[I think George Bush must be tearing his hair out by now. But this is the price you pay for trying to bring democracy to crazy people. It didn’t work in Africa. It won’t work with the Middle Eastern Arabs. I wish America would stop being a slave to the concept of Liberal Democracy. In much of the world people are just too screwed up and different to understand the concept or to be interested in it. I think a lot of money the US Govt has spent on building up Iraq has been flushed down the toilet. Ditto for Africa. Jan]

BAGHDAD [MENL] — For the first time, units of the Iraq Army have clashed in what could reflect the introduction of sectarian violence in the nation’s military.

The U.S. military said soldiers from two Iraq Army units exchanged gunfire north of Baghdad. The military said an Iraqi soldier was killed in the clash near Balad, about 40 kilometers north of Baghdad, on May 12.

“The confrontation between the two Iraqi units resulted in the death of one soldier,” the military statement said on Saturday.

The statement said a U.S. Army company was summoned and separated the Iraqi soldiers. The statement did not cite a reason for the clash.