Demagogue

Exactly one month ago, President Bush said this about Iraq:

... the definition of success, by the way, is for there to be a country where the terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten the democracy, and where Iraqi security forces can provide for the security of their people ...

In other words, we aren't very close to success. Yesterday in Iraq:

Insurgents posing as police destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines Wednesday, setting off an unprecendented spasm of sectarian violence. Angry crowds thronged the streets, militiamen attacked Sunni mosques, and at least 19 people were killed.

In the aftermath of this explosion, the AP reports that Shiite militiamen in Basra

... broke into a prison, hauled out 12 inmates, including two Egyptians, two Tunisians, a Libyan, a Saudi and a Turk, and shot them dead in reprisal for the shrine attack.

Major Sunni groups joined in condemning the attack, and a leading Sunni politician, Tariq al-Hashimi, urged clerics and politicians to calm the situation "before it spins out of control."

... Both Sunnis and the United States fear the rise of [religious] militias, which the disaffected minority views as little more than death squads.