^ Ouch. Indeed Sindibad la yakhaf.

BAGHDAD - The toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003 opened a "Pandora's box" of ethnic and sectarian tensions that could engulf the region in all-out war and disrupt the global economy if U.S. forces were to leave the country too soon, says the top American diplomat in Iraq. In remarks that were among the frankest and bleakest public assessments of the situation by a high-level American official, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the "potential is there" for sectarian violence to become all-out civil war, but that Iraq for now had pulled back from that prospect after the wave of sectarian reprisals for the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra. "If another incident (occurs), Iraq is really vulnerable to it at this time," Khalilzad said in an interview. Abandoning Iraq in the way the U.S. disengaged from civil wars in Lebanon, Afghanistan and Somalia could have dramatic global repercussions, he said. "We have opened the Pandora's Box and the question is, what is the way forward? The way forward, in my view, is an effort to build bridges across these communities." Khalilzad's comments came as Britain's most senior officer in Iraq said his country plans to pull out nearly all its soldiers from Iraq by the summer of 2008, with the first withdrawals within weeks. Lieut.-Gen. Nick Houghton, outlined a phased two-year withdrawal plan in an interview published yesterday in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Britain, America's biggest partner in the Iraq campaign, has 8,000 troops in Iraq, based in and around the southern port of Basra. U.S. military officials must decide this month whether to cancel scheduled deployments of several army combat brigades — a decision that would lead to a reduction in the total number of U.S. troops by mid-year from about 130,000 to about 100,000. On Sunday, U.S. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a televised interview that things in Iraq are "going very, very well, from everything you look at." For nearly a year, Gen. George Casey, one of the top commanders in Iraq, has said that a "substantial reduction" of U.S. troops could occur in 2006, and pointed to spring as the time when the critical decisions would be made. On Friday, however, Casey said the recent violence is "certainly something that we will consider in our decisions." Without touching on the issue of a drawdown of forces, Khalilzad described a highly flammable atmosphere in Iraq that dates at least to the highly polarizing Dec. 15 elections that handed Shiites a dominant share of authority. "Right now, there's a vacuum of authority and there's a lot of distrust," said the diplomat, who is among the architects of the U.S. plan to reshape the political balance of the Middle East following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The Samarra mosque bombing and the subsequent outbreak of violent reprisals by Shiites against Sunnis demonstrated that insurgents fully understand Iraq's fragility and will seek to exploit it, he said. The ambassador's argument paralleled that of military analyst Stephen Biddle, writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, who called the Iraq conflict "a communal civil war." "Although it is being fought at low intensity for now, it could easily escalate if Americans and Iraqis make the wrong choices," Biddle writes. "Turning over the responsibility for fighting the insurgents to local forces, in particular, is likely to make matters worse," he cautions. Warning that "in communal conflicts the risk of mass slaughter is especially high" and "genocide is a real possibility," Biddle says, "Iraq's Sunnis perceive the `national' army and police force as a Shiite-Kurdish militia on steroids. The bigger, stronger, better trained and better equipped the Iraqi forces become, the worse the communal tensions that underlie the whole conflict will get." Khalilzad, who is actively involved in government talks, repeated his assertion that the best way to prevent civil war or large-scale sectarian violence is to form a government of national unity drawing from all of Iraq's disparate groups as a way "to build trust and narrow the fault line that exists" between Shiite and Sunni. That means, according to Biddle, a strong U.S. presence for as long as it takes to work out a stable power-sharing government. "An ongoing low-intensity war does not look so bad," he writes. "As long as U.S. forces patrol Iraq, the country will not break up and the conflict will not descend into all-out chaos." Khalilzad said the U.S. has little choice but to maintain a strong presence in Iraq, or risk a regional conflict with Arabs siding with Sunnis and Iranians backing Shiite co-religionists in what could be a more-encompassing version of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, which left as many as 1 million people dead. He described a worst-case scenario in which religious extremists could take over sections of Iraq and begin to expand outward. "That would make Taliban Afghanistan look like child's play," said Khalilzad, an American of Afghan descent who served as U.S. envoy to Kabul, the Afghan capital, before taking on the Baghdad posting. Source

Originally posted by Haniif: the line that had me crying with laughter was : Stewie (to one of the prostitutes at Cleveland's house): So, is there any tread left on the tires? Or at this point would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway? I still can't get over this one.

^ LOL. The Point, indeed it's a very well written piece. The fact that the writer is intimately familiar with modern day Christian evangelism makes it even more hilarious. But once I finished reading it, and with the backdrop of the recent cartoon saga, I wondered how a Christian might feel about something like this. Clearly the aim was to mock and ridicule the doctrines of Christianity, is it not?

^ It's a satirical piece atheer. Animals don't have religions. Originally posted by Blessed: I've only skimmed through it, but I think the piece in mocking Christianity. Right on. Even with skimming you got it. Now tell me this, is this sacrilegious?

