Friday, January 13, 2006

More Not So Good News From Iraq

It seems that this latest turning point (the elections) just means an increase, not a decrease in violence, at least according to the US military.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- More violence will engulf Iraq in the weeks ahead as the country's splintered politicians and religious groups struggle to form a government, the U.S. military predicted Thursday.

The warning followed a week marked by what U.S. Brig. Gen. Donald Alston described as "horrific attacks," amid deteriorating relations between Iraq's largest Shi'ite religious group and Sunni Arabs who make up the core of the opposition


Traditionally the phrase turning point was a positive, but we seem determined to redefine it. Maybe it is time to stop creating turning points in Iraq, and try to create some stability.

In addition, another helicopter has crashed, a guardsman has died from injured received Christmas eve, and Iraqi security forces are again shown to be unable or unwilling to do their job.

BAGHDAD, Jan. 12 -- On Nov. 22, the top U.S. military and civilian leaders in Iraq handed over Saddam Hussein's most lavish palace compound to the safekeeping and control of the new Iraqi army and government, in a ceremony whose intended symbolism was as impossible to ignore as the military brass band.

{snip}

But in the days after American forces and the Iraqi brass band pulled out of the circular palace drive on a bluff overlooking the Tigris River, local officials now say, looters moved in, ripping out doors, air conditioners, ceiling fans and light-switch plates from some of the compound's 136 palaces, leaving little more than plaster and dangling electric wires.

The culprits are some of the same Iraqi security forces and officials to whom Americans transferred control, police and the governor say.




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1 comment:

Jose said...

You a running a good blog.
Even though I don't agree with everything you write, I thank you for exercising your right to speak out against what you believe is wrong. That's one of those things that make America Great.