Iraq Update I.

This is coolbert:

Bing West is being interviewed this morning on National Public Radio [NPR].

Bing is an ex-Marine, an former DoD official under Ronald Reagan, a military analyst and commentator.

Bing says that currently in Iraq, there are three separate hot shooting wars [all wars by definition are “hot shooting”??] being fought simultaneously.

Marines in Al Anbar province are engaged in a constant running battle with Al Qaeda infiltrators/fighters. Outsiders that have joined the fray in Iraq. Have assassinated so many tribal sheiks in the area that they have alienated the local Arabs. It is the Marines and local Arab tribesmen against Al Qaeda.

The sectarian violence occurring in Baghdad. Shia and Sunni militias and militants killing one another. Retribution, counter-retribution, retribution, etc. A never ending cycle.

The continuous-on-an-almost-clockwork-basis suicide car and truck bombings that have killed thousands or tens of thousands of innocents. Acts of suicide bombing by almost exclusively Al Qaeda elements directed against American troops and Shia civilians. To force American forces to withdraw from Iraq and further exacerbate already existing Shia and Sunni tensions.

Other than that, everything is JUST FINE!!??

coolbert.