Regarding the UK Times article on the Sunni-Shia 'civil war', the media is totally ignoring a key part this- the Shia are largely fighting the Sunni insurgents, not just any Sunni, who have been trying to provoke a larger civil war between Sunni and Shia.These are mostly bad guys killing bad guys, with occasional violence towards innocent bystanders.
Those 'unidentifiable ,blindfolded, beheaded men that the NYT reports as killed in the 'civil war' every week are the result of this clash.
Notice how all of these 'victims' are military-age men? They are sorting one another out each week and killing the best of the worst.
No question, our senior military commanders know this is so and are relegated much to the sidelines as this plays out.
Ask yourself, if the Shia's most holiest shrine is destroyed by 'jihadists' and other Sunni extremists, are the Shia going to come after the Americans? Remember, in Iraq, the enemy of my enemy is my friend (even if they are Americans).

Posted by: j house at January 16, 2007 11:25 AM

Does someone understand that Iranians do not favor the current Islamist regime? I am no fan of MKO, but does someone here ever read articles from the Iranfocus site? Does someone understand about the complexity of ethnic unrest within Iran, such as Kurds demanding their own state, Arabs unhappy about their lack of share of oil, and Azeris seen as cockroach from the Persians? Does someone understand about several attacks within the southwest region and east region? Does someone understand that there were chanting slogans by Iranians against the regime? Iranians are not blood thirsty enough for a bloody revolution, but it shouldn't be that hard to wage a civil war. There are also voices that if Iran's nuclear site was bombed by air raids, the regime will soon colapse. I have had discussions with several Iranians, and I only get an impression that the regime is totally unpopular, except for the minority of Islamists.

Posted by: pedestrian at January 15, 2007 7:46 AM

On gun boat dipolmacy... honestly.. who will fight the Iranians on the ground?

The Ground forces is already damaged... over stretched... and needs retraining...

So this leaves.... Isarel? With The Frecnh/italians caught in the middle of syria?

Bush is honestly on the verge of collapse'n the 'empire'.

Posted by: ding at January 15, 2007 2:32 AM