Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 46399
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2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
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2007/4/20-24 [Reference/Military] UID:46399 Activity:moderate
4/21    from all these postings on gun control.
        I agree that only 1 group of psychos who can't control
        themselves should not be allowed to own guns .. that group is..
        Critical Mass ... they are psychos..
        I think that's why some bicyclist on here are for gun control
        because they are psychos in themselves and can't control
        themselves, yet at the same time are elitist ... - duck
        \_ Lot of vested interest in keeping the gun lobby .both pro
           and cons say i have a middle instead of licensing/regulating
           why t we license bullets on a very strict basis, guns without
           bullets are a piece of metal, if we can regulate bullets, say
           one bullet only per gun only, wont that be a good control, gun
           makers , NRA will be happy, while killing will come down as
           bullets will be in short ..just a thought
           \_ ARMS = GUN + AMMO (BULLETS)
              \_ I am yet to hear a pro-gun argument that makes sense
                 except its fun (for deer hunters & man-child navy
                 seal worshippers) and its allowed by the
                 constitution. Anybody who thinks that an army
                 that breaches US defenses can be held back by the
                 militia must be watching too much of Military Raj and
                 Independence Day sort of movies.In the book
                 Freakonomics, the author argues that swimming pools
                 are more fatal than guns, drowning accidents being
                 more common statistically. Fair enough, but the key
                 difference I think is that it is difficult to drown
                 39 other people along with yourself.I am sure
                 mountaineering would be even more fatal but that is
                 hardly the issue, for the same reason of zero impact
                 on those who do not take the plunge. On the issue of
                 the sting of others having it better, unfortunately
                 it is part of the mental makeup of most people. We do
                 know of certain doctrines whose mass appeal kind of
                 rests on this instinct to pull down others rather
                 than uplift oneself. Mobs are built out of negative
                 energies and not positive intent. No one can be as
                 blind and devastating as a self righteous man as he
                 sees no wrong in his actions, has a unipolar
                 worldview and has taken uncertainty out of his life.
                 At least in the US this s views are treated as an
                 absurdity. In certain other countries, if this guy
                 reigns himself back a little bit, he can go
                 mainstream with his views if not his actions.
                 (Who????????????) that breaches US defenses can be
                 held back by the militia must be watching too much of
                 Military Raj and Independence Day sort of movies.In
                 the book Freakonomics, the author argues that
                 swimming pools are more fatal than guns ,drowning
                 accidents being more common statistically. Fair
                 enough, but the key difference I think is that it is
                 difficult to drown 39 other people along with
                 yourself.I am sure mountaineering would be even more
                 fatal but that is hardly the issue, for the same
                 reason of zero impact on those who do not take the
                 plunge. On the issue of the sting of others having it
                 better, unfortunately it is part of the mental makeup
                 of most people. We do know of certain doctrines whose
                 mass appeal kind of rests on this instinct to pull
                 down others rather than uplift oneself. Mobs are
                 built out of negative energies and not positive
                 intent. No one can be as blind and devastating as a
                 self righteous man as he sees no wrong in his
                 actions, has a unipolar worldview and has taken
                 uncertainty out of his life.

At least in the US this s views are treated as an absurdity. In
certain other countries, if this guy reigns himself back a little bit,
he can go mainstream with his views if not his actions.man
                 \_ No wonder people think that Stanford is better
                 \_ gungrabbers should look in the mirror
                    \_ "You talkin' to ME?"
                 \_ Militias are very powerful. Look at Iraq and Vietnam.
                    One not only has to conquer a country, but occupy it.
                    However, the primary entity you are protecting
                    yourself from is the US government. It is a powerful
                    deterrent to, say, a military coup when a substantial
                    portion of law abiding citizens own a weapon. I am
                    in favor of controls on handguns, but not rifles.
                    It is much harder to conceal a rifle.
                    \- are you referring to the NVA as a "militia"?
                       what does that make say al queda? a club?
                       \_ The Viet Cong. Al Qaeda is a terrorist
                          organization, but the Iraqi insurgency is
                          very much made up of former military organized
                          militia-style. Same with Afghanistan for that
                          matter.
                    \_ Militias are most powerful in the face of an absence
                       of a militarily strong, unified, and at least apparently
                       legitimate central government. When the central gov.
                       has a strong military and local/national support,
                       militias are usually either dispersed or marginalized to
                       the point of non-effectiveness. (Cf. Ruby Ridge, Waco.)
                       In Iraq, a lot of the same groups that get lumped in
                       with the insurgency spend a lot of time maintaining
                       order within their own local areas or repelling attacks
                       from other militias; there are a lot of folks more
                       divided by tribal affiliations than religious factions.
