|
A Microcosm of Iraq's Security Problems
This article illustrates a couple of things. First, re-building progressed in Iraq until ethnic identities became important. Second, preventing ethnic conflict is impossible when the polarization is near total. I wonder if the Iraq setbacks are attributable to our unwillingness to toss the Clinton sermon against "ethnic cleansing?" Maybe realpolitick dictates implementing the tri-partite divisions that have only been hinted at. One problem is: Sunnis are in position to choke off Shiite pilgrimages to Karbala. Another: revenue sharing is a problem in federal states; and most Iraq oil is in Kurd and Shiite majority areas. Another: the Saudis will never accept advancement of Shiite power, without a bloody fight through their surrogates. Still, Partition appears to be the best bet.A FEW months ago Saab al Bour was a showpiece town where Americans were building schools and fixing the water and electricity supplies. Even the Shiites and Sunnis rubbed along. The dusty settlement of sand-coloured brick buildings six miles northwest of Baghdad is now a ghost town, shorn of its residents by Iraqs relentless sectarian wars. They took to the road when mortars, 15-20 a day, started crashing into the town, fired by Sunni extremists targeting the Shiites. Sunni neighbour turned on Shiite neighbour in a struggle that eventually drove out 90% of the original population of 30,000. Before I set out for Saab al Bour yesterday, I had been assured that it had been pacified. Our two UH-60 helicopters flew low out of Baghdads fortified green zone, swooping over the capital, its once-crowded arteries devoid of traffic. We banked over flat stretches of baked earth and a few patches of green and came in low to a wasteland in the middle of the town, guided by grey smoke rising from two armoured cars that had been sent ahead to secure the landing. This did not look like a pacified town. American soldiers in desert camouflage uniforms leapt out of the helicopters to set up a perimeter, 6ft apart, around us. Crouching, M16s perched on their shoulders pointing out in a circle, they eyed the mud and sand brick houses suspiciously. Only a mangy yellow dog moved. Within half an hour of my arrival Apache helicopter gunships filled the sky, firing on insurgents just the other side of a canal with loud blasts of their cannons. In the towns police station, sandbagged and covered with camouflage netting, Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Thompson sat with two members of the local council. The police were supposed to be there to brief us, but they had been called to an incident. Later one policeman told me the incident was an attack on their commanders home and they had rushed to help. This is just a microcosm of the problems besetting Iraq. The town of Saab al Bour had been quiet when the American army, backed up by Iraqi soldiers, was based there. It sits on the edge of Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold. Shortly after the soldiers handed over to the Iraqi police at the end of last month, the fighting began. Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-10-29 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=170107 |