who swore allegiance to Moqtada al Sadr.
something is going on. link
Posted by: dan of steele | Jan 19 2007 8:16 utc | 109
“fermenting a civil war”?
For how long and under what temperature conditions?
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 19 2007 17:00 utc | 110
dan 109, thanks. perhaps we are entering a new phase where we are going to be continually hearing about nabbing prominent followers of Sadr ( “we have just killed AQ’s number 2 guy, again!”). i don’t know what to make of it. the ‘moderates’ are going after the ‘extremes’, excluding of course the ‘extremes’ on ‘our’ side, hakim’s deathsquarders etc.
Abdul-Mehdi is one of our most trusted stooges. him and al rubaie who assured us they caught the ‘real’ samarra mosque bombers. it’s all about the narrative and then there’s reality, it’s hard keeping them straight, that is probably the objective, of the PTB.
“fermenting a civil war”? For how long and under what temperature conditions?
the process was initiated in the mind control lab and then distributed amongnst the hosting agents w/great care. after the festering/ observation period the desease was allowed to spread to the general population. it has now escalated out of control and tho we cannot contain it we are nonetheless applying further scrutiny to the regeneration process for obvious reasons.
temperature conditions you ask? our strains vary from burning desire til hell freezes over and all points inbetween.
Posted by: annie | Jan 19 2007 19:30 utc | 111