Nation Abuse

I've noted before that the only surprise about The March of Folly in Iraq is the incredible degree of rapidity with which it's fallen apart. It seems like it's gotten to the point where on an hour to hour if not day to day basis the country is either the focus of the neo-cons' affection or the object of their abuse. The New York Times reports it is the latter today. Paul Bremer has fingered Moktada al-Sadr as an "outlaw," while Sh'ias, our nominal "ally" (remember the hapless Rumsfeld publicly getting frantic last April when they didn't rise up against Saddam?), are making a serious play for genuine political power.

Imagine that: Sadr and his followers are taking advantage of the power vacuum. Duh. What the hell did we expect? That they'd roll over and act like little puppies? The hubris of the neo-cons has placed the US smack in the middle of an incredibly complicated puzzle, and, what do you know, they haven't a solution in sight, except for maybe adding a few more feet of reinforced concrete to the walls surrounding the Green Zone--and a reactive raid on Fallujah that will do nothing but inflame the already sky-high tensions.

The war is and has been an intelligence failure. Chalabi, our intelligence "source," has proven that he's as good a liar as he is an embezzler. Not that he cares, mind you--he's got what he's wanted all along, and 600 plus deaths and thousands of wounded--plus the uncounted Iraqi deaths--don't bother him a bit. Meanwhile, ANY intelligence on the ground must be suspect: Iraqis KNOW we are essentially flying blind, and will just as soon hurt us as help us, depending on our luck on a given day.

I've posted before my opinion that Iraq is Arabic for quagmire. That might be optimistic. Iraq might well become Arabic for hell.