Leaflets warn Baghdad residents to leave, stirring fearful memories as sectarian tensions rise

[xchrom]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/leaflets-warn-baghdad-residents-to-leave-stirring-fearful-memories-as-sectarian-tensions-rise/2013/02/25/cce1c2dc-7f17-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html

BAGHDAD — The fliers began turning up at Sunni households in the Iraqi capital’s Jihad neighborhood last week bearing a chilling message: Get out now or face “great agony” soon.

The leaflets were signed by the Mukhtar Army, a new Shiite militant group with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. “The zero hour has come. So leave along with your families. ... You are the enemy,” the messages warned.


Such overt threats all but disappeared as the darkest days of outright sectarian fighting waned in 2008 and Iraq stepped back from the brink of civil war. Their re-emergence now — nearly a decade after the U.S.-led invasion — is a worrying sign that rising sectarian tensions are again gnawing away at Iraqi society.

Iraqis increasingly fear that militants on both sides of the country’s sectarian divide are gearing up for a new round of violence that could undo the fragile gains Iraq has made in recent years.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Obviously nothing to do but fling more US troops and drones

back to Iraq to settle things.

[RC]

2. Where is Saddam now that we need him?

Oh, yeah, we murdered him after a kangaroo court trial with a stacked jury.

[MadHound]

3. This was inevitable,

You go in and try to rebuild a country in the image you want, as soon as you leave it will all be torn down and rebuilt in an image that the country's population wants. It happened in Vietnam, now in Iraq, and in Afghanistan as well. We cannot accomplish anything permanent or lasting with nation building, thus remaining in Afghanistan is futile and we should leave, now.

[bemildred]

4. It was sure and Hell forseeable.

Many of us out here have been waiting for it. Bush the Lesser and his dumbass "Masters of the Universe" handlers have thrown the whole region into chaos. And I will bet that if you asked those motherfuckers at the time, they would have said something like "a little chaos is a good thing".

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[TwilightGardener]

6. Can we go back to handing out money to the troublemakers?

What a stupid mess we made.