Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Ain't nothing good coming of this.
Insurgents dressed as police commandos detonated powerful explosives this morning inside one of Shiite Islam's most sacred shrines, destroying most of the building, located in the volatile town of Samarra, and prompting thousands of Shiites to flood into streets across the country in protest. The golden-domed shrine housed the tombs of two revered leaders of Shiite Islam and symbolized the place where the Imam Mahdi, a mythical, messianic figure, disappeared from this earth. [...] In Baghdad, militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who is a fervent believer in the prophecy of the Imam Mahdi, drove through the streets of Sadr City with Kalashnikovs, many accusing the Americans of carrying out the attack.
Prepare for it to spiral up from here.
TrackBackJust imagine what Saddam Hussein thinks of all this.
Posted by: W. Kiernan at February 22, 2006 08:34 PMApos mate
It was only a matter of time...
This (plus the sale of the US ports) is the downfall of Bush - just a shame it couldn't be achieved without the attendant bloodshed that now seems inevitable.
It really stuns me how little the U.S. media seems to get this. This really is the equivalent of someone blowing up the Vatican. I'm actually shocked reactions have been as reserved as they have.
Posted by: Jake at February 22, 2006 11:32 PMAlways the pessimist, aren't you?
Why not think of all the fun that future generations of Iraqis will have with civil war reenactments?
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at February 23, 2006 01:21 AMGB's right, but shows his own pessimism. Civil war can still be averted. This is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning.
This is a wakeup call to the Sunni and Shia, who are now forced to come to terms, if they can at all. And it is an end to the influence of the jihadis in Iraq, as the Sunnis can see they have served them poorly.
And this shows the limits of American power, and will mean a gradual drawdown of troops and an end to our powerful flypaper policy. We will be left in Kurdistan and other places only if desired by Sunnis (who may now welcome us as their protectors) and Shias. And it marks the end of the beginning of a return to a more realistic US foreign policy, which Fukuyama pointed out in his weekend piece.
Posted by: TokyoTom at February 24, 2006 06:53 AM