IRAQ WAR: ENTIRE REGION
ON VERGE OF DISASTER

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

34,452 civilians killed last year in Iraq

The United Nations said today that more than 34,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in sectarian violence last year, nearly three times the number reported dead by the Iraqi government.

And

"Without significant progress in the rule of law sectarian violence will continue indefinitely and eventually spiral out of control," he warned.

And

It pointed to killings targeting police, who are seen by insurgents as collaborating with the U.S. effort in Iraq. The report said the Interior Ministry had reported on Dec. 24 that 12,000 police officers had been killed since the war started in 2003.

The report also painted a grim picture for other sectors of Iraqi society, saying the violence has disrupted education by forcing schools and universities to close as well as sending professionals fleeing from the country. At least 470,094 people throughout Iraq have been forced to leave their homes since the bombing in Samarra, according to the report.

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And from MSNBC courtesy of AlterNet:

Saudis consider sending troops to Iraq

Saudi Arabia believes the Iraqi government is not up to the challenge and has told the United States that it is prepared to move its own forces into Iraq should the violence there degenerate into chaos, a senior U.S. official told NBC News on Tuesday.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal made no effort to mask his skepticism Tuesday about President Bush’s proposal to send 21,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq to stem sectarian fighting.

And

Saudi officials reassured Rice on Tuesday that they had no intention of getting in the middle of the dispute between Iran and the United States. Rice emphasized that the U.S. campaign to disrupt Iranian networks threatening U.S. forces in Iraq would be confined within the boundaries of Iraq, officials said.

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Here's the mess that the US has created in Iraq. The government we've created over there is wildly corrupt and highly infiltrated by insurgents and Shiite militia men. In some respects, it is simply a lumbering organization sucking in and wasting billions of dollars while providing cover in the sectarian civil war against the Sunnis. Meanwhile, Iran, which is predominately Shia, licks its lips, waiting for the US to leave so it can move in and take over, creating a "Shiite Crescent" of domination from Tehran to Southern Lebanon, which is why the Saudis are now threatening to enter the conflict themselves. And while all this is going on, US soldiers continue to be targets, and Iraqis are dying in droves. Like I said, a big fucking mess, and all Bush has to offer is hope and 20,000 more troops, who were already there during the recent Iraqi elections, and didn't really manage to stabilize the place any better than the way it is now.

If things continue as they are, Iran and the Saudis may not wait for the US to leave, making the conflict expand to much of the Middle East region while we just sit and watch. The situation would be totally unprecedented in modern times. And it's all our fault.

As Henry Kissinger recently observed, there is no military solution in Iraq, as if Bush's paltry 20k surge, a number chosen much more for troop availability than for strategic concerns, didn't make obvious. We just can't manage the situation, whether we're there or not. It's time for some hardcore diplomacy, with everybody. We've got to bring everybody to the table, the major players in the region, and the major players in Iraq, and the UN. We've got to give up on the notion of making Iraq an easily dominated client state. Screw the oil, 'cause we'll never control it anyway. Whatever the neo-cons, or the oil industry, or both wanted to get out of this in the first place is now unobtainable.

It's time to punt the ball and hope for some good field position. It's fourth and twenty, and Coach Bush, who played when he was younger without a helmet, wants to fucking go for it.

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