Work-Around, Not a Permanent Solution!!

There are lots of talks going on among Iraqi bloggers in the past few days about the situation in Iraq, especially after major events took place simultaneously, which for some gave the indication that the situation is running out of hand, and that civil war is inevitable – if it is not already has broken out. This comes mainly after dozens of stormed armed men in uniform entered a government building in Baghdad and kidnapped 150 people in midday. That followed the killing of around 200 innocents in Baghdad by a chain of cars exploded, also in the middle of the day, and finally, the warrant issued to arrest Harith Al Dhari, the leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. In the meantime the kidnapping and killing of innocent civilian is to the highest level around the clock. The question is whether the arguments and discussions among Iraqi bloggers reflected the real split within the Iraqis about their own problems (and I am not excluding myself), or did it show that Iraqis can argue, discuss and maybe disagree but the big picture never intended to show conflicting ideas that can be related to what the media is telling: Iraqis are killing their fellow Iraqis!

I will start with Neurotic Iraqi Wife: in her latest blog she was expressing her fears and frustration from the situation. She is against anything might lead to the US withdrawing from Iraq because in her opinion this will definitely will result in more chaos and bloodshed in Iraq. Her version of the solution for Iraq included: the deployment of more troops to Iraq, overthrow the government, the US put a new government for Iraq, and arresting Al Sadr, Al Dhari and many others who are considered as a threat to the stability of the Iraq. In short, NIW’s solution for Iraq can only be achieved by the US might! I explained to NIW that the US is not doing anything at the moment, so staying or leaving will not make any difference, if not make things worse! The US is just watching Iraq falling apart, and Iraqis falling down one after the other without moving towards restoring law and order. People in Baghdad and many other Iraqi cities are helpless, afraid for themselves and for their beloved families – and angry, even among Iraqi bloggers! Miraj asked the ultimate question of all: what will happen to us? It is a very heart breaking moment when a sister or a friend or a relative ask you from thousands of kilometers away to pray for her safety and to wish that this tragedy end with no more loses. I am full of sorrow because for years and years Iraqis have been trapped in the cross fire when someone else decided to wage a war and it happens to be Iraq the chosen zone for these wars.
Miraj, as one, expressed her fears that these events mark the end of everything. A similar fear has been expressed on Kid’s latest blog. He is emphasizing that the warrant issued against al Dhari last week will open the gates of hell by saying that “al-Dhari give his enemies the opportunity they've been dying to get a few days back on al-Arabiya television, he called the Anbar Rescue Council, the recently formed force fending off al-Qaeda in volatile Anbaar governorate a formation of 'weak tribes and bandits', he also said that al-Qaeda is 'a form of resistance, but we do not agree on them killing innocents'.



With all fears, there is a call for love, peace and a reminder message from Marshmalloow26 that we Iraqis used to live together, grew up together and she begged all Iraqis to “..stop this bloodbath, and take the DOVE as an Example of peace so God will be satisfied with your behaviors and open all doors for you”.

One of my fellow bloggers, Salam, put a very interesting theory. Salam did cross the Iraqi border with his analysis regarding finding a solution for Iraq. He included the Middle East as a whole, which in a sense I find it close to reality, with some objections. However, there are who disagreed with Salam: One of the comments on Salam's latest entry argues that the solution is purely in the hands of the Iraqis and with that both the militias and the occupation will be out in a month, and I am quoting some of his/her thoughts:

"Let all Iraqis sit down ~ and refuse to lift a finger until The Occupation Army leaves. The ones perpetrating terror will be clearly UNMISTAKABLE ~ they will be the Iraqis who are standing. You would find your Death Squads AND get rid of the Occupation within a month.
Do you think al-Maliki will make the announcement to the population on television soon?? Of course not; no one follows the logic of pure logic; so it won't be done. That means I am much like you: I wrote a WISH rather than a Probable Outcome."

The Iraqis won't be able to move because of many reasons, and one of them is that anyone raise his hand in objection to what is happening will be killed. So Internal-Iraqi solution is far from reachable. Neither a strong Iraqi control on Iraq's affairs, nor the current trap the US has put itself in will help improving the situation for the US administration. For that reason the White House is waiting for a bunch of former diplomats and semi-retired politicians to come up with a solution i.e. Baker report.

The new move is similar to what Salam mentioned. At the moment, the US is relaying on someone else (like Iraqis) to solve their problems: Talabani is in Iran and he is begging for support - I won't argue whether his visit was on behalf of the US or not! In the meantime, King Abdullah and after one day of his speech which warned of a three civil wars (the other in Lebanon and Palestine) he decided to be move, he received Al Dhari and there were hugs in the royal palace. The Saddam loyalists will have no role, especially after the sentence on their leader will executed. They will be gradually diminished from the playing-field.

Israel on the other hand, is having a truce with the Palestinian factions) and Olmert's speech announced a change in strategy regarding Israel stand towards the middle east, by talking about an independent Palestinian state, withdrawing from all occupied territories..etc Again, does this has something to do with the consequences from the war in Lebanon and the furious resistance Hezbollah showed, this can be argued about, especially with the question about what Israel did learn from last summer war!

To put everything into its perspective, we have Iran and Jordan playing a role on behalf of the US, each is trying to bring down the pressure from either side of both fighting factions (I won't use Sunni and Shiite rivals). In the meantime, the leak from the Baker report is proposing a partial withdraw from Iraq and leave from the 150 thousand troops, the half of it based in Iraq in the hope that this pressure can also be gradually diminished - this would also improve the picture of the US administration in the eyes of the public when they see that their beloved ones are back.

The result? Iraq and the Iraqis will be more reliable and increasingly influenced by foreign powers and the tactics for the region i.e. the public will have no respect for its government, because everyone knows that the loyalty of the politicians is not for Iraq and the Iraqis i.e. another Lebanon.

All the efforts from east to west during the past days and until this very moment is just a work-around for a problem facing one foreign power or the other, and not a permanent solution for Iraq, and not taking into the consideration the tragedies Iraqis are living through on daily basis.

No one form those non-Iraqi powers wants a:
Strong Iraq
United Iraqis
Iraq that can play a role in the ME