That's a problem:
Iraq placed its security forces on high alert on Saturday, in response to ongoing protests in the country's southern provinces over poor government services and corruption. ...
Reinforcement troops from both the Counter Terrorism Service and the Army's Ninth Division have already been dispatched to Basra, where demonstrators gathered for the sixth consecutive day, to help protect the province's oil fields, security sources said.
The directive came in an effort to stem the burgeoning protests, which on Friday spread from oil-city Basra - where residents had blocked access to the nearby commodities port of Umm Qasr - to the cities of Amara, Nasiriya and the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.
I wonder if Iran is stoking this unrest. They do that all around the region, so Iraq is no exception.
On the other hand, the revered Iraqi Shia religious leader Sistani stated he is in support of the protesters' concerns.
Which doesn't mean Iran isn't involved to the detriment of Iraq. But as I said, the protesters have real grievances. Sistani can hardly dismiss the Shia concerns by simply attacking whatever role Iran might have in the unrest.
And unfortunately, threats to Iraqi oil production and export, which is virtually all that Iraq exports, is too vital for the Iraqi government to risk. So the potential for further deadly clashes that alienate the poor of Iraq from the government is too high to dismiss.
I hope we are involved in keeping Iraqi actions within rule of law and politics. We shouldn't try to pick winners in the negotiations over who governs. But we should demand that ballots and not bullets resolve political disputes.
UPDATE: Strategypage says that the unrest is essentially anti-Iranian:
The growing popular unrest in southern Iraq is spreading. The unrest is largely anti-Iran and senior Shia clerics have openly encouraged the protestors and approved of their cause. One of the complaints the protestors have was the way Iran interfered in the recent (May) national elections.
I honestly never got that from any of the news I got. How could that aspect be missed?
I did note not too long ago that Iran has no interest in a stable Iraq.
