Dogs & Politics

I went to a party at an embassy the other night which was good fun. It was only then that I realised that I hadn't really met anyone here on the diplomatic side of things here yet. A good bunch, and they sounded keen to get me out from time to time which will be good. I have been invited to another embassy this week so I look forward to that. I was talking to one person and the conversation started getting political. She was basically blaming the country's ills on the Sunni and pointing out that they have killed women and children with their brand of violence. I had to bite my tongue and excuse myself to go for a piss.

I think the general view is that Sunni = insurgent and Shia = sectarian death squad. To my mind, anything which is designed to destabilise security here should be considered insurgency whether it's sectarian or not. I am no apologist for either side - for me a coffin is a coffin, no matter the size of it. That's one aspect of western reporting that has always had me scratching my head.

The impression I get from what is happening out there is that a lot of the security situation is attributable to the Shia. The Ministry of Interior is controlled by the Shia, and therefore the police are almost, if not entirely, Shia. There is pressure on the PM now to start reigning the Shia in, as he is considered to be cutting them too much slack. Sunnis don't trust the police so the Sunni neighbourhoods have their own security forces. There were a couple of mass kidnappings last week - one from a meat factory and one from a computer centre - and the Sunni are saying that the Shia police stood by and allowed it to happen. Of course, none of this makes the Sunni insurgents blameless, although many Iraqis believe there are a lot of foreign terrorists, particularly Syrians, in the country whipping up hatred. It is a tiny minority of the population carrying these acts out, and often with assistance from outsiders. It may therefore be that some of the bombings are being perpetrated by Syrians but blamed on Sunnie. Either way, Iraqis just want this to stop so they can get on and rebuild their lives.

Things have definitely got worse out there the last 2 or 3 weeks. It's hard to get an objective view of what is happening, but I think that fragmentation of neighbourhoods has been happening on a pretty big scale sadly. Q moved last week to his wife's parents' place so at least he is safer but how must it be for him to have to do that? Some Iraqis I have spoken to think there will be no such thing as Iraq in the long run - it will split along ethnic lines. I can certainly see why that is what some are resigning themselves to, but it's still too early to tell. I still hope that things will get better in the long run.

Enough of that. Here is a picture I got emailed that has been making me laugh all day. Nothing to do with Iraq.