Possibly Even More Good News:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070531/D8PFJ6E80.html

And how is this for humanitarian aide. Way to go Troops:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070527/D8PCOV9O0.html

I read this too. That and the people of Iraq fighting Al Queda this could be a momentous swing in Iraqies taking thier country back. I really hope they are succesful. Of coarse this would mean that we would be successful and everyone knows that the liberals are working very hard to chericterize this as an "unwinnable war".

what are you talking about, it is already lost, not unwinnable...

Could not have said it better myself. Keep our fingers crossed.
(Now if we found the WMDs in Syria, as many in the intelligence community suspect, then the Harry Reids and Russ Feingolds of the world would really have a time trying to explain that away. Ooops, not they wouldn't, because Bush and Cheney conspired to move the WMDs to Syria. Darn).

we'd actually have to invade syria, gang; they would have been a party to the basis for which we took saddam down.

are they shi'a or sunnie?

why does that matter?

(btw, their populace is mostly sunni but the ruling faction is shia. kind of like iraq in reverse)

Now that's an interesting sentence, kms......."it is already lost, not unwinnable" - could you explain that part for those of us that live on this planet?

If you can be drafted to lead the charge, let's do it!

Actually, the rulers are Alawites, which is neither Sunni nor Shiite.

the secular government beholden to the shia?

Already lost, yet we occupy. Wierd.

No, they are a separate and minority sect, considered themsevles moderate shia, but many shiites historically did not consider them Muslims until modern times circa 1970's.



Alawites
Arabic: calawī (sing.), calawīya (pl.)


ALAWITES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Last column: % Alawites of the population
Lebanon 50,000 1.4%
Syria 2,200,000 11%
Total *) 2,250,000 0.5%
*) Calculated for the total population of North Africa and the Middle East, approx. 460,000,000.


Islamic sect, stemming from the Twelver Shi'is. They live in Syria, mainly in the mountains near the city of Latakia, but many also live in the cities of Hama and Homs, and in recent decades there has been a migration to Damascus.
Alawites are often referred to as Nusayris.
Their exact number is not known, but estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.5 million. Most of them live from agriculture, but the Alawites are also central in the leadership of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad being an Alawite (similar to his late father, Hafez).
The Alawites are not Alevi, another religion, which usually is classified as a Shi'i-originated branch of Islam, with some 21 million adherents, mainly in Turkey.
Their name is a recent one — earlier they were known as Nusairis, Namiriya or Ansariyya. The names 'Nusairi' and 'Namiriya' came from their first theologian, Muhammadu bni Nusairi n-Namiri. The name 'Ansariyya' came from the mountain region in Syria where this sect lived.
TEACHINGS
In their view, Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, is the bearer of divine essence, and he is the second most elevated prophet (next to Muhammad).
The Alawites have 7 pillars in their religion. Five of these are similar to those of other Muslims, (the creed, the prayers, alms, pilgrimage to Mecca and fasting during the month of Ramadan), but the Alawites consider these as symbols, and therefore they do not practice what other Muslims consider as duties. The other 2 pillars are jihad, holy struggle, and waliya (devotion to Ali, and struggle against his enemies).
The Alawites celebrate the same festivals as most other Shi'is, like Id al-Fitr, Id al-Kabir and Ashura. But they also celebrate some of the same festivals as the Christians, like Christmas and Epiphany, as well as Nawruz, which originally is the Zoroastrian New Year.
Through their history, the Alawites have often been in conflict with the rulers as well as other Muslims, who often have claimed that they are not Muslims. The Alawites consider themselves to be moderate Shi'i Muslims.

HISTORY
857: Muhammadu bni Nusair claims to be the gate (Bab) or representative to the 10th imam among the Shi'is, Ali al Hadi.
10th century: The sect is firmly established by Husayn ibn Hamdan al-Khasibi, during the Shi'i Hamdanid dynasty of Aleppo.
1004: The Hamdanid dynasty falls, and the Alawites are driven out of Aleppo, and centuries of hardship begin.
12th century: The Alawites are badly treated by Crusaders.
1971: The Alawite Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria. This brought an end to the Alawites being outcasts in Syrian society. Since then their status has significantly improved, as have their living standards.
1974: The Lebanese leader of the Twelver Shi'is, Imam Musa al-Sadr, issues a legal decision saying that the Alawites are Shi'i Muslims.