Gorilla's Blog

Another 50 killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq…

And still no government, 5 months after elections…

Once American troops are down to 50,000 next year, the civil war will resume in earnest and we’ll have nothing to show for the billions of dollars and thousands of live wasted on a pointless war of revenge…

Gorilla says: “The time to leave was before we even went in!”

What else can they do, when they are losing, incompetent or both, except argue for more of the same?

Today it’s Iraq’s top general, who says his army won’t be ready for another 10 years and the local politicians won’t be able to fill the void when America leaves it all to the Iraqis next year.

If the general on the ground thinks civil war is just around the corner, and it’s hard to disagree, why is that America’s problem?

We engaged in a stupid, pointless war of revenge against Saddam Hussein.

We got nothing for it.

The Iraqis cannot form a government some 5 months after an election.

The Sunnis are off our payroll and on al-Qaeda’s.

So we concluded it was time to declare victory and get out.

Gorilla says: “Our President will reach the same conclusions about Afghanistan by the end of next year! Our generals are at least as stupid as theirs!”

Deputy Secretary Of State Jacob Lew: “We can’t spread ourselves so thin that we don’t have the capacity to do the job in the places where we put people. If we don’t put people in a place where they have mobility, where they can go out and meet with the people and implement their programs, there’s very little argument for being in the place we send them.”

Gorilla translates: “If only we’d reached that conclusion in 2003!”

And high on al-Qaeda, who didn’t exist until we invaded Iraq and are currently paying more!!!

It seems quite clear that the combination of paying people off and overlooking ethnic cleansing worked for a while (about one election year), but the lack of economic opportunities, the underlying ethnic tensions, and the refusal of any politician in Washington or Baghdad to face reality meant the “surge” was doomed from the start.

Oh well, what passes for foreign policy at the moment is this: let’s have another listen to worthless generals like Petraeus and pursue the same failed strategy in Afghanistan!

Civil war times two is what we’re in the middle of losing…

Gorilla says: “Santayana, etc.!”

In Basra, lots of dead people, and a very interesting quote from a local legislator:

“As a lawmaker from Basra I hold the military and police leadership responsible for the blood that has been shed.”

We’ve handed over everything on the combat side now, so let the civil war commence!!!

Gorilla says: “A pointless war, a nonexistent peace, and a lot of national blood and treasure wasted for absolutely nothing!”

Our President says he’s on schedule for troop drawdown in the most pointless war launched by the US in the last 25 years!

Meanwhile, the civilian casualty rate is the highest it’s been in 2 years (civilian deaths apparently only count when they’re informers, according to our highly amoral Defense Secretary) and Iraq still has no functioning government, nearly 5 months after parliamentary elections.

Now that the Sunnis are off the payroll, and ethnic cleansing was accomplished via the “surge” in many Baghdad neighborhoods, it’s only a matter of time before the civil war begins.

Gorilla says: “Same as Afghanistan, but we’re losing with more dignity!”

Joe Biden’s back from Iraq, having been unable to convince the Iraqis that it might be time to form a government, some 4 months after the election.

So far, no one can even agree on who has the right to form a government. This of course creates a power vacuum, into which steps various dissatisfied Sunni groups, who see the current Iraqi government as uninterested in Shiites and Sunnis working together.

The bottom line remains the same: absent a reason to participate, the Sunnis will return to violence and Iraq will descend into civil war. No amount of surging has changed this basic fact of Iraqi life.

Gorilla says: “We’re going soon and what’s left is pretty much what we found!”

Iraqi Sunni insurgency groups, getting back together again!

They may not be wildly popular, even in the Sunni community, but they do reflect the overall distrust of the Shiite-dominated government.

Sunnis voted in droves for the secular candidate Allawi in the recent elections.

If they’re not given a larger role in government, it’s likely the insurgency and the civil war will resume once US forces are largely gone next year.

Gorilla says: “They’re off the payroll, but still watching the punch clock!”

Did anyone really believe that Nouri al-Maliki would go quietly after losing the election in Iraq?

Nope, it’s been a demand for recounts (but only where there’s a chance of picking up a seat or 4) and cutting a deal with a conservative Shiite party to get very close to a working majority.

If this goes on, and you could say it’s a triumph of democracy (the Shiites after all are 60% of the population), there’s little doubt that civil war will be continuing in Iraq for years to come.

Who’s talking about the Iraqi election in DC? Nobody!

The oil spill is what counts! Disaster! No lessons learned! So long as we do nothing at all to change our energy policy, what’s a little less seafood between friends?

Or perhaps it’s the solemn commitment to fight terrorism everywhere but the places where Islamic terrorists and their philosophy originate: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Gorilla says: “As Wodehouse might have observed: send in the drones, the party’s over!”