The Shia leaders of Iraq have found a great way to alienate the Sunni population:
It did not take long for Col. Brian D. Jones to begin to have doubts about the new Iraqi commander.
The commander, Brig. Gen. Shakir Hulail Hussein al-Kaabi, was chosen this summer by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad to lead the Iraqi Army’s Fifth Division in Diyala Province. Within weeks, General Shakir went to Colonel Jones with a roster of people he wanted to arrest.
On the list were the names of nearly every Sunni Arab sheik and political leader whom American officers had identified as crucial allies in their quest to persuade Sunnis to embrace the political process and turn against the powerful Sunni insurgent groups here.
“Where’s the evidence?� Colonel Jones demanded of General Shakir. “Where’s the proof? What makes us suspect these guys? None of that stuff exists.�
To that, Colonel Jones recalled, the Iraqi commander replied simply, “I got this from Baghdad.�
American forces in Diyala. In the end, he said, he concluded that the Iraqi general’s real ambition was to destroy the Sunni political movement here — possibly on orders from Baghdad.
“I believe this is a larger plan to make Diyala a Shia province, rather than a Sunni province,� he said.
And what will the Sunnis do? That is right, they turn to militias for their safety.
And what will that result in? That is right, full, open civil war.
It almost seems that this is something the Shia want, doesn’t it. Either that, or they are simply stupid.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.