Ignore all those bodies in the morgues. The civil war is dead. No really. It’s done. Finito. History. You can move on to other stories. I have it straight from the mouth of the US ambassador to Iraq, himself:
The US ambassador said the risk of civil war from last week’s crisis was over.
Violence throughout Iraq killed 36 people on Monday, as fierce fighting broke out between Iraqi commandos and insurgents southeast of the capital. But sectarian clashes have declined sharply since the bloodletting that followed the destruction of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, and Baghdad residents returned to their jobs after three days of a government-imposed curfew.
“That crisis is over,” US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad declared.
“I think the country came to the brink of a civil war, but the Iraqis decided that they didn’t want to go down that path, and came together,” the ambassador told CNN. “Clearly the terrorists who plotted that attack wanted to provoke a civil war. It looked quite dangerous in the initial 48 hours, but I believe that the Iraqis decided to come together.”
Personally, I feel so relieved. So, when do we bring our troops home? Now that all is peace and happy thoughts among the Iraqis, again, what
need to stay longer? The last thing the United States needs is the reputation of a house guest who’s over stayed her welcome. Besides, 4 out of 5 of our troops currently in Iraq say it’s time to leave according to a new Zogby poll [Note: story is behind the NY Times firewall]. I say we listen to them.
Because, after all, the civil war is over. Freedom has won another victory in the great and glorious war on terror. Time to take our up-armored humvees and go home. What say you, Mr. President? I mean, if you can’t trust your own ambassador on these matters, who can you trust?
