Comments on: welcome to qaim, here's your koran

welcome to qaim, here's your koran

raaka — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 00:32:08 -0800

In other news, let's all welcome the newest nation on our little planet, the Islamic Republic of Qaim. Newly created by the Iraqi faction of Al-Qaeda on the Iraqi side of the Iraqi-Syrian border, they're executing "collaborators" and at least one "prostitute". Their nearest neighbor's security forces -- the US Marines -- say they haven't heard anything about it.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 00:36:59 -0800

Hey yeah! With all the horror and devistation over in this hemisphere, I almost forgot. Did they ever agree on a constitution? I hear there's a vote in Oct. so I assume yes. Is it everything to everybody? Is Islamic law the rule of the land?

By: Meccabilly

Meccabilly — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 02:50:16 -0800

It may be interesting to see if any bad news about Iraq is being pushed out at the moment while noone is noticing... It's not like it hasn't happened before...

By: Justinian

Justinian — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 03:44:15 -0800

Sometimes it seems to me that the biggest thing the Bush administration has going for it is that it's hard for people to focus on more than one utter disaster at a time. Yay, us.

By: caddis

caddis — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 04:09:12 -0800

Oh, yeah. We have that place under tight control.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 04:35:27 -0800

Iraqi constitution. Love the preamble, especially the ending. Between that and people rejecting Qaim with their feet, there seems to be some good news coming out of Iraq.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 06:20:06 -0800

Who do I call for a visa if I want to go a-visiting? It should be a popular spot, the number of people I know who have gone/are eager to go to Cuba is truly disappointing.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 07:15:35 -0800

Between that and people rejecting Qaim with their feet, there seems to be some good news coming out of Iraq. I'm really hoping that this is sarcasm, Indigo. You could not possibly think that reports that people are running for their lives from armed thugs who are executing citizens in the street is good news?

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 10:14:28 -0800

Good news. When they are all rounded up in a nice tight corner, they'll be easier to wipe out without massive civilian death.

By: Ptrin

Ptrin — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 10:34:47 -0800

Surely it isn't much better for the US to allow these thugs to wipe out civilians than it is for the US to do the wiping out itself?

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 10:46:40 -0800

Juan Cole's response to Hitchens.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 12:34:10 -0800

homunculus-That's an awesome article. Thanks for linking it.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 14:42:02 -0800

I'm really hoping that this is sarcasm, Indigo. You could not possibly think that reports that people are running for their lives from armed thugs who are executing citizens in the street is good news? The executions are infuriating. My point was to a different part of the story. The armed thugs apparently believe themselves to be legitimate politicos and entitled to execute citizens on the street. The good news is that no one else in town seems to think so. As the tribal elder said, "We want the city to go back to its normal situation." That is to say, the insurgents (how I loathe that word!) and their cockeyed views, are not welcome. It's a small good, granted, but it is a good. I like good. Sorry if that was no clear. For the record, I'm never sarcastic, it's a childish form of expression. Also for the record, I really do like the preamble to the new constitution. I like the pride in the country's astonishing history and the use of the phrase "we the people". Indeed, it was Balisong's original question concerning the constitution that got me into this in the first place.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 23:18:18 -0800

Speaking of executions, apparently Saddam Hussein has confessed that he gave orders to execute thousands of Kurds in the late 1980s, so we can just skip the potentially-embarassing trial and go straight to the first-class hanging.