Iraq in 1 piece: Media Bummed
That’s what you would think after a week in which the words “Iraq”, “brink” and “Civil War” usually appeared in one sentence. StrategyPage, as usual, has a good take on the issue from the Iraqi perspective:
Iraqis were irked to see the foreign news stories of how Iraq was “on the brink of civil war.” The Sunni Arabs are in no shape to put up a credible resistance in any kind of civil war. The government has more problems with Kurdish and Shia Arab public opinion, which is more inclined to treat the Sunni Arab population a lot more violently than is currently the case. This makes it difficult to rein in the death squads, particularly the ones in the police force, who go out and just kill actual, or suspected, Sunni Arab killers. When it is mentioned that the deceased was formerly a member of one of Saddam’s many police and intelligence outfits, there is no hope of any follow-up investigation. It’s going to take a generation for this hatred, of Saddam’s many victims, and their families, towards the Sunni Arabs who did the dirty work for so long.
A Generation? In a land where the 12th Century competes with yesterday in the minds of its inhabitants?
Let’s put it this way: If the Shi’a and Kurds put their minds to it, there won’t be a Civil War. There will be a Sunni bloodbath - and I’m not sure the USA should intervene if it happens.
