Flailing U.S. mission in Iraq hinges on 'Battle of Baghdad'

[bemildred]

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The reality is that the United States is flailing as Iraq hovers between a low-grade civil war and the full-blown version. Most of today's violence is among rival religious sects; the insurgency linked to al-Qaeda terrorists, which ignited the sectarian violence, trails well behind.

That reality leads to a hard truth: The United States probably has one last shot at achieving minimal stability in a unified Iraq. Bush's rhetoric aside, that is the best outcome that can be reasonably hoped for at this point.

Accomplishing it means preventing an all-out civil war long enough that Iraq's fledgling government - which has been in office barely three months - has a decent chance of taking control, particularly of the proliferating sectarian militias. If that can't be done, it's hard to see a useful role for U.S. forces.

Certainly, it's difficult to know just when the line into full-scale civil war is crossed. Bosnia in the 1990s provides a useful yardstick. The point of no return there came when extremists managed to stir passions to the point at which neighbors felt they had no choice but to turn on their neighbors. That hasn't yet happened in Iraq, where polls show most Iraqis crave a normal life.

USA Today

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Catapult that propaganda, USA Today.

AQ didn't ignite the sectarian violence - that was the result of a black-ops team blowing up the Golden Mosque. Before that happened almost all the focus was on the occupation troops - AQ was being marginalized and even attacked by local militias as unwanted outsiders as both Shia and Sunni militias were attacking the occupation. The US had just called off an unsuccessful operation to try to arrest a leader of the Sadr brigade, which threated to spark a general uprising in the south.

Then the Golden Mosque was bombed, an attack for which no-one took credit, and Presto! the attacks against the occupation drop off as the militias begin going at each other, then death squads began taking people off the streets at random, ramping up the tension.

Prior to that happening there were repeated reports of unknown individuals opening fire from unmarked white SUVs on crowds of civilians, like those used by mercenary troops, and then in Basra two brits were found, out of uniform, in a civilain vehicle with weapons and bombs - they were arrested by Iraqi police but were busted out of prison by British special forces, never to be heard of again.

Can anybody doubt that the civil war is a result of our own policies?

[cliss]

2. I was not aware of these events..

although I'm sure there are a few threads on this subject....

Just goes to show you...never trust an occupation force.