IRAQ: A Dead Gynecologist –updated–
UPDATE (11:05 a.m.): Tuesday was a big, very bad day for us: 10 U.S. soldiers died yesterday in Iraq.
Ten U.S. troops were killed in Iraq on Tuesday, one of the bloodiest days of the war for American forces outside of major combat operations. With nearly two full weeks to go until the end of October, the month is proving to be devastatingly lethal for both U.S. forces and Iraq's military and civilian populations. …
Some things just have special meaning, especially if you're a woman. This is
one of them.
But amidst the piled up corpses, Maliki has finally made a move. I
could just as well have titled this Maliki gets off his ass. However, I didn't.
But that's the lede.
Maliki's action did not come out of any organic desire to get Iraq going, as
far as I can tell. It came out of the public climate from this country, which
is close to exploding from the center of power over there. The world can feel it. Some in Iraq are not happy with Maliki's latest actions. You can't please everyone all the time and it could cost the Iraqis their first government no matter what Maliki does.
The American people have had it and we're a few months
away from the U.S. redeploying, aka a “phased withdrawal,” by any objective standard that can measure reality.
That is if you're brave enough to assess Iraq honestly. Don't look to Bush or
the Republicans for that, because they're paralyzed with the election terrain.
Change is afoot.
The Iraqi government removed the country’s two most senior police commanders
from their posts on Tuesday, in the first broad move against the top leadership
of Iraq’s unruly special police forces.The two generals had led Iraq’s special police commandos and its public
order brigade, both widely criticized as being heavily infiltrated by Shiite
militias. Their removal comes at a crucial time for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal
al-Maliki, who has come under intense American pressure to purge Iraq’s
security forces of the militias and death squads that operate within their
ranks.(snip)
The two generals, Rasheed Fleyah and Mahdi Sabeh, both Shiites, had been
in their posts since the previous government, under which abuses by largely
Shiite police forces began. Iraq’s Sunnis deeply fear the police commandos
that grew out of control soon after a coalition of Shiite parties came to
power last year.(snip)
Another serious problem for American officials is Mr. Maliki’s refusal
to allow a major crackdown on Mr. Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army.(snip)
In all, 19 people were killed in violence across Iraq on Tuesday, Reuters
reported, including the shooting deaths of 4 college students and a gynecologist
in Basra in southern Iraq. Authorities found 30 bodies across Baghdad on Tuesday,
an Interior Ministry official said.
Four dead college students were found.
A gynecologist was found shot in Basra. A gynecologist. It doesn't scream from the page, but is just another statistic. However, do you catch
the meaning, my western friends? I wonder if Condi, Laura or Karen Hughes get
it. Sadly, even if the do they won't say a word about it.
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