Sectarian wars

I can't tell if this latest rash of bombings is a last gasp from the Sunni insurgents desperate to derail Iraq's new government, or if this is just the beginning of full blown civil war. There's an interesting article in Newsweek about how the Shiites are listening to Grand Ayatollah Sistani, who is telling them to not engage in sectarian warfare. If I'm to venture a guess, a guy like that probably thinks this is the Sunni's last gasp. If, after weeks of straight bombings, the government still holds, then he may be onto something.

Still, I can't help but wonder if that country, with 150,000 U.S. troops and an increasing amount of its own countrymen belonging to police forces, will ever be able to get its act together. Iraq's people must take the reins of soveriegnty in their own hands - the U.S. will not be able to do it for them. It will be a remarkable thing indeed if Iraq becomes a democracy in spite of our own bungled efforts to create it.