From The Associated Press, 9/1/06:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060901/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq
Pentagon gives gloomy Iraq report
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - Sectarian violence is spreading in Iraq and the security
problems have become more complex than at any time since the U.S.
invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report said Friday.
In a notably gloomy report to Congress, the Pentagon reported that
illegal militias have become more entrenched, especially in Baghdad
neighborhoods where they are seen as providers of both security and
basic social services.
The report described a rising tide of sectarian violence, fed in part
by interference from neighboring Iran and Syria and driven by a "vocal
minority" of religious extremists who oppose the idea of a democratic
Iraq.
Death squads targeting mainly Iraqi civilians are a growing problem,
heightening the risk of civil war, the report said.
"Death squads and terrorists are locked in mutually reinforcing cycles
of sectarian strife," the report said, adding that the Sunni-led
insurgency "remains potent and viable" even as it is overshadowed by
the sect-on-sect killing.
"Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq, specifically
in and around Baghdad, and concern about civil war within the Iraqi
civilian population has increased in recent months," the report said.
It is the latest in a series of quarterly reports required by Congress
to assess economic, political and security progress.
Iraqi forces were dealing with more violence Friday as officials said
a mortar attack on an open-air market in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles
south of Baghdad, killed three people and wounded 12.
Elsewhere, two policemen were also killed and authorities said they
found the body of a Saddam Hussein-era intelligence officer who had
been kidnapped and shot.
The bloodshed capped a week in which hundreds of Iraqis were killed
despite a security crackdown that targeted some of Baghdad's most
violent neighborhoods.
A growing number of members of Congress are calling for either a shift
in the Bush administration's Iraq strategy or a timetable for
beginning a substantial withdrawal of American forces.
Although administration officials say progress is being made in Iraq,
U.S. commanders have increased U.S. troop levels by about 13,000 over
the past five weeks, to 140,000, mainly due to increased violence in
the Baghdad area.
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And the "good" news is...uh......wait....they'll get back to you;
Republican administration spends $20 million to create "good" news
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083003011_pf.html
Harry
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