To the barricades! Snapshot of Iraq's civil war

[tocqueville]

By Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed

BAGHDAD - The new clashes between Shi'ite militiamen dressed in Iraqi military and police uniforms and resistance fighters and residents from the Sunni Adhamiya district of Baghdad have convinced many that what Baghdad is witnessing is no less than a civil war.

For a long time, some leaders from both the Shi'ite and the Sunni communities have been trying to promote peace, but this has done little to check the escalating sectarian violence that followed the February 22 bombing of the Shi'ite Golden Mosque in Samarra.

Over several weeks before the new clashes broke out on Monday and Tuesday this week, Adhamiya residents had been barricading streets with tires and the trunks of date-palm trees to keep kidnappers and "death squads" away. But clashes broke out about 12:30am on Monday after a "police" raid on the area.

"We'd had sporadic fighting for several nights before, but nothing like this," a man who asked to be referred to as Abu Aziz told Inter Press Service (IPS). "My family and I thought a war had broken out because so many heavy guns, mortars and rocket propelled grenades were being used." Residents said the attack was clearly carried out by Shi'ite militia. IPS saw the sky over the area glow red through the night, as US military helicopters hovered above.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HD21Ak01.html

[Botany]

1. Thanx for the post.

I wonder when our "liberal media" is going to cover this story?

[annabanana]

2. When we hear about these clashes...

I'm guessing it's "Iraqi military units vs insurgents...."

makes it sound less "civil war-y"

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Right. And, technically speaking,

Gettysburg was US military units vs insurgents, too.