Where Next?

Juan Cole is a professor of history at the University of Michigan, specialising in the Middle East. He also maintains a blog, which is a must read for anybody wanting to understand what's going on in Iraq. Today he has an ominous post, which does not bode well for the people of Iraq:

Well, now that Fallujah is liberated (i.e. wrecked and empty), residents of Ramadi are now beginning to flee in fear that they might get equally liberated. It is not clear how much liberation Iraqi cities (or ex-cities) can stand.

We still don't know how many people were killed during the assault on Fallujah, but reports for the Guardian, Channel 4 News and Socialist Worker suggest that it is likely to be high. Whatever the truth, I wouldn't want to be living in Ramadi right now.