Must-read: Patrick Cockburn evaluates the “surge.”
The Bushies talk a lot about reconciliation in Iraq, but the one goal they have conspicuously failed to set for themselves is the reversal of sectarian cleansing. (I may be stating the glaringly obvious here, but I’ll take that risk.) The US in Iraq is tacitly allied with the militias that forced families to flee their homes with only what they could carry, because the only way the Americans can think of to dampen sectarian violence to the point where they can declare victory and go home (except for the ginormous embassy, the permanent military bases, etc) is complete segregation. So the next few decades are set: Sunnis and Shiites will no longer work in the same workplaces, vote for the same political parties (assuming there are any real elections), go to the same schools, date, marry, or procreate with each other. Their lives simply will not intersect. No one will think of themselves as “Iraqis.” Freedom, ain’t it grand.
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