Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Perspective: Sunnis striking back

Smoke rises from burning buildings after a car bomb attack at a Baghdad book market, which killed over 100 yesterday

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Sunni insurgents are striking back with attention-grabbing bombings in Baghdad and gruesome killings posted on the Internet, in an apparent effort to shore up their positions around the Iraqi capital as the U.S. struggles to secure the city.

That is changing the nature of the conflict in Iraq, at least temporarily -- shifting the main focus from the Sunni-Shiite "civil war" of recent months to a renewed attention on Sunni insurgents as the root of the crisis.

The shift could be temporary if Shiite death squads once again become active in Baghdad. But for now, the change indicates how all sides opposed to the U.S. presence show surprising resilience and ability to switch strategies to survive.

Read the rest at the Washington Post