Fair and Balanced in Karbala
Working with U.S.-led coalition troops, Iraqi security forces launched pre-dawn raids Tuesday against so-called criminal elements in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, Iraq, detaining 21 people, coalition military officials said.
Karbala, a town south of Baghdad, was the scene of a 12-hour gunfight Friday that left three U.S. soldiers dead. Rival Shiite factions also have been engaged in a power struggle in the area.
Coalition officials said the detainees were not connected to last week's deadly firefight but said the roundup will help stabilize the turbulent city. A coalition military official said the raids were conducted "relatively peacefully" and were carried out against "criminal elements."
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Matt's Chat
We will never be able to fully rid Iraq of petty thugs and criminals, but the effort to do so is worth a lot to the normal citizen. The article covers a few good news/bad news items that everyone should feel free to decide for themselves. In my analysis, it comes down to the misunderstandings between good people trying to comply while maintaining their culture. That is an enemy that must be vanquished. The number of these incidents is still rather low, but that they happen at all is a cause for some concern.
Mark's Remarks
Indeed, it is good to see that we are working hand in hand to make life safer for Joe Iraqi Citizen. I think we have to just as much be teachers as soldiers in Iraq, instructing them on their newfound freedoms and helping them to see the value. I think these joint raids and such are good examples of that. It seems to me that the good news/bad news parts of this article are indeed open for debate, and people can draw their own conclusions. However, what I get out of this is the further case for having a better attitude about things in Iraq. The more we get negative, the more our soldiers' morale will suffer. We cannot allow that to happen any more than it already has, because that will be a shame to these fine men and women who fought for such great ideals, and to help the cause of freedom for these people.