                       Also see:
                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency
2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency
Iraq's deep sectarian divides have been a major dynamic in the insurgency, with the insurgency finding much weaker support from some segments of the population than others. Revolutionary Left * Criminal insurgents who are fighting simply for money; and * Nonviolent resistance groups and political parties (not technically part of the insurgency). March 29, the arrest of one of his aides and other actions to suppress his movement, led to an armed attack by the Mahdi Army in April 2004. This initial attack in southern Iraq was suppressed by June. Since that point, Sadr's opposition to the multinational occupation has been mainly in the realm of politics. Since the handover of sovereignty, the Mahdi Army has been maintained as an organized force. Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr are driven by a variety of beliefs and grievances which combine both the nationalist and ultra-conservative religious tendencies of the movement. Al-Sadr's movement also opposes any breakup of Iraq along ethnic, religious, or other lines. During his group's active militant phase, Al-Sadr enjoyed wide support from the Iraqi people. Iraq Center for Research and Studies found that 32% of Iraqis "strongly supported" him and another 36% "somewhat supported" him, making him the second most popular man in Iraq, behind only Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Mahdi Army is believed by some sources to number between 3,000 and 10,000 guerrillas. After the December 2005 elections in Iraq, al-Sadr's party captured 32 seats giving him substantial political power in the divided Iraqi Parliament. guerrilla war following the toppling of Saddam Hussein from power. Following Saddam's capture, the rhetoric of the Ba'athist insurgents gradually shifted to become either nationalist or Islamist, with the goal of restoring the Ba'ath Party to power as it once was seemingly out of reach. Many former Ba'athists have adopted an Islamist faade in order to attract more credibility within the country, and perhaps support from outside Iraq. Others, especially following the January 2005 elections, became more interested in politics. A large number survived, however, and were willing to carry on the fight even after the fall of Saddam Hussein from power. Many former members joined guerilla organizations, collectively known as the Iraqi insurgency that began to form to resist the US-led occupation. Kim Sun-il giving Korea 24 hours to withdraw Korean troops out of Iraq . Nationalists from the Sunni Arab regions are drawn from former members of the Iraqi military as well as other Sunnis. Some Iraqis who have had relatives killed by coalition soldiers may also be involved in the insurgency. Most likely, the majority of the low-level members of the indigenous Sunni insurgency (such as foot soldiers) fall under this broad category. A smaller number of Shi'a nationalist fighters also exist, who are usually recruited from left-wing backgrounds. Sunni nationalists are mainly left-wing or, more commonly, ex-regime adherents. Some of these insurgents pursue the restoration of the power previously held by the Sunni minority in Iraq, who controlled all previous Iraqi regimes since the departure of the British in the 1950s. There are some groups of Sunni Islamists who have taken a more explicitly anti-Shi'a role and frequently engage in revenge killings; these are mainly vigilante groups of local significance (as are most of their Shi'a counterparts). mujahideen and other foreign Arabs entering the country to join the insurgency. The directive supposedly shows Saddam having concerns that foreign fighters would not share the same objectives as Ba'ath loyalists (ie the eventual return of Saddam to power and the restoration of his regime). A US official commenting on the document stressed that while Saddam urged his followers to be cautious in their dealings with other Arab fighters, he did not order them to avoid contact or rule out co-operation. Bruce Hoffman, a Washington counter-terrorism expert stated that the existence of the document underscores the fact that "this is an insurgency cut of many different cloths... Foreign insurgents consist mostly of Arab fighters from neighboring countries, who have entered Iraq, primarily through the porous desert borders of Syria and Saudi Arabia, to assist the Iraqi insurgency. Zarqawi himself has taken to taunting the American occupiers about the irony of the term: "Who is the foreigner, O cross worshippers? You are the ones who came to the land of the Muslims from your distant corrupt land." Zarqawi's group has since announced the formation of the Ansar platoon, a squad of Iraqi suicide bombers, which an AP writer called "an apparent bid to deflect criticism that most suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners." While it is not known how many of those resisting the US occupation in Iraq are from outside the country, it is generally agreed that foreign fighters make up a very small percentage of the insurgency. Christian Science Monitor reported, "It's true that foreign fighters are in Iraq, such as the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. But they are a small minority of the insurgent force, say administration critics. Most Iraqi mujahideen are Sunnis who fear their interests will be ignored under Iraq's Shia-dominated government. They are fighting for concrete, local political goals - not the destruction of America." Despite the low numbers of foreign fighters their presence has been confirmed in several ways and coalition forces believe the majority of suicide bombings are believed to be carried out by non-Iraqi foreigners. Congressional Research Service, stated in June 2005: "I still think 80 percent of the insurgency, the day to day activity, is Iraqi - the roadside bombings, mortars, direct weapons fire, rifle fire, automatic weapons fire... Iraqi journalist Nasir Ali claimed that there were "very few foreign combatants" in Tal Afar and charged "Every time the US army and the Iraqi government want to destroy a specific city, they claim it hosts Arab fighters and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." There are allegations that the US government has attempted to inflate the number of foreign fighters in order to advance the theory that the insurgency is not a local movement. were trying to prove that there were a lot of foreign fighters in Falujah, so that was mainly what we were going for. In an effort to, sort of, "cook the books", you know, they would find a Qu'ran on the guy and the Qu'ran was printed in Algeria and they'd mark him down as an Algerian, or guys would come in with a black shirt and khaki pants, and they'd say, well, this is the Hezbollah uniform, and so they'd mark him down as a Lebanese. This represents a component of the Iraqi resistance movement, which also includes a nationalist movement encompassing over 30 Shia and Sunni militias. Foreign insurgents captured in Iraq in the 7-month period April-October 2005: CAPTION: Sorted by number of fighters captured Nationality No. The US Government described Zarqawi as the single most dangerous and capable insurgent operative to work against the US-led coalition and its Iraqi allies, responsible for a large number of major attacks. The extent of Zarqawi's influence is a source of much controversy. Zarqawi was reported killed in action in March 2004 in "a statement signed by a dozen alleged insurgent groups" (CBS/AP). His Jordanian family then held a funeral service on his behalf, although no body has been recovered and positively identified. Iraqi leaders have denied the presence of Zarqawi in Fallujah prior to the US attack on that city in November 2004. Actual involvement of Zarqawi in significant terrorist incidents is not usually proven, although his group often claims it perpetrated bombings. As al-Qaeda is an "opt-in" group (meaning that everyone who agrees to some basic Wahabi moral tenets and the fundamental goals may consider himself a member), it is most likely that "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" is a loose association of largely independent cells united by a common strategy and vision, rather than a unified organization with a firm internal structure. On June 8, 2006, Iraqi officials confirmed that Zarqawi was killed by two 500lb laser gu...