The Fat Lady's Quiet

26 October 2009



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147 Killed in Iraq-Namese Car Bombings

This journal has had little to say about the war in Iraq-Nam in the last while, largely because low intensity guerrilla conflicts are inherently boring affairs. Moreover, the Green Zone government has done little of interest. Furthermore, the leader of the Shi'ite insurrection, Muqtada al Sadr, is playing a long-term game, and he is studying to be promoted to ayatollah from hojatoleslam; it's rather like going from doctoral candidate to PhD or even professor. And yet, two car bombings killed 147 or more Iraq-Namese yesterday, reminding the world that this stupid and pointless conflict continues.

No Americans nor any of their non-Iraq-Namese allies died in the two attacks. This is due to the new strategy adopted by the Americans, which is to occupy Iraq-Nam without actually fighting for it. It's clever in that the US doesn't actually have to helicopter anyone off the embassy roof (yet), and at the same time, the body bags are few in number at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. On the other hand, those very same troops could be in Afghanistan or Oklahoma and do more good for US security by fighting a battle that is necessary or training for the next one.

What is disturbing to the Green Zone government is that this is the worst attack in over two years. That means that the attackers, likely Sunni rebels, have not been crushed or even weakened much. The civil war in Iraq-Nam persists and it appears that the insurgents are winning by virtue of the fact that they are still able to mount an assault. So long as the insurgents are in the field, they cannot be said to be losing. That's Rule #1 in guerrilla warfare.

The Associated Press quoted a man in the street, one Zahid Hussain Naji, as saying, "Everyday, we hear statements from different government officials that our forces are ready to control the situation on the ground when the US forces withdraw. But day after day it has been found that these officials are either liars or have no idea about what's going on outside their offices."

One is quite prepared to say of yesterday's events that some in the Green Zone government have figured out what is going on outside their offices, but not very far outside. At least 25 staff members of the Baghdad Provincial Council died, as did 35 Ministry of Justice workers. In addition, 721 were wounded, only 3 of whom were Americans. If this is the best the al-Maliki government can do, it's fair to say that America has wasted $1 trillion or so in "fixing" things there.

Sunni Iraqi lawmaker Wathab Shakir asked the critical question when he wondered, "Why should innocent people be killed?" He also said, "Those responsible for security and intelligence should be checked and interrogated." That won't happen, though, because if the Green Zone government were to do that, it would have to admit that it can't protect the people and that it can't defeat the insurgent terrorists. This opera isn't close to over, as the fat lady is sitting quietly in the wings.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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