Security Took 'Turn for Worse' In Southern Iraq, Report Says

Source: Washington Post

Security is deteriorating in southern Iraq as rival Shiite militias vying for power have stepped up their attacks after moving out of Baghdad to avoid U.S.-led military operations, according to the latest quarterly Pentagon report on Iraq released yesterday.

"The security environment in southern Iraq took a notable turn for the worse in August" with the assassination of two governors, said the report, which covers June through August. "There may be retaliation and an increase in intra-Shi'a violence throughout the South," it said, whereas previously the violence was centered in the main southern city of Basra.

Iran has intensified its training and funding of the Shiite militia, and Iranian-influenced militias are believed to be responsible for killing the two governors, as well as for a nearly 40 percent increase in attacks using lethal weapons known as explosively formed projectiles, compared with the mid-February to mid-May period, the report said.

The growing violence in the south is one factor making it unlikely that Iraq's leaders -- hampered by a "zero sum" mentality -- will make headway in the fall on key political resolutions, the report concluded. "In the short term, Iraqi political leaders will likely be less concerned about reconciliation than with consolidating power and posturing for a future power struggle," it said.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091701880.html?hpid=topnews

:eyes:

to break the ice for a Bush attack on Iran. My question for the WP: did YOU actually research this supposed Iran connection yourself, or are you merely echoing the Bush administration's talking points?

Anyone who's been keeping an eye on the Corporate Media knows the answer to that question.

of countries with third rate militaries has become some kind of republick party drinking game.

do you realize Bush is repeating the same mistake Saddam make by concentrating the bulk of military forces in and around Baghdad?
Now the southern oilfields of Iraq are there for the taking, and lots of luck rooting out the Shiite militiamen, Iranian proxy fighters, or
whatever the hell they are, from that region without a repeat of the disastrous oil well fires that befell Kuwait in operation Desert Storm.

Anbar is only secure until the US goes south to take care of the violence in that area. Then the people go back home, and it's the same ol' same ol' in Anbar. Same thing happened in Vietnam. US troops would secure an area, they'd pack up and leave, and the Viet Cong would move right back in. That's what happens when you don't have a front line. You're fighting in circles. It's impossible to secure the whole area and the people you're fighting just move to where you're not. That's why the report on Anbar is bullshit.



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