The Hatfields and McCoys were rival American clans who feuded in the latter part of the 1800s. They lived on opposite riverbanks and dealt in moonshine.
The Shiite clans of South Iraq are having family feuds and the new government and its occupiers have been unable to settle them down. It took negotiation from Iran, because clan ties predate national borders.
Imagine if aliens from another planet had come to the US in the 1800s to intervene between the Hatfields and McCoys! Ironically, in 2003 they united against their common enemy, "the perpetrators of 9/11." check out their next reunion plan here.
As a dark Toyota sedan approached an Iraqi Army checkpoint on Monday afternoon just outside Sadr City, the huge Baghdad slum that is Mr. Sadr’s power base, a soldier in fatigues and a mask that covered most of his face pointed his weapon and shouted, “Get out of the car!”
The occupants, including a reporter for The New York Times, quickly complied. It turned out that the soldier suspected them of being members of the Mahdi Army, which tends to prefer black Toyotas.
“The Americans will shoot this kind of car, especially if it’s full of men,” said the soldier, referring to the American military, after checking identification cards and waving the car through.
Posted by: Slugbug | March 31, 2008 at 10:56 PM