Latest From Iraq

While there was more violence in Iraq today:

BAGHDAD – At least 15 people are killed and 45 wounded in a mortar attack on the Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora, police and hospital sources said. Police said more people had been hurt in another mortar attack on the Shola area of Baghdad but could not immediately give the number of casualties.

BAQUBA – Three gunmen opened fire on a crowd of teenage boys playing soccer in a drive-by shooting in the Iraqi town of Baquba on Sunday, killing two youngsters and wounding five in what a police official said was a sectarian attack.

HILLA – A bomb destroyed a minibus as it was leaving a large bus station in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, on Sunday, killing five people and wounding three, police said. However, the U.S. military said initial reports were erroneous and that two adults and three children were wounded. Police sources stood by their initial report.

MOSUL – Gunmen surrounded the clinic of a paediatrician and then shot him dead in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. In other attacks in the city, gunmen shot a policeman outside his home and four people were wounded in attack on a U.S. military convoy, police said.

BAGHDAD – Two U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

It actually appears to be more of the typical terrorist attacks that have been going on for some time rather then a sustained battle between the various Sunni and Shiite factions. In fact from Gateway Pundit comes the news that there have been many demonstrates against the violence in Iraq:

The following is a translation by Iraqi-American Haider Ajina of a headline and news published by the Iraqi Arabic newspaper Al-Raa?I on February 26th:

Iraqis demonstrate calling for Shiite & Sunni unity

Many Iraqi cities witnessed large demonstrations after Friday prayers (yesterday). These demonstrations were calling for national unity, not being pulled into civil war after attacks on Sunni mosques as retaliation to the bombing of the samara Shiite shrine.

In Mousul 500 people demonstrated in Bartila (north west of the city). The demonstrations were lead by Sunni & Shiite leaders to condemn all bombings and call for a unified line and not be pulled into a sectarian war. Another demonstration started from the offices of the high council for Islamic revolution (Shiite). The demonstration was lead by Sunni and Shiite religious leaders. Banners condemned attacks on mosques, shrines and churches the banners also condemned terror also no to Saddam yes to Islam.

In Hillah over 3000 demonstrated after Friday?s united prayers (Shiite & Muslim together) at the Haytaween mosque. The united prayers were lead by Sheik Mohamed Alfateh (Sunni) and Sheik Jasim Alkalebi (Shiite). The two speakers called for Muslim unity and denounced all terror activity as unIslamic and asked for keeping unity.

In Al-Koot hundreds demonstrated after Friday prayers protesting the bombing of the samara shrine and the attacks on the Sunni mosques. Unified Friday prayers in Al-Koot were held at the large central mosque in the city. Speakers at the prayers call for rejecting sectarianism.

In Amarah over 15,000 demonstrated after Friday prayers condemning the samara bombing and attacks on Sunni mosques. Banners read, Sunnis & Shiites are like Hassan & Hussein (referring to two grand children of the profit Mohamed), banners also read that Muslim references (Shiite religious leaders) condemn terrorism in all its forms.

In Karbala Sheik Abdulmehdi Alkarblaa?i (representative of Sustain) in his Friday after prayers speech at the Hussein Shrine called for peaceful and brotherly coexistence, condemned violence and called for national unity. He added; “We know the nature of this crime and the ones before it, we also know these crimes are not of Sunni doings, but they are the deeds of the enemies of Sunnis & Shiites”.

In Basra over 10,000 demonstrated with banners asking to form the new government as quickly as possible.

Which is great news. Even better news is the fact that despite the reporting done by the media about the Iraqi Army (ie. they are nowhere to be found) the Iraqi Army is actually on the front lines:

American brigades have embedded advisers among more than 50 Iraqi brigades. Equipped with radios, the advisers can call in U.S. reinforcements if the Iraqis become overwhelmed by demonstrators or attackers. The U.S. Army is launching spy drones to monitor Iraqi troops.

“The Iraqi security forces stepped up and immediately took steps to enhance a security posture within our area,” Col. Snow told reporters at the Pentagon via a teleconference. “Our forces are postured as a quick-reaction force.”

Asked if an all-out civil war may erupt after the mosque bombing, Col. Snow said, “The terrorists would like to see this break out in civil war, but I don’t think the people are going to allow that to happen.”

A senior defense official told The Washington Times that Col. Snow’s brigade was following procedures put in place for virtually all American ground forces during the current sectarian violence.

“The Iraqi security forces are out front,” the official said. “They are visible. So far anyway, the various sectarian factions are trying to make responsible comments about this. It’s really the Iraqi police side who are taking the lead on this.”

Also today the Sunni Arab Bloc decided they will go back to the table regarding the formation of a new government:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 26 ? Leaders of the main Sunni Arab political bloc have decided to return to suspended talks over the formation of a new government, the top Sunni negotiator said Sunday. The step could help defuse the sectarian tensions that threatened to spiral into open civil war last week after the bombing of a Shiite shrine and the killings of Sunnis in reprisal.

[…]While the Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Consensus Front, has not publicly announced its decision and could still reverse course, Iraqi officials say the talks may resume as early as this week, depending on the level of tension in the streets.

Sectarian violence appeared to be ebbing across Iraq on Sunday, with more people venturing outside for the first time in days. Nonetheless, Shiite militiamen retained control of some Sunni mosques they had raided, and scattered mayhem left at least 14 people dead, including three American soldiers. At least 227 people have been killed since the shrine bombing.

Finally Bill Roggio makes some excellent points about the oversimplification going on by the media about the Sunni/Shiite struggle:

It should also be noted that the oversimplification of Shiite and Sunni relations is a big source of misinformation in the press. Mr. Allbritton, in his February 25th posting, questions Shiite military and police units would turn on their ?brethren? in the Madhi or Badr militias. Or would Sunni police forces ?confiscate the AK-47s of their mujahideen brothers off to fight the Shi?ite members of the 1st Division down the road??

Mr. Allbritton forgets the 2004 assault on the Shrine of Imam Ali, where Muqtada al-Sadr’s forces were routed by U.S. forces accompanied by Shiite militiamen of the Thulfiqar Army and the Ansar Sistani, which Mr. Allbritton witnessed first hand (and, incidentally, he also predicted the government would collapse and Sadr was extremely popular and would be victorious). Sadr is very unpopular in many Shiite circles, just as the ?mujahideen? are very unpopular and many Sunni circles. That’s why there has been so much Red-on-Red fighting between insurgents, tribes and al-Qaeda. The sectarian devides exist, and have existed for hundreds of years, and should not be oversimplified or confused with a civil war.

Either way you look at it, it doesn’t appear that the people of Iraq will let this situation turn into a civil war. So after 1,001 attempts by the MSM to announce that the country is plunging into a civil war, we will have to wait for 1,002.? Awww shucks.

Curt

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