Originally posted by Johnny: Just imagine you having a wonderful sex and relaxing in bed enjoying the the heavenly flashbacks of the act of love that took place when HE demands your attention and wants to talk about say soccer game. Waryaa Johnny, war rabashka nagadaa atheer. Who the hell talks about anything after sex? I'm dead asleep within seconds. Would you kindly add "if married" disclaimer whenever you mention sex? Even if you don't subscribe to the idea, it makes others comfortable with the whole process. Capisce?

Originally posted by Viking: [QB]If they can achieve peace and unity then so can we, hopefully without the bloodshed. Accurate description of the status quo, good Viking. And though I'll return to give you a more detailed response, let me leave you with this (paraphrased) idea from Che: a revolution (which is what we need) without gun powder would never work.

Originally posted by naden: I swear I almost committed a crime. Not only did he spit 'hands off my f***ing wheels, f***ing nigger', he backed up and crushed both toes with those fat wheels. I stumbled back barely able to stand with my cracked toenails and nearly missed the bus. LOL. This would be too funny if it weren't so sad. So you just let him roll his crippled as$ on to the bus. Oh hell no! Me and KKK wheelchair are going special olympics style wrestling. I'da taken his wheelchair and beat him with it. Nigger kulaha. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Baashi: Aight it is somewhere between Gabileey and Boorame. I got some bad news for you atheer. There's absolutely nothing between Gabiley and Boorama. Nada. Zip. May be that's where we need to build that mall. It would be one of those off the freeway, name brand strip malls where you can get all your Tommy Hilfiger gear. I've no idea where you're form good Baashi and in the great scheme of things, it's entirely irrelevant.

^ Ok. I get one more guess. Narrow it down for me, east, north, west or south of Galkacayo? I've a suspicion it's not south and it's not west or east. That only leaves north of Galkacayo. I need to look in the map again. brb.

^ So I guessed your GPS coordinates right? Or are you responding to Blessed. Either way, I'm the man.

^ What you're unaware of, good Blessed, is that old man Baashi hails from suburban Galkacayo and if this semi, if not entirely, ludicrous business endeavour were contemplated for, say, Las Caanood, Baydhaba or even Burco, he'd be singing the tune of that article you linked.

Johnny, you need a minwayn first to pacify and disarm strong-willed potential minyars into thinking that you're no threat. Your good looks represent a clear and present danger atheer. Become a geezer first.

You are misunderstanding it. Read it again and focus on ridicule and who's the potential target.

^ You're right atheer. I do need to get paid for this. Even manure costs money nowadays.

^ LOL. Atheer is senile indeed. You see good J. Lee, this is a living document this minyar memo. Your earlier removal was under duress. Everyone gets three (may be four or five) strikes. Brace yourself, you might get back on. But Kooley got her three strikes in one stroke of the pen. That child scares me now.

I actually read most of this thread last night and it was the usual People v. NGONGE stuff. Don't you think this is a difficult issue to address? The death fatwa on that "swarm" just seems so natural it rolls off my tongue: kill 'em all. But wait, that just proves their lies. Hmmm. What to do? What to do?

Break a nail kulaha. Some Burcaawi you are. I was just wondering. I've not been in Somalia since 1989 and frankly I'm afraid to go. It's going to be quite traumatic I'm sure. Is there any documentary out there of life in Somalia now? You know, a multi-city, cross-section of society type interviews on life, living it and dying from it. I wonder.

^ That's exactly right. No one here knows what Galkacayo is like. May be that's where Modesty is. Maybe this is the first mall of its kind that has 252 stores each representing one clan or subclan in Somalia. This way, the existing enmity and animosity between Somalis can be capitalized on and people would buy not because they need or can afford things but to outdo clan X or Y. Now that's a business plan right there. I could just see the ads for these stores in my head.

Islam is clear on aggression and aggressors. This whole save-my-kid-when-he-brutalizes-another-kid-by-sending-him-to-Somalia sends a terrible message to kids. When I'm done beating the crap out of my kid for misbehaving, I'll release the hounds on them. :cool:

Blessed, this is supposedly a mall and not a Walmart type gig so it'll have individually owned stores. Of course, those outside the mall will have to compete with the ones inside the CCTV, air-conditioned mall.

Originally posted by naden: 5. What do I care? :mad: :mad: Goddamn felon nomad piece of shit! Ah Naden. You took the words right outta my mouth. I'd have him locked up right here. Once he's Bubba's girlfriend for a few months, he'll learn not to assault people.

^ :eek: * Scratches both J. Lee and Kooley from the minyar short-list. *

^ That's the Danyer I've come to know and like. The value of such a business opportunity is there. How it compares to other endeavours is open to debate. I agree. Your argument is pretty good and I'd just say that they way the advert for the mall was laid out made me think of the greed that's involved. Capitalism is based on greed and it doesn't quite work well for everyone. Definitely not in a place like Somalia. To each his own I suppose.

Originally posted by Kooleey: I have heathen thoughts & fantasies, does that count? :eek: