Shrines destroyed...possible Civil war in Iraq?

[nolies32fouettes]

Possible Civil War in Iraq? (article does not copy/paste)

http://tinyurl.com/m9bmw

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. Dick Cheney told us there would be none. I believe him. Really.

Just like I believe everything these guys feed us.

[Burning Water]

3. It might be possible that

Dick Cheney is wrong occassionally. Hate to believe it myself, but you never know. ;-)

[smoogatz]

2. Civil war has been underway in Iraq since three months after the invasion

But what we see here is a deliberate attempt to ratchet up the intensity. So much for the Bushco notion that Iraqi national identity trumps sectarian loyalty.

[nolies32fouettes]

4. perhaps this is how they intend to scare us into voting for republicans

by rachetting up the war and the terror.

[smoogatz]

6. I think destroying the shrine was mostly for internal, Iraqi consumption.

It's a Sunni vs Shi'a thing: the Sunnis were in power, now they're not. They want to be in power again, but since they're an ethnic/religious minority, the only way to do that is through force of arms. If there's all-out civil war, the Sunnis will eventually win (supported by Syria, Saudi elements, etc.), the Ba'athists will take over again, and a lot of Americans will get killed unless we withdraw the troops. the likelihood of civil war increased exponentially when the current constitution was ratified, which essentially codifies Sunni disenfranchisement into law. The last round of elections didn't help much, either--basically guaranteeing the formation of a Shi'a/Kurdish coalition, and leaving the Sunnis out in the cold. I don't think the insurgents give much of a shit about our midterm elections.

[nolies32fouettes]

7. yes, but it rachets up the anger against us too.

afterall, we did this to them!

[smoogatz]

8. True. All the better, from the Sunni perspective--

more anger equals more attacks against US troops equals faster withdrawal. The sooner we leave, the sooner the real bloodletting can begin.

[nolies32fouettes]

9. this is really bad stuff! I wonder how many people 'get it'

[Virginia Dare]

5. Possibly 100% chance...EOM

[nolies32fouettes]

10. kick