First impressions from Beirut
On the political front, the most significant things I heard were:
(a) Loud condemnation of the statement Hillary Clinton made in Jerusalem Saturday evening, when she lauded PM Netanyahu for having made “unprecedented concessions” on the settlements issue and urged the Palestinians to resume negotiations without preconditions; and
(b) An account from former longtime UNIFIL official Timur Goksel of how many of the small arms now pouring into Lebanon are brand-new US weapons that are smuggled here from Iraq. The presumed provenance of these weapons is via the US’s large-scale handouts of weapons to former Sunni insurgents under the “Sons of Iraq” and “Awakening” programs. It is really depressing to see the damaging effects of so many US decisions regarding Iraq still reverberating throughout the region.
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There you go!!
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TGIA, I know of no evidence of large scale theft of weapons by the "Sons of Iraq." To suggest this in the absence of evidence is to insult the Sons of Iraq, as well as the Iraqi Army that controls and pays for the "Sons of Iraq."
ReplyDeleteThis tendency on the part of many westerners to launch banal accusations at people from developing countries is the cause of a lot of frustration in developing countries.
Just to be clear, all "Sons of Iraq" are under the command and control of the Iraqi Army, and are paid for by the Iraqi Army. This Helen just subtly attempted to insult the Iraqi Army.
ReplyDelete<span>westerners to launch banal accusations at people from developing countries</span>
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No sir. Read the article instead of making accusations against the writer ( Helena Cobban) who's been in Beirut talking to well informed people! BTW, being so Infatuated with everything military is SO 19th century nationalistic and nauseating rubbuish.
This is the quote from the document: "<span style="">(b) An account from former longtime UNIFIL official Timur Goksel of how many of the small arms now pouring into Lebanon are brand-new US weapons that are smuggled here from Iraq. The presumed provenance of these weapons is via the US’s large-scale handouts of weapons to former Sunni insurgents under the “Sons of Iraq” and “Awakening” programs.<span style="">"</span></span>
ReplyDeleteI see the source of the rumor is <span style="">Timur Goksel, who might not be a westerner. Sorry for insulting westerners for Timur's inanity. Timur should investigate issues before making up wild stories.</span>
It is true that there is some corruption in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, which I could describe to you offline in an e-mail.
However, it is immoral to blame the "Sons of Iraq" (about 80,000 security forces that work for the Iraqi Army) for selling their weapons to arms smugglers; without evidence.
This does not mean that weapons are not smuggled inside Iraq. Many Iraqi militias have small arms that they buy from and sell to arms merchants.
Why is <span style="">Timur Goksel only mentioning small arms smuggled from Iraq?</span>
"This Helen just subtly attempted to insult the Iraqi Army."
ReplyDeleteIs this a capital offense in Anandistan?
You nasty little racist!
<span><span>This Helen just subtly attempted to insult the Iraqi Army.</span>
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Did she??!! Wooooaaaah!!! How could "this" Helena do that?? Is she out of her brains??? How could she "subtly attempt" to insult a uniformed military?? Is she insane?
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