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Good News in Iraq?

By Larry Johnson on November 20, 2005 at 9:13 PM in Current Affairs

by
Larry C. Johnson

The neocons who helped bum rush the United States into war are insistent that things are actually peachy keen in Iraq. It is just that damn liberal media who keeps spreading the lies and the bad news about the place. Oh really?

Consider the following:
The strife between the Shias and the Sunnis in Iraq is escalating. A dandy piece in today’s New York Times by Sabrina Tavernise lays it out in excruciating detail.

Two and a half years after the American invasion, deep divides that have long split Iraqi society have violently burst into full view. As the hatred between Sunni Arabs and Shiites hardens and the relentless toll of bombings and assassinations grows, families are leaving their mixed towns and cities for safer areas where they will not automatically be targets. In doing so, they are creating increasingly polarized enclaves and redrawing the sectarian map of Iraq, especially in Baghdad and the belt of cities around it.


But, it is not just the “liberals” bemoaning this fact. Consider David Brooks op-ed piece in the same newspaper. He notes that, “And what also drives violence in Iraq is that the Shiites have responded to Sunni supremacy by turning ultrachauvinist themselves. In the vacuum of security caused by the botched American occupation, these ethnic tensions have turned into a low-grade civil war.”

The other manifestations of the civil war are quite evident. Who can forget or ignore the Ministry of Interior torture center, which is under the control of Shia officials and dedicated to the proposition that the only good Sunni is a dead Sunni. How do the Sunnis respond to this? They bomb funerals. Shia funerals that is.

So, how does the U.S. figure in this mayhem? Well, we’re organizing and training an Army and police force comprised largely of Shia and Kurds. That is a fact. These forces in turn attack largely Sunni communities. That also is a fact. Those communities, not surprisingly, believe the United States is engaged in a deliberate policy of extermination. That is not true but it is the perceived truth. In fact, other surrounding Sunni nations such as Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia believe we have a secret plan to create this chaos as part of a broader strategy to gain control of the region for our own purposes.

We face a terrible choice. We cannot allow the purging of the Sunni to continue and have ourselves blamed as the ones directing this genocide. However, if we move to rein in the various Shia groups we will find ourselves battling Shia insurgents who so far have saved most of their wrath for the Sunnis.

Hey, wait, it gets even better. If we are perceived as turning against the Shias we will face the monumental task of trying to protect our logistics supply line which runs south from Baghdad thru Shia communities to Kuwait. It is a vulnerability that military commanders understandably don’t want to talk about in public. Let there be no doubt that the major benefactor of the Shias, the Iranians, understand this point all too well.

The multiple threats we face in Iraq will not be solved by an election. The differences dividing the ethno religious groups in the territory of Iraq cannot be bridged by a group hug or a sit down around a conference table. We have ripped the scab off of an ancient wound and unleashed a beast that cannot be calmed through diplomacy. We do not have the force structure in place in Iraq to contain the burgeoning civil war. Instead, we are becoming pawns that each side of this ethnic quagmire will use to justify their particular agendas. The British learned the hard way in the 1920s. It remains to be seen if we are willing to learn anything from history or just destined to repeat it.

  • Mr.Murder

    Pat’s splendid Booman Tribune post on Curveball nots the man was last in his class and claimed top qualifications as an engineer.

    AWOL was the lowest scoring qualifier for his pilot aptitude test.

    It will be nice when the final bell rings on this scandal plagued Bush administration.

    Gotta fly, will try and cacth the rest of post topic on the morrow.

    Keep posting Truth to Power!

  • bluebird

    Thank god Murtha has come to the rescue. He will, it seems increasingly clear, go down as the man who changed the debate about and the course of action in Iraq.

    Of course many, many others, including you, Mr. Johnson, deserve a great deal of credit for waking our snoozing citizenry up to putrid smell the decaying corpse that is the Bush Iraq policiy.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/CCK/ Sometime-CIA-Defender

    Unfortunately, if there is the possibly-inevitable civil war, Murtha and the Democrats will be blamed, though I don’t see how our being in the middle of it would prevent it.

  • EasyRider

    If we stay in Iraq for any amount of time then it will continue to be a battle field that only the enemy defines.

