British Correspondent Patrick Cockburn on Iraq’s Growing Sectarian Divide and the Myth of “Success” in the US “Surge”

from Democracy Now

British Correspondent Patrick Cockburn on Iraq’s Growing Sectarian Divide and the Myth of “Success” in the US “Surge”

As a new civil war threatens to explode in Iraq between US-backed Iraqi government forces and Shia militiamen, we go to London to speak with Patrick Cockburn, Iraq correspondent for the London Independent. Covering the invasion and occupation from the ground in Iraq for the past five years, Cockburn has been described as “the best Western journalist at work in Iraq today.” He is author of the new book Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival and the Struggle for Iraq.

Guest:

Patrick Cockburn, Iraq correspondent for the London Independent. His latest book is Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival and the Struggle for Iraq. He has covered the invasion and occupation from the ground in Iraq for the past five years. His previous book is The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq.

JUAN GONZALEZ: “A new civil war is threatening to explode in Iraq as American-backed Iraqi government forces fight Shia militiamen for control of Basra and parts of Baghdad. Heavy fighting engulfed Iraq’s two largest cities and spread to other towns yesterday [as] the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, gave fighters of the Mehdi Army, led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 72 hours to surrender their weapons."

Those are the opening lines to a report in today’s edition of the Independent of London written by Patrick Cockburn, the paper’s Iraq correspondent.

(Continued here.)