How are things going in Iraq?

[John Gauger]

Greetings all! I've been out of it since Monday. I've missed this place. I haven't been following the news, so I have a question: How are things going in Iraq? Any better?


But seriously, how bad is it? Has it gotten any worse or has it just stayed the same?

[mike_c]

1. read LBN for the latest news....

Welcome back! :hi:

[Eugene]

2. Aside from things going to hell, you haven't missed much.

The week started with several high-profile assassinations
on top of the 100 persons-a-day body count.

October was declared the worst month yet for Iraqi deaths
and November appears to have surpassed that figure three
weeks in.

A string of bombings in Sadr City killed over 200 people
on Thursday setting off a sprial of revenge attacks
between the Shiites and the Sunnis.

Baghdad is on 24-hour curfew at least into Monday and
still scores of people are being found dead.

Muqtada al-Sadr's block is threatening to quit the goverment
if the Iraq PM meets as scheduled with "the criminal Bush"
in Jordan this week.

The Iraqi president was supposed to attend a summit in Iran,
but he can't leave Baghdad due to the lockdown.

U.S.-Iraqi forces have launched repeated raids in Sadr City
searching for kidnap victims.

The Iraqi PM just got stoned by fellow Shiites in Sadr City.

A U.S. base is burning from a mortar attack today.

With all that aside, things are going swimmingly.

[John Gauger]

3. My jaw is on the floor.

That's worse than I could possibly have predicted. I mean, I knew things couldn't have been good but holy shit. I notice Bush is not actually going to Iraq. I wonder if he is going to maintain that things are still going well. I don't think Maliki will be returning. Thanks for the update.

[many a good man]

4. The good news is Tariq Aziz is out of jail

and is now in negotiations on behalf of the Sunnis, according to some.

[Bucky]

5. Tariq Aziz is a Christian. It's a hopeful sign if some are able to work across religious lines

On the other hand, maybe that's like looking at Robert Duval in the Godfather movies and concluding, "See, they're not all Italian."

[many a good man]

7. Christian, yes, but more importantly he is secularist

and respected among Sunnis (and around the world). Reasonable Shia can deal with him.

[Kelly Rupert]

6. Oh, great.

Democracy is http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL624230.htm">blooming left and right.

[beachmom]

8. The worst it's ever been

Read Iraqi blogger Zeyad to get an idea (he gives excerpts from Iraqi message boards of desperate Sunnis arming up for attacks on their neighborhoods by Shi'ite militias):

http://www.healingiraq.blogspot.com/


The worst bombing of the war (suicide bomber) happened on Thursday in Sadr City. I think 200 to 300 people (Shi'ites) were killed and now the Shi'ite militias are on a murderous rampage -- there is shelling going back and forth between neighborhoods. One story just near killed me -- the militias walked into a Sunni mosque, grabbed 6 men, doused them with petrol, and lit them on fire, alive.

American troops can't stop this civil war.