    The answer is then to divide the country and arm the friendlies and kill the enemy populations. Give them the ammo and the equipment let them kill the others off. As the saying goes, “Pay back is a bitch.”

    If the Sunni want war then give them war, all out war to the death. If they want peace then they must make peace and kill off the terrorists and insurgents. As long as is okay in the hearts of the Sunni population to kill others then the war will continue as it is now.

    The only reason the Nazi and Japanese were not able to continue the war after being defeated was that almost all the dedicated leaders and followers were killed.

    In modern war we have become to sensitive to killing. To punish an aggressor we bomb at night when the leadership is home. When a town becomes a capital of the insurgents and no control of the areas in the hands of the government then the city must be punished. Carpet bomb the entire city and area. Yes, people get killed, but more people will be saved in the long run.

    Too much is attention is given to the Arab and Muslim sensibilities. We try to much not to offend them. Sorry but that idea totally bogus and it value is empty. There is no way that you can be politically correct when the people you are at war with have no morals of the modern world. The belief that “one will die if it “Ali’s Will”, that it is so ordained,” is expressed throughout the Arab world in their religious beliefs.

    You want to end the war then level the entire Sunni triangle to the mud bricks. Turn it into a desert. They either convert to peace or die. It is not a difficult position.

    As to the world around us if they want to send help to the Sunni Triangle, well good. They sure are not doing it now.

    I know this is an extreme view but sent only a couple of months in Saudi Arabia I meet with the same type of people who became the terrorists on 9/11. Their views of the world are not same as everyone else. People don’t understand that emotional fuel that fires these guys comes from exposure to the West and sudden realization that they are no longer in positions of authority. It is this switch from being in control to having none is a shock their emotional stability. They all view themselves as masters. They are used to being the ones giving the orders. That is an a front to them that is not a religious issue. It is an issue that they are used to being the boss and they can not handle not being the boss.

    That is why the 9/11 terrorist all were educated individuals and no one can figure out why they became hostile to the West having been exposed to the West. They discovered they were not the bosses but just another person no better than the next person. In their view the other person has always been the poor Muslims from the Far East or the Shites and Kurds. For them to see themselves as being the same as these sub-humans is to much for them and will never be accepted.

    There is no solution to the screwed up minds of the Middle Eastern Arabs that have always been in a position of power but to eliminate them at every opportunity with extreme prejudice.

    We don’t have the mind set to win. We want to reason with people who can not reason any rational thoughts.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/CCK/ Sometime-CIA-Defender

    What you’re saying is completely consistent with Saddam Hussein’s regime, who was secular (i.e., not reliant on “Allah’s will”) and imprisoned and killed people when they got out of line. Guess it was a bad idea to remove him, then, huh?

  • Mr.Murder

    When you lower standards it reinforces their notions of the infidel West.

    Easy Rider seems to think this makes the most sense for a course of action…

    Negroponte helped establish a bunch of false flags to make this a reality, the different tenets of belief were nearly united and a spade of bombings against Moslem Holy places saw the pins come unhinged.

    This is essentially what is wanted, this is the new Catholic/Protestant pardaigm.

    Sunni/Sh’ite war will make for countless opportunities to play the fear card, here and there.

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  • EasyRider

    I mean we need to think out side the box.

    We are facing a enemy that was not defeated in the field. It disappeared into the population.

    So rather than having killed the enemy in battle we now have to kill them in the present conditions.

    These insurgents and terrorists are not the kind that with give up. They will not surrender. They are of the mind set that they are the bosses and that is that. They are willing to kill all they see as lesser men than then selves. In their view everyone not of their social status and same social structure are lesser by definition. That includes all Shites, Kurds, and Westerners all of whom are lesser than themselves.

    War is bad but if it is war than it most be so terrible that war is not an option.

    The people who are doing the IED attacks and the car bombs are used to killing and enjoy doing it. Any idea that we can have a political solution with murderers is nonsense.

    If the population in the Sunni Triangle wants to support the attackers then they must suffer the results. If armoring the Shites and Kurds and allow them operate against the Sunni is required to deliver national sovernty then give the Sunni what they want, a civil war.

