Sure Honey, I Promise I’ll Pull Out
by digby
Last night, President Obama sent notice to congress that he is going to delay the Iraq withdrawal. Here’s why:
General Ray Odierno, the US commander, had been due to give the order within 60 days of the general election held in Iraq on 7 March, when the cross-sectarian candidate Ayad Allawi edged out the incumbent leader, Nouri al-Maliki.
American officials had been prepared for delays in negotiations to form a government, but now appear to have balked after Maliki’s coalition aligned itself with the theocratic Shia bloc to the exclusion of Allawi, who attracted the bulk of the minority Sunni vote. There is also concern over interference from Iraq’s neighbours, Iran, Turkey and Syria.
Late tonight seven people were killed and 22 wounded when a car bomb planted outside a cafe exploded in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a Shia area, police and a source at the Iraqi interior ministry said.
The latest bomb highlights how sectarian tensions are rising, as al-Qaida fighters in Iraq and affiliated Sunni extremists have mounted bombing campaigns and assassinations around the country.
The violence is seen as an attempt to intimidate all sides of the political spectrum and press home the message to the departing US forces that militancy remains a formidable foe.
Odierno has kept a low profile since announcing the deaths of al-Qaida’s two leaders in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri, who were killed in a combined Iraqi-US raid on 18 April. The operation was hailed then as a near fatal blow against al-Qaida, but violence has intensified ever since.
Who could have seen that coming?
Meanwhile:
Shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone. If the people get load of this they might not agree to spending their golden years selling pencils for catfood.
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