[tabs]

Iraq is in a Civil War. According to A. Shadid of the NY Times Bagdad has become a grim place since his last visit. That people have given up on the American "project" People are now going back to there clans and tribes to seek security instead of the government.

Fareed Zakaria Editor Newsweek Int. has said that the Iraqis are in a power vacume and that the Militias are carving out their own niches, and are in a power grabbing situation. That the Militias are splintering to see who comes out on top. That the US military is becoming viewed as a Militia unto itself. That the govt is Sh!it and that causes the Sunnis to fight even that much harder. Also that when the US took over through some very ill thought out decisons the Sunnis who had been the ruling power for 600 years was dismissed, with no alternative to replace them.

Jack Keane Rt Vice Chief of Staff US Army and a close friend of Rummy says that the WH isn't in denial and will make some adjustments in policy that he hopes will get on top of the situation, but they won't say much about it in public. He says that Iraq could be the biggest foreign policy diaster in memory, far bigger than Vietnam.

They all basically agreed that the Iraqis are incapable of Democracy, since violence and intolerence is such a way of life. That Iraq is a microcosm of the ME, that the Dictators who rule in the ME keep a lid on the sectarian nature of their societies. Other than that they basically said the same things I did in my Chaos in Iraq Thread.

Welcome to he11 people, cause we are in it.