On his blog, Juan Cole publishes a rumor that the Sunni insurgents have already probed the Baghdad Green Zone and are prepared to stage a big attack:
How bad the situation is in Iraq is suggested by this email I just got from a professional who used to be in Iraq but now is in a nearby country:
' It is desperate in Iraq, worse then ever and there is no end in sight. I had lunch with [a former high ranking medical educator in Iraq] two days ago. [He]noted that Iraq no longer has neuro-surgeons, no cardiac surgeons, few pediatric doctors - they are all gone, killed or fled to neighboring countries like him. He was given seven days to get out or be killed. He is one of the lucky ones. He and his family have an opportunity for a new life in the US. But what about all the others. Where are they to go?
Another friend, a Sunni sheikh of the Shammar tribe noted to me that thousands of former officers are prepared to assault the G[reen] Z[one]. It is no longer a matter of can they do it, they are only mulling over the timing. The breach of the Green Zone security the other day was a test of their ability to get in, and not a real attempt at a coup, though it is reported as such. Every Iraqi I talk to says unambiguously that the resistance attached to the former regime would take out the Shiite militias with barely a fight, but that the resistance will not commit wholesale revenge against the Shiite population. They just want to get rid of the "carpet baggers" from Iran. '
I don't think Juan Cole is a crackpot. Not one bit.
Does anyone here know if Americans are still stationed in the Green Zone?
Iraq is in big trouble, and we are stuck until January before the Democrats begin to assume the oh-so-badly-needed oversight role over this reckless Administration.
By the time January comes around, we may be overtaken by events.
The Bush Administration is utterly paralyzed. The best they can do is send Dickie (no, not Dickie Pombo) to the safe Saudi capital for a three-hour kaffeeklatsch.
Their stooge McCain wants to send MORE troops? Great idea, you schmuck.
...And just where do you expect those troops to come from, Sen. McCain? Your neocon pals in the Pentagon?
I note also that Cole directly conflates the Sunni insurgency with Al Qaeda. In effect, we have radicalized an entire class of Iraqis.
Way to go, George Bush! Way to deal those terrorists a blow from which they will never... oh, shit. How'd there get to be more of them? Oh well, just get out a bigger hammer like McCain says. That'll fix things.
These guys have failed, and 140,000 of our men and women are in harm's way. Those people were never fighting for freedom. They were fighting for George Bush and Halliburton. And now we're stuck cleaning up their fuckin' mess! Those people were never fighting for our freedom, which is what the military's propaganda continues to to say. They are fighting for a Presidential lie.
This is why Congress has had the historical and Constitutional prerogative to consider whether to go to war.
I deeply resent those among us who say, "Well, smart guy, you got any BETTER ideas?"
Yes, we do. To begin with:
- STFU.
- Partition Iraq into three separate countries using the historic tribal boundaries that were obliterated by the British in 1920.
- Impeach both Bush and Cheney for crimes against the state. Then prosecute and convict them.
- Throw out the Patriot Act, the recent Military Commissions Act, shut down Gitmo and bring every single person in every single secret camp to this country. Indict them and try them in a fair court of law. If you can't indict them, send 'em back home with a stipend so that they can provide for their families.
- Then have Congress craft an intelligently written Intelligence Act that responds to current realities without allowing the Executive Branch to run amok again. Details? That's for another time.