NO RECONCILIATION

The Washington Post reported today that top Iraqi government officials from different ethnic factions have concluded that the sectarian conflict in the country is so entrenched that reconciliation is no longer attainable.

While many in this country, mainly the ignorant conservatives, are sure to express shock and dismay upon hearing this, it comes as no surprise to anyone who is, basically, not an uneducated, ignorant philistine.

The Bush & McCain crackpot theory which is predicated on the reduction in violence through military force to enable Iraqi politicians to craft a political reconciliation is either flat-out ludicrous or unequivocally fallacious. My bet is on the latter.

It is apparent for some time that Bush has no damn clue on how to exit Iraq without causing mass mayhem. His only hope is to hang on for as long as possible in order to bequeath the fiasco in Iraq to his successor. In the meantime, he conveniently hides behind Petraeus who is now the defacto decision-maker in Iraq. If Petraeus comes out tomorrow and says that providing ice-cream to all citizens of Iraq will cause all the insurgents to lay down their arms, military planes will be flying tons of Ben & Jerry's to Iraq.

McCain is well aware that conservatives have long viewed him with suspicion. His only hope of winning the Republican nomination lies in taking the far right position on Iraq. There is nothing more pathetic than seeing McCain pander to the far-right and still barely able to revive his moribund campaign.

According to the Iraqi Deputy PM, "there will be no reconciliation as such, this is a struggle about power."

It is fairly obvious that the Shias, after years of oppression under Saddam, not only have no intention of sharing power, but are also opportunistically pouncing on any chance they get to settle old scores with the Sunnis.

The reality about this whole fiasco is that recent history has taught us that the way to end civil wars is for one side to prevail and consolidating power outright. For the US to prevail, it might soon have to come down to picking sides. I'm sure if it comes down to that, the Republican political strategists will come up with their fair share of excuses to conceal Bush's incompetence in getting anything done in Iraq. Given how good these guys are in hoodwinking the public, I cannot wait to see what they come up with.