Iraq, Al-Qaeda and the Tribes

Turning Iraq's Tribes Against Al-Qaeda

The article talks about Tribes in Iraq have mutated over time in Iraq and now most of them are firmly allied against Al-Qaeda. The article notes that tribes are like nations. They don't have friends, they have interests. The Marines also duly note that the political winds can change quickly and it would be best to capitalize on our confluent interests now.

One common thread that seems to gird articles by pro and anti-war articles is how unreliable the Iraqi Police are. It appears that they are overrun by militia members who keep their loyalty to their Imam but wear a different uniform. Theocrats the likes of which are running rampant in Andrew Sullivan's feverish imaginings of the Bush Administration.


Hitchens also notes dryly:


A young Marine officer stationed in one of the toughest parts of a very tough province, a man known to me for his hostility to bullshit, insists that American forces are "kicking the shit out of al-Qaida" in his district. But soon after hearing this cheering news, I was told by a veteran journalist who sympathizes with the coalition that there is now insurgent infiltration nibbling at the edges of the very Green Zone itself, the Emerald City within which the illusion of normality can be maintained for days at a time.

It isn't so much a matter of deciding who or what to believe, because both may be simultaneously correct.


The last point is really what we're all arguing over. Anti-American War types focus on the mayhem and the carnage (somewhat correctly) pointing out that things are not going swimmingly. Pro-Bush War types point to the building of schools, roads, hospitals etc. as evidence that we're making headway. Both are correct.

Few people would argue that our nation is a quagmire, a nation on the brink of anarchy. How to explain, then, that our nations capital is a cesspool of crime and corruption that tops the murder charts year upon year? Those who know will tell you there are two DC's. One for the rich (and overwhelmingly white) and one for the poor (overwhelmingly black). Georgetown is a mighty close to Northeast DC but simultaneously a world away.

How this shakes out will depend largely on the Democrats at this point. The Republicans were thrown out of office for Foleygate, Iraq or Spending (depending upon who you ask). Either way, the voters are depending upon the Democrats to break out their magic wand and fix this before 2008. If not, they won't be able to pin the blame for failure in Iraq on Bush or the GOP. They are expected to now offer solutions not simply criticism. They are holding the reins now and we're waiting for some indication they have any ideas. I suspect we're in for a long wait as leaving is not a strategy and nor will it sit well with John Q. Public. The Democrats are smart enough to know that which leaves them with the hobsonian choice of stay in Iraq until we sort this out and annoy their base to no end or leave and have the huge block of centrist voters depart from them.

Republicans are in similarly dire straits as Bush is now the lamest of lame ducks and has no successor. The GOP faithful are no longer the small government, low taxation crowd that won them three successive terms in the 80's. Rather they are now some shibboleth of big spending social conservatism/evangelicalism that has long worn out its welcome. I don't see any shining stars on either side of the aisle and unless or until someone with something actually new and different ideas to offer we're in for our own hobsonian choice in 2008.

Comments

miriam sawyer said…
Your senior senator--and mine--has come out strongly against sending more troops to Iraq. This is before even hearing the President's new plan or investigating the facts on the ground.

He wants to be president. He has the chance of a snowball in hell.
The Last Ephor said…
I wonder if he has spoken to any of the Joint Chiefs or even SecDef. I doubt it.

Joe is many things but stupid isn't one of them. He's playing politics and he knows his run for the presidency is a very long shot. However, he knows that staying in long enough will give him matching funds and that's cash in his pockets.

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