Not that it should come as a surprise to anyone, but recent events are making things worse, possibly much worse in the middle east. It's well established at this point that US ill-advised and iller-executed invasion of Iraq created a raging civil war, one which we have no ability to end and a very limited ability to influence. What Bush and his gang of fuck ups really didn't plan for was the possibility that the invasion of Iraq would destabilize the entire region. And this is precisely what's happening: if the US either pulls out of Iraq or starts negotiating with Iran, other countries are going to become pulled into the conflict supporting their respective ethnic groups: the Sunni's will fund and fight with the Sunnis, and the Shiites will fund and fight with the Shiites, turning this into a regional war for power between the competing sects. Israel will be stuck in no-man's land for the entirety. I hate feeling this pessimistic. I still think that regional negotiations between the US and all surrounding countries (including Iran and Syria) provide the best opportunity for less bloodshed, but this does little to change the fact that we've restarted a war that's been simmering for a very, very long time between folks that have hated each other for over a thousand years. Having our troops continue to die over this accomplishes nothing; we need to get out of Iraq, where we never belonged in the first place.

The always fantastic Juan Cole lays the whole situation out very clearly and much more in depth the brief summary above. Read this post to get schooled on where everything stands right now, before the shitty news coverage confuses the masses.

Labels: Politics