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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The attacks in Iraq are back, and the Shia are angling at domination.

With the growing news that the Shia government is increasing efforts to crackdown, arrest, and disarm the US backed Sunni militia groups rather than taking them into the government as promised (LATimes, NYTimes, McClatchy,) we should probably start paying attention to the sudden increase in attacks targeting the Iraqi security forces.

With this direction by the Shia government, we're beginning to see the reemergence of the faultlines of serious sectarian violence.
(Reuters) "A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest struck a crowd of Iraqi police recruits at a recruitment station in a volatile northern province on Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding 45..."

(AFP) "A car bomb in Tikrit, the central Iraq hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, injured 13 people including four policemen on Tuesday..."

And, definitely understand, that the Iraqi requirement in the SoFA negotiations that "all foreign soldiers" must leave the country is the end point of the Shia plan. They want to cripple the Sunni militias while the US is still patrolling the streets, and then they want the US completely out so they can dominate without interference.

2 Comments:

  • The Battle for Iraq is About Oil & Democracy, Not Religion by Joshua Holland & Raed Jarrar
    Alternet, Sept. 10, 2007
    http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/62042/the_battle_for_iraq_is_about_oil_and_democracy%2C_not_religion%21/?page=2

    The authors argue the main fault line is between separatists (exiles/quislings) and nationalists (nativists/resisters). After the US invaders leave, that already engaged struggle determines Iraq's future.

    Since the corporate media doesn't discuss this, it's probably a close approximation of the truth, given who their masters support.

    Thanks for addressing this subject.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:27 AM  

  • I didn't read the link yet, but, I guess you could make the argument that the intra shia struggle fits your description.

    The Sunni/Shia civil war and struggle for power (and control of oil money) hasn't gone away, though.. It's just temporarily shifted into a more political mode because that's what was in everyone's individual interests.

    If the Shia are trying to use the space to decrease the Sunni military capacity, that political way quickly doesn't become the best way.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:45 AM  

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