Does Bush Really Want Democratic Progress in Iraq?
#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3)Iraq is a violent mess, with no “democracy” in sight. From Reuters news service yesterday…. “Sunni guerrillas took at least 60 people hostage in an Iraqi town near Baghdad on Friday and threatened to kill them unless Shi’ites left the area, a Shi’ite official quoted residents as saying. The hostage-taking and three successive days of bombings which killed at least 34 people suggested insurgents had regrouped after a lull in violence since Jan. 30 elections…. Insurgents with heavy weapons appeared to have taken control of the mixed Sunni and Shi’ite town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, and no police or government forces were in sight, said the official…. Guerrillas have taken control of cities such as Falluja before but seizing many hostages in a town so close to the capital will pile pressure on Iraq’s new leaders to deliver the improved secu
