The administration may claim Iraq's violence is all 'al-Qaeda', but . . .

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. . . this report details Shiite rivalries and the resulting violence


Shiite Rivalries Slash at a Once Calm Iraqi City

June 21, 2007

DIWANIYA, Iraq — The Shiite heartland of southern Iraq has generally been an oasis of calm in contrast to Baghdad and the central part of the country, but now violence is convulsing this city. Shiites are killing and kidnapping other Shiites, the police force is made up of competing militias and the inner city is a web of impoverished streets where idealized portraits of young men, killed in recent gun battles with Iraqi and American troops, hang from signposts above empty lots.

The unrest in Diwaniya, mirrored in Nasiriya to the south, reflects the emergence of a poisonous political landscape in which competing Shiite groups no longer look to the political system to allocate power. The government’s authority appears to have broken down, with the governor calling this spring for Iraqi Army units, backed by American troops, to restore order. Civilians, not sure where to look for protection, are caught in the deepening fear and uncertainty.

Even now, with a large Iraqi Army force and American troops in the area, the violence has continued. In the first 10 days of June, two police officers were shot dead, an American soldier died from a roadside bomb and the brother and nephew of a prominent militia official were killed. While still less dangerous than central Iraq, where militant Sunni Arabs and Shiites battle for control, the situation has worsened since violence first broke out here last August.

In a daylong visit to Diwaniya earlier in June, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki warned, “We cannot build a state that has another state inside it, we cannot build an army that has armies inside it,” referring to the militias within the province that answer to their leaders rather than to elected officials.

Diwaniya is the capital of the almost completely Shiite farming province of Qadisiya, known for its marshy fields where farmers grow aromatic ambar rice, similar to India’s basmati. Even in town, many people patch together a livelihood with seasonal jobs working the rice fields or tending date palms.

It is a poor province, and poorer now because of a recent decline in the farming sector, making it fertile ground for groups allied with the anti-American cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. The cleric, whose legendary father was beloved here, has reached out to the poor, both in town and in the country.

“Diwaniya was never really quiet, never really peaceful, it was only sleeping,” said Abu Faris, a senior official who works with the provincial council. “There were always troubles below the surface, and now they are coming out.”

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/world/middleeast/21shiites.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=701ac807fcbc0327&ex=1182571200&pagewanted=print



Increasing poverty in Diwaniya, the capital of the mostly Shiite farming province of Qadisiya . . .

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. You picked up on that, too!

All of sudden, every battle is 'going after al Qaeda'. Can't you just imagine how it's going in the trenches?

"Starting today, we are going after al Qaeda"
"Aren't we already doing that, Sir?"
"Yes, but if a reporter asks you, you're going after al Qaeda"
"Yes, Sir. How will know if they are al Qaeda anda not insurgents or foreign fighters?"
"You're going after al Qaeda."
"Yes, Sir."

:hurts:

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2. If Sunnis are involved it's automatically labeled 'al-Qaeda'

there hasn't been a report from the military or the administration in months which has acknowledged the sectarian strife which accounts for the majority of the violence in Iraq. Every incident is blamed on al-Qaeda. The Samarra shrine bombings were blamed on al-Qaeda by the administration and Petraeus, yet, they produced zero evidence. Local accounts, though, by reporters 'on the ground' say Sunni insurgents were responsible; standard resistance.

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3. U.S.-led forces intensify fighting al-Qaida amid Shiite-Sunni strife

Associated Press
06/20/2007 09:21:49 PM PDT

BAGHDAD - U.S.-led forces fighting al-Qaida and allied militants intensified operations Wednesday in Baghdad and on all four points of the compass around the capital. To the south, suspected Shiite militiamen bombed three Sunni houses of worship in what may presage a war of the mosques.

An Associated Press reporter in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province to the north and east of Baghdad, reported intense gunbattles in the streets and around the main market district as American and Iraqi forces sought to clear the city of al-Qaida fighters.

The latest military report on the Diyala offensive, which began Monday night, said U.S.-led forces had killed 41 insurgents, discovered five weapons caches and destroyed 25 bombs and five booby-trapped houses.

Toward nightfall Wednesday, provincial police reported that a mortar round crashed into a village east of Baqouba and killed two women and two children. It was not known who fired the round.

The head of a Sunni insurgent group that has turned against al-Qaida in Diyala province and is cooperating with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the area said his fighters were participating in the operations and had succeeded in clearing several neighborhoods in eastern and western Baqouba.

The U.S. military said it has 10,000 American soldiers in Diyala province, an al-Qaida bastion, a troop strength that matched in size the force that American generals sent against the insurgent-held city of Fallujah 2 years ago.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_6190461