Word: ites
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Bold Steps in Iraq Re "new thugs on the block" [April 19], on the insurgency of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite militiamen: After years of diplomacy failed to bring Iraq into compliance with U.N. resolutions, the hard decision was made to employ military intervention. In international relations, humanitarian military intercession can be justified. The U.S. took a bold step in Iraq, even if it was also strongly driven by its national interests. It is unfair for European countries to condemn every U.S. action in the Middle East. Thugs like al-Sadr prove that people are ready to destroy...
...Thugs On The Block" [APRIL 19], on the insurgency of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite militiamen: After years of diplomacy failed to bring Iraq into compliance with U.N. resolutions, the hard decision was made to employ military intervention. In international relations, humanitarian military intercession can be justified. The U.S. took a bold step in Iraq, even if it was also strongly driven by its national interests. It is unfair for European countries to condemn every U.S. action in the Middle East. Thugs like al-Sadr prove that people are ready to destroy their homeland for personal gain...
Plenty of people have an interest in seeing al-Sadr and his ragtag army cut down. The cleric has little widespread support among mainstream Shi'ites. But al-Sadr's rise has alarmed senior Shi'ite clerics, who view him as an upstart demagogue. Al-Sadr's troops have regularly clashed with the more powerful Shi'ite militia known as the Badr Brigade. Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, the most prominent Shi'ite leader in Iraq, has ordered all Shi'ite factions to avoid further confrontation with al-Sadr's men, fearing it would lead to fratricidal Shi'ite violence...
...most dangerous development that Americans face in Iraq is the menacing union of Sunni and Shi'ite radicals [April 19]. The members of the two main branches of Islam often don't respect each other. In Iraq there has always been a big gap between the Sunni government under Saddam Hussein and the country's Shi'ite majority, which was suppressed by the dictator and his followers. Now that Saddam is out and others are in power, both Sunnis and Shi'ites are disappointed and will start to fight hand in hand for an independent Muslim country. SIDHA BAGHAVATHA Bhopal...
Thugs is at best an inadequate word for the Shi'ite militiamen of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who have been battling the U.S. Thugs are what police deal with on city streets. But U.S. troops in Iraq aren't getting rolled for their wallets. Fighters using rocket-propelled grenades and firing at Apache helicopters are more than common thugs. These people are guerrillas, soldiers, insurgents, rebels or terrorists. Calling them thugs only downplays the difficulties in Iraq. Once President Bush and the American people realize we're not dealing with thugs, then maybe we can come up with the number...