Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Who's On First?
As you likely already know, there was a "government" attack on a "terrorist cell" in Iraq the other day. Shiites are claiming that it was an al Sadr group of militia who were purposely targeted by a Sunni led group of government forces. Juan Cole has a few words on it:
Some Shiites, according to al-Hayat, are saying that the US is deliberately attempting to provoke a civil war in Iraq. Among their concerns was the US military's announcement that the attack on the Mustafa Husayniyah in Ur was the work of an Iraqi military unit. Which unit? Where? To whom does it report? Is it little more than a death squad? Is it commanded by the Americans? Why didn't the Prime Minister know about this attack, which spilled over on Dawa Party offices? PM Jaafari is a member of the Dawa Party.

The Badr Organization, a political party that represents the paramilitary Badr Corps, the Shiite militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, demanded Monday that Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, be expelled from that country.

This moment is therefore a particularly inauspicious one for Khalilzad to press for the sidelining of Ibrahim Jaafari as candidate for prime minister of the United Iraqi Alliance. Jaafari narrowly won an internal party vote, but was backed by Muqtada al-Sadr and opposes loose federalism and unrestrained capitalism. For all these reasons he is unacceptable to the Kurds and to the US.
And people are wondering if the U.S. is "caught in the middle" of a civil war? Just try and figure out the intrigue of all the opposing militias.

One thing is easy to understand. No matter what happens, it will be the U.S.'s fault.

Had Enough?
Written at 9:19 AM by Greyhair.
0 comments