Civil war? What civil war?

Bring ’em on.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – About 100 masked gunmen stormed a prison near the Iranian border Tuesday, cutting phone wires, freeing all the inmates and leaving behind a scene of devastation and carnage — 20 dead policemen, burned-out cars and a smoldering jailhouse.

At least 10 attackers were killed in the dawn assault on the Muqdadiyah lockup on the eastern fringe of the Sunni Triangle, police said. The raid showed the mostly Sunni militants can still assemble a large force, capable of operating in the region virtually at will — even though U.S. and Iraqi military officials said last year that the area was no longer an insurgent stronghold.

The insurgency’s strength, spiraling sectarian violence and the stalemate over forming a government in
Iraq have led politicians and foreign policy experts to say Iraq is on the brink or perhaps in the midst of civil war.

In all, 33 prisoners were freed, including 18 insurgents who were detained Sunday during raids by security forces in the nearby villages of Sansal and Arab, police said. It was the capture of those insurgents that apparently prompted Tuesday’s attack.

I watched Bush’s embarrassing press conference last night, where he assured us, again, that we’re all safer now and we will win (and that we’re in Iraq because of September 11). But he seems to actually have fallen for his own tripe that Iraq is now a functional democracy. Realistically, Iraq is now in a state of what we might call functional anarchy. Lots of businesses are doing okay. There’s no hand-to-hand fighting in the streets, or at least not a whole lot. At the same time, the country is breaking down, with militias enforcing the laws (or breaking them), with no control or central authority. The government is impotent and Iraq is being pulled apart. And large numbers of citizens are being killed on a daily basis. I think it’s fair to call it a low-level civil war, with a high probability of escalating into a more full-blown conflict.

The Discussion: One Comment

I really wish that GW Buxing had passed World History before comitting troops (blood) and money (gold) to invade Iraq.
I really don’t give a sh*t about their oil. Let China buy it from them. For several years, starting in early 80’s, vehicle gas mileage was going up and up.
Buxing and Co, Inc. gets in to power, and BOOM! SUV time baby. I do love my country, but if we elect another OIL IS GOOD, TAX CUT IS GOOD, President. My Chinese is going to come in very handy as China buys up a sh*tload of US based companies.

There is an excellent website with the History of Iraq.
General Summary
16th Century – Regime Changes, Civil “War” Uprisings
17th Century – I quote here “Ottoman sovereignty had been restored in Baghdad, but the stability of central Iraq continued to be disturbed by turbulent garrison troops and by Arab and Kurdish tribal unrest”
18th Century – Regime Changes, “factionalism and instability,”
19th Century – Regime Changes, semi-stable latter part of the century
20th Century
British Rule
British Leave
“..Tribes, though habitually opposed to authority, had been brought under control and remained relatively quiet after 1932…”
Assryian uprising of 1933
1936 coup d’état
1958 Revolution
1963 Qasim Regime collapsed, another coup
1968 Coup
1974 Kurdish War

March 21, 2006 @ 11:25 pm | Comment

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