Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Iraq: More al Malaki Malarky

It looks like Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki doesn't like the way U.S. troops are helping him get control of Baghdad.

Last week, Malaki came to Washington and begged the U.S. Congress to stay the course in Iraq. He and young Mister Bush agreed to send more American troops to Baghdad to restore order there.

Now Malaki is unhappy with the way U.S. troops are restoring order.

Theater of War and Theater of the Absurd

From Qassim Abdul-Zahra of AP:
Iraq 's prime minister sharply criticized a U.S.-Iraqi attack Monday on a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad, breaking with his American partners on security tactics as the United States launches a major operation to secure the capital…

…Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's criticism followed a pre-dawn air and ground attack on an area of Sadr City, stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Police said three people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the raid, which the U.S. command said was aimed at "individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities"…

…"Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way," al-Maliki said in a statement on government television…

…[Malaki] apologized to the Iraqi people for the operation and said "this won't happen again."

The situation in Iraq has gone from ridiculous to sublimely absurd. First, Malaki established his reconciliation plan that offers amnesty to insurgents whose only "crime" has been to fight U.S. and other coalition occupation forces. Then he came to the U.S. and begged Congress to keep American occupation forces in his country, and asked Mister Bush to move more of them into Baghdad, where they would help fight insurgent forces who, theoretically, will be eligible for pardons afterward.

Now he's telling U.S. troops how he does and doesn't want them to conduct operations aimed at bringing Baghdad under control.

Th-Th-Th That's Not All, Folks!

Not only does Malaki plan to give amnesty to the insurgents he wants U.S. troops to fight, he wants the power to prosecute U.S. troops under Iraqi law. When four American soldiers were charged in July with the raping a young Iraqi woman and murdering her and her family, Malaki called for a review of the regulation that grants American troops immunity from trial by Iraqi courts.

Malaki wants to be his own man in the international arena as well. Malaki publicly denounced the "Israeli aggression" against Lebanon, a direct criticism of America's backing of Israel in its present conflict, and ignored demands from some members of the U.S. Congress to apologize for those remarks. In May, Malaki's Foreign Minister Hoshya Zebari announced Iraq's support of Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes despite Bush administration insistence that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities.

The best-trained, best-equipped land power force in the history of humanity is trapped in the middle of a Hobbesian conflict it cannot win or resolve. American troops in Iraq have become, in essence, a private mercenary force of Malaki's government, fighting Malaki's fights for him because his own troops don't want to fight his fights for him.

I've said this before, but it's worth repeating: Iraq is a goat rope tied in Gordian knots and wrapped around a Mobius strip. The Israel-Lebanon situation is going to Hebollah in a handbag, and is exacerbating the fiasco in Iraq. America's military has become a half-trillion dollar per year pawn in an international game of hocus-pocus politics, but I don't blame Malaki for this pathetic state of affairs.

The American neoconservative cabal--which includes Dick Cheney, Bill Kristol, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Charles Krauthammer, Scooter Libby, Bill Bennett, John Bolton, Jeb Bush and other luminaries of the war hawk right--are the Bozos who've driven this bus over the cliff. But there's one guy at the top of this unholy pyramid, and to date he's virtually managed to escape blame for America's fall from grace.

It's high time for young Mister Bush to take a trip to the woodshed. He's 60 now, and regardless of anything his mom might say to the contrary, he's old enough to be held responsible for his own actions.

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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at ePluribus Media and Pen and Sword.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:16 PM

    Jeff,
    There are certain cultures, where it is perfectly acceptable to lie to preserve one's honor. PM al-Maliki can stand before our Congress and read a Bush approved statement, but he realizes there is a sniper bullet or an IED marked with his name, his family's name or anyone else remotely related to him once he's back at home. At the end of the day, he strongly desires to live another day, otherwise, he'll set up household somewhere in the countryside in Virginia and become a consultant/contractor.

    An effective politician must know his base....regardless of which hemisphere.


    Left Coast

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  2. "There are certain cultures, where it is perfectly acceptable to lie to preserve one's honor."

    That, IMO, applies to the Bush culture as well.

    Like I said, I don't blame Malaki one bit for what he's doing.

    I blame the Bush culture for the mess they've led us into.

    Best,

    Jeff

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  3. I was thinking the same thing. Well, about the same thing. He has to appear to be one way for his own supporters and of course, score some brownie points speaking out against Israel in Congress..ah politics. Don't you love it that you don't really have to bother taking anything at face value? Who'd want to live in such simple manner anyway? ("I do")
    Ingrid

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  4. Anonymous6:16 AM

    Perhaps the reason that Bush is not taken to the woodshed is that he simply is the monkey to the organ-grinder that are strategic decisions taken years and decades ago. You can't change your partners in the middle of a dance, perhaps Bush has entered into a Faustian bargain with groups that he cannot desert, but merely bring down with him.

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  5. Anonymous6:21 AM

    "It's high time for young Mister Bush to take a trip to the woodshed. He's 60 now, and regardless of anything his mom might say to the contrary, he's old enough to be held responsible for his own actions."

    You wanna be the figurehead, you gotta be willing to accept a few dings.

    and,

    "perhaps Bush has entered into a Faustian bargain with groups that he cannot desert, but merely bring down with him."

    I'll take "merely" for five.........

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  6. Thanks for the comments, all. I don't know about you, but I'm a little tired of Bush getting pass after pass because it's assumed he's just a figurehead.

    When's the last time you used that as an excuse for something you did and got away with it? ;-)

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