WHO IS THE ENEMY IN IRAQ?

A question for today is; "Who is the enemy in Iraq?".

It seems that whenever there is fighting and killing in Iraq "we the people" are ALWAYS told that whatever happens it is due to the dreaded "al-Qaeda". They are everywhere and control all things. Right?

But wait, the fighting and killing that is happening at this very moment is between opposing Shite militia factions BOTH supposedly backed and trained by Iran (who has no ties with al-Qaeda) and the Iraqi government forces backed by the United States.

We have been "paying" the Sunni militias (in our effort to get them to denounce al-Qaeda) to stop killing American troops or their fellow Iraqi citizens, which must make the Sunni's our "friends" now. Well, as long as they keep getting paid we "hope" they remain relatively passive.

The Mahdi Army, under the control of Muqtada al-Sadr, has been effectively under a cease fire for several months but now appear to be unwilling to restrict their fighting to the political arena. As a result, Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki ordered curfews and issued ultimatums to what he is calling "criminal gangs" in the Sadr neighborhoods of Baghdad and Basra and elsewhere. Are these "criminal gangs" al-Qaeda? Are they Iranian "insurgents"? Are they "terrorists"? Are they "Shite freedom fighters"?

Just who is the "ENEMY" we are "fighting" in Iraq? Just who are we protecting in Iraq?

The US fired hellfire missiles into Sadr neighborhoods during the past twenty four hours and rockets continue to reach areas of the "so-called" Green Zone or International Zone. Who is firing into this area and why? Is it al-Qaeda (aren't they the cause of everything?) or is it the al-Sadr militia or some other Shite milita faction both spurred on by our new "most evil enemy", Iran?

One of the real and main problems for the United States is and has been our inability to properly define exactly what we mean by "winning" and just who we are fighting and dying for and just who we are protecting. We "protect" the Kurds in the north. The group of Kurdish "freedom fighters" in that area became too troublesome so we provided Turkey with real time intelligence and other support to launch attacks inside Iraqi territory recently. But when the Turkish troops got a bit carried away and the uproar of protests a bit too loud, we gave the Turks the sign that it was time to back off. Turkey could tell their people they did something (just what was actually accomplished isn't known) and the Kurdish people who watched yet another foreign army invade their land was quieted and the Iraqi Government (controlled by the Shite factions) didn't have to pretend that they really cared what happens to their Kurdish "brothers". Are those Kurdish "freedom fighters" really "terrorists"? Are they al-Qaeda? Are they funded and controlled by the Iranians? Who is the enemy?

So, as we "engage the enemy" (whoever they may be) during these days perhaps some clarity may be presented with respect to the true identity of our enemy. At some point, "we the people" deserve to know if we are dying for the Sunni's or the Shite's or to protect our oil interests or to defeat "terrorism" (which won't happen without killing everyone), or to battle the "evil" Iran, who is supposedly backing and training the Shites, who just happen to be in control of the Government (that we established) of Iraq! No wonder we can't get a real definition of what "winning" means. We don't even have a real definition of who our "enemy" is in Iraq!

It is "TIME TO THINK AGAIN"