Such quick operations mean that something major but negative has happened or is about to happen, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said it had consulted three Iraqi figures -- "an ex-government official, a political analyst and an academic" -- all of whom "were asked to give their opinion -- politically and militarily -- on the current situation in Iraq."

The three all said the reason for the Iraqi government's recent offensives in Basra, Sadr City in Baghdad and now in Mosul was the short time President Bush had left in the White House and the fear that the next president might pull out U.S. forces.

"A Democrat winning the elections in the United States could mean a sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, which would lead to a security gap, especially in areas where Sunni and Shiite militias have full control," the newspaper said.

For the Iraqi government, the withdrawal of 130,000 U.S. troops, another large number of security contractors and thousands of civil, intelligence and logistics workers would be like someone suddenly being naked in the middle of a very cold winter, the newspaper said.

The three experts commented that the Iraqi and U.S. governments have deals they need to accomplish during the coming fateful months to decide the future state of Iraq.

"Washington is aiming for a long-term security agreement with Iraq to be signed and for the oil law to pass; both of which will take away the sovereignty and unity of Iraq, and the wealth of the immensely deprived and displaced people of Iraq," the editorial said.

The independent newspaper concluded that it is the Iraqi government members who are the United States' "right tools" to achieve U.S. goals, regardless of the suffering of the courageous Iraqi people who took the risk of going out -- with all the threats they confronted -- to elect them.