by Jack Lee
Iraq – While most of us slept… a wave of bombings swept across Baghdad killing over 70 and injuring nearly three times that many. All total 11 Shiite neighborhoods were hit presumably by Sunni’s and a couple of Sunni neighborhoods were also hit. The blasts had all the earmarks of Al Qaeda operatives and they came in the form of car bombs, roadside IED’s or sticky bombs that attach to cars. This has raised sectarian tensions and threatens the coalition government of Iraq where Sunni and Shia share power.
Iraq’s government is facing a major crisis only days after U.S. forces pulled out. The latest face off between the two religious groups began when a judicial panel issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi. Moments ago Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned any challenge to his control would destroy the coalition government…meaning Sunni’s would get the boot and this would likely trigger a full scale civil war in reprisal, which is exactly what Iran would love to see.
Of course we knew this would happen. Most people said Iraq’s government wouldn’t last 6 months after the US pullout. Seems like the only people who didn’t know or didn’t care are in Washington.
Chico – Update on racial profiling panel. The Chico Police Officer’s Association has responded and sent a terse message to Councilman Andy Holcombe. The essence of their complaint is the same as we published two days earlier. There was no basis for the allegations and holding the hearing only gave the perception there was something to it. The inquiry questioned the good character of the local officers and has hurt their relationship with the city council.
Holcombe has stirred up a hornets nest and the best thing he could do now is resign and let the community move on in peace…without his provocations. But, that’s not likely to happen. Holcombe is a flaming liberal and I believe he came up with this racial issue to serve his own political agenda and enhance his status among his cop hating peers.
Quentin, everytime you respond on this blog, your rhetoric is full of hate and judgement. You claim to be a Christian, but your words say otherwise.
Quentin c’mon now, nobody called you a traitor for saying Iraq wouldn’t last without the US to prop up it’s government. We pretty much all felt that way, how could we be mad at you for that? Iraq was a 30 year project at least, probably even longer and even then there would be guarantees. It’s been dysfunctional for too long.
It was silly to think we could ever fix it in a few years, we can’t even fix ourselves and look how long we’ve been at it.