This is the reality in Iraq.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/14/iraq.main/index.htmlThe ethnic / sectarian warfare among Iraqis has reached the point that only a blind man could miss it. They are in outright civil war with death squads on both sides slaughtering the other side with near impunity. There was a similar story in the NY Times on Sunday about the senior officer of the Iraq army, Shiite by chance (ahem), ordering the roundup of "the usual suspects" on trumped-up charges. All of them Sunnis, all of them dissidents, all of them probably never to be seen again. Senior American officers in Iraq protested but can't do anything about it.
At this point the Shia have the hammer in their hands and are using it. It's a bloodbath. Why won't any American politician acknowledge this frankly? We're sort of there, in terms of troops on the ground who are getting fragged left and right, and sort of not. We haven't done much good yet, I know that.
IMO we need to ignore our emotions and our do-gooder instincts in deciding how to proceed. That what we are doing now is not working is abundantly clear, so we need to do something different. I am not warlike but maybe the best option is to smash the hell out of the knuckleheads on both sides until they stop. Then we leave, leaving in place whatever safety net we can muster. It probably won't work but we will have tried. Enough Iraq.
