Battle for Baghdad 'has already started'

[grytpype]

More of that naughty bad news from Iraq...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article353501.ece

By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil
Published: 25 March 2006

The battle between Sunni and Shia Muslims for control of Baghdad has already started, say Iraqi political leaders who predict fierce street fighting will break out as each community takes over districts in which it is strongest.

"The fighting will only stop when a new balance of power has emerged," Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish leader, said. "Sunni and Shia will each take control of their own area." He said sectarian cleansing had already begun.

Many Iraqi leaders now believe that civil war is inevitable but it will be confined, at least at first, to the capital and surrounding provinces where the population is mixed. "The real battle will be the battle for Baghdad where the Shia have increasing control," said one senior official who did not want his name published. "The army will disintegrate in the first moments of the war because the soldiers are loyal to the Shia, Sunni or Kurdish communities and not to the government." He expected the Americans to stay largely on the sidelines.

Also from the article:

• The new Iraqi Army will fall apart once intercommunal fighting begins in earnest.
• "A senior Arab minister, who asked not to be named, said: 'The government could end up being only a few buildings in the Green Zone.'"
• "The mood among Iraqi leaders, both Arabs and Kurds, is far gloomier in private than the public declarations of the US and British government."

No word on how many schools were painted this week, but I bet it was a lot.