News from Iraq Gets Worse

With the bombing of Askariya shrine in Samarra, civil tension in Iraq took a strong turn for the worse today. This extremely holy shrine for Shiites was targeted, in the opinion of Iraqi government leaders, in order to foment war between the Shiites and the Sunnis. And it might just do it.

Whenever you're looking for insight into Iraq or the greater Middle East, it's always a good idea to take a look at Informed Comment, the blog of Professor Juan Cole. His first post on the subject is very stark, indeed.

Tuesday was an apocalyptic day in Iraq. I am not normally exactly sanguine about the situation there. But the atmospherics are very, very bad, in a way that most Western observers will miss.

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Both Sunnis and Americans will be blamed. Very bad

Take a look at his second post, too, in which he provides links with more details about the resulting violence and the underlying implications. There's nothing much to do but watch and hope the whole thing doesn't spiral even further out of control. I think right-wingers assume that this is the kind of thing progressives hope for, a debacle that can be hung around the Prez's neck. The truth is that this will be bad for everyone.