Iraq and Afghanistan

Mixed Signals in Iraq



Today's news from Iraq is as confusing as ever. Zarqawi was quick to
claim "credit" for the assassination of the governor of Ninevah.
However, this may be a false claim. His group claimed that he had been
beheaded, when he was killed in an ambush. Of course, this could be
just a figure of speech, but in the context of recent actual beheadings
this seems unlikely.



The Mahdi Army of al-Sadr is congratulating itself on helping the
police put down common criminals in their recent sweeps. In spite of
their bravado and continued anti-Americanism, such cooperation can only
be seen as a good sign.



The American army reports that it is involved in a complex game of
measure and countermeasure with groups setting roadside bombs.
Evidently, we have been steadily improving our means of detecting such
devices, while the Iraqi insurgents have been steadily improving their
ability to defeat our detection devices. The army's judgment is that
the people behind this campaign are highly skilled technicians. The
army also seems to believe (on what evidence is unclear) that some of
those involved in this game are doing it simply for the money rather
than out of dedication to a cause. Whatever the case, it would seem to
me that this is more likely the work of the old Baath rather than
Zarqawi's fanatics — but in this confusing world it is hard to be sure.