Descent into the maelstrom From KOS
Sunday WaPo: Iraq Officially FUBAR
Things are officially FUBAR in Iraq. There is really no other way to read this A1 bombshell from Sunday’s WaPo.
Un-freakin-believable…
Uprisings Force U.S. to Rethink Strategy in Iraq
BAGHDAD, April 17 — In the space of two weeks, a fierce insurgency in Iraq has isolated the U.S.-appointed civilian government and stopped the American-financed reconstruction effort, as contractors hunker down against waves of ambushes and kidnappings, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The events have also pressured U.S. forces to vastly expand their area of operations within Iraq, while triggering a partial collapse of the new Iraqi security services designed to gradually replace them
U.S. officials said they are reconsidering initial assessments that the uprisings might be contained as essentially military confrontations in Fallujah, where Marines continue their siege of a chronically volatile city, and Najaf, where the militant Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr has taken refuge in the shadow of a shrine.
In a fierce battle, 10 US troops, dozens of Iraqi insurgents killed in fighting.
A former ally is bailing out, Spain PM orders Iraq troops home.
Spain’s new prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has given orders for Spanish troops in Iraq to be brought home in “as short a time as possible”.
Winning their hearts and minds; Chapter 812:
Iraqi Health Minister presses authorities to explain U.S. targeting of Falluja ambulances