[Asclepius]

They have no mercy.

But they do have a certain, je ne sai qua, no?

[American Soldier]

"We have caught at least 35 of them. In the past we have given them to the Americans. They have kept a few, but we know they have let the others go. Now we must deal with these prisoners ourselves."

Sounds like a good idea. I'd like these guys dead, but I'd prefer that we not have our guys carrying out summary executions. Let the locals clean things up.

[Justa]

Gee, but where are the human shields?

[marktwain]

The American military is encouraging self-rule by having them police their own areas. It is insane the way this article tries to spin this as Americans encouraging Civil War.

I think it is brilliant in that it teaches the Iraqis that the other Arab states preffered to keep them tortured and oppressed, rather than allow freedom. It also shows the difference between Basra in the south, where the British are trying to disarm the populace, and the North, where the Americans are trying to trust the populace with self-rule and self-defense.

[COBOL2Java]

US officials in Baghdad acknowledge privately that Sunni fighters, financed from Saudi Arabia, are in Iraq and have been attacking Shia areas.

I am hopeful that Bush will be able to read the riot act to the house of Saud in the same way he has to Junior Assad. Not wildly optimistic, but hopeful.

[BlackBirdII]

"The Americans, however, do not appear to be doing anything about this emerging civil war"

Wow !, this reporter must have scooped everyone on this "emerging civil war"

[Arpege92]

Aren't these the same people who demand that Americans leave Iraq? They can't have it both ways....it's time they start cleaning up their own messes.

[OperationFreedom]

To the punk mentioned at the beginning... "answer my questions or I will saddam you."

[TheAngryClam]

"semi-automatic rifles had been fired into the crowd."

You would think with all those AK-47s lying around, they could find one or two that would be fully automatic, wouldn't you?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Very interesting, why don't we see reports of this in our media?