Police Chief of Hilla Killed;
And, 40 Women Killed in Basra
Guerrillas deployed a roadside bomb to kill the police chief of Hilla, a largely Shiite city south of Baghdad.
AP reports that "Religious vigilantes have killed at least 40 women this year in the southern Iraqi city of Basra because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings . . ."
One of the problems with how the US press tends to cover Iraq is that they often leave out the Shiite south because there are few US troops down there, apparently assuming that it is relatively stable. Not.
Ned Parker of the LA Times writes that Iraq has not been so much pacified as Balkanized. He observes,
'
In the south, Shiite militias are at war for the lucrative oil resources in the Basra region. To the west, in Anbar province, Sunni tribes that once fought U.S. forces now help police the streets and control the highways to Jordan and Syria. In the north, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens are locked in a battle for the regions around Kirkuk and Mosul. In Baghdad, blast walls partition neighborhoods policed by Sunni paramilitary groups and Shiite militias. '
Iraq is increasingly a failed state, ruled locally by ethnic or sectarian militias . ..
AFP reports on the bitterness of the Iraq Baath over having been fired from their jobs and on how, ironically, they view a proposed new law that would reinstate them as a 'death sentence."
The NYT says that ordinary Kurds are caught in the middle of the struggle for the oil province of Kirkuk, which the Kurds in Irbil are eager to annex to the 'Kurdistan Regional Authority.'
Syria is sinking in a sea of Iraqi refugees. Neither Syria nor the Iraqis have the resources to deal with this problem. The US Congress has a responsibility to help.
Reuters reports civil war violence in Iraq on Sunday. Excerpts:
' HILLA - A roadside bomb killed the police chief of Iraq's Babel province and five of his guards on Sunday, police said.
BAIJI - A suicide car bomb targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing two soldiers and wounding seven others in western Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, the Iraqi army said.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed nine gunmen and detained 49 others during military operations across Iraq, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
BAGHDAD - Three bodies were found in different areas of Baghdad on Saturday, police said. . .'
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/10/2007 12:30:00 AM
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8 Comments:
"The U.S. Congress has a responsibility to help." And just when will that occur? They will fork over 70 billion or so to keep the travesty rolling along in Iraq. They will huff and puff that the troops must have the supplies they need. They will ignore the fact that bringing them home would be a form of protecting them. Each party will lob insults at the other, but do nothing of substance, other than increase the deficit. Will they do anything substantial to help the refugee situation caused by them and their arrogant leader? The one and same George W. Bush, who sleeps well at night, while innocent women are murdered, mutilated and thrown on the garbage heap. While young girls are forced into prostitution to feed their families? While the death count in outlying provinces goes up and up, in spite of the Surge, that is supposedly working?
Will our Congress do anything to help these people? Don't hold your breath or stand on one leg waiting for it. I guarantee you will turn blue and fall over first.
Yesterday an Associated Press report said in passing that the president of Iran has made "repeated calls" to "wipe Israel off the map." The Washington Post ran the article.
If anyone knows senior people at the AP or Washington Post, please advise them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2007/12/09/AR2007120901701.html
Balkanization: does that mean a policy of dividing a region into small enclaves and then benefiting from conflict between the enclaves?
Jas
40 women killed? If there is no follow-up arrest or trial, might this be a harbinger of "street justice" under a Sadrist or Shiite theocracy? The Sadrist spokesman described murder as a worse sin than wearing makeup or a bare head in public. But would murder to avenge an unveiled woman still qualify as first degree? If the assailants had simply beaten or raped the women, would the men or (as in Saudi Arabia) the women have been prosecuted? Am I unjust to suspect that the Sadrists know the likely perpetrators, but will not inform on them?
Am I unjust to suspect that the Sadrists know the likely perpetrators, but will not inform on them?
That's a pretty good guess. Considering that they've been behind things like this for a while.
:........because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings ....."
Sick, but our anger is at Americans and you know why.
re LAT/ICG report on balkanization of Iraq.
And Baghdad becomes the new Beiruit.
The Baghdad counteroffensive is stalled, the operational momentum exhausted for the moment. The low US casualties indicate that we are unable to get an Iraqi Army "hold" operation going, and are therefore unable to continue clearing new districts.
The most optimistic scenario (from Biddle, Cordesman) is for a maximum troop level commitment (est. 100-140K) for at least the full term of the next admin. Neocon 'contextualizer' Kimberly Kagan was very guarded in her assessment of the 'surge' success (...casualties are down...), and the propects for troop reductions (...risky...).
Our latest progress only buys us the conditional justification for a 'maximum effort' for our thinning infantry.
Democracy requires that we voters be honestly informed about the choices we face. I can almost here them chanting "four more years..."
Meanwhile, we learn that the Democratic leadership was briefed and approved waterboarding torture in 2002.
Throw Pelosi out in 2008!!
Walking Wounded,
Re your reference to Kimberly Kagan, you must have watched her C-Span interview Sunday. Here's a piece of my response to Brian Lamb about it:
Dear Brian,
I have caught many, if not all, of your interviews with the various members of the Kagan family, and I'm beginning to think there's a wonderful satirical play waiting to be written about a hypothetical Kagan family Christmas, wherein the various members, in-between debating the relative merits of ARod and Derek Jeter, oh-so-politely and eruditely and with extreme good humor discuss their academic theories which have bankrupted the country and left hundreds of thousands of dead in their wake. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I personally would find the necessary research too nauseating.
These people are a plague. What is it the Bible says about "studying war no more"? They seem to have missed that part. I didn't hear this latest installment mention anything about children, although I could have missed it. Here's hoping.
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