JOCKEYING

Iraq was pushed closer to all-out civil war yesterday after the destruction of the dome of one of Shia Islam's four holiest shrines sent tens of thousands into the streets and set off a wave of revenge attacks on Sunni mosques.

... last night up to 60 Sunni mosques had been attacked. Three Sunni clerics were among 17 people killed in the wave of violence....

Last night gunmen in police uniforms seized 11 Sunni men from a prison in Basra and killed them, police said. In Najaf, the site of Shia Islam's holiest shrine, around 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Shia Islam's most senior cleric. "Rise up Shias, take revenge," they chanted....

--Telegraph (U.K.), February 23, 2006

Iraqi police recovered the bodies of dozens of people in Baghdad today as violence spread across the country following the bombing of a Shia shrine in Samarra....

Police and army officials said the bodies of 31 men were found at eight sites in the capital, predominantly in Shia areas. Most had their hands bound, and they had had all been shot.

At least 40 more bodies were found in the village of Nahrawan, south of the capital....

--Guardian (U.K.), February 23, 2006

...in the weeks ahead, Americans will likely see a good deal of political turmoil in Iraq as different factions and leaders compete for position and jockey for power. Our top commander in the region, General John Abizaid, has said he expects the coming weeks to produce "some of the hardest bare-knuckle politics ever in the Arab world." We should welcome this for what it is -- freedom in action.

--Bush speech, January 10, 2006