CNN reports today that U.S. forces "raided an al Qaeda safehouse ... killing six terrorists and capturing a seventh."
According to the U.S. military, as coalition forces moved in on a building intelligence indicated was being used as a possible safe house for al Qaeda in Iraq, they came under heavy fire from the rooftops of several nearby buildings and returned fire, killing two terrorists.
OK. So?
A Sunni lawmaker disputed the account, however, saying the raid was on his Baghdad office and that those killed included two of his guards and a family of four that lived next door.
Oh. I see.
But why the hell would that happen? (Duh.)
Salih al-Mutlaq said the raid was based on false information from his enemies in an effort to "settle scores with me" because of his criticism of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government.
"The government and militias attached to it provided the U.S. military with misleading information to settle scores with me because I do not agree with their sectarian policies and the way the country is being run," he said.
And just who is Salih al-Mutlaq? He's the head of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, a nonsectarian party that seeks an early end to the occupation. The occupation that props up the Maliki government.
But what about that gunfire from the rooftops?
Al-Mutlaq said his guards may have fired at the U.S. and Iraqi troops, but only in self-defense.
"They may have fired first when they thought they were being attacked by militias," he said.
Obviously outlandish! Because there are no dangerous militias or death squads in Iraq!
So this weekend saw the Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki, leader of the Dawa party, hustle up the execution of Saddam Hussein, hanged for his brutal reprisals against the people of the town of Dujail, in response to... a Dawa-sponsored attempt on his life made there in the early 80s. And now, the use of American military forces to bomb and raid the offices of a rival politician, on a tip from the "good Iraqis" that he's really an al Qaeda operatives.
Good thing Iraq is nothing like Vietnam, where you always knew who was on our side.
What's the best way to help clear this up? Raise your hand if you think it's injecting another 30,000 troops into the situation.