“National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie, meanwhile, traveled to the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Tuesday to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the Shiite community’s most revered spiritual leader. Al-Rubaie emerged to tell reporters “the way to forming the government is difficult and planted with political bombs. We ask the Iraqi people to be patient, and we expect forming the government will take a few months.” Forbes
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Stephen Colbert of the “Colbert Report” is a new hero of mine. Last night he said on his show that “people” should stop hyperventilating over the words “civil war” in connection with Iraq because “civil war” is spelled “exit strategy.” This is amusing no matter how grim the prospect.
For Rubaie to go to Sistani with his hat in his hand is confirmation for every Sunni in the world of the character of the emerging government in Iraq.
Nevertheless, I would urge “people” not to get their underwear in “a twist” just yet, Iraqis are remarkably tough folk. They are engaged in settling scores that are a thousand years old while re-distributing political and economic power in the only ways that are left to them in the situation that we inadvertently created. The elections “thingy” does not work peacefully in the absence of an electorate that accepts its common identity across ethno-religious group boundaries. There is no “Iraqi People” except in the minds of foreigners who do not understand the ethnography of Iraq or in the minds of Arabs who see what they want to see.
Rumsfeld or someone said that Democracy is a messy business. This isn’t democracy unless one thinks that bullets count more than votes in places like Iraq, but it IS a long term process of settling issues of power and wealth among the communities in Mesopotamia.
I have said for a long time now that Iraq was in a state of civil war. Civil war does not = exit strategy for me. We are where we are in Iraq as a result of our own foolish actions and misconceptions. Yes. Casualties are up. Yes. They may get even higher in numbers. Does that mean that a final crisis is upon us? No. Iraqis would not accept that and I think that they would be right.
Can we walk away? I have seen my country walk away from people who trusted it too many times. If the “American People” want to walk away from those who have sided with us in Iraq. then we should start preparing for refugee re-settlement. There will be no forgiveness for those who sided with us in a post US Iraq.
For my part, I will have nothing to do with abandoning them and I believe that US soldiers in Iraq would not want that either.
Pat Lang
Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
Ok, then what is your stradegy for getting us out of there Pat. I respect your opinion as you have been there and are very knowlegable in the region. BUT, what will it take to get us out of there and how long without “abandoning the Iraqi people?
i agreee with not abandoning the iraqi people….i dont know what that means but i am really against just cutting and running.
to me the best thing we can do is institutute a draft immediately and make sure everyone who is eligible to serve does so and nobody gets out of that duty the way cheney, bush etc got out….i know most on the left hate this idea but its the only way to at this point support the troops we have, defend ourselves, and create a situation where americans will think harder before going along with an incompetent plan of war.
if there was a draft in 2001 do you think bush would have had 77% of americans supporting him in the runup to the war?
there were no consequences for most americans and thats why they werwe so comfortable with bush’s plans.
a draft would create consequences for many many more people and it would make many people very uncomfortable….thats what we need to wake people up.
though it is very popular, is that it does not make sense. Here is how it goes:
You are in favor of continuing to occupy Iraq
You wish a draft so more people will have consequences and be opposed to continuing to occupy Iraq.
In other words, you want more Americans to disagree with you.
The MSM is repeating “sectarian” “sectarian” over and over all of a sudden, causing many Americans to run to their nearest dictionary.
If you read Riverbend’s blog, you’ll see that the powerless majority of Sunnis and Shia are appalled by the violence, and have for years lived in peace amongst each other in Baghdad. There must be some polarization now that Saddam’s reign is over, but it seems to me that the MSM is leaving an impression that all Sunnis and Shia are at each other’s throats.
I suppose that those Americans et al. on the ground watching the bombings and such have a dramatic story to tell, and it looks like civil war in their opinions.
My hope in all this is that the Iraqi people don’t want their nation to descend into chaos any more than any other nation would. With specious reports that incitement of the population by unknown persons who’ve blown up the shrine in Samarra and other inflamming targets, there is suspicion afloat that these unknowns are trying to generate sectarian hatred, where little existed before. The MSM is also good at assuming that a Sunni shrine explosion is caused by a Shia revenge group. That’s not logical, there’s no proof.
People aren’t dumb, it’s just that the information spread around by the MSM (like AP) is not questioned by the masses when it should be. Also, the reduction of events into short paragraphs and short sentences and sound bites further adds inaccuracy.
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Thus the American people can expect a permanent backlash from Iraqi families who lost 100,000 brothers, sisters, parents children, friends and relatives caused by the illegal and unwarranted invasion and occupation by U.S. and British Forces of a sovereign nation. The Bush cabal has created an additional source for international terror for the future as a result.
Pat are you quoting Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld as a source of wisdum?
