Amsterdan

Where is Bandar Bush when the world needs him?

In two current New York Times analyses, the think-for-yourself conservative David Brooks points out that Iraq is now in the pre-Darfur, pre-Rwanda, pre-Bosnia phase of the coming bloodbath.

Brooks writes, “Iraq already has the psychological conditions that have undergirded the great bloodbaths of recent years. Iraqi minds, according to the most sensitive reporting, have already been rewired by the experiences of trauma and extreme stress.

"Some people become hyperaggressive and turn into perfect killers. Others endure a phased mental shutdown that looks like severe depression. They lose their memory and become passive and fatalistic. They become perfect victims.” (http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/opinion/25brooks.html?th&emc=th)

The solution is a “soft partition” of Iraq.
Brooks outlines a 4-step plan including (1) modify the Iraq Constitution, which already decentralizes power, to equitably share oil and gas revenue; (2) get implicit consent from all sects that separation and federalism are in their interest; (3) relocate people into Shia, Sunni and Kurdish districts as was done successfully in Bosnia; (4) get Iraq’s neighbors – who have everything to lose in the coming transnational bloodbath – to buy into the arrangement. (http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/opinion/28brooks.html?hp)

Brooks concludes: "In short, logic, circumstances and politics are leading inexorably toward soft partition. The Bush administration has been slow to recognize its virtues because it is too dependent on the Green Zone Iraqis. The Iraqis talk about national unity but their behavior suggests they want decentralization. Sooner or later, everybody will settle on this sensible policy, having exhausted all the alternatives."

But does anyone think Bush-Cheney will actually plan this or just pretend it isn't happening and screw this up, too? And where are Iraq's neighbors in all this? If a transnational bloodbath is a possibility; if “failure is unthinkable” as Bush said in his State of the Union; then why aren't Iraq’s neighbors, many of them our allies, stepping up and offering to help? Where is Bandar Bush when the world – and George W – need him most?

Labels: bloodbath, Bush, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, partition, Saudi

posted by DanZ @ 7:18 PM