In Iraqi Divide, Echoes of Bosnia for U.S. Troops
Col. Patrick Donahoe, stationed in Iraq has made the error of comparing what he sees in that war torn land with what he witnessed when he served in Bosnia.
No doubt, if the story gets a wide enough circulation , and has any impact on a national level, he can expect the same Republican attack dogs to focus on him and mete out the same kind of treatment that they have subjected to the six ex-Generals who dared to criticise Rumsfeld.
When you think about it, this is exactly the kind of behaviour that got them into trouble when Joe Wilson dared to criticise their false claims that Saddam had attempted to obtain Yellowcake from Niger.
It still seems to the Republican party's favoured method of debate, attack the source and at no point consider whether there is any validity to the message. Indeed, imply that anyone who even considers this possibility is being disloyal to the forces whilst they are harms way.
Anyway, the story that they won't want you know is that Lt. Col. Patrick Donahoe says there is a breakdown in Iraq that he finds errily reminiscent of his time in Bosnia, with both factions saying, "blindingly ignorant things" about each other. He also talks of there being a palpable sense of hatred between the Sunnis and the Shais based solely on ethnicity.
"You talk to people here and it's literally the same conversations I heard in Bosnia," Colonel Donahoe said. "I had a police colonel tell me the other day that all the people in Jurf," a predominantly Sunni town, "are evil, including the children."
Hinting at the imminence of civil war he continued,
"This is the critical year," Colonel Donahoe said. "If we don't turn things around, if we don't get the Shiites and Sunnis to stop killing each other, I'm not sure there's much else we can do."
Hopefully it won't be long before the Bushites remind Colonel Donahoe that he's endangering his own life by saying these things. Probably more than they did by sending him there.
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