    While the U.S. Troops pull back to protect the Shiites and Kurds’ regions. When civil war is done it will be done.

    I personally do not care for Shiites or Sunni. Let them kill those that have killed them by the thousands. It is only after each side have it fill with blood letting with the region clam down and join the modern era.

    U.S. has stuck its ass into a hive of hornets. It now finds that it is can keep its ass there much longer. The problem is that when it pulls its ass out of the hive there will be a huge hole and the hornets will leave the hive in great numbers. The solution is not looking for more paper to cover the hole. The solution is to kill the hornets and destroy the hive and clean up the place.

    Again if the Sunni want war then finish them. No half steps like Vietnam. If we are war then let us be at total war.

    How long do you the Sunnis would fight if they were suffering the same or greater number of people being killed as is being infected on the Kurds and Shites? How long would it take the Sunni to throw out the terrorists and insurgents?

    Oh yes, the 9/11 terrorists from Suadi Arabia were all Sunni, as is most of the world’s Muslims.

  • EasyRider

    I know it seems extreme but you must know your enemy if your are to defeat them, and survive.

    When you think of the Arabs or Muslims what do you think of them as? It is as a victims or bullies?

    If you think of them as victims then you try to modify your behavior to ease their pain and make them more comfortable.

    If you think of them as bullies (the bosses that they see themselves as) then you must do as same thing you have to do all bullies. You have to stand up to them and fight them until you defeat them. You show any weaknesses to them and they will continue their bullying.

    And no we do not become the bullies by fighting them. Bush however is the bully. But can not walk away from the fight he got us into. That means we must support the Shites and Kurds if necessary help them to fight to the death.

    Bullies love fights. That is way Bush and Arabs are the same animals, so to speak, and now we have finish the fight against both. Neither will walk away from us if we show any sign of weakness.

  • Mr.Murder

    Sign up for that fight then easy.

    There is a fine line within law enforcement to walk, the good cop/bad cop line, within ethnic communities.

    Some instances, community leaders will band together and solve problems on their own accord and to interfere would simply invoke response.

    This is an instance of that. Assessments conclude civil war will occur in either instance.

    Why make our soldiers bear the brunt of this?

    The next concern is for AQ to ratchet up attacks on staging points in Muslim cultures.

    They’ll attack without abandon in their own lands. Clinton made them scale back attacks to the lands which claimed a Moslem majority after the millenium plot was stopped.

    They have gone over the top with Bush’s poor ability to use containment after seeing its successful use(which won the cold war).

    This go around, wherever we stage from (on a phased withdrawal) will see increased attacks and subtrefuge in the lands we plan to stage from.

    To the point those political rulers will invite hostile response from their own.

    The phased withdrawal is, in its own right, a whole can of worms waiting to be opened.

    Moderates understand this makes the withdrawal a concrete item and will facilitate eventual withdrawal no the whole.

    A concession at face value…

    See how well it is handled.

  • Maureen A

    Mr. Murder I agree with you.

    Easy Rider, I was frankly shocked when I read the vitrol in your comments. I had always enjoyed you on Daily Kos, and could not believe this. Normally I ignore remarks like yours and move on. However excellent past postings made me decide to make an exception.

    You are correct when you quote Sun Tzu in saying “Know your enemy”. It is also correct that Saudi’s are technically Sunni’s in that they don’t practice physical self mortification and they are not upset that Mohammed’s grandson Iman(sp?) was not made leader after Mohammed’s death.

    However, religion is very much mixed in with Saudi culture. Wahabism is extreme, as extreme as I found Shite’s to be – and I had 16 years of teaching all varieties Muslims, and being “Parentis in Locos” living only 3 miles from the college.

    From your posts, it seems you were dealing not only with Wahabism, but also with major cultural differences, as well as those persons from the ruling “House of Saud”.

    Saudi’s were Bedouins (nomads and warriors of the desert). “House of Saud” conquered the other tribes and united “the Kingdom”. In Arabia (all of the middle east) there is a very ridgid class or caste system that makes that of modern India almost negligible (and India is extreme).

