As America's future unfolds on the streets of Fallujah and now of Najab, I think it's time we STOP, children, what's that sound, everybody look what's goin down. These street gatherings are not quite yielding up the long-promised rose petals, but neither do they represent a "quagmire," which requires jungles and mud. What's happening now in Iraq is much closer to what we used to call civil war.
The Shi-ites, who were considered not friends but friendlier than the Sunnis, now hate us as much as the Sunnis, whom they also hate. Worse, the Shi-ites have split in two, and all three groups have taken to the streets, heavily armed, ready to kill each other just as soon as the coalition forces leave. Until then, the coalition forces are the targets, and not just Americans. Ukrainian forces, who lost one yesterday, are going home early.
The next time someone tells you that things are almost back to where they were when Saddam was in power, take off your flip-flops and slap them on both cheeks. Things are not better. Things are worse and worsening.
Democracy ain't happening in Iraq. Democracies don't close down newspapers — which is what Paul Bremer did. Closing the paper was the flashpoint that brought the mutilations in Fallujah, followed by an insurgency in Najab that today overtook a police station and robbed the newly trained cops of their sophisticated weaponry, even their flak jackets and uniforms, paid for by your tax dollars.
At the front of the frenzy is the charismatic young Mullah al Sadr, a man who was slated to share a great inheritance of power after June 1st. Sadr has now decided he wants nothing to do with America's power anymore. He says it's time to go. Now.
Article comments
1 - Shark
Excellent piece once again, CW Fisher.
I've recently become a convert, and spent yesterday in my attic digging out and dusting off my old "BRING OUR BOYS HOME" signs from 1968.
The latest mindless catch-phrase is, "Well, we're over there and we have to finish the job."
You hear it from everybody, liberals, Dems, Neo-Cons, Repubs, little old ladies, and motard MTV types.
I figure if everybody is saying it, it must be wrong. They're hypnotized.
Why the hell do we have to 'finish the job'? We simply resign.
"This wasn't what I expected."
"I don't see any real opportunities in this position in the future."
"I want to spend more time with my family."
"I no longer share a common vision with my subordinates."
Bush's philosophy (other than the one he copped from Christ) seems to be to paint America into a number of deadly corners and let 'em "finish the job," hopefully long after he's retired in his bunker in Crawford, which I predict, will eventually be known as "The Tomb of the Unknown President."
And the sooner, the better.
2 - Al Barger
Bogus: "This is only thing that all Iraqis agree on. They want us out."
We don't have mass revolt against us, nor are we likely to. We'll put down the handful of jackasses like this Mullah al Sadr.
This June 1st deadline is bogus, though. Rome wasn't built in a day. Patience.
3 - SFC Ski
Closing down a Shia newspaper in Baghdad did not cause Sunnis to kill and mutialte Americans in Baghdad.
June is the transitional governments taking over in Baghdad, it was never described or planned as a withdrawal from Iraq, only from the interior of major cities, speecifically Baghdad, to allow Iraqi security forces to take over policing those cities.
Things were only better under Saddam in that Iraqis were free to live peaceful lives unless Saddam's thugs decided to pick them up, torture them, and maybe pile them up in a mass grave.
The Iraqi Shia were never a unified element that suddenly split, excepting that they all wante to be free of Saddam. There are a lot of Shia that want coalition forces in Iraq, Nationalist Shia who want only Iraqis in Iraq, and some of the Shia want to impose an Islamic Republic on the rest of the population, and will work with Iran to do it.
There are Sunns who obviously want us to leave, but many of them wnat us to stay to keep them from being persecuted in the backlash that would be directed against them.
So no, not all Iraqis agree that they want us out.
4 - Al Barger
This is pretty bogus too: "Democracies don't close down newspapers" This freedom of the press stuff isn't absolute even in America. If a paper in Nebraska started printing editorials calling for the murder of US military personnel, they'd be shut down with a quickness. This appears to have been the situation with the Iraq paper.
Sonsabitches are lucky they weren't just summarily bombed.
5 - bernard
Dear uncle Sam,
Great job, winning the war.
Now let's see how good you are at not losing the peace.
6 - Hal Pawluk
'This is pretty bogus too: "Democracies don't close down newspapers"'
You're right, Al.
In fact, it could be called "Wilsonian democracy" in honor of another President who sold another war and shut down dissenting newspapers by the score.
7 - Lisa
Excuse me but aren't we all just missing the point? You all are so quick to knit pick these little skimply issues of who's closing newspapers and the June 1 date...Who cares?.. don't you all see the big picture and what's really going on? If we take a look at history we would be wise to look at what happened in Viet Nam, go to the library and view the 1975 documentery 'Hearts and Minds', then tell CW about your little gripes!>
He's right, it may not be a civil war to you and me, but these people won't quit, as I quote this stunning paragraph that CW wrote,
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8 - Lisa
Excuse me but aren't we all just missing the point? You all are so quick to knit pick these little skimply issues of who's closing newspapers and the June 1 date...Who cares?.. don't you all see the big picture and what's really going on? If we take a look at history we would be wise to look at what happened in Viet Nam, and go to the library and view the 1975 documentery 'Hearts and Minds', then tell CW about your little gripes!
He's right, it may not be a civil war to you and me, but these people won't quit, as I quote this stunning paragraph that CW wrote,