forget those crimes - look at the big picture
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238
Tony Cordesman, an ABC News consultant, writes: “We need to be
careful not to focus too much on possible US crimes in Iraq and
ignore what seems to be the failure of the operation to take back
control of Baghdad and bring the militias back under control. The
weekend indicates that this operation has accomplished nothing that
really help reestablish order in a city where even the most
conservative counts indicate close to 60% of the violence in Iraq is
now occurring.”
“The question of whether the Mahdi militia simply lashed out or
deliberately attempted to destabilize the new government is equally
critical. The most important single test Maliki faces in the short
run is showing he can establish order in the capital, make sure the
MOI and MOD do not support Shi’ite violence, and that the militias
are under control. So far, he is failing on all three counts — along
with a long-planned US effort to have Iraqi forces establish control
once the new government was chosen.”