"Be prepared to defend yourselves."

A firsthand account, about a month old. From Iraqi blogger Zeyad.

A few months ago, when Baghdad was ripe with news of Interior ministry's death squads raiding Sunni neighbourhoods at night, the local National Guard commander in our area started touring mosques to warn them from uniformed security forces operating at night. The commander's own words were "Never, never open your doors to security forces after dark. If they attempt to force their way in, be prepared to defend yourselves."

Chilling. This is why the Ministries of the Interior and Defense need to be handed over to a Kurd and Sunni Arab. The Shia that currently control these posts are abusing them horribly. I doubt the Shia will give them both up, though...hopefully they'll at least cede one of them.