Baghdad in chaos..... Juan Cole

[snowbird42]

ecurity Situation in Baghdad Sinking like the Titanic

An observer in Iraq writes to me:

"The situation has deteriorated in Baghdad dramatically today. Five neighborhoods (hay) in Baghdad are controlled by insurgents, and they are Amiraya, Ghazilya, Shurta, Yarmouk and Doura. It is very bad. My guys there report that cars have come into these neighborhoods and blocked off the streets. Masked gunmen with AKs and other weapons are roaming these areas, announcing that people should stay home. One of my drivers in Amiraya reports that his neighborhood is shut down totally, and even those who need food or provisions are warned not to go out.

The government will respond feebly. It will go into a contested neighborhood, and then just like Fallujah, Ramadi, Tel Afar, the insurgents will flee to take over another area on another day. Bit by bit they are taking over the main parts of Baghdad. The only place we are sure they cannot control is Sadr City, unless of course they want to take on Jaish Mahdy , and that would be bloody.

A few minutes ago Jaafari came on television to tell everyone in Baghdad to stay home. Can't wait for his next bold move.

There are flyers in public areas of Baghdad warning people not to gather in large numbers because they will thereby become targets. I am trying to get a copy of the flyer.

Notwithstanding Al-Hayat's claim that Zarqawi and the Sunni resistance are not together, my street listeners claim otherwise. My folks are convinced that the two groups, broadly defined, are together, "100 percent" is the claim of certainty. It is hard to get a handle on this because people in Baghdad tend to lump all resistance groups, except for Zarqawi, into one large category.

More and more of even the most patriotic intelligentsia are departing. The situation is dire, and those with escape valves are using them. sending more of staff to Arbil and Sulamaniyah and out of Baghdad. Until about March this year, thought that there was a chance of returning to Baghdad. It is remarkable how incapable this government is. Its only success is that it exists at all.

In the meantime, the embassy people act as if nothing in Baghdad is wrong (except that they cannot walk in the Green Zone without body armor and they have to take precautions against kidnapping). Recently, a group from State and the military parachuted in from Washington . . . It is a fantasy world."

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

1. Could they be...

...trying to tell us something?--Yankee Go Home, perhaps?

http://www.karlandkinggeorge.com/Yankee_Go_Home.html

[enough]

2. Iraq??? Is that still going on???

[MadisonProgressive]

3. Do you have a link?

If true, it looks like the wheels really ARE coming off!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. link here ...

http://www.juancole.com/

[arewenotdemo]

4. I read Cole but have the impression that if things

had gone swimmingly, the Iraq adventure would have been OK with him. He has justified it on occasion.

[paulk]

9. I've never gotten that impression from him

this juan cole?

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/


that just seems -

I don't know...

crazy???

[confludemocrat]

18. Oh yes, he has said he supported the war aims, but he is very straightfor-

ward about what is going on, no platitudes no bullshit. Because of that people like Amy Goodman have had him on fairly often.

[Zhade]

5. Juan Cole is top-notch.

Kicked and recommended (I was #5, yay!)

[welshTerrier2]

6. and still the Democrats won't call for withdrawal ...

are they all blind ?????

[confludemocrat]

7. Kerry, Clinton, Biden, Bayh, Lieberman: complete the mission (n/t)

[CoffeeCat]

11. Ok..."Complete the mission"....WTF is the mission??????

We were told we were going to Iraq to:

Oust Saddam and find weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam is out. Mission accomplished (sorry for my choice of words)

No WMD.

So, WTF are we doing in Iraq?

[Auntie Bush]

13. Didn't you know? Where have you been? Sleeping under a rock?

We are giving them freedom and democracy and fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here! We are keeping you safe and protected from terrorists! "sarcasm"
Pardon me while I go puke! Better yet...I'll go to bed...and get some sleep while I dream of kicking the sh** out of bush.

[npincus]

16. Exactly.

[confludemocrat]

17. Kerry was there lately (during Katrina), I heard. Did he say anything? or

was he speechless about what he saw?

[roguevalley]

15. If I hear H. Clinton tout the war ONE MORE TIME I'M GOING TO

SCREAM! if she is so DAMNED for it, PUT CHELSEA IN IT! DO IT OR STFU!

[missouri dem 2]

8. Link:

http://www.juancole.com/

[Neshanic]

12. When is the Playboy Bunny show like in "Apocalypse Now?"

It's like Vietnam, but on fast forward.

[libodem]

14. I thought the green zone was the safe part

seems to me that was where all the money we have poured into Iraq went. BTW...what are the good things that have happened over there that the liberal media is hiding from us? I hear this over and over from the right-wing pundits...there is all this glorious progress but it's a secret because the liberal media wants us to hate this war. (sarcasm) Somebody find out and post a link please.

[PurityOfEssence]

19. "...a group from State and the military parachuted in from Washington..."?

Is this metaphorical, or is this some kind of urban Dien Bien Phu?

If it's true, that's really scary; no matter how fortified a small area is, if the enemy is numerous enough, it can be overrun.

[KansDem]

20. Damn, this reads like Bush's approach to New Orleans...

Just change a few names...