Nir Rosen says that Iraq is no longer a coherent country. He describes it as a Mogadishu surrounded by fiefdoms which no one strongman will control.
But no matter what, Iraq doesn’t exist anymore. Baghdad will never be in the hands of Sunnis again. Baghdad will be controlled by Shia militias. They’ve been cleansing all the Sunnis from Baghdad. So Sunnis are basically being pushed out of Iraq, period. They can go to the Anbar Province, which isn’t a very friendly place. I think you’ll see that there won’t be any more elections in Iraq. Maliki is the last prime minister Iraq will have for a long time. There is neither the infrastructure for elections anymore, nor the desire to have them, nor the ability of Iraqi groups to cooperate anymore. So what you’ll see is basically Mogadishu in Iraq: various warlords controlling small neighborhoods. And those who are by major resources, such as oil installations, obviously will be foreign-sponsored warlords who will be able to cut deals with us, the Chinese. But Iraq is destroyed, and I think we’ll see that this will spread throughout the region, and this will destabilize Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, as well.
Expecting these warring factions to deliver electricity to the people is truly delusional. Nothing the US does will change the failure on the ground today. Even worse, Bush's goal is to take the mess he's created and double-down the bet by attacking Iran. If he does this then not only is the middle east doomed, but America is doomed as well. Can we stop his vain-glory march to hell? Gosh, I hope so.
Posted by Mary at August 23, 2007 01:58 AMin the end iraq will be a bloodbath..more than it is now..it was always going to be that way..bush will say it was because of the doves..they will take their profits..millions will be slaughtered..they will say it was not their fault..these are bad men
Posted by dennis at August 23, 2007 05:04 AMMary: Can we stop his vain-glory march to hell?
cue pants-pissing peter and the latest neo-con propaganda
Posted by Gay Veteran at August 23, 2007 06:10 AMAnd why don't Iraqis have dependable electricity? Because Saddam's government was under strict controls for years at the behest of the USA, which degraded the infrastructure (sure, Saddam spent all his extra money on nukes). Then when the USA invaded, they either blew up all the electric plants or stood by like idiots and watched them get looted because Bush had no occupation plan. Nor did Bush have any reconstruction plan aside from no-bid contracts to Halliburton which quickly turned into suitcases of money being carried out of Iraq.
Posted by T2 at August 23, 2007 06:24 AM