a summary of the iraq situation

Clipped from Kitco.

One can substitute Howard for Bush in most of the article. Clearly Howard supports the insupportable US policy.

Bush has called all who oppose his plans "terrorists" from the beginning. This has never really been true.

The Sunnis have comprised the bulk of the insurgency, with foreign fighters, who better fit the profile of terrorists, coming in to help out.

Prior to the invasion, these Sunnis actually kept the terrorists in check. Iraq was not one of the countries exporting terrorism to the West. They did, however, have it in for Israel.

S. Hussein ran the most eclectic, cosmopolitan country in the Middle East. He was not part of radical Islam. In fact, he was their enemy.

The Bush statements about S. Hussein, Iraq, and the terrorists have all been untrue.

What is true is that the terrorists are the ones who won the election Mr. Bush sponsored in Iraq. The radical Islamicists carried the day and have now written the new constitution.

When all the dust settles, the new government will walk hand in hand with the radical Islamicists in Iran.

The Sunnis knew when S. Hussein was overthrown that they were the odd man out. They had no friends in Iraq because they, as a minority, had ruled the majority of Iraq with an iron fist.

And although they were brutal, they were highly effective at keeping order and keeping radical Islam in check in Iraq.

George Bush overthrew this order and has now turned over the keys to the kingdom to radical Islamicists who are friendly to Iran, the Taliban, and probably even Osama Bin Laden.

Bush continues to speak of the situation in Iraq as freedom-loving Iraqis versus the terrorists. He has to know better. We do and we don't get the amount of information he does.

But there aren't enough freedom-loving, democratic Iraqis in the whole country to shake a stick at. There are three main ethnic groups vying for power at the expense of the others.

The Kurds feel secure in that the US/UK has protected them for 14 years. They are semi-autonomous. The Shiites are just biding their time, consolidating the power they won in the parliamentary elections, knowing they can repeat that success after the constitution is approved and new elections are held.

The Sunnis know that if the new government becomes legitimate and other countries sell them sophisticated weapons, then they are in for a world of hurt at the hands of the radical Shiite government.

And so they fight. They really have no choice.

But George Bush keeps misrepresenting the situation.

Recently a Saudi prince went to Washington to warn everyone in the Bush Administration that nothing in Iraq was bringing the peoples together. All active forces in Iraq are pulling the peoples apart.

No one in the Bush Administration listened. They believe the best way forward is to continue with the current political process.

This is not surprising. To the Humanist democrat, politics is everything. They can't conceive of people holding to principles more fundamental than politics.

And so the American program is doomed to failure. A big black eye is to be given to the USA in the end. Watch and see how things unfold. Civil war will lead to regional war with Iran backing the Shiites, Syria and Saudi Arabia backing the Sunnis, and Turkey taking vengeance on the Kurds.

A fine mess Mr. Bush has made in Iraq. And he continues to misrepresent the situation to this very day.