Deer In The Headlights in Iraq

I remember once finding my cat, Ashley, and another strange cat, yowling at each other at close range. Both cats were in an extreme state of agitation. I thought to put an end to the confrontation, so I stomped directly between them. The chance of retribution removed by the presence of an intervening leg, both cats immediately attacked, and savaged my leg from both sides.

Something like that might be happening in Iraq. By and large, and with notable exceptions (Muqtada al-Sadr), we've been supporting the Shiite communities there as they flex their political powers, but we've also been trying to mollify the Sunni communities as well. Since we don't understand the neighborhood very well, we've been having trouble calibrating our efforts, and we've been making tons of terrible mistakes. Thus, we are in an unenviable place, with the possibility, maybe even likelihood, that both communities will unite to attack Americans. All that's required is a temporary truce between the warring communities, and it's open season on the Yanks!:

Some Shiites, according to al-Hayat, are saying that the US is deliberately attempting to provoke a civil war in Iraq. Among their concerns was the US military's announcement that the attack on the Mustafa Husayniyah in Ur was the work of an Iraqi military unit. Which unit? Where? To whom does it report? Is it little more than a death squad? Is it commanded by the Americans? Why didn't the Prime Minister know about this attack, which spilled over on Dawa Party offices? PM Jaafari is a member of the Dawa Party.

The Badr Organization, a political party that represents the paramilitary Badr Corps, the Shiite militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, demanded Monday that Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, be expelled from that country.