U.S.: Shiite militias are the main threat to Iraq

[Barrett808]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

U.S.: Shiite militias are the main threat to Iraq
By Mark Seibel and Leila Fadel

BAGHDAD — Despite President Bush's recent insistence that al Qaida in Iraq is the principal cause of this country's violence, senior American military officers here say Shiite Muslim militias are a bigger problem, and one that will persist even if al Qaida is defeated.

"The longer-term threat to Iraq is potentially the Shiite militias," one senior military officer said, echoing concerns that other American officials raised in recent interviews with McClatchy Newspapers.

Military officers hail the fact that violence is down as evidence that their campaign against al Qaida in Iraq is succeeding. But there's no sign of reconciliation between Sunni Muslims and Shiites, the rationale the Bush administration cites for increasing the number of U.S. troops in the country.

The Shiite Mahdi Army militia continues to drive Sunni residents from neighborhoods in Baghdad, a development that one American officer called "disappointing." Shiite politicians show little sympathy for the expelled Sunnis or interest in stopping the expulsions. In interviews, they argued that the drive against Sunnis is a justified response to Sunni campaigns to drive Shiites from their neighborhoods, a position that American military officers reject.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/18567.html

[kenny blankenship]

1. I guess the long term threat to Iraq is all the people who live there.

We'll fix that over time, though.

[Xipe Totec]

8. The only problem with scotland,

is it's full of scots.

- Edward the Longshanks, Braveheart

[applegrove]

2. It really doesn't sound like it is going well at all.

[acmavm]

3. And sectarian violence wasn't one of the things that came up before

Shock and Awe? Silly me, I thought it was.

[Barrett808]

4. "Military officers hail the fact that violence is down"

But that assertion is simply false. In fact, "violence" is at an all-time high in Iraq.

[damntexdem]

5. Shia militias? But I thought it was Al Qaida! Or Sunni insurgents!

Baathists! Sadaam's zombie army!

Hey, maybe it's really gremlins!

What a bunch of idiots running this illegal occupation!

[Barrett808]

6. We're using Sunni insurgents as a proxy army against AQI...

...and after that, against the Shi'a militias. Then it's on to Teheran!

[Supersedeas]

7. We have always been at War with EurAsia