What is going on in Iraq?

It is abundantly clear that the mess in Iraq is only going to get worse for some time to come. Instead of resolving the problems there the US has made them worse. Government intervention almost always does. But some things that are now happening are very troublesome. Consider that the US has helped put in power a government that appears to be engaged in religiously motivated assassinations.

The New York Times has a disturbing article on the topic. They write: "Three years after the American invasion, the war has settled here, in the quiet of neighborhoods, streets and Iraqis' backyards. Dozens of bodies surface daily. People are taken from their homes and executed. Assassinations are routine. But instead of looking to the government for protection, ordinary Sunni Arabs are taking up arms against it, perhaps the most vivid illustration of the depth of Sunni mistrust of the American backed, Shiite-led security forces. "There is no bridge of confidence between the government and the Iraqi people," said Tarik al-Hashimy, a vice president of Iraq who is a Sunni Arab."

Shiite police appear to be engaged in a terror campaign against Sunni. They are assassinating scores of people. There is one piece of good news (maybe): "As a counterweight to sectarian extremism, neighborhood watch groups often cross sectarian lines, with Sunni and Shiite neighbors standing guard together. Sunnis have even helped to protect Shiite neighbors from Sunni militias." Why "maybe"? If the people start to unite against the government and the police in Iraq it will be bad news for the US which put those police into office and helped that government come into power. The US created this mess and is responsible for the police and it better do something to clean it up.

It should be noted that Iraqi bloggers have reported on these assassinations weeks ago. They reported on the vehicles with armed policemen coming into neighbourhoods and killing people. It is good to see the mainstream media catching up.