Not much changed here in Iraq in the two weeks I was gone. People are still killing each other and acting like soulless fools.
The Shiites and the Sunnis are at each others throats like a pack of surly dogs that needs an alpha male to keep them in check. That’s sad to say, but it’s true. Now that Saddam is a fading memory and Iraqi “leaders” have nothing to worry about from above, they’re proving that they just need another Saddam to keep them in check.
Frankly, Iraq’s politicians are failing Iraq’s people, miserably. The government should have been seated months ago. The politicians need to seat the government, immediately. Every day they delay and continue wrangling is another day of unnecessary bloodshed, another day of tragedies that make it harder to move forward once a four-year government is seated.
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Militants killed two people at elementary schools in a mainly Shiite district of Baghdad on Wednesday, the government said. But police in the neighborhood denied any attack occurred.
The situation is confusing, even to those who live here. It’s being muddled on purpose, by those who do not profit from stability, or peace, or prosperity and those who are merely hungry for power.
What hasn’t changed since I left on R&R is the necessity for the U.S. of seeing things through here. Abandonment is not a recipe for anything good. Running away now would condemn Iraq to another strongman dictator and in the long run that would have worse consequences for the Middle East and the world than staying the tough, confusing and often painful course that has been tenatively and sometimes short sightedly laid out by the administration and U.S. policy makers.
One of the key missing ingredients on all sides is honesty. I would love to see more honesty from the mouths of the decision makers.