Yes, the security situation in Iraq has gotten worse

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Last night, I asked this question: Is the security situation in Iraq about to get worse?

The answer, it appears, is a resounding YES. Carl posted on the recent developments earlier today. And here's the CSM with more:

Baghdad -- The Mahdi Army's seven-month-long cease-fire appears to have come undone.

Rockets fired from the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City slammed into the Green Zone Tuesday, the second time in three days, and firefights erupted around Baghdad pitting government and US forces against the militia allied to the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

At the same time, the oil-export city of Basra became a battleground Tuesday as Iraqi forces, backed by US air power, launched a major crackdown on the Mahdi Army elements. British and US forces were guarding the border with Iran to intercept incoming weapons or fighters, according to a senior security official in Basra.

The US blames the latest attacks on rogue Mahdi Army elements tied to Iran, but analysts say the spike in fighting with Shiite militants potentially opens a second front in the war when the American military is still doing battle with the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans," said one Mahdi Army militiaman...

Yes, it's over. And so is the illusion of progress.

The delusion of success, of both the surge and of the war generally, will no doubt continue as is, for such is the resistance to reality of Bush, Cheney, McCain, Lieberman, and the rest of the warmongers, but, on the ground, it's back to civil war.