There's a lot happening in Mess O'Potamia today, so I'm going to crib some stuff from Agonist. Ahmad Chalabi defended himself today in a startingly blunt manner. Chalabi led the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group which fed false intelligence to America during the 90s. The other day, Stratfor
suggested that Chalabi actually works for the Iranians, citing "his relationship with senior Iranian officials of all factions." Ahmad
said:
"We are heroes in error. As far as we're concerned we've been entirely successful. That tyrant Saddam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important. The Bush administration is looking for a scapegoat. We're ready to fall on our swords if he wants."
This "entirely successful" occupation, meanwhile, is falling apart. The official US plan still calls for elections June 30. But Bush's team knows that won't work, and in recent weeks have distanced themselves from the plan. Instead, they want the U.N. to delay elections and legitimize the hand-picked Iraqi Governing Council at the end of June, so Bush can pretend the situation is resolved during the final stretch of his reelection campaign. The Shiites want earlier elections, and for them to be direct elections rather than caucuses. Now, the U.N. team in Baghdad is poised to agree with the Bush administration that June 30 elections aren't going to happen. Even before the latest whispers from the U.N, Iraq has been getting restless--err, as the media like to call it, "restive." An IED and RPG in Khaldiyah, another IED in Baqouba, and mortars at Abu Ghraib...but things are going to get worse. 25,000 Marines are being deployed to Fallujah, replacing the 82nd Airborne Division. Why? Well, the 82nd deserves some rest after all the hard work they've done, as do the rest of the troops in Iraq. This move is part of the rotation Rumsfeld ordered recently. There's another angle however, which headlines latched onto: "We do bring this 'small wars' capability with us," Hagee added.
Good thing we're bringing in some fresh soldiers, because the Shiites have some serious problems with this new US-picked, U.N. approved plan for Iraq's July 1st government. The Shiite clerics are for direct elections since they know they will win, and will be able to reform the country as an Islamic state. By design, this will not occur with either the old US caucus plan or the new "Eh, who really needs elections anyways?" plan. Stratfor (again via Sean-Paul) reports that following those whispers earlier of the U.N. siding with Bush's folks, Muqtada al-Sadr's spokesman made a public statement. Seems the Shiite position is, if the US puppet government doesn't implement Shariah law, Iraq has the "power to attack its enemies and revolt on them."