Under the absurdly self-evident headline, “Many Iraqis See Sectarian Roots in New Killings” (duh) the NY Times, after relating how Hassan al-Nuaimi, an Iraqi Sunni cleric, was found dumped in an empty lot with a hole drilled in his head and both eyes gouged out, quotes Ghassan al-Atiyya, a secular Shiite and the director of the Iraqi Foundation for Development and Democracy, a Baghdad research institute: “The Americans, instead of strengthening liberal and secular, they are now hostage of Sciri,” he said, referring to a religious Shiite political group, “and Kurds.”
So, amid the “welter of allegations about Shiite death squads going after Sunni Arabs” what better way to foment sectarian hate and violence than to have 40,000 Kurdish peshmergas and SCIRI’s Iranian trained Badr Brigade Shiite militia backed by 10,000 Americans blockade Baghdad and carry out raids?
This assault suggests the stiletto bootprint of Rice and the hamfisted thuggishness of Rumsfeld, both of whom were recently imposed on the Iraqi “government” where they apparently pressured al-Jafaari to act more American. If the cordon and massive raids really happen, the insurgent reaction is predictable – expect Mosul to erupt into violence (and possibly Kirkuk) just as it did when the US concentrated forces to crush Fallujah. It would also be an optimum time for the newly re-emerged Muqtada al-Sadr to consolidate his hold on Basra and other Sadrist areas of southern Iraq.