Good Progress

Here are a couple things that happened today in Iraq.

Secular cabinet ministers have boycotted the government, joining with Sunnis. 1 in 4 of Prime Minister Maliki's cabinet ministers are AWOL, including every single Sunni. The Bush Administration will no longer say that they have confidence in them.

In Tal Afar, widely regarded as a success story in 2005 thanks to the work of surge architect Col. H.R. McMaster, at least 33 have died in a massive car bomb explosion.

1 step forward, 8 steps back. That's the way it goes every day in that country.

Get us out now.

Iraq's government has not met one of the benchmarks, and, with the exception of the revenue-sharing law, most are unlikely to happen. But even if they were all enacted, it would not help. Provincial elections will make Iraq less governable while the process of constitutional revision could break the country apart [...]

Iraq after an American defeat will look very much like Iraq today—a land divided along ethnic lines into Arab and Kurdish states with a civil war being fought within its Arab part. Defeat is defined by America's failure to accomplish its objective of a self-sustaining, democratic, and unified Iraq. And that failure has already taken place, along with the increase of Iranian power in the region [...]

We need to recognize, as Lugar implicitly does, that Iraq no longer exists as a unified country. In the parts where we can accomplish nothing, we should withdraw. But there are still three missions that may be achievable—disrupting al-Qaeda, preserving Kurdistan's democracy, and limiting Iran's increasing domination. These can all be served by a modest US presence in Kurdistan. We need an Iraq policy with sufficient nuance to protect American interests.Unfortunately, we probably won't get it.

Grr...

Revenge Spree

This would be what happens during a civil war.

Shiite militants and police enraged by massive truck bombings in the northwestern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there Wednesday, killing as many as 60 people, officials said.

The gunmen began roaming Sunni neighborhoods in the city, shooting at residents and homes, according to police and a local Sunni politician.

Ali al-Talafari, a Sunni member of the local Turkomen Front Party, said the Iraqi army had arrested 18 policemen accused of being involved after they were identified by the Sunni families targeted. But he said the attackers included Shiite militiamen.

He said more than 60 Sunnis had been killed, but a senior hospital official in Tal Afar put the death toll at 45, with four wounded.

Remember when Tal Afar was supposed to be the great success story in Iraq? The police have been put in charge of several areas in the country, even though they are the most dangerous elements in the whole society. Maybe they're walking those streets that John McCain says you can walk down.

By the way, Maverick, the capital is NOT the country, and violence has gone up outside the capital (in Diyala province, in Baquba, in Tal Afar, for example) while remaining the same or lowering slightly inside.

You cannot put a political solution on a country whose police force often goes on revenge sprees.

UPDATE: "Walk through those neighborhoods, I never said you could walk those neighborhoods! Where'd you get that idea?"