There are reports now that we are losing confidence in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Maliki is tied into Shiite forces that are connected to Muqtada al-Sadr. He is hesitant to move against the Shiite militias -- at this point, the main source of violence and discontent in Iraq. Finally, he does not appear to be wholly on our side. There is a good reason for that, because he is not!
In Iraq, the Shiites are loyal to the Shiites, the Sunnis are loyal to the Sunnis and the Kurds are loyal to the Kurds. We haven't been able to figure this out in three and half years. We keep chasing the mirage of Iraqi unity. Please read this Associated Press article on the Iraqi army.
What a joke. The people in the Iraqi army don't care. The people in the militias and the insurgency care -- that's why they fight. The idea of standing this army up so that we can stand down is absolutly ridiculous and will never work.
Conservatives can yell and scream all they want about Democrats being defeatists. But that isn't going to change the facts on the ground. Everything we do in Iraq that does not lead to an orderly partition of the country is a waste of time. There are only two possibilities. Either Iraq will split apart or someone like Muqtada al-Sadr will capture most of the country and become a strong man just like Saddam Hussein, except he will be an Islamic fundamentalist.
There is no one on our side in Iraq. There is no effective force in Iraq fighting for the same cause we are. That is why the Bush strategy in Iraq is destined for complete failure. And everyone who dies between now and the time we figure that out will have died in vain. That is an ugly truth. If you run away from that truth to feel better, you are costing people's lives. For the love of God, get a Congress in there that can turn this thing around in 2006. It's our last chance.
If we don't get a new Congress that will hold this government accountable, we are to blame for every life lost in this futile, reckless misadventure in Iraq. If you put the same Republicans back into office to rubberstamp Bush's awful decisions, you will have sanctioned wasting two more years in Iraq while we go in the wrong direction. You will have cost the lives of all those American troops for nothing. Are you willing to live with that?