[lbo-talk] Security Situation in Baghdad Sinking like the Titanic

ira glazer ira at yanua.com
Sun Sep 18 13:08:36 PDT 2005


From Juan Cole,

An observer in Iraq writes to me:

"The situation has deteriorated in Baghdad dramatically today. Five

neighborhoods (hay) in Baghdad are controlled by insurgents, and

they are Amiraya, Ghazilya, Shurta, Yarmouk and Doura. It is very

bad. My guys there report that cars have come into these

neighborhoods and blocked off the streets. Masked gunmen with AKs

and other weapons are roaming these areas, announcing that people

should stay home. One of my drivers in Amiraya reports that his

neighborhood is shut down totally, and even those who need food or

provisions are warned not to go out.

The government will respond feebly. It will go into a contested

neighborhood, and then just like Fallujah, Ramadi, Tel Afar, the

insurgents will flee to take over another area on another day. Bit

by bit they are taking over the main parts of Baghdad. The only

place we are sure they cannot control is Sadr City, unless of course

they want to take on Jaish Mahdy [Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army], and

that would be bloody.

A few minutes ago Jaafari came on television to tell everyone in

Baghdad to stay home. Can't wait for his next bold move.

There are flyers in public areas of Baghdad warning people not to

gather in large numbers because they will thereby become targets. I

am trying to get a copy of the flyer.

Notwithstanding Al-Hayat's claim that Zarqawi and the Sunni

resistance are not together, my street listeners claim otherwise. My

folks are convinced that the two groups, broadly defined, are

together, "100 percent" is the claim of certainty. It is hard to get

a handle on this because people in Baghdad tend to lump all

resistance groups, except for Zarqawi, into one large category.

More and more of even the most patriotic intelligentsia are

departing. The situation is dire, and those with escape valves are

using them. [Some organizations are]sending more of [their] staff to

Arbil and Sulamaniyah and out of Baghdad. Until about March this

year, [some] thought that there was a chance of returning to

Baghdad. It is remarkable how incapable this government is. Its only

success is that it exists at all.

In the meantime, the embassy people act as if nothing in Baghdad is

wrong (except that they cannot walk in the Green Zone without body

armor and they have to take precautions against kidnapping).

Recently, a group from State and the military parachuted in from

Washington [with fatuous advice] . . . It is a fantasy world."

http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/security-situation-in-baghdad-sinking.html



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