Nadine, now you're measuring our "success" in Iraq by assessing the viability of Al Queda there?
Iraq was never about Al Queda. And here's a bulletin for you, Anbar province isn't about Al Queda either.
I told you that earlier but you seem to have missed it based on your statement:
"Here I was taking a rest from hearing from you since you demanded to know what good news from Iraq was trouble for the Democrats, and I pointed out that the Anbar Awakening was a "big problem" for the Harry "The Surge has Failed" Reid. Since then even the worst Defeat-o-crats have had to admit that it may be premature to pull the plug as they had hoped to by now."
I'm typing very slowly now so you can get it....
The Sunnis in Anbar DON'T need our "help" controlling Al Queda in their province. They are smart, tough, connected and well able to create dead Al Queda terrorizers. Where they need our help is in getting us off their backs and getting arms and training and treasure to fight a different enemy; the Shiite controlled militias, police and national Iraqi army.
Their "cooperation" with us is very clearly for the purpose of positioning themselves to OPPOSE the Shiite controlled Iraqi central government. They are NOT coming under the unified Iraq umbrella that we've claimed will exist. Their "help us fight Al Queda" posturing simply gives them an angle and gives us a cover to work with the "other side" of the conflict, but it doesn't alter, in any significant way, the conflict itself.
We've finally wised up to the fact that a democratically elected, Shiite controlled government in Iraq is a disaster for the US, the world and for non-radical or non-Shiite Iraqis. Duh! It took us years of arming and training those nuts to figure that out?
And all the while our treasure and the blood of our soldiers was being spilled fighting their battle against the Sunnis.
But when the Shiites see that their patsies...that's us...are doing them more harm than good, then they'll tell us to take our billions of dollars of grease money and our 150 thousand soldiers and get out. So we're walking a fine line there trying to rebalance the Shiite/Sunni power so that the Shiites may come to the conclusion that they have to reach some sort of real compromise with a Sunni population that's fighting for its very existence thanks, in large part, to our earlier one sided policies and lethal "help" for the Shiite side of the conflict.
So take off your Al Queda goggles and try to see the big picture in Iraq; a nation of very sophisticated, very diverse and very tough people, each with their own, often hidden, agendas.
Maybe then you'll stop being the myopic person fixated on the leaky faucet when the flood waters are about to sweep away the house. Ed
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