Trouble in Iraq -- Part II

Well, you didn't have to be Nostradamus to see this one coming.

Well, yesterday I was trying to explain some of the "sectarian violence" in Iraq. Today. lo and behold, sectarian violence in Iraq.

Blast at Iraqi Shiite Shrine Spawns Reprisals Against Sunnis

(From Associated Press)

SAMARRA, Iraq -- A large explosion heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shiite shrines today, spawning mass protests and triggering reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques. It was the third major attack against Shiite targets this week and threatened to stoke sectarian tensions.

Shiite leaders called for calm, but militants attacked Sunni mosques and a gunfight broke out between Shiite militiamen and guards at the offices of a Sunni political party in Basra. About 500 soldiers were sent to Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad to prevent clashes between Shiites and Sunnis, Army Capt. Jassim al-Wahash said.

A leading Sunni politician, Tariq al-Hashimi, said 29 Sunni mosques had been attacked nationwide. He urged clerics and politicians to calm the situation "before it spins out of control."

So, what does this mean?

Well, you know it can't be good, so it's a question of how bad will it get. Right now people are appealing for calm.

The country's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques, especially the major ones in Baghdad. He called for seven days of mourning, his aides said.

The Sunni Endowment, a government organization that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, condemned the blast and said it was sending a delegation to Samarra to investigate.

(To review, the Shiites. although a majority in Iraq, were cut out of power for most of the 20th century by the Sunni minority. The bombed mosque was sacred to the Shiites, and so was probably bombed by Sunnis -- or possibly insurgents for whom chaos in Iraq is a good thing. (Although I believe the bombers were reported to be wearing uniforms of Iraqi Security forces. ( Of course, anyone can get uniforms.)))

For an anlysis of the situation, try this. It's from the PBS evening news show Newshour (whihc gets my seal of approval. If you can only watch one nightly news show, this is the one to watch.

You can read the article, or listen to it via Real Audio. Host Gwen Ifill talks with Ed Wong, a reporter for the New York Times. Here are some highlights:

• EDWARD WONG: The sectarian attacks have been going on for quite sometime now in Iraq. Basically for at least a year or more we've had a low level of civil war here, even though many people don't want to call it a civil war. But everyone on the ground here undoubtedly thinks there is one. So far, we're not - as far as we can tell - we're not heading towards a large-scale civil war anytime in the coming days.

Whew! (I think.) So there won't be a civil war breaking out. There already is one going one. (But it's a small one.)

• EDWARD WONG: Well, Muqtada's officials, his high-ranking officials in his organization came out in a press conference and basically also called for restraint, just like many of the other Shiite leaders did, including Ayatollah Sistani, but in Sadr City what you saw was just some members of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia driving around with Kalashnikovs, driving around in cars, and there were - was a lot of anger there.

A lot of it was directed at Americans; it was directed at both Sunnis and at terrorists or insurgents, but a lot of them were also blaming the Americans for what had happened and oftentimes you do hear this rhetoric, you do hear this talk at a lot of bomb sites.

And Muqtada's people have been especially anti-American and he's never backed down from that stand. So you do have a lot of angry young men out there with guns who are angry at not only Sunni Arabs but also at Americans and at other occupying powers here.

So we're getting the blame, when we didn't even have anything to do with it?

Yep.