Basra is very much on the boil, with several grievances by the local population. Basically, they are all unemployed, and as the contracts at Basra and Um Qasr have been given to Kuwaiti firms, a lot are going to stay that way.
It is only a matter of time before the situation in the Shia areas blows like a gasket. One of the problems about the hunt for Sadaam Hussein is that if they do find him and kill him, it will bring the day of the Shia resistance a lot closer. At the moment, they are afraid of Sadaam coming back. When we show them that is impossible, the security situation will deteriorate.
Veil, I felt bad about the future (and for these soldiers and their families) when I read the article about this morning's attack in Basra. When I read your cogent analysis, I felt much worse. We seem to have gotten into something that Rumsfeld and Co. at the Pentagon never envisioned but which op-ed writers like Charley Reese did. Who among us believes that liberating Iraq is worth Hillary Clinton in the White House, who will appoint world federalist Supreme Court judges like Ginsberg who "look to international law" not the US Constitution; who will enact a sweeping radical social agenda; and who will ensure through all sorts of tinkering with the voting structure that they never leave office? As much respect as I have for our military and the brave men and women who won a decisive victory, I wonder more than ever what we're doing there and just how destructive an impact it will have on conservative politics in the US. It seems the scales are tipping.