With the US elections season heating up and domestic concerns taking a front seat the White House is finally happy to have Iraq off the front pages for now.
But quietly the country is unraveling.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/01/08/iraq.main/index.html
The 'coalitions' we are paying to 'help us', are arming themselves to the teeth on our dime, and forming themselves into small military forces loyal to the local warlords or 'clerics', capable of defending their turf but with little or no control from a central government, which has still failed to come together on the most crucial issues.
These local groups, part of the 'Anbar Awakening" as the right wing likes to call it, are building small armies with the help and money from the US but the future for them is not a unified Iraq but a way to strengthen themselves for the coming wars.
The Anbar awakening is a name given to the situation in Anbar province where Shiite Militias agreed to help rid the countryside of outside insurgents for a fee.
This took place and developed well before the surge started and was a direct result of opportunistic Iraqi leaders realizing they could consolidate power and use the US military to 'cleanse' their neighborhoods for them, and get paid for it to boot.
Well the suitcases full of money have just begun to flow, (word gets around fast in Iraq) and the 'awakening' (hehehe) is in full swing.
MTMIND
Michael Trachtenberg
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