    You brought up the education level of those from 9/11. Yes the Sauds were pushed into educating their population by the oil companies (very expensive for big oil to use uneducated help). However, the caste system was not eliminated. What this means is that some nasty Saud Prince (and they ARE nasty) can come along and decide he does not like the look on your face and proceed to publically beat you and shame you on the street. It won’t matter if you have PHd’s in both Astro Physics and Nuclear Science. You as the “lesser” than the Saud’s have to simple take it, and not raise a hand, or your entire family will be imprisoned and tortured.

    And any decent job’s go to the “Saud Family”. That is why unemployment is astronomical in Saudi Arabia, regardless of your education level. Since men there are required to support their wives and children, it also means that many cannot afford to get married, which is extremely suspect in their culture. It means you have failed as a man.

    Thus your statement is accurate: “They are willing to kill all they see as lesser men than then selves. In their view everyone not of their social status and same social structure are lesser by definition.”

    The oil companies made the Sauds personally very wealthy. However the wealth not NOT shared with the population as a whole.

    Once the building of modern city structures was accomplished, education of the populace became a factor for the oil companies. Once people became educated they realized they had been royaly screwed by the oil companies. Enter the “revised” version of Wahabism into the culture. (And please do not tell me the “benign” oil companies lived up to their contracts. It was oil taking candy from very uneducated bedouin babies, and was not at all fair and decent business practices).

    The Saud’s became anxious about their ability to stay in power as their opulent weath and the contrast with the rest of society was obvious. So King Muhammed revised his Wahabi learnings, and used it to control the population, as Bush/Cheney do with “Christianity in this country. This strict “constructionalism of the Quran was taught, as well as designating “American’s and westerners” as the problems in Saudi society. Next came the removal of all Westerners to their own enclaves with agreements they would dress and follow Islamic law in Muslims areas. Did you know that George Bush Senior allowed two American troops to be beheaded because they tried to flirt with Saudi woman during Gulf War I?

    The Wahabi’s are the Dobson’s of the Sunni’s. To judge ALL Sunni’s by Wahabi’s is to judge “Christian” America by the actions of the Dobson’s and other fanatics of the religious right.
    Sunni’s have always been more secular, and better businessmen. I found them easier to deal with and reason with than Shia’s-who are as impossible as our own right wingnuts.

    AS to their arrogance-well I have to ask you some questions. Did you speak with them in Arabic or English? Were you there to work WITH them or were you there to TELL them what to do? Did you remove your shoes and wash your feet at the entrance to buildings?

    My point is what was your attitude and behavior? Did you ever get invited to their personal homes for a meal or invited to join them for prayers at a mosque on Fridays? If not, then they felt you had NO RESPECT for their culture, and that you were the bully. They responded in what they felt was “in kind”. Google will help you see that Wahabism was gentle in the 12th century and became more radical as it moved forward.

    AS to the benefit’s of Westernizing they see us as not worthy of emulation. Saudi woman feel American woman must work too hard and it hurts our families. They have developed a “soft power” that allows them more freedom of thought and emotions. The major constraints for woman are on their physical movement outside the house. The men must rearrange their schedules to accompany them – and boy do they use that to their advantage. The men see our lack of honor to our families and elders as appalling.

    Before you condemn an entire group of people to genocide, make sure you have fully followed Sun Tzu advice, and REALLY know your enemy.

    IMHO, Bush made a horrendous mistake in getting into bed with the Shia’s. Chalabi is a crook and fraudster. Wouldn’t you like to know where our 9.9 BILLION dollars is-taxpyer money of American Citizens, not belonging to either the Bushitas or Shia’s?

    And oil companies are planning to rape Iraq with their “new” privitization agreement. Baghdad was always the learning and cultural center of the Arab world. There are 1.1 BILLION muslims in the world. Perhaps there is a Saladin among there number. Now who do you think will be the targets?

    October’s balance of trade deficit was 66+ BILLION dollars. 42% of that was for the obscene oil price increases. 58% or 38.3 BILLION dollars was people overseas NOT buying American goods. Think maybe the world is angry enough and they are boycotting our goods?

    Arrogance is in the eye of the beholder. Until you have met Sunni’s from everywhere and tried to walk a mile in their shoes, it is not okay to advocate mass genocide.