In his speech tonight, President Bush said that US troops in Baghdad will be operating under new rules of engagement. I can’t help but wonder what that means. It seems to me that the following groups of people are killing innocent Iraqi civilians:

  • Sunni insurgents.
  • Foreign fighters.
  • al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists.
  • Pro-Iran Shiite death squads.
  • The Mahdi Army (also known as anti-Iran Shiite death squads).
  • Real Iraqi soldiers and policemen.
  • Fake Iraqi soldiers and policemen.
  • Thugs looking to make a buck.
  • Kurdish militias.
  • Neighborhood militias.
  • Foreign contractors who shoot any Iraqis who come too close in the name of force protection.
  • US soldiers who shoot any Iraqis who come too close in the name of force protection.
  • US aircraft who are attempting to bomb insurgents but hit Iraqi civilians by mistake.

Which of these groups will US soldiers be empowered to shoot at, and won’t they kill even more Iraqi civilians in the process? I’d just like to thank our President again for getting us into an intractable mess that’s going to result in thousands of more deaths and a failed state in the heart of the Middle East.

Oh, and some of the soldiers being deployed to Iraq are being pulled out of the battle in Afghanistan.