Iraq Edges Closer to Open Civil Warfare

I suppose that any minute now we'll see an avalanche of commenters complaining that this story is biased because the A.P. failed to mention that the morgue where the bodies were taken recently received a fresh coat of paint, or that the road on which the minibus was found had been repaved only last week.

This story is so biased because the A.P. failed to mention that the morgue where the bodies were taken recently received a fresh coat of paint, and the road on which the minibus was found had been repaved only last week!

It's only a matter of time before all out civil war ensues, if technically that hasn't occurred yet. I do defend Bush when need be, but I was against this war from the beginning, and I really wonder how Bush and his men sleep at night knowing the chaos and murder that they are the ultimate cause for.

Colin:

HA HA HA. That is one of the funnier things I have read in weeks.

This is truly sad. The loss of life is terrible.

@Dreamweavr72: I'm totally with you. Like you, I was against this from the very beginning. I was very much in Bush's camp after the successful defeat of the Taliban, but this new warfront in the War on Terror is just terrible. Forget the fact that our miltary is taxed as well as the people (pardon the pun). Forget everything about why we went in and the linking of Hussein's dictatorship and al-Qaeda. I have a problem with the fact that this endeavour has no forseeable outcome. It never did, in my opinion. I still remember, before the actual invasion, when the Administration was saying that this war would be done within a billion dollar budget (or was it less?). I scoffed at that. It was incredible when they predicted a year or two of "occupation". I remember saying outloud, "They can't be serious!". I really had hopes for this Administration....... I think when our brave troops started the Iraq invasion was when I lost all respect for the intelligence (as in smart, not as in spying) of Bush and his Administration. He was doing so well, too..... (seriously) Unfortunately, this Iraq thing is a deal-breaker for me. It drove me to vote for Kerry! Talk about frustration!!!!! ARGH!

I have a few small problems with the facts in this story. In the first place, we have no idea who these 29 dead "Shiites" were. The implication is that they were Iraqis and they were found in a Shiite neighborhood, but nobody seems to know if they really had any connection to the mosque bombings. Nor do we know if they were killed by a militia or by rogue authorities or somebody else, how long they have been dead, etc.

The meanest folks in town seem to be the Badr Organization, a militia with support (like $3 million a month) from Iran. We can probably assume the Badr troops are Shiites, since Iran is dominantly Shiite, so did some other militia take after the Badr gang? It takes a lot of men to round up and kill 29 people. This was not the act of just a few people.

Then we are told that "At least 40 more bodies were recovered elsewhere in Baghdad, in both Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, al-Mohammedawi said. Police found three other corpses dumped in the northern city of Mosul." Again, no real facts about the murders, just speculation it's civil-war-like.

The other peculiarity is that the Interior Ministry is supposed to be the bad guys, hooked to the Badr Organization, and on the take from Iran, not the Defense Ministry. But the story instantly switches to a quote from the Defense Ministry and nobody seems to know the motivations of the Defense Ministry "plotters" who tried to recruit 421 Al-Qaida bad guys to attack the US and British interests in Baghdad.

Really bad reporting. Lots of unanswered questions, and the usual big assumption that finding 87 bodies (total) around the country means civil war is looming. Seems to me that depends a lot on the answers to the questions I just asked. The CNN and NYT reports are not any better in that respect. The Times article concludes with:

In some ways, Baghdad seems quiet. Fewer mortars sail into the Green Zone, where the United States Embassy is located. Fewer American Humvees growl through the streets. The Iraqi Defense Ministry released figures today that showed overall insurgent attacks were down 7 percent last week compared with the week before.

But beneath the surface are increasingly sectarian attacks. Sunni Arab-led insurgents seem to have shifted their sights from police recruits and government officials to Shiite targets. Shiite militias, in return, are taking aim at individual Sunni Arabs and Sunni mosques.

Reading these reports is difficult. All they do is make you wonder where the details are. The only thing we can be certain of is that somebody is killing people and they must think they can gain something from doing it. Could it be outside agitators? Nobody seems to ask that question, they just quote citizens who are afraid of the police, the army, and the militias.

