Iraq is surrounded by assholes. Excellent writing by Fouad Ajami, as usual:
"The Iraqis should be envious. Their new order, midwifed by the Americans, had been delivered into a hostile environment. The neighborhood was treacherous. To the east bulked Iran, presumably a Shiite sister republic of the new Iraq but in truth a spoiler determined to thwart the American project there. Those in the know understood that the Shiite faith could never bridge the Arab-Persian divide, and that Iran would be a burden on post-Saddam Iraq and its leaders.
To the West, there was the Syrian regime. There but for the grace of God go we, the Syrian rulers thought. Syria presented an exquisite illustration of political cynicism—an Alawite tyranny providing a conduit into Iraq for Sunni jihadists from all Arab lands drawn by the thrill of battling and killing American soldiers and Iraqi Shiites. To divert attention from itself at a time of its own panic and vulnerability, Syria's regime did all it could to set Iraq ablaze.
Everywhere Iraqis looked there was trouble. The Turks had schemes of their own and proxies in Iraq (the Turkomen community), and they were keen to monitor and limit the aspirations of the Kurds. Jordan was hostile. Saddam had long been a hero in that country, and the Sunni pan-Arab doctrines had long held sway among Jordanians and Palestinians alike in that binational state.
Nor were the two most influential Arab states, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, favorably disposed toward the new Iraq. To the rulers in Cairo and Riyadh, the jumbled mix of freedom and tumult, and the defeat of the Iraqi Sunnis, were heralds of trouble. Iran was pushing ever deeper into Arab affairs, the balance of power in the region was being altered. There had been uncontested Sunni primacy in Arab lands, but Baghdad—a city of great meaning and consequence in Arab-Islamic history—had fallen to the Shiite stepchildren, and the Americans had brought it all about.
Libya is blissfully free of the poison of that primitive Sunni-Shiite schism."
12 comments :
Geographically, Iraq is a natural battleground. It is at the crossroads of Eurasia, and it is mostly flat.
Poland is in a similar situation.
I don't know, we are seeing reports of lots reprisal violence going on, rapes and murders all looks a lot like pay back. Not so unfamiliar to Iraq. How long it will last, how deep the divide, no idea. But don't count on peace breaking out anytime soon.
Libya will be fine, but it's important to catch the top people from the regime.
The ones I know are three: Mu'ammar, Sayf, and the media spokesman Musa Ibrahim.
The regime controls places like Sirt and Bunny Waleed and a couple of thousand fighters, so they are in there somewhere.
I collect Sayf's interviews because I'm fascinated by his utter insanity.
How can he be so calm in such a Bananas situation? He has a PhD from LSE, he could have fled with billions, yet he chose this crazy behavior.
What is he thinking, and what does he have planned, I wonder !
A pic of his:
http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/5519/73346090.jpg
Mojo
have you read this -
Suicide Bombs in Iraq Have Killed 12,000 Civilians, Study Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Thanks idit. I will post that.
Layla Anwar: 'I was starting to feel guilty about my absence from this blog. Here I was supposed to continue on the Cleansing of Iraq, only to be faced with the Cleansing of Libya.
I hear myself say the same words - who would have thought that Libya would be suffer the same fate as Iraq.
Granted, there are some variations, differences, but is not the theme very much the same? Are not the discourses, be it from the media, the governments and that dreaded damned cursed "antiwar" the same ?'
Thanks Mojo for posting this fine commentary by Ajami. His analysis is first rate. Besides not having the poisonious Sunni-Shia spilit, Libya is fortunate that its two most immediate neighbors, Egypt and Tunisia, are both preocupied with their own revolutions and are sympathetic to Libya's revolution, to provide trouble. The only one of Libya's neighbors that might provide trouble is Algeria, which supported Qhaddafi, and quietly supplied him with arms and ammunition over the long Libyan-Algerian border.
Thanks for linking to Layla Anwar. Nice to see she is consistent in her support of dictators.
Ajami is completely insane, you can tell that even by his looks only. He keeps referring to Americans as "we," even though he's some kind of dune coon.
The events in Libya are NOT at all good news for Ajami.
Egypt too will hopefully jeopardize Israel with its 83 million strong population.
Already there are some demonstrations in Israel, and a vote in the UN on Palestine, let's hope destabilization keeps on keepin' on for those disgusting judeo-nazis
Dolly's incoherent rants are sadly typical of Arab extremist blowhards(be they secular or Islamic-they are equally stupid and barbaric)
"Egypt too will hopefully jeopardize Israel with its 83 million strong population"
That is the most comical statement I have heard.Egypt is in the throes of a food crisis.It has a foreign reserve shortfall of upto 20 billion dollars.Its college graduates might as well be illiterates in highly competitive global information economy.It is deeply dependent on Western Aid.Its army goes around celebrating October 73 war as if it were a victory!Before that war ended Ariel Sharon was about 2 hours drive away from Cairo and the Egyptian army effectively neutralized!Some victory!A military that refuses to learn lessons from the past due to face saving measures is bound to repeat it.
In war,numbers matter but only to some extent.How many of these "83 million" are capable of fighting Israel?Oh lets not get too ambitious-how many of these are actually fit for military service?
I think we both know the answer to that question.I remember when i was in Dubai,it was filled with young Egyptians escaping from the draft while pretending to be students for visa purposes.
I doubt very much Palestinians will declare statehood-firstly the flourishing West Bank economy will come to an end if Israel declares a boycott of their products.Secondly if Palestinians do declare themselves a state and recieve U.N blessing ,nothing stops Israel from devastating and annexing the West Bank in case of any terrorist incursion.
Thirdly the Israeli Jewish birthrate is higher than Palestinian Arab one.In the long run,Palestinians will be dead and Jews will rightfully inherit Eretz Israel.Its lose,lose,lose!
In light of the Nusayri oppression in Syria, I now call for an attack on that country & regime change.
In light of the nasbi call for attack on syria and regime change, I call for a massacre in hama and homs
From an Iraqi American point of view, I would say the Syrian people want democracy. They deserve democracy.
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