No more 'sons of Iraq'?

(Col. Pat Lang in the middle)

"At least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded in a triple bombing in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, on Sunday. The bombings occurred during a reconciliation meeting, sparking fears of a resurgence of violence in an area that was the epicenter of the insurgency until local tribal leaders allied with the US to drive out insurgents in late 2007."  CSmonitor

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"The neocons and their auxiliaries (the COINista  generals, McCain, Joe Lieberman, etc.) like to cite Iraq as the great success story.  A success which they maintain was caused by THE SURGE.  What they mean by that seems to be deliberately unclear.  I suspect that what they really believe is that history finally went the way they think it should have in Iraq after many fits and starts and that what they need is for the US to tinker with one more Muslim society as a trigger for a general "modernizing" social revolution in the Islamic World.  Motive?  Ah, well...

If that is the case, the recent "backsliding" in levels of revolutionary consciousness in Iraq ought to be disturbing.  What is happening in Iraq is that the mindless, political science inspired belief in the historic inevitability and desirability of nation-states has re-asserted itself among American government people enough so that the US is willing to let the Shia government neglect our "friends" among the Sunni Arabs and other former insurgents.  The result is typical Middle Eastern style "signalling" that worse things will happen if the situation continues to degenerate from the Sunni Arab point of view.  Life is tough and often tougher than it need be if you are stupid.

Those who think we can abandon our former "friends" to the tender attention of the purple thumbed Maliki government are just foolish.

The same thing will happen in Afghanistan if we succeed in acquiring true "friends" there and then neglect them.

Has no one ever heard the expression sub rosa?" pl