Friday, February 24, 2006
If Only We Could Keep Iraq On A Permanent 24 Hour Curfew
The meme today is that the violence in Iraq today is less than yesterday and the violence yeasterday was less than the day before when terrorists struck the Golden Mosque in Samarra and destroyed it.
The chattering folks on CNN seem to think the civil war in Iraq has been averted because the violence is subsiding. They call it "promising news" that points to an "optimistic future" for Iraq.
But no seems to mention that of course the violence in Iraq is subsiding since no one is allowed out onto the streets. And of course the curfew may accomplish its desired effect of short-circuiting sectarian violence by creating a nation-wide "time out". But the damage done by the Samarra attack, coupled with the last three years of increasing sectarian violence, have eroded whatever chances there were for Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds to come together and create a stable, cohesive government.
The civil war may be on hold for a few days but no one should believe the media meme (no doubt pushed upon the press behind the scenes by the Bush administration) that the sectarian violence is over.
Iraq remains a powder keg and it won't take much to get the Shiite militias to start slaughtering as many Sunnis as the can get there hands on or to get Sunni insurgents blowing up as many Shiite neighborhoods as they can.
The chattering folks on CNN seem to think the civil war in Iraq has been averted because the violence is subsiding. They call it "promising news" that points to an "optimistic future" for Iraq.
But no seems to mention that of course the violence in Iraq is subsiding since no one is allowed out onto the streets. And of course the curfew may accomplish its desired effect of short-circuiting sectarian violence by creating a nation-wide "time out". But the damage done by the Samarra attack, coupled with the last three years of increasing sectarian violence, have eroded whatever chances there were for Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds to come together and create a stable, cohesive government.
The civil war may be on hold for a few days but no one should believe the media meme (no doubt pushed upon the press behind the scenes by the Bush administration) that the sectarian violence is over.
Iraq remains a powder keg and it won't take much to get the Shiite militias to start slaughtering as many Sunnis as the can get there hands on or to get Sunni insurgents blowing up as many Shiite neighborhoods as they can.
