So the Iraqi forces are launching an operation --
Well, Iraq military adjacent at any rate. Ben Kamisar (The Hill) words it this way, "Iraqi-allied forces have launched a new offensive to retake two major provinces from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to local media reports." Simon Tomlinson (Telegraph of London) notes, "A spokesman for Iraq's Shi'ite militias boasted that the operation launched to retake the province from the Islamic State will 'not last for a long time' and that Iraqi forces have surrounded the provincial capital from three sides."
The Shi'ite militias -- noted for their abuses and their criminal actions -- are taking part in the action in Sunni Anbar?
No, they're leading it -- or saying that they are. Reuters reports, "Iraq's Shi'ite militia announced on Tuesday they had taken charge of the campaign to drive Islamic State from the western province of Anbar, giving the operation an openly sectarian codename that could infuriate its Sunni population." And the codename is Labaik ya Hussein to ensure that sectarian tensions rise even further.
Is anyone in charge?
Clearly Haider al-Abadi isn't.
Is the White House?
Is it just going to continue to fund and arm Shi'ite thugs who terrorize the Sunni population?
Apparently so.
Apparently the Leahy Amendment and international law don't matter one bit to 'constitutional scholar' Barack Obama.
Also unimportant is human life.
Iraqi Spring MC notes that southeast of Baquba, Shi'ite militias have burned ten houses and are telling people they must leave their village.
Kat's "Kat's Korner: Buffy Sainte-Marie's unwelcome return" went up last night and so did Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Winning."
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