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There are 3 main population groupings in Iraq: Sunni Muslims, Shi'ite Muslims and Kurds. The American occupation seems to have antagonized all three!
For many months we have had nothing but attacks and killings in the Sunni Triangle, which includes Fallujah. Recently Iraqis in Fallujah killed 4 American mercenaries. The Marines have stated they will react in a tough way. We are at war with the Sunnis.
After Bush announced "mission accomplished," there were many killings. But the administration kept telling us that all the trouble was in the Sunni Triangle. The rest of the country is proceeding slowly but surely to democracy. Along comes this 30-year old Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and starts an insurrection against the occupation. First he kills a rival cleric. Then the occupation censors his newspaper. Sadr replies with attacks against occupation authorities. A war is in progress against some Shi'ites.
What about the Kurds? The people that truly accepted U.S. actions are the Kurds. The people that have already in place a form of democracy are the Kurds. And the people who have previously been screwed by the U.S. are the Kurds. Now it appears that the U.S. and Turkey have a deal to screw the Kurds again. The Kurds will not be allowed to get too powerful.
We have a war going on against the Sunnis, the Shi'ites and the Kurds. And our resolute commander-in-chief says we must "stay the course."
Yesterday, I heard Senators Lugar and Biden, of the Foreign Relations Committee, say on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, they have no idea what the "course" is. Administration officials are debating the issue and are not discussing anything with them. The senators are in the dark.
With so much turmoil in Iraq, it seems ridiculous to me to "stay the course," especially since the June-30-deadline "course" was picked for political reasons only. Although I was against the Iraq war, now that we are there I believe that we must see it through to a successful conclusion. This will take years. It took many years in Japan, Germany and South Korea. We still have troops in South Korea. The situation in Iraq is worse than it was in any of these countries.
Let's not "stay the course." Let's plan to stay in Iraq for a long time.
