A day or two ago, I wrote about a posting by Chris Durang over in Take That, Right Wing Nut Scum. Reflection prompts me to revisit something Michael Ware said in an interview with Anderson Cooper, and reproduced in Durang's post.
Ware: Well, Anderson, there is progress. And that's indisputable. Sectarian violence is down in certain pockets. There are areas of great instability in this country. They're at last finding some stability.
The point, though, is, at what price? What we're seeing is -- is, to a degree, some sleight of hand. What America needs to come clean about is that it's achieving these successes by cutting deals primarily with its enemies. We have all heard the administration praise the work of the tribal sheiks in turning against al Qaeda. Well, this is just a euphemism for the Sunni insurgency. That's who has turned against al Qaeda.
And why? Because they offered America terms in 2003 to do this. And it's taken America four years of war to come round to the Sunnis' terms. And, principally, that means cutting the Iraqi government out of the loop. By achieving these successes, America is building Sunni militias. Yes, they're targeting al Qaeda, but these are also anti- government forces opposed to the very government that America created.
The point, though, is, at what price? What we're seeing is -- is, to a degree, some sleight of hand. What America needs to come clean about is that it's achieving these successes by cutting deals primarily with its enemies. We have all heard the administration praise the work of the tribal sheiks in turning against al Qaeda. Well, this is just a euphemism for the Sunni insurgency. That's who has turned against al Qaeda.
And why? Because they offered America terms in 2003 to do this. And it's taken America four years of war to come round to the Sunnis' terms. And, principally, that means cutting the Iraqi government out of the loop. By achieving these successes, America is building Sunni militias. Yes, they're targeting al Qaeda, but these are also anti- government forces opposed to the very government that America created.
What this means, Gentle Reader(s), is that in the future, if there is a horrific Sunni/Shia battle, those sudden "friends" of ours over in Anbar Province will be killing their fellow Muslims (albeit they are Shia Muslims, they are still fellow religionists) with arms provided by the American government.
No wonder Prime Minister al-Maliki is upset with General Petraeus. Is Petraeus perhaps looking to September, 2007, and his much anticipated "report," while al-Maliki is looking at 2009, and the much direly-warned-against internecine religious conflict?
The Sunni assistance to the Coalition of the Willing in Anbar Province is a selling point today.
Tomorrow?
Trust, but verify.
(And keep this flagged somehow, to see how it all turns out.) Stay tuned.
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