S-2

Make Walls, Not War

I really admire Galbraith's perspectives as I've come to know them over the last two years. Bright guy who won't be popular here as he's been ahead of Biden on this for some time.

Still, he's calling it like he sees it. The reasons for a national Iraqi failure to reconcile are simple and clear as Galbraith points. Many here agree with al-Maliki's dismay at the recent Senate resolution while failing to acknowledge the comments by Talibani and al-Hakim. Those were the more salient points.

"The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) on Monday denied any link between statements made by Head of al-Mihrab Martyr's Foundation for Islamic Call Ammar al-Hakim and the U.S. Senate non-binding resolution to divide Iraq into three entities.

'Federalism and establishing regions are considered a constitutional and natural right for the Iraqi people,' the SIIC said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
'The federalism is a clear reality on the Iraqi territory, represented by Iraq's Kurdistan region, based on the Iraqi desire and interest,' it added.

Al-Hakim on Saturday had called for a rapid move towards establishing several regions in Iraq under a federal government, saying it is an effective way to preserve Iraq's unity.

'We have to go ahead with the formation of regions and the adoption of a federal system in the country,' said al-Hakim, the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and the leader of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC).

'A federal system is a way to achieve unity,' al-Hakim indicated..."

No Connection Between al-Hakim's Statements

"'I think the resolution passed by the Senate is a very good one,' Talabani said today on CNN’s “Late Edition” program. 'It is insisting on the unity of Iraq, of the security of Iraq, of the prosperity of Iraq, of national reconciliation and asking our neighbors not to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq.'”

One-third of this nation, as Galbraith indicates, is already partitioned from the lower two-thirds. For all intents, the south is effectively shiastan. To suggest the liklihood of some non-sectarian pluralistic swirl eminating from there is simply not possible. Grass-roots demographic shifts at the hands of AK-47s has altered the landscape into defacto cantonments.

I argue that our tactics on the deck encourage this. The race to achieve security on the street has led to some strange bedfellows, funky alliances, and patrolled/walled-off communities. Hardly the recipe for reconciliation. We may be asking too much of a strong central government, particularly in light of these comments and the deep interest which a loose federation holds.

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"This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski