http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040405-010855-2244rWhen U.S. troops supported by battle tanks toppled Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad's Firdous Square last April 9, heralding the end of the Baath regime's dictatorship, the Pentagon planners of the Iraq war believed the worst was over. But little did they know what would come next.
The sudden flare-up of fighting over the past few days has seen some of the worst violence yet, and all indications lead us to believe the situation can only get worse. The announcement by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority on Monday of an arrest warrant issued for Ayatollah Moqtada al-Sadr, who they say is wanted for murder, will undoubtedly feed the current unrest, giving the Iraq conflict a new -- and precarious -- dimension.
The violent clashes in Baghdad, Najaf, Fallujah and other parts of Iraq as of Monday has left at least 13 American troops dead and many more wounded; additionally, a Salvadoran soldier killed when a mob forced a live grenade into his mouth; scores of Iraqi Shiites have been killed and hundreds more wounded. snip
But this recent outbreak involving the Shiite community sets a dangerous precedent and has moved the conflict to previously quieter areas of the country. If not intelligently addressed, it could rapidly broaden into a quagmire and draw the United States into a vicious version of an Iraqi intifada, and a conflict without a foreseeable end.
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