Remember, This Is NOT A Civil War

By BlackJack

As John McCain and other pro-Bush war proponents have told us repeatidly, the "surge" is showing signs of progress in Baghdad. Unfortunately, the war is in Basra. For the third day in a row, American-trained Iraqi forces are clashing with Shiite militias in the southern Iraqi city in an attempt to drive them out and restore order with no success. And, truth be told, things are going so well in Baghdad that a 3-day curfew has been imposed on the city until Sunday.

Apparently the news didn't get to President Bush as he touted the operation as a sign of the progress the Iraqi government has made in assuming some security responsibility. At a speech at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the President pointed to the assault, ordered by the Iraqi authority, as proof that the troop surge was allowing the Iraqi's the time they needed to gain control of the insurgency.

One sign of the progress must surely be the freedoms that the ordinary Iraqi has secured in the past months. Take for instance the freedom to public protest. Protests against the American occupation and the primarily-Sunni Iraqi government have erupted in cities all over Iraq including violent demonstrations in Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood that is radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr's base of power. In reaction a 3-day total curfew has been imposed on Baghdad to contain the fighting and violent protests.

In a theme repeated by Senator McCain and others in recent weeks, the President accused Iran of arming and training and financing the militias. McCain famously confused Sunni Muslim al Qaeda in Iraq with Shiite Muslim Iranian supported operatives. Perhaps the administration, and their hopeful replacements, need a good map or even web access to Wikipedia.