But the police have performed poorly in the Sunni Muslim areas in central and northwestern Iraq…. A wave of attacks [in Mosul] on police stations and other government buildings prompted 3,200 of the city’s 4,000 police officers to abandon their jobs.
(Washington Post)
DKo: The apparent reliance on former Kurdish militia as backup is explosive, especially with the oil wealth of Kirkuk literally on the provincial dividing line. The Coalition of Willing Allies will be rapidly dwindling in the next few months too. All of which tends to make Moktada al Sadr the tipping point, hence the kingmaker. Will the US accept that? Can Bush sell it as the successs that vindicates the war?