Baghdad crackdown seeks Sunni help (AP)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Baghdad crackdown seeks Sunni help

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA,
Associated Press Writers
Thu Jun 14, 2:29 PM ET

BAGHDAD - The struggle to regain control of Baghdad crossed
into its fifth month Thursday with the last of 30,000 additional
U.S. soldiers about to join an increasingly bitter fight. The
security operation has failed to curb violence nationwide, and
the number of American troops killed in the capital is on the
rise.

But some potential bright spots have emerged in Baghdad's most
lawless districts and troubled regions outside the capital: A U.S.
gambit to arm and train Sunni insurgents as proxy fighters against
groups inspired by al-Qaida.

The risk is that the weapons could eventually be turned against
Shiite civilians, the Shiite-led security forces or the Americans
themselves. U.S. commanders, however, acknowledge that failure
to bring order to the capital and the center of the country is an
equally unsettling prospect.

-snip-

In many ways, the Baghdad security crackdown condenses the
entire messy conundrum of Iraq — the strategies, rivalries and
uncertainties — into the boundaries of the beleaguered capital
and its environs. Nearly every clash or retaliation — no matter
where in the country — ripples eventually through the streets
of Baghdad.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070614/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_battle_for_baghdad_1

[MichaelHarris]

1. I wrote a little something about that

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1115248&mesg_id=1115248

[bemildred]

2. And an excellent thing it was that you wrote ... nt

[MichaelHarris]

3. thank you