It seems that hubristic neocons, with their ambitions to dismantle Iraq (and, eventually, the rest of the Arab world) are moving in for the kill, posing it as a solution to the sectarian and ethnic strife their own policies unleashed. Will the State Department pragmatists prevail in stopping them, and somehow shoring up a centralized Iraq with Baghdad as its capital, the traditional Anglo-American strategy for stability-by-proxy in the region? From the London Times, Oct. 8, link and emphasis added:

The Primer George Bush Should Have Read!

Book Review:

Understanding Iraq
by William R. Polk
Harper Perennial, 2005

by Vilosh Vinograd

What are we to make of a book subtitled "The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, From Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation," which nonetheless clocks in at just over 200 pages of fairly large print?

Are we terrified yet? From AP, Sept. 29, emphasis added:

BAGHDAD - Al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, in a chilling audiotape released Thursday, called for nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war and urged insurgents to kidnap Westerners so they could be traded for a blind Egyptian sheik who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

How many times a day do we have to say "A plague on both your houses"? First Saddam vows to "crush the heads" of Kurds testifying about his genocidal 1988 "Anfal" campaign. Then the judge in the case, Adullah al-Almiri, responds by re-assuring him that he was "not a dictator," which makes about as much sense as saying he didn't have a moustache. Not to be outdone in cynicism, Prime Minister al-Maliki promptly responds by having Justice al-Almiri summarily removed in dictatorial manner—thereby further compromising the case against the ex-dictator. And one of the charges against Saddam concerns lack of judicial independence under his regime! It seems Iraq's new bosses are starting to emulate their own much-demonized ousted tyrant.

Note that even as he asks Congress to legalize torture, Bush plans to hawk what he calls his "freedom agenda" before the UN next week. The obligatory Orwell reference here would seem almost superfluous. We hope. Sarah Ferguson writes for the Village Voice, Sept. 15:

Bush Bash Is On: Cops Give Go-Ahead to U.N. Protest March
Looks like anti-war activists will get to be within shouting distance of President Bush when he delivers his speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

Far from pursuing ultra-ambitious neocon agendas to dismantle Iraq, Washington appears terrified of a unified Iraqi state under at least some degree of US control breaking down, and sparking a crisis that could engulf the entire Middle East. On Sept. 5, the US harshly criticized the decree by Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq's northern Kurdish region, banning the Iraqi national flag. "Unilateral steps by regions or parties on this issue are inappropriate and do not have the support of the United States," envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said, adding Washington was committed to "Iraq's unity and territorial integrity".

What a revealing piece of propaganda this is. British forces abandon Camp Abu Naji at Amarah, in southern Iraq, and not only Moktada al-Sadr but also the official Maysan provinical authorites proclaim it as a victory against the occupier. The British commander Maj. Charlie Burbridge asserts Iraqi army forces maintained "full control" of the base—even as it was being sacked by looters armed with AK-47s! Burbridge crows about how disciplined the Iraqi army maintaining (precarious) control of the base is—while a local brigade mutinies, and is apparently well-infiltrated by the Sadr forces! The British forces are evacuating the Amarah base to carry out "guerilla tactics" in the marshlands—an implicit acknowledgement that the insurgents are in control there! Finally, note that even the pacifistic Sufis have declared a jihad against the Anglo-American occupation (and the fundamentalist Shi'ites like al-Sadr who would like to exterminate them). From the Washington Post, Aug. 26 (emphasis added):

The trial of Saddam Hussein is once again in the headlines. The first case against him, concerning the 1982 mass arrests and killing of Shi'ites at the town of Dujail, has been concluded. Presiding Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman charged Saddam with the deaths of nine villagers, torture of women and children, ordering the razing of farmlands and arresting nearly 400 Dujail residents. He was not charged in connection with the deaths of 148 people who were executed after being found guilty by Saddam's Revolutionary Court for their involvement in an assassination attempt against him. (Jurist, May 15) Now the second phase opens, concerning the far more horrific attacks on the Kurds in the 1987-8 "Anfal" campaign. Saddam could continue to be tried posthumously if he is found guilty and sentenced to death on the Dujail charges, in which a verdict is expected in October. If a death sentence is upheld on appeal, it must be carried out within 30 days, and this could occur before the second trial is concluded. (Jurist, Aug. 19)