UhOh McSameasBush has some explaining

[malaise]

to do.

Things aren't going quite so swimmingly.
<snip>
More than 70 people have died and hundreds have been injured in days of violence sparked by an Iraqi crackdown on Shia militias in Basra.

There have also been violent clashes in Kut and the capital, Baghdad.

On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki gave Shia militants in Basra 72 hours to lay down their arms or face "severe penalties".

The leader of the Mehdi Army, Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, has spoken of the possibility of negotiations to end the violence.

Gunfights

Iraqi police in Kut said at least 44 people were killed in clashes between Iraqi and US forces, and Shia militiamen, the AFP news agency reported.

In Basra, residents have said that they are beginning to run out of food and water.

Basra's police chief Adbul Jalil Khalaf said he survived an assassination attempt overnight, in which three of his bodyguards were killed.

There are also reports of a bomb strike on an oil pipeline, near Basra, which carries oil for export.

In the capital, Baghdad, groups of hundreds of Sadr supporters gathered in Sadr City, a vast Shia-dominated suburb, to demand Mr Maliki's resignation over the military operation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7316056.stm

The bombing of the oil pipeline was confirmed by BBC International TV.
Iraqis are not giving up their oil.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Sadr, has spoken of the possibility of negotiations to end the violence. Does this mean he'd like

to get paid just as the Sunnis are being paid???

[Ganja Ninja]

2. The smug GOP SOB's are about to get a reality check.

If this keeps up for long their whole "surge is working" talking point is going to turn into a dead albatross around their necks.

[frogcycle]

4. not necessarily

they will twist it around to say that the surge DID work but now Al Sadr is ratcheting it up with support from Iran so clearly we need another, bigger surge, might even need to attack Iran

and of course that will require a seasoned military veteran as the helm...

[zbdent]

6. So, if the "surge" worked ...

how come the people on the ground just told George W. "Mein Fuhrer" Bush that they need a new, even bigger surge?

[MiniMe]

3. From Crooks&Liars: McCain’s Iraq victory speech interrupted by reports of violence in Iraq

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/26/mccains-iraq-victory-speech-interrupted-by-reports-of-violence-in-iraq/

While giving one of his standard “we’re winning in Iraq…I don’t care what you say” speeches today, Senator McCain was interrupted by MSNBC with some breaking news of violence from that country. Turns out Muqtada al-Sadr, whose cease-fire agreement was a major component to the declining violence, has decided he doesn’t want to play nice anymore, with forces loyal to him clashing with Iraqi forces in Southern Iraq, leading to at least 50 deaths and 120 wounded.




My take: If we were only campaigning against McCain instead of each other, he would be dead meat.

[malaise]

5. He's dead meat anyway

Let him rot.