Things fall apart

The center cannot hold. Not that there ever was a "center" in Iraq, but we couldn't be bothered with such trivialities in our heated rush to blow things up. Now we're woefully undermanned and underequipped to stop civil war, as Generals Zinni, Shinseki, and others foresaw. At this point we're just throwing lives away in a futile attempt to forestall the inevitable.

Attacks Kill 20 in Iraq as U.S. Warns Against Divisions - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 20 — At least 20 people were killed in insurgent attacks today, including a Marine, as Iraq's political factions remained at odds, and the American ambassador renewed warnings against the formation of a government based on militias and sectarian movements.

Talks on forming a unity government had stalled over the weekend as deep divisions between different factions had become apparent.

Also today, the governor of the province of Karbala in the Shiite south announced that he was suspending all dealings with American troops and barring them from government buildings for "behaving irresponsibly."

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