If you want to find out what our invasion of Iraq has caused, look no further than yesterday's photo-op between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The two Shiite leaders are trying to build a lasting bond that they hope will continue even after the U.S. occupation in Iraq comes to an end (which ever decade that might be).
The two leaders agreed on a deal that would give them joint control over a number of oil refineries along the Iraq-Iran border. Iraq's oil minister said that the bond will deepen the commercial ties between his country and Iran.
In many ways, this war in Iraq has not only resulted in the deaths of thousands of U.S troops, angered our allies and polarized the Middle East all together, but also has helped form a Shiite Crescent of Iranian geopolitical power that spans from Tehran through Baghdad to Beirut.
Meanwhile, the violence continues in Iraq:
- 24 people were killed yesterday in a wave of bombings in Baghdad and throughout Iraq.
- Thanks to the war in Iraq, many al Qaeda leaders are returning to Afghanistan with a new skill of building bombs, which they plan to use in the effort to destabilize Hamid Karzai's Afghan democratic government. The Christian Science Monitor interviewed a Taliban militant in Afghanistan. "That's part of our strategy - we are trying to bring [the Iraqi model] to Afghanistan," says the fighter. "Things will get worse here." This should worry those who would favor an increased U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan in proportion to Iraq (such as myself). There will be a lot of fighting in the coming months.
- A top Marine in Iraq says that the U.S. mission is not to defeat the insurgency. Then what is it?
- A Miami-Dade soldier was killed this week in Iraq. He was originally supposed to come home in July -- that was until his tour was extended 120 days. Our prayers go to his family.
- NBC Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski wrote a report about Iraq's Anbar Province, which according to military sources is a lost cause.
- A grim milestone has been reached. More Americans have died in Iraq than on 9/11.
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Other sites blogging about Iraq: Crooks and Liars, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Agonist, Boing Boing, AmericaBlog, Raw Story, Wonkette, The Passionate Center, Intoxination, Media Matters, Last Chance Democracy Cafe, Newsvine, Andrew Sullivan, Gun Toting Liberal, The Daily Drip.
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