It seems that the Iraq population is very mixed about the United States occupation of their country. Some actually feel that our troops being there is a good thing while others say things are worse since the invasion. Seems that it depends on which sect the interviewee belongs to. The Shi’ites have more freedom while the role of the Sunni’s is diminished. No matter what their religious beliefs they all are facing similar victories as well as setbacks.

Free speech is more tolerated by the government but maybe not by the neighbors. While less people are being killed by the governments forces because of religious differences there is more ethnic cleansing by non government forces. According to who you are listening to between 90,000 and 1,000,000 civilians have been killed since the invasion almost 5 years ago. While “Shock and Awe” took tens of thousands of lives and the Coalition’s occupying forces have taken thousands more, many of the countries people have been killed from religious and ethnic civil war.

Ethnic cleansing isn’t exclusive to Saddam’s rule. Those who were kept down under his regime have risen up and taken revenge. Things are far from easy now. things aren’t as rosy as the Bushies try to paint for us. For more on this MSNBC has a story

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