While the White House continues to get bogged down by the Rove scandal, Iraq is a brew with all the ingredients for a civil war: chronically high unemployment, sporadic electricity and water, a weak occupying force, and a general sense of insecurity. Faith in the government, if there ever was any, seems to be faltering in the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. From Reuters:
Iraqis have begun barricading themselves in their homes and forming neighborhood militias in an effort to fend off relentless suicide attacks, residents in the capital said on Monday.When a member of parliament is arguing for militias, perhaps even parliament has lost faith in their ability to govern the country?
The measures come amid waning confidence in the Iraqi police and other security forces as they struggle to get on top of the two-year-old insurgency. In the latest attack, 98 people were killed by a suicide truck bomb south of Baghdad on Saturday.
A senior member of Iraq's parliament on Sunday called for popular militias to be created as an extra line of defense against the militants, and criticized the government for failing to stop the bombs.
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While there was some backing for his proposal, there are concerns militias formed along sectarian lines could lead the country ever closer to civil war, with Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs already involved in tit-for-tat killings.
Despite that fear, local militias have already been formed in several Baghdad areas, and at least two Shi'ite political movements have their own powerful private armies.
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They carry a piece of paper signed by the Iraqi army granting them permission to carry out the patrols. Rob's Note: Are these legitimate letters? Is this is now a policy of the new Iraqi Army? Perhaps an enterprising journalist might find out the answer to this.
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"We are scared even inside our homes -- we expect attacks at any moment," said Hamid Hashim, a teacher in Aadhamiya who has padlocks on his doors. "Our children are never allowed out of the house, even if that may hurt them psychologically."
Shi'ite lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated and fear militants will succeed in their aim of provoking sectarian conflict if greater efforts are not made to quell the insurgency.
"The multinational forces have to take responsibility for the bloodshed," said Sheikh Jalal-el-din al-Sagheer, a member of the main Shi'ite bloc in parliament.
