Iraq Simmering Not Boiling For Now (cont.)

TW: Iraq barely makes headlines which in a way is a good thing. But the absence of coverage has more to do with the attention shift to Afghanistan partly due to MSM's lack of funds to cover more than one war at a time. It does not mean things are settled much less over. Am reading over and over that while progress has been made the Sunni/Shiite/Kurd divide remains wide as ever. Maliki is a Shiite whose Sunni bonafides do not appear to be growing.

We are going to greatly reduce our forces barring a massive shift in realities on the ground. What Iraq will look like a year from now is anybody's guess.

From Joe Klein at Time:
"...the arrest of a key leader of the Sunni Awakening Councils in Diyala province is not a good sign. Diyala, which is located just northeast of Baghdad has been one of the toughest provinces to calm over the past two years, in part because it is not pure of sect--the Sunnis represent a significant minority. Diyala is, then, a crucial test for the Maliki government's effort to reintegrate Sunnis into the government...and there are far too many indications that Maliki is failing in Diyala and elsewhere.

I'd suspect that a good part of the rising body count in Iraq is being orchestrated to coincide with the planned departure of U.S. troops from the major cities, which is to take place over the next month. But there is a growing danger that Iraq could backslide into civil war--not just between Sunni and Shiites, but between Arabs and Kurds--if Maliki doesn't start making a more determined effort to reunite his country."