Pre-surge violence begins in earnest

Here's what we know for sure. A major Muslim holiday, Ashura, is being celebrated in Iraq. There was a huge battle outside the center of the festivities in Najaf. A lot of people are dead now and a whole lot of people are talking about it but nobody seems to be quite sure who was fighting who. The only clear fact that has emerged so far is that at least one US BlackHawk helicopter went down in the fighting and this event is likely to cause some major reprecussions in the days to come.

Fasten your seatbelts boys and girls. I think we're going to hit some turbulence on the way up to the escalation.

UPDATE: Midwestern Progressive checks into comments with this link reporting Bush is already spinning this attack as a signal of Iraqi security forces readiness. However, as the details emerge, the only thing this little sortie made clear is that superior air power can make short work of exposed ground troops -- but we knew that already. Unfortunately, the Iraqis don't have an Air Force to speak of, nor any form of viable aircraft. That might suggest to more sober observers that the Iraqis are far from self-sufficiency.