Redstate

By haystack Posted in War — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The persistence of the government on taking a month long recess is a major embarrassment for anyone who was looking forward to seeing some political progress before the September milestone.

When it comes to the recess, two main factions can be identified as the cause of the deadlock on making legislative progress:

First there is the bloc apparently trying (through the withdrawal of support on passage of legislation by insisting on taking the recess NOW) to show that the government and particularly the President has failed. Their moving in this direction suggests that they are betting that by proving their point they will have a better chance to soon be the controlling majority by joining forces with other opposition groups.

Second we have the pro-withdrawal anti-American factions in the government; mainly represented by those who are not getting along well with the moderate wing(s) in the bloc. These simply want to halt the legislative process at this point hoping that this would put more pressure on Washington to withdraw from Iraq.

If you said the US, you'd be wrong. That said, however, a striking resemblance to the US Government can be found in that country far, far away where we appear to have created a new country in our own, and currently pathetic image.

I reworded slightly the passage above to make a point. The EXACT wording and the remainder of what was said is below the fold...

My man Omar, over at Iraq The Model is struggling with the Iraq Parliaments' decision to take their vacation NOW (of all terrible timed times) with so much at stake for their country.

Here is what HE wrote, verbatim in contrast to what I paraphrased above:

The withdrawal of the Accord Front from Maliki's cabinet and the persistence of the parliament on taking a month long recess is a major embarrassment for Baghdad and Washington alike and for anyone who was looking forward to seeing some political progress in Iraq before the September milestone.

When it comes to the recess, two main factions can be identified as the cause of the deadlock:

First there is the Accord Front. This bloc apparently trying through the withdrawal from the cabinet and preventing the passage of legislations by insisting on taking the recess to show that the government and particularly Maliki have failed.
Their moving in this direction suggests that they are betting that by proving their point they will have a chance to oust Maliki and form a new government by joining forces with other opposition groups namely Allawi's bloc, the Dialogue Front since these two blocs supported the Accord's decision and Allawi's is even planning to follow the Accord's steps out of the cabinet. The Fadheela Party and some independent UIA members could be potential partners as well.

Second we have the pro-withdrawal anti-American factions in the parliament; mainly represented the Sadr bloc in addition to some radical elements from the UIA and a few from the two Sunni blocs who are not getting along well with the moderate wing in the bloc. These simply want to halt the legislative process at this point hoping that this would put more pressure on Washington to withdraw from Iraq.

As I read this, all through my head were those little voices (yeah, like YOU don't have them too) that kept saying "this sounds like Capitol Hill!" We have succeeded in bringing Iraq from what it was under Saddam to an exact replica of our OWN mess...chock full of people more concerned with their own interests and personal self-aggrandizement than they are for the people they are supposed to be WORKING FOR. Who's freaking side are these politicians (American AND Iraqi alike) ON?

Omar continues:

I suppose Petraeus will not have a difficulty in showing progress military-wise but the question is, could that be enough to make up for the damage done by these political setbacks?

There's no question that achieving a dramatic military victory in 30 days is very unlikely when we're fighting terrorists and militias. On the other hand reversing the political damage dealt by the two developments in 30 days seems to need something close to a miracle.

These developments show that a majority in our parliament care only about themselves and their blocs' interests much more than they do about the country's in such difficult time and their attitude tells that the blocs don't want to work together and don’t want to reconcile their differences.
Like we always said, we don't need reconciliation among the people, we need reconciliation among the components of the political class and if they don't want to do this then I think the best solution to ensure a fresh political start would be to change the political class through early elections once the security situation allows for. And to do this Iraq will need the "surge" to continue for several months beyond September.

Ask yourself how the geniuses in Washington are going to react to Petraeus suggesting we are succeeding with the surge, but that we will need to be in Iraq well beyond September. You know how the media and the ant-war defeatists are going to react already:

Bush's War is LOST...LOST I TELL YOU! The blood of every dead soldier and soon to be dead Iraqi (when we force a pullout) is on BUSH'S hands!!! We've done all we can to clean up Bush's mess...it's up to the Iraqis themselves now. They'll be better able to help themselves with us GONE, than if we were to stay. Let's invade Pakistan...Darfur...ANYWHERE but Iraq.

Of course, nothing could be further from truth and reality, but our well-paid elected representatives already HAVE the script for the post-Petraeus days, and by GOD, no one is going to muck that up with any news, facts, intelligence, or planned negotiated settlements that might otherwise contradict it...PERIOD.

I share Omar's worries here, as he suggests the REAL problem is who is planning WHICH bad solution, and which bad plan will prevail:

One thing makes me worried these days and I'm afraid that someone is planning a different bad solution. The rift between the minister of defense and the senior commanders including chief of staff of the army which led to a group resignation is an ominous sign that indicates a deep dispute between the two leaderships and this dispute seems to be over a political issue given their history in the military institution.
It would be too early to speculate that someone is planning a coup-or preparing to crush one-at this point but the mere thought of it remains a little bit scary.

Scary is an understatement, Brother Omar, a sadly HUGE understatement indeed. Amercia's Congress and Iraq's Congress are sadly BOTH failing to see the PEOPLE for the PODIUM.