Report: Civil War Most Likely Outcome in Iraq

[kentuck]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/090804X.shtml

<snip>
While America's attention was focused last week on the Republican National Convention in New York, and the world was watching the hostage tragedy unfold in the small Russian town of Beslan, the prestigious British Royal Institute of International Affairs (known as Chatham House) issued a report saying a major civil war that would destablize the entire Middle East region is the mostly likely outcome for Iraq if current conditions continue. Reuters reported Friday that the report said the best outcome Iraq can hope for is "to muddle through an 18-month political transition that began when Washington formally handed over sovereignty on June 28." The Los Angeles Times reports that the fragmentation of Iraq is the "default scenario" in the eyes of the Chatham House team.

'Under this scenario,' the report says, 'Kurdish separatism and Shia assertiveness work against a smooth transition to elections, while the Sunni Arab minority remains on the offensive and engaged in resistance. Antipathy to the US presence grows, not so much in a unified Iraqi nationalist backlash, but rather in a fragmented manner that could presage civil war if the US cuts and runs,' it says. 'Even if the US forces try to hold out and prop up the central authority, it may still lose control.'


...more

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. hold it, you tell me taht we Lib'rals who were against this maddness

were RIGHT?

Damn I hate it when we are right, the righties hate to have their noses liberally rubbed in the stink they produce

[maxsolomon]

2. 3 countries seems like a good solution to me

sadria, sunnistan, and kurdistan. why the f not? divvy it up now into the ottoman provinces, avoid (some of) the killing.

i could give a crap. i don't live there & i never care to visit.