I normally don't diary news stuff. But all of the focus today seems to be on Sheik Khalid Muhammed and his "confessions".
Not that I'm trying to make a hat out of a certain shiny substance, but I think the "news" is overshadowing an extremely important report. The Pentagon's quarterly assessment of Iraq came out. And the news is particularly bad.
First of all, as NPR reports, for the first time, the report uses the words "civil war" to describe what goes on there.
Some elements of the situation in Iraq are properly descriptive of a "civil war," including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities and mobilization, the changing character of the violence, and population
displacements.6
The report also notes that the level of violence in the country has risen dramatically over the past few months. The average number of weekly attacks have increased to more than 11,000 (yes, ELEVEN THOUSAND) in January and February of this year, up substantially from previous months, and an all-time high.
Civilian casualties are also at an all-time high.
Remember, this is the Pentagon's report, and the folks who drafted the report are reporting to higher ups who report to higher ups who report to the Decider himself. But all the sugar-coating in the world can't disguise the fact that things are going to hell in a handbasket over there.
You can go to NPR and download the entire report. NPR
My point is that while we're all focused on the sheik's "confessions", the Pentagon's own assessment of the state of Iraq (bad and getting worse) is being virtually ignored.
UPDATE: OK, I'm changing the title to BREAKING. Very few people seem interested in the story. Must be my telling of it, for which I apologize.