Iraq Enters a Tense New Phase

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/oneworld/20030902/wl_oneworld/4536671481062506595&cid=655&ncid=1480

NAJAF AND BAGHDAD, Sept. 2 (CSM) -– The three-day funeral for one of Iraq's most venerated Shiite Muslim clerics comes to a climax today in the holy city of Najaf. But even before the sea of tearful mourners ebbs, Iraqi leaders and U.S. administrators face a critical juncture in their nation-building strategy.

For Iraqis, more than the UN headquarters bombing the previous week, the powerful blast that killed Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim and some 80 others last Friday shattered any sense of progress toward stability.

It deepened cleavages between factions of the Muslim Shiite majority as well as the Sunni minority, confirmed a pattern of car bombings, and underscored the challenges still preventing the US from instilling peace.

"Somebody seems to be pushing all the right buttons to wreck the American political strategy," says Tim Ripley at the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies at Britain's Lancaster University. "This doesn't seem like postwar chaos; it's someone reading the agenda {who} wants to derail it."

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[FlashHarry]

1. Ya don't say...

Gee, and I was planning on spending my Christmas vacation in Najaf!

[ixion]

2. This doesn't seem like postwar chaos;

"it's someone reading the agenda {who} wants to derail it."


Well, duh. They're just figuring this out now? :eyes:

[NNN0LHI]

3. Who thinks Saddam was smart enough to know all the right buttons to push?

Saddam was not that smart. But someone is. The question is who would be?

Don

Hint here:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200302/24/eng20030224_112160.shtml

Russian Envoy Primakov Visits Baghdad

February 24, 2003

Former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov has arrived in Baghdad on a confidential mission, diplomatic sources said in Baghdad on Sunday. snip

The 73-year-old Primakov, who is a specialist in Arab affairs, has been well known for his close ties to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

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[On the Road]

4. You're Saying the Russian Are Repaying the Favor

we did them in Afghanistan? Wow -- never thought of that.

[mrsteve]

5. Very interesting....

Seems that many countries may have a hand in playing the Great Game in Iraq right now. Russia does make sense to be a major player, both as Don says to give us tit-for-tat about Afghanistan from the 70s, but also they want to have some of the reconstruction work and some control over the oil flow. And the Russian team already has experienced people all over the Middle East who can step right in either politically, financially, or militarily.

Too bad the US team is inexperienced, dogmatic, penurious, and more interested in the getting the oil than in really winning the contest.