Who's Your Daddy?
The differences among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions in Iraq is something that has been brought home to Americans who are concerned about what we are accomplishing, or not accomplishing, in Iraq. While students of the region have said variously that nationalism ranks above sectionalism, and the reverse, in many of the writings I've encountered on the subject, I suspect that it's as individual there as are our factions here.
As a product of southern upbringing with northeastern education, I favor intellectual and liberal values over the factions of conservative or religion-oriented value systems. I personally consider enlightened views productive as well as preferable. I don't really know how that translates for Iraq's factional split, but have read in much written about the area that the conservatives who discourage women's rights and work for a return of the Caliph are predominant in Shiite Iran. Shiites have gained dominance commensurate with their majority in Iraq.
With its contention that Shiite Iran is supplying the insurgents in Iraq with sophisticated bombs that they then use against U.S. troops, however, it would seem that our government is accusing our supposed allies of being the real enemy.
The Bush administration stepped up pressure on Iran yesterday by producing what it claimed was intelligence that Tehran was behind roadside bombs used by insurgents against US forces in Iraq. It also said the decision to send the arms had been made at "the highest levels".
The US move came as diplomatic discussions in Munich to revive negotiations over the Iranian nuclear crisis and ward off the chances of American air strikes broke up in failure. Washington officials have been debating whether to release the intelligence, expecting scepticism after having lost credibility by publishing misleading claims about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq. After more than a fortnight of procrastination and revision of a 200-page US classified military intelligence document, military officials briefed journalists in Baghdad on the contents yesterday.
And what is Iran's interest in Iraq? Supposedly, it is to keep the dominance of the country in Shiite hands rather than allow the Sunnis to share fully in power. Much of the elected government of Iraq, as well as Prime Minister al-Maliki, have been associated with the Shiite militias that have been attacking, killing, chasing out the Sunnis.
The presence of U.S. soldiers was needed to establish the present Iraqi government, a government that does not control the chaos there. The present Iraqi government is riddled with those who favor the militias, by all reports, and recently a Health Department official was arrested for direct involvement in violence against Sunnis.
Deputy Health Minister Hakem Abbas al-Zamili is a senior member of the political group loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia has been blamed for much of the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Iraqi Health Minister Ali al-Shammari criticized the way forces seized his deputy, calling the raid a humiliating blow to the dignity of the ministry and to the official seized.
The administration here justifies our continued presence by the claim that we are needed to establish democratically elected government - a government that serves the interests of all the people. Yet the government we have been instrumental in setting up has presided over atrocities that only grow larger and more widespread, and has barely cooperated with our efforts to stop the violence.
It's pretty obvious that we have made a mess out of a relatively peaceful country, and that the judgment of this administration is not to be trusted in matters of state. Claims that weapons used against our troops are coming into Iraq from Iran begs the argument that we have had any success in setting up a functioning goverment.
It is incumbent on the congress to work to get our sadly misused forces out of Iraq, so that that country can regain equilibrium.
As a product of southern upbringing with northeastern education, I favor intellectual and liberal values over the factions of conservative or religion-oriented value systems. I personally consider enlightened views productive as well as preferable. I don't really know how that translates for Iraq's factional split, but have read in much written about the area that the conservatives who discourage women's rights and work for a return of the Caliph are predominant in Shiite Iran. Shiites have gained dominance commensurate with their majority in Iraq.
With its contention that Shiite Iran is supplying the insurgents in Iraq with sophisticated bombs that they then use against U.S. troops, however, it would seem that our government is accusing our supposed allies of being the real enemy.
The Bush administration stepped up pressure on Iran yesterday by producing what it claimed was intelligence that Tehran was behind roadside bombs used by insurgents against US forces in Iraq. It also said the decision to send the arms had been made at "the highest levels".
The US move came as diplomatic discussions in Munich to revive negotiations over the Iranian nuclear crisis and ward off the chances of American air strikes broke up in failure. Washington officials have been debating whether to release the intelligence, expecting scepticism after having lost credibility by publishing misleading claims about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq. After more than a fortnight of procrastination and revision of a 200-page US classified military intelligence document, military officials briefed journalists in Baghdad on the contents yesterday.
And what is Iran's interest in Iraq? Supposedly, it is to keep the dominance of the country in Shiite hands rather than allow the Sunnis to share fully in power. Much of the elected government of Iraq, as well as Prime Minister al-Maliki, have been associated with the Shiite militias that have been attacking, killing, chasing out the Sunnis.
The presence of U.S. soldiers was needed to establish the present Iraqi government, a government that does not control the chaos there. The present Iraqi government is riddled with those who favor the militias, by all reports, and recently a Health Department official was arrested for direct involvement in violence against Sunnis.
Deputy Health Minister Hakem Abbas al-Zamili is a senior member of the political group loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia has been blamed for much of the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Iraqi Health Minister Ali al-Shammari criticized the way forces seized his deputy, calling the raid a humiliating blow to the dignity of the ministry and to the official seized.
The administration here justifies our continued presence by the claim that we are needed to establish democratically elected government - a government that serves the interests of all the people. Yet the government we have been instrumental in setting up has presided over atrocities that only grow larger and more widespread, and has barely cooperated with our efforts to stop the violence.
It's pretty obvious that we have made a mess out of a relatively peaceful country, and that the judgment of this administration is not to be trusted in matters of state. Claims that weapons used against our troops are coming into Iraq from Iran begs the argument that we have had any success in setting up a functioning goverment.
It is incumbent on the congress to work to get our sadly misused forces out of Iraq, so that that country can regain equilibrium.
Labels: Cut and Run, Iraq
posted by Ruth at 2:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home