Yea I voted for Kerry also, and that reallly irks me because I despise Kerry. I just thought that maybe we needed a change. Well we will be getting a change soon enough, hopefully for the best. I remember watching the buildup to war as well, when Iraq took all the paperwork and evidence to the UN trying to show the weapons they used to have but no longer possess. I remember saying to myself and others, "It doesnt matter anymore, we are going to war no matter what, the administration's mind is already made up at this point, it is too late." And I was right. I have also said that while Democracy is a noble thing, it is not the panacea that some would have us believe it is. Hitler was democratically elected. Hamas was democratically elected as was this buffoon in Iran. In other words if there were a country entirely made up of Al Quada would anyone suggest that democracy would be a good thing for that country? Of course not. The masses are just as capable of making very bad decisions as individuals. Just look at American Idol and the success of Britney Spears a few years ago for a case in point.

successful defeat of the Taliban

Really, they don't exist anymore?
How wonderful!!!

@Ansab: Good catch! If I only could edit posts, I'd change my statement in a heartbeat! I guess I meant "Taliban as ruling government in Afganistan". My bad! Wow, I hope I don't get quoted on that! :)

Maybe chaos in Iraq has been the Bush administrations goal from the beginning - In the hopes that civil war would destablize Iran as well (or at least create turmoil) and open the door for a U.S. sponsered revolution there. There might just be enough support in the younger generation of Iran and a peaceful regime change is not out of the question if its well organized and has the support of the international community.
Just a thought, but i am probably just in denial and the Iraq war was a terrible mistake. However, the 9/11 commission report clearly points to Iran as a major player in the attacks on America and I belive Iran has been number one on the Bush administrations s__t list all along, and we have strategicly set up our military on the ground on either side of Iran (Iraq in the West, Afghanistan in the East) and have the potential to invade. But that probably wont be necessary if the U.S., E.U. and other allies play their cards right through the nuclear crisis and give the dissatisfied younger generation a gentle push towards revolution.

"Apres nous le deluge" springs to mind. Who's to say that the regime that replaces this one will be any worse than the previous regime or the total chaos that reigns in Iraq now?

Yet another breeding ground for terrorists has been created. Wars that can be avoided should always be avoided. It's too late for that now.

I usually find my self with some sort of opinion on what should or could be done to make things better but right now I'm at a loss for words.

Rockman:

Good call on being cautious about the facts of the story.

Saddam was certainly a vile and despicable human being, but at least under his iron fist the Sunnis and Shiites didn't have the guts to go around killing each other quite so openly. A part of me wants to believe that a multi-sect government in Iraq can truly work, but I have a hard time placing a lot of faith in that hope.

@Mimizhusband, Rockman

Good call on being cautious about the facts of the story.

We can politic in the US on the real facts all day, but the fact is, these Iraqis just found 29 of their family members brutally executed in a field behind their houses. Most likely, the Iraqi families will never find out who really did it and why, and they certainly won't be watching us politic "the facts" in the US.

The real fact is, this execution just gives the Iraqis even more reason to want a civil war.

Rockman:

Yes, they lost family. The country of Iraq lost another piece of its future citizenry. And though the US is not directly to be blamed in the mind of the common man here in the US, it is almost good for the time being if we are the scape goat in the eyes of the Iraqis. If they blame us, maybe they won't take up arms against their neighbor. But, heck, I feel like I'm over speaking about a place I know little about.

What I do know is that things are not good in Iraq. I guess I would really like to be optimistic about Iraq, as the President says that he is, but I see little evidence to be upbeat about.

This is an emotionally scarred country after 33 years of dictatorship, 11 years of UN imposed spotty famine, and now an infrastructure that can be trusted less than Tom Delay with election maps or Teddy Kennedy with a steering wheel and a booze bottle. Emotionally scarred people don't just "get better". Many of the analytical types are probably leaving the country period. (a la Iran under the Ayatollah in the early 80's). That is even worse, since those that leave are usually the most educated and the best able to quickly put the country on a sound footing once the bullets stop flying.