Bush is on another tear across the country telling his remaining handful of devoted followers: "my decision is working." He is saying that "victory is still possible" in Iraq. He is shooting off his mouth--in other words, he's lying. He accuses Democrats of playing politics with Iraq when he is the author of Iraq for Politics.
He needs to be called on his lies about Iraq having a government! Iraq does not have a functioning government! It has a little Green Zone gang, er "gov'ment," of folks who like to pretend they are a real government. But they are irrelevant and beside the point of the ethnic cleansing/civil war going on in Iraq. A war American troops cannot stop, valiant though they are.
Listen to what Nir Rosen, my favorite middle east expert because he's actually spent lots of time on the streets of Iraq, he's observant and besides that, he's brilliant. His earlier reports have proven to be dead-on accurate.
Nir Rosen gave an interview to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now and here are a few excerpts.
...Outside Iraq, we’re approaching three million refugees who have left since 2003. snip/
NIR ROSEN: Iraq has been changed irrevocably....I don’t think Iraq even -- you can say it exists anymore. There has been a very effective, systematic ethnic cleansing of Sunnis from Baghdad, of Shias -- from areas that are now mostly Shia. But the Sunnis especially have been a target, as have mixed families.../snip/ ...Baghdad is now firmly in the hands of sectarian Shiite militias, and they’re never going to let it go.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of Senator Levin calling for the Maliki and the whole government to disband?
NIR ROSEN: Well, it’s stupid for several reasons. First of all, the Iraqi government doesn’t matter. It has no power. And it doesn’t matter who you put in there. He’s not going to have any power. Baghdad doesn’t really matter, except for Baghdad. Baghdad used to be the most important city in Iraq, and whoever controlled Baghdad controlled Iraq. These days, you have a collection of city states: Mosul, Basra, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Irbil, Sulaymaniyah. Each one is virtually independent, and they have their own warlords and their own militias.
snip/
Second of all, who can he put in instead? ....snip/ There was a democratic election...
....people in the Green Zone have never had any power. Americans, whether in the government or journalists, have been focused on the Green Zone from the beginning of the war, and it’s never really mattered. It’s been who has power on the street, the various different militias, depending on where you are -- Sunni, Shia, tribal, religious, criminal. So it just reflects the same misunderstanding of Iraqi politics.
The government doesn’t do anything, doesn’t provide any services, whether security, electricity, health or otherwise. Various militias control various ministries, and they use it as their fiefdoms. Ministries attack other ministries.
AMY GOODMAN: Which is the most powerful militia?
NIR ROSEN: Well, the various Shia ones, such as the Mahdi Army, the Badr Corps, the police, the Iraqi police, the Iraqi army. snip But the Mahdi Army basically controls the police and the Iraqi army....
The interview is long so I don't think I've gone over the limit allowed.
Rosen wrote, In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq. Just back from a stay in Lebanon, Rosen says: "I don’t think anybody can really help Iraq at this point." The much awaited Petraeus/Crocker report is beside the point because it doesn't matter what the US does, he says.
"Iraq is lost." -- Nir Rosen
Read the interview.
Tell your congress people that they need to recognize the truth. Tell them that we know Iraq is already lost.