Tal Afar - Our shining example

When the bombings took place in Tal Afar, and the following retributional rampage by the Shia police and militias, I didn't point out that this small town had been referenced by Bush as a shining example of success. Yes, the contrast of Bush statement and reality was there, but I still didn't make that statement.

However, today, with these newest revelations, I think it's time, because not only is there sectarian violence, but also the broader and far more important evidence of governmental sectarianism that is the true fuel of the Iraqi civil war.

The bombings and death squads are horrible, but, in the end, they are simply the symptoms of why the Bush administration's Iraq policy is failing. The true disease of Iraq's civil war is the inequitable distribution and application of governmental power.

So, today, with this, I point out the failure in George Bush's shining example.

Interior Minister Jawad Bolani, an independent Shiite in the Shiite-dominated government, confirmed that the perpetrators were policemen, of whom an overwhelming majority are Shiites.

"We will take legal action against a group of them. An order has been issued by the prime minister to investigate the violations caused by elements of the police in Tal Afar," Bolani told Iraqiya television.

An Iraqi army source speaking on condition of anonymity said 13 policemen had been detained for the mass killings.

But later an Iraqi military spokesman in Mosul said the detained policemen were released as many of them had lost relatives in the truck bombing prior to the brutal ramapage.

"We released them on the undertaking that they will be questioned later. The decision was taken because of their psychological state," he said without giving his name.

Shia policemen whose identities are known to the government rampage through a town, shooting men, women, and children, dragging men into the streets, shooting them in the back of the head, killing "up to" 70. Shia policemen whose identities are known are captured and detained by the government and then released.

This is Iraq. There is no hope for the Sunnis to gain real justice from their government. This is why they fight. This is why they bomb. This is why there is a civil war.

This is our shining example.