WaPo -- Golden Shrine attack successful

"Majority of Americans believe Iraq civil war likely" is the screaming top-page headline in this morning's WaPo. The revelation was based on one of their own in-house polls.

Ah, another poll. Oft-ridiculed and easily dismissed, many profess to not putting much stock in them. For example, President Bush recently said he doesn't pay attention to them at all. But fact is, people in power DO pay attention. Gay marriage and gun control might already be the law if polls showed overwhelming support.

The message being relayed by this WaPo poll is that Americans are beginning to give up up on Iraq:

An overwhelming majority of the public believe fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq will lead to civil war and half say the U.S. should begin withdrawing its forces from that violence-torn country, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

We could easily trash this poll and suggest it's yet another plot by the MSM to undermine Bush, and we'd be partially correct. That would not change the fact this poll proves the attack on the Golden Shrine was successful. Since everything in Iraq hinges on American public opinion, surely the perps are glad-handing one another today or maybe firing their Kalashnikovs skyward.

The responsible party of the attack makes little difference. Whether accomplished by Ba'athists, Iranians or Zarqawi, the goal was similar--to undermine and destablize the new government. Such immediate feedback from the all-important American public is golden to these guys, since it legitimizes their course of action and literally ensures more spectacular attacks, in effect signing the death warrant for more innocent people. That of course will lead to further erosion of American confidence in the mission. So how can this cycle be defeated?

As has been the case from day one, the Iraqi people have the ball. They've got to dribble down court, get some good ball movement, and use teamwork set up a backdoor alley-oop slam dunk. Hey, if Carolina can beat Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, anything's possible.

GENERAL AGREEMENT 3/7/06

General Abizaid is worried about more attacks:

THE bombing of the Samarra shrine in Iraq was a new - and successful - tactic by al-Qaeda terrorists trying to spark civil war, according to General John Abizaid, the chief of the US Central Command.

Despite relative calm in Iraq at the weekend, General Abizaid warned of more such bombings. "They got more of a reaction from that than they had hoped for."

The General pins the act on AQ in Iraq (Zarqawi), not Iran. While I agree, I'd go a little further and suggest that the dead-end gang (Saddamists/Ba'athists) were also integrally involved.

Meanwhile, Zarqawi is ticking off people all over the place. Still, despite the recent animosity nobody seems to have the guts to get rich yet.

More ...

The US Envoy to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad echoed General Abizaid's fears, but also said:

"We have opened the Pandora's box and the question is, what is the way forward?" Khalilzad said. "The way forward, in my view, is an effort to build bridges across these communities.

Since he wants to "build bridges" I'm assuming he doesn't think Iran was involved, either.

But here's a good question now being tossed back and forth around the web. What IF Iraq disintegrates into a civil war? Who's side will we take? The money bet is we'll back the Sunni horse, since to side with al-Sadr amounts to siding with radical Shiites like Ahmadinejad, last seen playing with uranium and schmoozing Hizballah and Hamas. Since they all desire Israel to be relocated about 200 miles west, what choice will we have?