One of the bloodiest months on record, we had a plane shot down, thousands of civilians dying, oil fires burning, a weak national government and raging Sunni and Shiite violence... all indications would point to this being more than just the the cusp of a civil war.
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Mortar rounds crashed into an oil processing facility near the northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, igniting a huge blaze, and a U.S. Air Force jet with one pilot crashed while supporting American soldiers fighting in Anbar province, a hotbed of Iraq's Arab Sunni insurgency.
Sectarian violence continued across the country, with 91 people killed or found dead.
(...)
Al-Jazeera satellite television showed videotape pictures of the wreckage in a field and what looked to be portions of a tangled parachute nearby.
The broadcaster said that the video included scenes of the dead pilot but that they were too graphic to air.
The U.S. command also said three of its soldiers were killed and two wounded during combat operations in Baghdad on Sunday. At least 2,878 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Also Monday, Iraq's Parliament speaker implemented rules banning reporters from the legislative building and imposed a 30-minute delay on broadcast of sessions, an apparent bid to squelch information reaching the public about the increasingly bitter debates between Shiite and Sunni lawmakers.
Not according to President Bubble-Boy.
The bombings that took place recently was a part of a pattern that has been going on for about nine months. I'm going to bring this subject up, of course, with Prime Minister Maliki when I visit with him in Jordan on Thursday. My questions to him will be: What do we need to do to succeed? What is your strategy in dealing with the sectarian violence? I will assure him that we will continue to pursue al Qaeda to make sure that they do not establish a safe haven in Iraq.
I will ask him: What is required and what is your strategy to be a country which can govern itself and sustain itself? And it's going to be an important meeting, and I'm looking forward to it.
Why is a staged pullout failure but staying with these types of results not?
But wait... there's more.... apparently the White House isn't nearly as confident in their puppet as they claim.
Posted by kerry at November 29, 2006 02:18 AMWhile there does seem to be an aggressive push to consolidate Shia power and influence, it is less clear whether Maliki is a witting participant. The information he receives is undoubtedly skewed by his small circle of Dawa advisers, coloring his actions and interpretation of reality. His intentions seem good when he talks with Americans, and sensitive reporting suggests he is trying to stand up to the Shia hierarchy and force positive change. But the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action.