WASHINGTON - Iraq is not on the verge of civil war, the Pentagon's top general said Sunday, though he acknowledged that "anything can happen" in the beleaguered nation.
If wishes were horses, Bush could ride off into the sunset of his second term secure in the knowledge of a democratic Iraq and a middle East remade. Since they're not, he's just going to have to rely upon enablers like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff Gen. Peter Pace, who continues to insist that all is hunky-dory in Iraq.
"I do not believe it has deep roots," Pace said of the insurgency. "I do not believe that they're on the verge of civil war."
If Pace's assessment wasn't so dangerous, it would be laughable. No deep roots? But I guess you don't want to let a little thing like history get in the way of a good invasion, not if you're already ignoring existing intelligence assessments and manufacturing others to make the case.
Meanwhile, in this country that is not in civil war, Sunni Arab and Kurdish parliamentment members are trying to force out Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. And the violence continues.
Targeted sectarian violence killed at least five people Sunday. Three men died in a gunfight at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad and two relatives of a top Sunni cleric were slain in a drive-by shooting. Sunnis accused deaths squads allied to the interim government, allegations denied by the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry.
While the administration continues to either live in utter denial or to blithely ignore what they've created in the Iraq Debacle, two prominent Democrats, Sen. Tom Harkin and Congressman Jack Murtha inject some reality. (On the flip.)
Update [2006-3-5 19:30:32 by mcjoan]: One expert, retired Army Maj. Gen. William L. Nash (a former military commander in Bosnia-Herzegovina) weighs in:
"We're in a civil war now; it's just that not everybody's joined in.... The failure to understand that the civil war is already taking place, just not necessarily at the maximum level, means that our counter measures are inadequate and therefore dangerous to our long-term interest."
"It's our failure to understand reality that has caused us to be late throughout this experience of the last three years in Iraq," added Nash, who is an ABC News consultant.
Harkin:
"I'm firmly convinced now, after all this time, that it really is a civil war," Harkin said.
The senator, an opponent of the war, said the only solution to the surge of sectarian violence is to begin withdrawing U.S. forces.
"You keep hoping for the best," Harkin said. "And then after a while you say, wait a minute, this isn't working. This isn't working."
Murtha (Crooks and Liars has the video):
"The only people who want us in Iraq are Iran and al-Qaeda," Murtha said on CBS's "Face the Nation" political talk show. "And I talked to a top-level commander the other day and he said China wants us there also. Why? Because we're depleting our resources ... our troop resources and our fiscal resources....
"We have a situation where our military is in such bad shape, it couldn't deploy to a second front," Murtha said. "And the Iranians know this. North Korea knows it. China knows it. We're depleting our resources in Iraq."
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday and said the war in Iraq was going "very, very well" but Murtha was skeptical.
"Why would I believe him?" he said. "This administration, including the president, has mischaracterized this war for the last two years ... So why would I believe the chairman of the Joint Chiefs when he says things are going well?"
Good question, Congressman.