Sunni bloc quits Iraq govt, truck bomb kills 50

But the shaky coalition is under pressure from the United States and its allies to end sectarian strife between Shi'ites and Sunnis through national reconciliation.

Meanwhile, the Administration appears determined to find plausible and do the bidding of such Sunni "allies" as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, in their careful campaign to trick the Americans into remaining in Iraq. They are determined to do what they can to persuade the Americans to remain in Iraq so as to protect the Sunnis for as long as possible, and to put off the day when the Shi'a ascendancy in Iraq becomes not only fixed in amber (it already is), but clear to the Sunni populations of their own countries (who will be mad) and the Shi'a in the Middle East, mainly in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, in Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Yemen (who will be inspired). They are also determined to extract from the Americans, ever-naive, ever-uncomprehending, as much weaponry as they can, on the pretense that it is needed against the "threat of Iran." What they really mean is that they want as much weaponry as they can get -- because they want as much weaponry as they can get.

But the very idea that Egypt, which has fought four wars against Israel and will fight a fifth whenever it feels it has an opportunity to go in, with others, for the kill, will somehow be using the advanced weaponry, especially on certain planes, that it receives to stave off the Iranians, who will somehow manage to make it all the way, like the Mamelukes, to Egypt (presumably crossing Israel or Saudi Arabia to get to it) is absurd. There is no reason, not a plausible shred, to supply Egypt with such weapons, which will make life hell for Israel and its defense planning.

The same argument, slightly modified, goes for the weapons sale -- not gift, as in the case of malevolent Egypt -- to malevolent and fabulously rich Saudi Arabia.

And even worse than the arms sales, if such were poossible, have been these meetings of Rice and Bush with their smiling, promising-so-seeming-much, delivering-so-very-little, Saudi "friends" whose smiles, deep gravelly voices, perfectly white and nicely pressed dishdashas, and the sheer luxuriousness of the meeting rooms in the palaces, and the accommodations and exaggerated, oleaginous courtesy that the Saudis specialize in (a jewel-encrusted dagger, or a dishdasha for the grandchild?), while a sense of the world, the real world, with Muslims multiplying all over Western Europe, and the need to weaken, overall, the Camp of Islam, is lost, in all the smiles and photo ops, of our endlessly naive, terminally ignorant, taking-a-leadership-role leaders.

The Shi'a exiles persuaded their special friends in Washington of what a splendid little war the conquest of Iraq would be, and how the Americans would be greeted as liberators in Baghdad, in a welcome that would "make the liberation of Kabul seem like a funeral procession." [By the way, how's that celebration in Kabul at their rescue from the Taliban coming along?], and how once the ogre was overthrown, Iraqis would join in creating a marvellous new polity with American help. Nothing was said about that little matter of Shi'a taking over (as inevitably they would), and nothing was said, of course, of how that would be regarded by the Sunnis, in Iraq and outside Iraq. Nothing was said about the attitudes and atmospherics of Islam, that leave no room for political compromise, but rather see the world's conflicts -- mainly that between Believer and Infidel -- as leaving, in the end, only the Victor, and the Vanquished.

And now, as we are trying to extricate ourselvfes from Tarbaby Iraq, and the squandering of men, money, and materiel, an obstinate President and those who work for him, and therefore part of the collective folie of those who still think there is something to be gained by remaining in Iraq at such cost (the only thing to be gained, can only be gained, by leaving Iraq -- that is one of the lessons of postings and articles at this site over the past 3 1/2 years), it is the Time of the Sunnis.

It is not so much the Sunnis in Iraq to whom the Administration is now listening, but to their big protective brothers in Riyadh and Cairo (and the rest of the Arab League). It is they who tell us that they fear "instability" if we, the Americans, leave Iraq. It is they who have no objection to the Americans being stuck in Tarbaby Iraq forever, and taking casualties from their Sunni co-religionists and from the Iranians as well. While they show every sign of not participating in the sanctions against Iran (what moves have been taken to shut off Iranian involvement in Dubai, for example? Or to lessen the value of the Iranian investments in Dubai by declaring an economic boycott of that place, by all the circumambient Arabs, until such time as Iran gives up its nuclear project? Not possible? Why not? Just because until now no one in th American government has thought of such a thing, much less dared to think of asking the Sunni Arabs in the Gulf to suggest such a boycott? Can't be done, you say? Why do you say that?

