The Real Story .... As Usual

The fighting continues apace in Iraq with Bush happily pointing out that it's a good thing that the Iraqi's are standing up and providing security in their own country. Except, as usual, it's a lie:

The WP off-leads its Iraq story and says there are hints that U.S. troops are more involved in the fighting than military officials let on. One of the paper's correspondents saw U.S. troops in armored vehicles directly fighting Mahdi Army forces in Sadr City while Iraqi units largely stuck "to the outskirts of the area." Throughout the day, "the din of American weapons" could be heard, and the WP pointedly declares that U.S. troops "took the lead in the fighting." So U.S. forces are getting more involved in the conflict even as one American official admitted that "we can't quite decipher" the situation and figure out why the government decided to act now. But there's a growing consensus that Maliki is firing "the first salvo in the upcoming elections," says the official, who then gives us the understatement of the day: "It's not a pretty picture." U.S. military officials insist American troops are merely playing backup to Iraqi security forces, but commanders with the Mahdi Army say they've been fighting U.S. troops for the past three days.

Gee. I wonder why the Americans are stepping in?

That's quite an election campaign that Maliki is running. It would appear that the Iranians have thrown al Sadr under the bus. But given Sadr's immense following, he may not simply go away. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone else have an Iraq quagmire (like Iran?)?