Civil War
“What we’ve seen in the past two days, the attack has had a major impact here, getting everyone’s attention that Iraq is in danger,” Mr. Khalilzad said in a conference call with reporters.
The country’s leaders, he added, “must come together, they must compromise with each other to bring the people of Iraq together and save this country.”
Mr. Khalilzad’s comments are the most explicit acknowledgment so far by an American official of the instability of the situation, and the fragility of the entire American enterprise here. The killings and assaults across Iraq that began Wednesday have amounted to the worst sectarian violence since the American invasion.
…In the deadliest assault, 47 people returning from a protest were pulled off buses south of Baghdad on Wednesday and shot in the head, an Interior Ministry official said Thursday. Three journalists from Al Arabiya, the Arab satellite network, were abducted and killed Wednesday in Samarra, near the ruined shrine. Seven American soldiers were also killed Wednesday in unrelated attacks involving roadside bombs.
Political and religious leaders, including President Jalal Talabani and Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric whose followers are believed to be involved in much of the anti-Sunni violence, called for restraint.
Bring it on, indeed. A terrible situation, and a confused one, in which al-Sadr, of all people, feels compelled to urge restraint.
For the purpose of discussion, if Khalizad is this blunt, we should probably assume that reality is far, far worse. Iraq is gone, or at the very least, rapidly moving that way.
Now what? Three states, Shia, Sunni, and Kurd? A violent, anarchic “state of nature”? How will humanitarian aid reach the sufferers if there is no Iraq left? What are the short term/long term implications for terrorism both within the Middle East and against the US and US citizens? What can be done, in any event, to counter the development of a disintegrated Iraq becoming a breeding ground for terrorism. Are efforts to “save” Iraq a priori doomed to failure?
And aside from the questions of humanitarian aid, the most crucial question: in a post-Bush world, what is the United States’ – our – moral obligation to the people of the former Iraq?
Thomas Friedman once said that it’s not every day you get to see a political experiment in action. Well Tom, here it is. Happy?
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