| Saboteurs have long prevented oil from being pumped from Kirkuk to Turkey through sabotage of the oil pipelines. But on Sunday they struck in the south, as well, at the Baghdad-Basra oil pipeline. The guerrillas are attempting to keep the country from stabilizing with regard to fuel and services, in hopes of making the US and its successor regime unpopular on a continuing basis. |
I don't think that's going to be a problem.
| In Karbala, the Coalition Provisional Authority gave in to popular demand, and said that the new 40-person provincial council recently appointed by the Americans would be subjected to a vote of religious leaders and notables. I'm confused by this story, since US AID had asked the Research Triangle Institute to form these councils in association with local notables. So why was CPA official John Perry appointing a new council now, by fiat?
Some of the impatience Shiite leaders such as Sistani and al-Hakim evince with US "stalling" on elections derives from the high-handed and authoritarian way the US has behaved with regard to governance in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. The first US-appointed mayor of Karbala was a Sunni Baathist officer, who went on to kidnap Shiite notables and hold them for ransom! |
Sigh.
....ah hell, do what you want....you will anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. There may be some delay before your comment is published. It all depends on how much time M has in the day. But please comment!