U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Castillo watches as unused mortar 'cheese' charges are disposed by fire during a mortar training exercise with Iraqi soldiers on Saber Range outside Mansurya village in Diyala province, Iraq, April 4, 2009. Castillo is assigned to the 1st Calvary Division's Headquarters Company, 8th Calvary Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by SGT. Gustavo OlgiatiFrom The New York Times:
BAGHDAD — A deadly outburst of violence appears to be overwhelming Iraq’s police and military forces as American troops hand over greater control of cities across the country to them. On Friday, twin suicide bombings killed at least 60 people outside Baghdad’s most revered Shiite shrine, pushing the death toll in one 24-hour period to nearly 150.
Like many recent attacks, the bombings appeared intended to inflame sectarian tensions, to weaken Iraq’s security forces and to discredit its government.
The bombings on Friday ominously echoed attacks like the one at a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 that unleashed a wave of sectarian bloodshed and pushed the country toward civil war.
Read more ....
My Comment: When I first heard a few months ago that the Iraqi prisons holding suspected insurgents were being emptied by the Americans (with Iraqi supervision), I mentioned in this blog that many of the released would only go back to the what they know .... blowing up people and committing mass atrocities.
Sad to say .... this is what is happening now. Complicating the issue is the awareness that the Americans are now leaving, and that they will be gone within the next year or two. As a result, every faction is now positioning themselves for what will happen later .... i.e. when the Americans are gone.
I have always been a proponent that if you want to make a difference in the Middle East .... you must apply a very long term strategy (50 to 100 years). This cutting and running away from Iraq .... which is what is being seen on the Arab street .... will just undermine what little has been accomplished in this sad country.
For President Obama .... this withdrawal may politically be the right and smart thing to do right now .... but if Iraq falls apart, it will be his Presidency that will be blamed for the disaster that will then follow.