Turning Corners

Families Flee Iraqi River Towns On 4th Day of Sectarian Warfare
By Ellen Knickmeyer and Muhanned Saif Aldin
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, October 17, 2006; Page A01

BAGHDAD, Oct. 16 -- Families fled in search of safety Monday as open warfare raged for a fourth day between Shiite militias and armed Sunni men in Tigris River towns north of Baghdad. Militias allied with Iraq's Shiite-led government held sway in Balad city, forcing out Sunni families and leaving the bodies of slain Sunni men to rot in the streets, according to police, residents and hospital officials.

The Iraqi government deployed still more reinforcements to try to calm the embattled towns and hold open the main roads, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Kareem al-Kinani said in the capital. But local police officers accused Shiite-dominated government police forces of working alongside Shiite militias in executing Sunnis and appealed for more help.

I have nothing to add except one word: F.U.B.A.R.