A fragile peace begins to crack

CAP's Brian Katulis has a good article on their website outlining the cracks that are beginning to appear in the fragile peace currently experienced in Iraq. Confrontations between the Sunni 'Awakenings' and the official Iraqi security forces (predominantly Shia) will likely continue and even escalate as more and more of the Sunni forces feel that the government is not doing enough to include them in political activities nor hiring enough of their soldiers for the official army. Katulis outlines the problems and argues that although many in the US, particularly on the right, will call of Obama to slow any plans for troop withdrawal, the President must stick with the plan as it currently exists and begin to pull out American soldiers. He makes the accurate point that Iraqis will never be able to acheive full political reconciliation while the US military keeps the opposing sides at arms length from one another. However, his article fails to address the problem of Iraq descending into chaos as various groups attempt to consolidate power. There are few satisfactory answers to that question from either side but it is one that must be addressed as Iraqi elections, and US withdrawals, move inexorably closer.