July 7, 2006:
As promised, the Iraqi army has gone after the Shia militias responsible for the increasing number of attacks against Sunni Arabs. In Baghdad, this resulted in a major gun battle, with at least nine Shias killed. The soldiers were apparently trying to arrest a local associate of Shia militant leader Muqtada al Sadr. The "Sadr militia" has been responsible for a third or more of the violence against Sunni Arabs, and Iraqis Sunni Arabs want Sadr brought under control before the Sunni Arabs take down the Sunni Arab extremists.
July 6, 2006: The large number of charges brought against U.S. troops for crimes against civilians recently is partly coincidence (the rate of such incidents is much less than in past wars, but that is not considered news) and partly right out of the al Qaeda playbook. Making false accusations of atrocities, to attract media attention, is recommended in al Qaeda training documents, as a good way to keep the enemy off balance. After three years of defeats, al Qaeda, and their Iraqi Sunni Arab allies, are in need of some good news. Atrocities can be created, by forcing witnesses to make false claims, and to otherwise fabricate evidence. Anti-American media will not examine the evidence too closely, and will instead run with the story. That most of these claims turn out to be false is, again, not news, and the terrorists know it. Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes, to some at least, the truth.
July 5, 2006: In western Iraq, American marines swarmed into the main hospital in Ramadi and found, as their intel had indicated, that the place had been taken over by Islamic terrorists. The patients and staff had been threatened with death if they interfered with the Islamic terrorists, but word had gotten out anyway. The terrorists were using the hospital as a base, and, of course, a source of medical care for their wounded. A force of Iraqi police must now be stationed at the hospital to prevent the terrorists from returning.
July 4, 2006: Recent comments by Osama bin Laden, and other al Qaeda leaders, made it clear that Sunni Islamic radicals must join the battle against Shias in Iraq. Al Qaeda has always been about "purifying" Islam (by killing or converting all the heretics and "false Moslems") first, then going after all the infidels (non-Moslems). The attacks on the West were a sign of weakness, because by the 1990s, al Qaeda had suffered a string of defeats in Moslem nations. Western nations appeared more vulnerable, thus we ended up with 911. The West then, in classic fashion, carried the war back to the enemy. In Iraq, this has forced al Qaeda to return to its roots, and take on the hated Shia. Thus the growing proportion of terror attacks in Iraq directed at Shia. One recent attack even targeted pilgrims from Iran, on their way to the main Shia shrines in southern Iraq. Annoying Iran, a nation that is over 90 percent Shia, run by a religious dictatorship, and long the regional superpower, might seem a very stupid thing to do, but al Qaeda was never noted for well thought out plans. In response to all this, Iran is hosting a meeting of regional foreign ministers, to agree on a common policy towards Iraq, and Islamic terrorists. The Sunni Arab nations want Iraq to remain independent (and not an appendage of Iran), and for the attacks on Iraqi Sunni Arabs to stop. Iran is supporting Shia militias in Iraq, that are killing dozens of Sunni Arabs every week. The deal comes down to this. In return for helping shut down the Shia death squads in Iraq, Sunni Arab nations would cut off, as much as they can, support for Sunni Arab terrorists in Iraq (al Qaeda and several Iraqi groups).