http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI17Ak02.html"The stage is now set for another chapter in a showdown between the
forces of occupation and their local props on the one hand, and the
diverse forces of (religious) nationalism seeking to regain Iraq's
independence on the other. This means that contrary to some recent
analyses focusing on a Shi'ite-Sunni divide, the most important
determining factor in the war-torn country is, and for the foreseeable
future will be, nationalism versus imperialism.
There is, sadly, a huge prospect that no one will win in Iraq, that the quagmire will linger on, more people will die, and more "sitting duck" occupying soldiers, while Iraq's pipelines continuously get sabotaged and precious resources are laid to waste, emboldening those who dream of Iraq's partition.
In this nightmare scenario, the only potential
winner is Israel, which pushed hard for the invasion through its allies in Washington and the nation's think-thanks, and which seemingly thrives on the world's perpetual distraction with Iraq while its government continues with its iron-fist, expansionist unilateralism, both tacitly and openly backed by the White House and the US Congress.
Yet the more Israel presses on this war-mongering course of action,
trampling on the Palestinians' rights, the more entrenched, and deep-seated, the Arab and Muslim hatred of Israel, and by association
the US government, and thus the deeper the wound of the Iraq crisis
pegged on to the Arab-Israeli conflict directly and indirectly,
notwithstanding the Israeli army's role in training prison
interrogators in Iraq in "mild methods of torture", which is sanctioned in Israel's own laws."