Baghdad Still Calm Despite Revenge Deaths

Jesus, we're living in unbelievable times. I stole that headline from the Associated Press via Yahoo! News.

Scorched pavement, destroyed shops, burned out cars and four men shot in the head then hanged from electricity pylons — victims of revenge killings — awaited Shiite residents emerging from their homes Monday in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.

The scene, although gruesome, was not what many had feared: That deadly explosions the previous night in Sadr City would ignite all-out civil war, pitting majority Shiites against minority Sunnis.

Oh, I understand now. People are calm because four deaths aren't a big deal. My gawd! Can you imagine leaving your home tomorrow, seeing four viciously executed people and calmly go on your way?

Truth is, if we don't leave Iraq we must deal with Muqtada al-Sadr. He has unbelievable influence over the Iraqi people. And he has many guns.

A key to Monday's relative peace was anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's refusal to be provoked. With thousands of his Mahdi Army militiamen ready to fight, the Shiite leader called for calm and national unity. It was the second time in less than three weeks that Iraqis stood at the precipice of civil war but pulled back.

Britain? I call bullshit. There is no way you could feel confident the Iraqi forces can replace you. Every knowledgable military analyst I've read contradicts you.

Britain, the United States' largest military partner in
Iraq, showed its confidence Monday by announcing a 10 percent — about 800-troop — reduction by May.

"This is a significant reduction which is based largely on the ability of the Iraqis themselves to participate and defend themselves against terrorism, but there is a long, long way to go," British Defense Secretary John Reid said in London.

I do favour withdrawl (not redeployment to Iran) because Iraq has no chance of stablising with US occupational troops on the ground.

Bottom line, which should catch the eye of Republican "business types", is this is a shitty mess and it will only get worse before improving and US troops are not improving the fucking situation.

Ok, a couple words back I felt the need to throw in gratuitous profanity. So sue me.