Writing on the Wall for Iraq

By John Gleeson
www.winnipegsun.com
March 25, 07

Though such ideas will likely go nowhere, Americans should take very seriously requests by Iraq's Assyrian Christian community to have their own administered region in the north. One of the evil ironies of the U.S. invasion is that no group has suffered more for it than Iraq's Christian community.

A senior Iraqi official last week called the continued presence of U.S. troops in his country "the biggest stumbling block to an agreement" that could lead to at least a partial peace in that devastated country.

Secret talks between the Iraqi government and five or six Sunni Muslim insurgent groups have been going on for about three months, said Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi of the Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation. The talks, carried out through intermediaries and held on the condition of anonymity, excluded the most extreme insurgent elements such as al-Qaida in Iraq and loyalists of the executed president Saddam Hussein. However, senior members of Hussein's outlawed Baath Arab Socialist party have been included in the negotiations.

Al-Muttalibi said the insurgents are willing to lay down their weapons and engage in the political process -- but only if a timetable is set for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

This is an official of the U.S.-supported government in Iraq who was saying this, on the record, and on the eve of a critical vote in Washington, with Democrats trying to force a Sept. 1, 2008, date for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

Whatever way you read it, the writing is on the wall for the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Hollow claims by U.S. President George W. Bush that "victory" is still possible are met by homicidal calls from al-Qaida for Sunni Muslims in Iraq to take up arms. The deadlock won't be broken until U.S. forces get out.

It should come as absolutely no surprise to students of 20th-century history. Iraq is not another Vietnam. Iraq is another Iraq.

This failed mission to control Iraq has failed before.

The British made two colossal blunders in Iraq. One was creating it in the first place after the Great War. "Iraq" as a geopolitical entity made sense only in terms of British interests; it was a shotgun marriage of three diverse regions and cultures divvied up as spoils of war.

The second British blunder was trying to govern the monster they created.

They lasted there until 1932, keeping very busy quelling uprisings by "insurgents." Total occupation time: 14 years.

There is evidence the U.S. doesn't want to leave Iraq in a state of total chaos and failure. A report last week said Iraqi and Jordanian officials were disturbed by American talk of partitioning the country, the officials saying no Iraqis would be in favour of it. Though such ideas will likely go nowhere, Americans should take very seriously requests by Iraq's Assyrian Christian community to have their own administered region in the north. One of the evil ironies of the U.S. invasion is that no group has suffered more for it than Iraq's Christian community.

Undoing some of that damage before the inevitable pullout would be a small blessing but sadly is probably too much to expect from this debacle.