First the Shi'a use us as their god-sent instrument to get rid of Saddam Hussein and take power from the Sunnis, something they could never ever have accomplished (they tried) on their own.

Now the Sunnis use us as their god-sent instruement to prevent the Shi'a from enjoying their new power, and possibly to bring back, little by little, the Sunni Arabs, into that position of power, in Iraq and everywhere, that they, according to the Sunnis themselves, deserve to possess.

awww, gee...we'll miss them, lol.
Actually, I noticed (forget the fact they don't make a move without consulting their saudi masters) they only did this within hours of the Rice-saudi meeting in riyadh (mind you, these are the same bunch of scum whose sect boycotted their own elections in the first place, thus have no room to bitch and moan).

Nothing like throwing a temper tantrum like spoiled children.

Wonder, was it sunni or shi'a driving those exploding cars?

I lay odds it was the islamists who exploded the cars. lol

Oh, update(?) on the bombing(s)...
Looks like one was a fuel tanker at a gas station, and the targeted area was the shi'a district.
If true, that would lend a really big clue it was the sunnis who did it.

gee...time to be shocked.

Thought the Iraqi Parliament was "on vacation" until September.

Its withdrawal will have little practical effect on the 15-month-old government,which is virtually paralyzed . . .

Certainly in the running for "UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR" award.

Greetings:

My brother and I against our cousin.
My cousin and I against the stranger.

Bah- who are you going to believe, Reuters or Rush & Tony Snow, who tell us all is well and getting better by the day? "Wait for the big September Progress Report".

Irrelevant Exuberance
Why the latest good news from Iraq doesn't matter.
By Phillip Carter

"Truth is elusive in Iraq; it always remains just out of focus. In Iraq you can find evidence on the ground to support just about any conclusion you choose; most visitors arrive, see what they want to see, and go home believing even more strongly in the positions they held before they landed in Iraq. It takes months—perhaps even years—to gain the depth and perspective on Iraq necessary to develop a reasonably objective and balanced understanding of events there. Neither O'Hanlon and Pollack nor conservative scholars like Fred Kagan, the intellectual architect of the current surge, spend nearly enough time in Iraq to understand its shifting, uncertain realities."

"O'Hanlon and Pollack admit that "victory" is probably no longer attainable—only some "sustainable stability" that might allow Iraq to keep itself together when U.S. forces eventually depart. But this reveals the fatal flaw in their argument. The lid will remain on the Iraq pot only as long as we are willing to commit to our current troop levels. Reducing troop levels from the current 160,000 to 60,000 or 80,000, and/or transitioning to an "adviser model," will allow the situation to deteriorate out of control, as it did in 2005 when U.S. forces drew down and pulled back from most Iraqi cities. Withdrawing immediately will cause the Maliki government to collapse and the region to descend into a hellish ethno-sectarian war atop some of the world's largest oil fields."

"So, what are we to do? Sadly, as professor Andrew Bacevich writes in this week's New Republic, we may be past the point where good deeds can save Iraq."

"This much is certain: The moment when Americans might have persuaded Iraqis to embrace them as liberators has long since passed. We have failed to make good on too many promises. In our heavy-handed efforts to root out insurgents, we have too frequently mistaken the innocent for the guilty. However inadvertently, we have killed and maimed too many civilians. Sadly, in places like Abu Ghraib and Haditha, we have committed too many crimes. We have just plain screwed up too many times."

"If it is true that victory, or anything close to it, lies beyond our reach, we can no longer justify the cost of persevering in Iraq. It is time to begin the long march home."

News just in. "Iraqi Freedom" reaches a new high on the Keystone Kops index.

"Meanwhile, a US Government Accountability Office probe revealed the American military cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraq's beleaguered security forces in 2004 and 2005

According to a July 31 report, the US military "cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces."

The weapons disappeared from records between June 2004 and September 2005, as the military struggled to rebuild the disbanded Iraqi forces from scratch amid mounting attacks from Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

The report warned that while more attention had since been devoted to tracking weapons, "a review of the January 2007 property books found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070801/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_070801091932;_ylt=AkLgZW57xKXd.K5U_aFokf0UewgF

Sometimes it just gets soooooooooooo bad.

Laugh or cry? Better toss a coin.

fine article you posted feralcat9.

Is there anyone who still thinks it was a good idea? Apart from the genius in the White House of course.

Michael Ware - been there since start