Showdown at the Chaos Corral

I am starting to think that if I stopped to tote up all the things that are going spectacularly wrong in Iraq right now, and how the State Department exacerbates rather than palliates, I would have to load Excel and devise a flow-chart...

The latest outrage? The government of Nouri al-Maliki is operating a shadowy office that is promoting a radical Shi’ite theocratic agenda. The 24-member office is abusing its power, increasingly overriding decisions made by the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior and most likely undermining the entire U.S. effort in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has created an office within the Iraqi government that U.S. and Iraqi military officials say is being used as a smokescreen to carry out an extreme Shiite agenda that is worsening the country's sectarian divide. "It's people with no power who want to have power," a senior Iraqi army officer told CNN.

If you think that is all there is to it, I have a bridge to sell. Who besides me thinks that the *senior Iraqi Army Officer* quoted is a shill, leaking only what is authorized, and nothing of consequence?

The entire al-Maliki government is structured to implement an extreme Shi’ite agenda. They have seized the levers of power with the intent of keeping all of the oil money. They have embraced Sharia law and religious strictures, and they answer to Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani. Upon Maliki taking office, one of his first official acts was a long trip to Tehran. The Iran-Iraq war ended nearly twenty years ago - but it was not won until the Americans invaded and toppled Saddam.

Some of us recognized what was in store immediately. Our reward, however was not that our warnings were heeded. instead, we were chided for being right and dismissed as "defeat-o-crats." Again. Sigh. (Lemme clear the air - being a realist is not the same thing as being a defeatist.)

This is the government we ostensibly are propping up with the lives of our sons and daughters. Remember, the president doesn’t even waste his beautiful mind investing in conversations with Mr. Maliki. (The lives of your children? He has no problem with that commitment.)Why this Center for American Progress report by Larry Korb didn’t get more attention I’ll never understand. Must be that darned liberal media again...

Nonetheless, here is the money quote:

That evening at dinner, I had an interesting discussion with an Iraqi official who is close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He made several intriguing observations. First, in their video conferences, Maliki and Bush do not really communicate. The official also noted that in his discussions with visiting members of Congress there is really not much dialogue, with both sides giving canned presentations. Second, the U.S. military and State Department do not really work well together and General George Casey would complain to Iraqis about the former U.S. Ambassador to iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. Third, the insurgency got started when the Americans failed to take control after the overthrow and the Iraqis realized that the American military was not invincible—that is, its soldiers were human beings who displayed the full range of emotions, including fear. Fourth, do not believe anyone who tells you that the situation is getting better.

Yet George Bush is willing to sacrifice your children on the altar of his vanity, in perpetuity, and he has the audacity to demand the congress give it to him with no measures of accountability. WTF? That is a huge leap of faith to take when he has been absolutely wrong about absolutely everything for six freakin’ years.

I am, quite frankly, offended he has the gall to even make such an utterly absurd request.

George Bush should have to ask my mother for that money. Hoo boy…

I have had it. There is not a damned thing we can do over there that will come to a good end. The Maliki government is the only governing entity on earth more corrupt, inept and incompetent than the Bush administration. Gee. Maybe that reality has something to do with the fact it is a house of cards and is about to fall?

In light of all of the undeniable bad news out of Iraq right now, I demand the Democrats not merely stand firm on the benchmarks in the bill Bush is determined to veto, but further advance the effort to end the war by defunding this cock-up now. Stick together, and when the bill is delivered later today, deliver it with the warning that this is as good as he can ever hope to get. When it comes back, start with the scrutiny and make him grovel for every penny.