I awakened this morning to the deeply depressing news of battles in Najaf and Fallujeh, with many Iraqi casualties. I heard reports of Apache gunships firing missles and shelling of a mosque.
For a moment, in my still half-asleep state, it was impossible to tell where this was taking place-Palestine or Iraq.
It seems obvious that the US military commanders have decided that they can shoot their way out of the al-Sadr uprising, not unlike the IDF military commanders have for the last 3 years.
So much for winning "hearts and minds."
This is a fearsome development, as adopting this strategy, once begun, will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. It's a dead end.
There is no "victory" possible, no "nation building" no "western-style democracy" possible here. There is only the endless grind of occupation, with its attendant humiliation and collective punishment of civilians, in the name of "security."
And once again, the rest of the world will conflate Bush (and by extension Americans) with Sharon and his brutal policies in the occupied Palestinian terrotory.
Today, I cannot envisage a counterargument to that.