These guys might be the police. Or Medhi Army. Or both.
I haven't written anything about Iraq for months. The news from the country is so depressing: militia factions begin to fight between themselves as well as with other sectarian groups; whilst the US political debate has just stopped whilst everyone waits for September in the desperate hope that Patraeus can pull a rabbit out of the magic-surge-hat. And as ever, civilians suffer due to the actions of all the warring parties. But one story actually shocked me rather than just further depressing me. Paul Wood reported on
From Our Own Correspondent that:
"One measure of how bad things have become is that Western diplomats will no longer visit the Iraqi Defence ministry, even though it is inside the Green Zone. In fact, militia infiltration is believed to be such that no-one walks anywhere in the Green Zone for fear of being snatched off the street."
I suspect that American patience with the Iraqi "government" - using the term in the loosest way - will soon run out.
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These guys might be the police. Or Medhi Army. Or both.
It is all just so depressing I agree. Even more depressing I can't quite see how there is ever going to be a solution.
ReplyDeleteIt'll take at least 10 yrs before Iraq settles down.
ReplyDeleteI for one can't see anything depressing in seeing former allies turning on al-Qaida operatives.
If Petraeus can't work it then no one can. I believe that the ratio of jihadi dead compared to US losses are so vast, that the "all is lost" mantra is running thin.