Do you mean the pre-war exiles like the Chalabis will once again return to … exile? Should the U.S. taxpayer spill more $$$ millions for their re-settlement? I don’t think you get it Pat, the enormity of U.S. failure in the region and the global disappointment after 6 years Bush cabal foreign policy. In Afghanistan, the problems are being solved by the International community under leadership of NATO and NGOs.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
pure poppycock, Mr. Lang, and you know it. This is why I can’t wait till riverbend comes with her next letter from Iraq. I tend to believe her more than you or anyone else. Why is it then that most of those in Iraq [ fighting Americans] want to leave and never go back to fight more. I think you folks at the dia have got your wires crossed…
Col. Lang,
I agree with the gist of most who have responded to your piece so far. How can we expect to bring justice froman unjust, unnecessary, and illegal war? The premise was wrong. You admit that.
Now, if we impeached Bush and throttled the Bush-Cheney regime we might get our country back. You are worried about losing Iraq? I am worried that we have lost our own country. We can’t apologize for fascist aggression.
This is why retired Lt. Gen. Willim Odom called the invasion of Iraq “the greatest strategic blunder in the history of the United States.”
We have to set our own house in order. Maybe a new administration (hopefully as a result of impeachment and conviction this year) can pull this iron out of the fire.
Staying the course will destroy not only Iraq but also the United States.
Peace is the way.
now try this one on for size, if you will, sir! I kinew I had read it someplace. This is why I call you. I want to see your cards!
from truthout.
then there is this article from the Guardian
from the guardian
Well, feces, I just do not know what I am doing wrong.
guardian
Pat Lang doesn’t want to abandon Iraq!
He knows the mid east, you see.
How can it be that at this time anyone can use such language as “abandon” in terms of Iraq?
I keep thinking of the RAPIST who stands over his victim and says, I don’t to abandon you now, that would be wrong. Let me get you to some place safe where you can be treated for the injuries I inflicted on you and before I start having these uncontrallable urges once again.
The VICTIM ((Iraq) of course know the RAPIST (USA) is completely crazy and just wishes it would go away, no apologiy necessary, just go away.
Pat Lang….I don’t know how it is possible to think like him. Some kind of rigid, inflexible non-sensical knee jerk partriotic goulash running around in his mind at all times.
You don’t have to have any experience at all in the Mid East to know that this whole enterprise of going into IRaq is madness.
THere is nothing the U.S. can do. They should just leave with no apology.
Too much of this diary looks like a “This what happened in Vietnam, and this is what will happen in Iraq.” type of argument. Refugee resettlement after Vietnam looked like pleas for those who helped the US to be admitted to the US. That worked because we were no longer at war with Vietnam.
This situation in Iraq is not going to work out that way. If refugees are going to be resettled, it will be more like the resettlement of the Palestinians. Shi’ites will go to Iran. Sunnis will seek refuge in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen. And if any are resettled in the US, they will immediately go on terrorist watch lists, unless like Chalabi they are well connected.
The real reason that civil ware does not equal exit strategy is that with Bush there is no exit strategy.
Under those conditions, the question is how long can American troops hold out be targets for both sides of a “sectarian” war. Until the civil war moves from a guerilla and terror war to a war with conventional artillery and tanks, US troops can probably hold out for a while, even in the midst of utter chaos. And if there is utter chaos, those who have sided with us will not survive to be refugees unless they are already outside the country.
There are parallels between the folly of Vietnam and the folly of Iraq. And the false rhetoric of abandonment is by far the most insidious and vicious. Because it justifies failure by saying we didn’t try hard enough. And the lessons of that failure are never learned. That much is similar.
But there is too much of a temptation among everybody to fight the last war.
That was supposed to be 4.
I’ve stated in other blog entries and comments here on Booman that Bush is the best friend Iran ever had. Your diary affirms that conviction.
The argument that we are in Iraq as a result of miscalculation and flawed policy and downright stupidity, BUT since we’re there we have to stay because of the people who are on our side makes absolutely no sense. You seem to be saying that we should not have gone into Iraq, we’re not accomplishing our goals, but we should stay. John Murtha is much stronger on this issue than you are.
Why didn’t all of the people in the government (including you?) take this into consideration before deciding to invade. The only aspect of the Bush adminstration that is worse than it’s propensity for prevarication is it’s incompetence.
Puh…lease. I know this borders on a personal attack. Forgive me. But this comment cannot stand, no matter how grateul I am for your service to our country. Having been (a lifetime ago) one of the grunts you claim to speak for, where were you when you bravely made the above statement. In Baghdad? Or the good ‘ol USA?
Grandstanding is not a basis for policy, or for wasting of one more American or Iraqi life.
And another thing……
I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals” about Lincoln’s cabinet made up in part by the folks he defeated in the Republican primary. And also Garry Wills book about Henry Adams.
Reading them in conjunction with your diary, brought to mind that the United States of the 1850’s looked pretty much like Iraq looks now. We’ve had our share of genocide and of settling old scores too. Still not a basis for policy.
<quote>Does that mean that a final crisis is upon us? No</quote>
That will come with the attack on Iran, at which point the Shiites will turn against us and our position will be totally untenable?