Via the coalition casualty count, 14 American soldiers have so far been reported killed in action during the week starting August 14, 2005.
According to figures pulled from Reuters’ Iraq report, at least 123 Iraqi deaths have been reported over the same week.
Ehsan Ahrari writes about the three way pull over the drafting of an Iraqi constitution:
The new Iraqi constitution risks beginning an era of the virtual carving up of Iraq. The Kurds and the Shi’ites are operating on the basis of a zero-sum game, whereby any one group’s gains would approximately equal another group’s losses. The Kurds are determined to get the autonomous oil-rich northern section. Not to be outmaneuvered by the Kurds, the Shi’ites want an autonomous southern portion. That would leave the Sunnis with the impoverished central section. They are watching, in horror, a process that might be the beginning of the end of a unified Iraq that was created between 1921 and 1932. With all its intentions of democratizing and stabilizing the “new Iraq”, the Bush administration may be presiding over the process of the disintegration of Iraq. …
Juan Cole points out that the Shi’a are divided among themselves over the question of federalism and greater provincial autonomy, noting that while federalism may provoke a civil war, forgoing federalism may start one just as well. Apparently, a lot will hang on whether an agreement can be reached whereby the Kurds would put up with an Islamic state in return for the Shi’a letting them have greater autonomy and more control of Kirkuk’s oil wealth. Cole also links to a research paper on the Shi’a separatist movement.
Billmon talks about where the rights of Iraq’s women are headed and the gangland style tactics of the Shi’a and Kurdish militia and paramilitary groups.
The three way pull apart was the most obvious conclusion to draw IN ADVANCE of the invasion. Why did they think Iraq had a brutal dictator in the first place?
Don’t forget the invisible hand of Iran and its new fundamentalist leader within southern Iraqi affairs.
I saw on TV last nite no troop draw down before 2009???!!!???
Did I see that right (had the sound turned off)?
Good post Natasha. Say hi to Boris for me.
You’re right, and a lot of people did predict a 3-way pull. Unfortunately, none of those people agreed with the president’s prediction that we would have a cakewalk and therefore they simply weren’t listening to. Or they’re people who didn’t like the president in the first place, which made them even less worth listening to. Or they were people who tended to be suspicious of going to war, maybe even bona fide peace advocates, so you know their opinions weren’t worth a fart in a stiff wind. So you might say that no one (worth listening to) at all predicted it, though we can now be glad that there are professional analysts on hand to report that no one (worth listening to) at all was right about how this war would turn out.
About the 2009 thing, I saw that too last night after I posted this, and you read it right. Four more years: It’s not just a campaign slogan, it’s a battle plan.
The last time I heard it used was in relation to the great practical joker Hugh Troy. He grew bemused at all the reports that flew across various desks in his theater of operation during World War II, and decided to start submitting a “flypaper report” showing how many flies various pieces of flypaper caught, complete with a diagram of where in the CO’s office the flypaper was situated.
To his complete non-surprise, when he grew tired of the joke he got a nasty report from division headquarters wanting to know where the hell his flypaper report was!