Analysis: Raid Exposes U.S.-Shiite Rift
Council on Foreign Relations
March 28, 2006
Prepared by: Robert McMahon
As sectarian violence has worsened in Iraq, cooler heads among the Shiite, Sunni, and Kurd leadership have been counted on to press ahead with talks on forming a national unity government. But a U.S.-backed raid in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad now threatens to fuel new tensions (WashPost) among the groups vying for power and prolong Iraq's political vacuum. Shiite leaders crucial to the formation of a new cabinet temporarily suspended political talks in response to the raid, in which they claimed innocent Shiite worshipers were gunned down in a mosque. U.S. military officials say the raid was a successful strike against insurgents (ChiTrib); Iraqi troops leading the raid found a weapons cache and released a hostage. The incident is also highlighting frictions between U.S. and Shiite leaders. Shiite politicians say President Bush has sent a message saying he does not want Ibrahim al-Jaafari to continue (NYT) as prime minister.
Circumstances remain murky about the weekend raid, with at least three versions of events now in circulation (al-Jazeera). But it is likely to raise questions about U.S. efforts to hand over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces. The most immediate challenge for U.S. and Iraqi officials is to head off a growing rivalry (LAT) between Iraq's Sunni-controlled Defense Ministry, which oversees the troops who took part in the raid, and the Shiite-led police force. Sectarian conflict appears to be responsible for most of the nearly 800 deaths since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra on February 22.
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Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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