Showdown between the Shia and Occupation Forces Looms
US occupation forces in Iraq bare direct responsibility for the fettering of Iraqi security forces ability to curb the recent wave of violence, mostly directed against the Shia community. Since the December elections hundreds of Iraqis have been killed, in a new wave of bloodshed. The SCIRI has pointed out that since the election that US occupation forces have taken overall control of the interior ministry and are preventing Iraqi security forces from effectively carrying out counter-terrorism measures, in what is seen as evidence of an attempt to usurp power from a predominately Shia elected Iraqi government. The US ambassador Zalmay Khalizad, who is a despised figure in Iraq, is trying to forge a non-representative government favourable to the US regime.
The SCIRI, Iraq's main political party, has signalled Shia impatience with both the Sunni insurgency and US occupation interference and want their elected representatives to form a Government without US interference. The SCIRI, , warned that "its patience was wearing thin following suicide attacks Thursday that killed 119 people". Ten of thousand of demonstrators took to the streets, parading through Baghdad's Sadr City, chanting "No, no to Zalmay. No, no to terrorism".
Despite murmurs from both the US and the British governments that troops will be decreased in the region there is no evidence that this will happen anytime soon, in fact quite the reverse, more troops not less are being sent to Iraq. The SCIRI have indicated that they are not prepared to accept this situation beyond the formation of the government. It is unclear what the British and American response would be; after an uneasy meeting between the British Foreign Minister and the Governor of Basra held yesterday, on the 06 January 2006, the Foreign Secretary stated Britain's opposition to the formation of an Shia region in the south and central Iraq and suggested that the majority of British troops will remain in Basra for the foreseeable future.
