Deadline for Iraq: The war drags on amid mounting U.S. troop deaths, growing unease and anger at home and a continuing unwillingness by the Bush administration to publicly acknowledge the truth about what is going on. It is time for fresh thinking. Sen. Russ Feingold's proposed deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal is a necessary course. Setting the deadline will underline the fact that it is up to the Iraqi people, not Americans, to build their country.
Fresh new thinking? "Cut and run"? Yup, that's really fresh.
And why might there be growing unease at home? Well, here's an example from the same issue of the paper. (Couldn't find it online, so I am linking to the same AP article in The Guardian).
The headline in the Journal/Sentinel? "3 Sunnis urging voting are killed".
Which is a terrible thing. And what kind of impression does it leave? More killing, more violence in Iraq. We should just 'cut and run'.
But yet, it raises the question. So Sunnis are starting to support the new government and the constitutional process? And someone really wants this to end?
You have to wait until the middle of the article to read the following:
Many Sunni Arabs are considering taking part in the constitutional referendum after having boycotted the Jan. 30 national election ballot - a move that left the once- dominate community with few seats in a parliament dominated by Shiites and Kurds.
In recent weeks, various Sunni groups have been urging fellow Sunnis to vote in the referendum and a general election planned for December. The voter-registration deadline is Sept. 1.
And the END of the article for this:
About 1,000 people including Sunnis and Shiite followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied in two Baghdad districts Friday, waving Iraqi and Shiite flags and chanting ``No to separation, yes to unity.''
A similar rally including Sunnis and Shiites was staged in the religiously mixed city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
``After all, we are one united people whether we are Sunnis or Shiites, Kurds or Arabs,'' Hazim al-Aaraji, another al-Sadr aide, told worshippers in a Shiite mosque in Baghdad's Kazimiyah district during Friday prayers.
At a Sunni mosque across town, Sheik Ali Khudr al-Zand warned his congregation not to accept any constitution ``that would rip away the unity of the nation.''
So, why wasn't the headline "Thousands of Sunnis Rally in Support of New Iraq, Despite Threats to their Lives"?
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