New Iraqi authority in place, killings up. Disaster for Iraq, region

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After year of gov't, killings up in Iraq

Associated Press
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/breaking_news/14443705.htm

{snip}

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad recently said Iraq's militias are killing more people than insurgents are.

And the protracted legislative squabbling before the new prime minister-designate, Nouri al-Maliki, was picked may have allowed the militias to break free of the limited control that political parties have over them and to step up sectarian killings, said Toby Dodge, an Iraq specialist at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.

Civil war may already be largely under way in Iraq, said Bob Ayers of the Chatham House think tank in London. Either way, Iraq faces tough choices and problems.

"The freedom to vote is unique. The Iraqi people clearly wanted to do that," he said. "But imposing democracy and changing the government structure doesn't change the country's historical, cultural and religious problems."


It's the continuing presence of the US military and its heavy hand on their government that is keeping the citizens from embracing the new authority.

Visit by Rumsfeld, Rice Sets Off Criticism in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0427-11.htm

[napi21]

1. GODNESS! Did Rummy and Shrub miscaculate AGAIN?

Weren't they celebrating just last week becasue this new guy was going to really get things moving along?????

I'd compare them to the Keyston Cops or the Three Stooges, but I feel like I'm being very unfair to those two performing groups.

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2. they're waiting for conditions on the ground to improve

my take: Conditions on the Ground in Iraq