Curfew in Baghdad

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The BBC has the latest:

The Iraqi government has declared an immediate curfew in the capital, Baghdad, to run until Sunday morning.

The move affects both vehicles and pedestrians, a spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister said.

The spokesman did not reveal why a curfew was being put in place, but sectarian violence and blasts have been increasing in recent days.

I wonder if Bush -- who repeatedly denies that things are that bad in Iraq, or that the decision to go to war was wrong, or that the war has actually strengthened jihadism, increasing the threat to America's national security -- has any clue what's going on. No, I don't. He mustn't have a clue at all. How can things be going well if even with a significant U.S. military presence Baghdad must be put under such a blanket curfew?

Omar of Iraq the Model has more. He reports that "[t]he curfew apparently came in response to an acute deterioration in the capital that was noticed from the early hours of Friday morning especially in districts in the east and north east of Baghdad".

An acute deterioration. There you have it.