The Exile Legacy

There's a great article in today's Washington Post that goes beyond merely noting how dysfunctional the government of Nouri al-Maliki and his party is in Iraq, but tries to help explain why:

At times consumed by conspiracy theories, Maliki and his Dawa party elite operate much as they did when they plotted to overthrow Saddam Hussein -- covertly and concerned more about their community's survival than with building consensus among Iraq's warring groups, say Iraqi politicians and analysts and Western diplomats. [...]

But Dawa members and other Shiites remained suspicious of the motives of the United States and the Sunnis, partly because of the Shiites' history of being oppressed and betrayed, including what they viewed as an American failure to back a Shiite uprising after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

On the one hand, this makes the leaders of the Shiite parties hesitant to compromise with Sunnis. It also, in a totally understandable way, makes them freak out about things like the U.S. military giving training and support to local armed Sunni groups that we're partnering with to fight al-Qaeda. They have no trust in Iraq's Sunni elites and no trust in the United States. At the same time, trying to work with Sunnis who are willing to cooperate with us against al-Qaeda is the right strategy for us. Except that the real right strategy for us is to recognize that things are far, far, far too screwed up for us to unscrew them at this point.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eli J. Medellin

Comments

Hey! Training works. The Iraqi soldier in the foreground has a good stance there. I notice the Iraqi Army seems to be able to outfight its opponents once the initial ambush is over.

Sorry about the digression there. I just the topic was kind of like "no shit".

Posted by danceswithgoats | August 3, 2007 4:47 PM

Except that the real right strategy for us is to recognize that things are far, far, far too screwed up for us to unscrew them at this point.

BINGO

For God's sake, I haven't even heard a single war supporter in the past year articulate a single rational description of what winning in Iraq would even look like anymore.

Myself? I would just take the $200 billion (or whatever the number is) we have budgeted for the war next year and tell Iraq "look, we give up, we're done here. We're going to take this $200 billion we were going to use blowing up your country and put it in this Swiss escrow account. When you all get your shit together and learn to live in peace there will be a $10 grand check waiting for every man, woman, and child.

Posted by Kent | August 3, 2007 4:57 PM

Kent,

Can we try that approach with some other seemingly insoluble problems we burn money on?

We have school districts in America where taxpayers spend $15k+ per student per year and fewer than half the students even graduate. What if we shut down the D.C. or Detroit public schools and put the $ millions we saved in an escrow account? We could drop all the textbooks off at the local public library and tell the kids: "Here, educate yourselves. If you can get your shit together and pass a GED test by the time you turn 18, there's $60k in it for you. Good luck".

Posted by Juan | August 3, 2007 5:55 PM

Doesn't sound like such a bad idea, actually, Juan. I'm all for experimental legislation. Especially since those kids practically have to educate themselves if they want a way out anyway. If it's a disaster, we can always go back to the old system.

Posted by Gordon Lightfoot | August 3, 2007 6:01 PM

Is it screwed up or just a hint at the very long, very intertwined history the region holds?

We've been messin' in the region for far too long in my seriously humble opinion...perhaps it's a good thing GWB blundered us into realizing our arrogance and lust for oil simply cannot manipulate thousands of years of deep history.

Posted by G Davis | August 3, 2007 9:03 PM

I'm not sure how historic or deep the enmity is. I do know that if the US leaves, the Shiites in the government are going to kill the Sunni Arabs who stay. I just can't figure out who they'll kill after that. Oh -- those things will happen if the US stays there too. So the only upside to better training is fewer bullets needed.

Posted by Peter Driscoll | August 4, 2007 6:18 AM