{"id":305,"date":"2007-06-11T09:35:08","date_gmt":"2007-06-11T14:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=305"},"modified":"2007-06-11T09:35:08","modified_gmt":"2007-06-11T14:35:08","slug":"babel-washingtons-civil-war-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=305","title":{"rendered":"Babel: Washington’s Civil War in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"
Right Zionists like Fouad Ajami<\/title>Right Zionists like <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=274\"> Fouad Ajami<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=279\">Reuel Marc Gerecht<\/a> have learned to love the Shiite-led Maliki government in Iraq, but the US military brass on the ground in Iraq seems to feel very differently.<\/p>\n<p>Consider, for example, Major General Rick Lynch–commander of the Third Infantry Division responsible, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/today.reuters.co.uk\/News\/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=B269913\">a <em>Reuters<\/em> profile<\/a>, for three of five extra brigades deployed as part of a four-month-old Baghdad security plan.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, June 10, 2007, Maj. Gen. Lynch seems to have had a wide-ranging discussion with reporters.\u00c2\u00a0 While there are no signs yet of a full transcript of the briefing, his comments seem to inform several major articles in the news.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nationworld\/world\/la-fg-iraq11jun11,1,3455332.story?track=rss\"> <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> report<\/a> by Tina Susman and Garrett Therolf suggests that Lynch does not share the confidence in Maliki expressed by Right Zionists like Ajami and Gerecht.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>More than security, Lynch said, he was concerned about the Iraqi national \tgovernment, citing its failure to hold provincial elections to ensure fair \trepresentation for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds in different areas of the \tcountry.<\/p>\n<p>Lynch said that in one province he commands, Babil, it was common for <strong> \tnational government officials<\/strong> to order provincial forces to free \tdetainees because of <strong>political or sectarian loyalties<\/strong>. After one \trecent operation, 42 detainees were ordered freed on direction of the \tnational government, Lynch said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Indeed, Susman and Therolf report that Maj. Gen. Lynch is at the cutting edge of the effort to cultivate alliances with Sunni Arab forces, even over the objections of Maliki’s Shiite government.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[T]he U.S. military is planning to establish “provisional police forces” \tthat would arm men affiliated with Sunni tribal sheiks and militant groups \twho are willing to assist American forces, Lynch told journalists. He said \tthat <strong>U.S. generals were trying to persuade the Iraqi government to \tsupport the plan, but that the American military was determined to pursue \tit, even without government backing<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And, yet, it appears that some of Lynch’s own preferred allies in Babil have their own “sectarian loyalties.”\u00c2\u00a0 A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/story\/0,2933,280312,00.html\"><em>FOXNews<\/em> story<\/a> attributed to the Associated Press quotes Lynch:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch… spoke at length about U.S. efforts to \tdraw Sunnis into the security forces.<\/p>\n<p>“There are tribal sheiks out there who say ‘Hey, just allow me to be the \tlocal security force. I don’t care what you call me. … You can call me \twhatever you want. Just give me the right training and equipment and I’ll \tsecure my area.’ And that’s the direction we’re moving out there,” the Third \tInfantry Division commander said.<\/p>\n<p>In a meeting with reporters, Lynch said <strong>contacts with the Sunnis<\/strong>, who \tmake up the bulk of the insurgency, were <strong>a matter of pragmatism<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>“<strong>They say<\/strong>: ‘We hate you because you are an occupier, but we hate Al \tQaeda worse and <strong>we hate the Persians (Iranians) even worse<\/strong>‘ … you \tcan’t ignore that whole population,” Lynch said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[These must surely be the same “Persians” <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alsumaria.tv\/en\/Iraq-News\/1-4231-Senior-Iraq-delegation-in-Iran-for-talks.html\"> currently meeting with<\/a> the Iraqi government’s national security adviser, Mowaffaq Al Rubaie.]<\/p>\n<p>The colorful Maj. Gen. Lynch is also one of the key military figures cited today’s front-page <em>New York Times<\/em> article–“<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/06\/11\/world\/middleeast\/11iraq.html?hp=&pagewanted=all\">U.S. Arming Sunnis in Iraq to Battle Old Qaeda Allies<\/a>“–about US efforts to expand the so-called “Anbar Model” to areas like Babil (even as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/06\/10\/AR2007061001453_pf.html\"> <em>Washington Post<\/em> reports<\/a> that the “Anbar Model” may be in some trouble in Anbar).<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>An Iraqi government official who was reached by telephone on Sunday said \tthe government was uncomfortable with the American negotiations with the \tSunni groups because they offered no guarantee that the militias would be \tloyal to anyone other than the American commander in their immediate area. \t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aim is to disarm and demobilize the militias in Iraq,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \tsaid Sadiq al-Rikabi, a political adviser to Mr. Maliki. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And we have enough \tmilitias in Iraq that we are struggling now to solve the problem. Why are we \tcreating new ones?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Despite such views, General Lynch said, the Americans believed that Sunni \tgroups offering to fight Al Qaeda and halt attacks on American and Iraqi \tforces met a basic condition for re-establishing stability in insurgent-hit \tareas: they had roots in the areas where they operated, and thus held out \tthe prospect of building security from the ground up. He cited areas in \tBabil Province where there were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no security forces, zero, zilch,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \tadded: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got people who say, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI want to protect my neighbors,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <strong> \twe ought to jump like a duck on a june bug<\/strong>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For Maj. Gen. Lynch, however, the “security” effort is linked to the larger political context in Babil where the officer appears eager to transform the political dynamic.<\/p>\n<p>The top diplomat on the US state department “Provincial Reconstruction Team” in the Babil province is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/r\/pa\/scp\/78597.htm\">Dr. Charles Hunter<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/p\/nea\/rls\/rm\/2007\/82501.htm\">March 30, 2007 briefing<\/a>, Hunter described the contours of political control on Babil:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>DR. HUNTER: Well, Hilla is the capital of Babil province, of course, \twhich is a mixed province. The Sunnis are concentrated in the north…<\/p>\n<p>QUESTION: And what is the Iraqi political make up in the province and in the \tcity?<\/p>\n<p>DR. HUNTER: Well, the provincial council, which is composed of 41 members, \tcurrently has no Shia — excuse me, no Sunni — member of it. The Sunni \tthere boycotted the elections in 2005. The Supreme Council for the Islamic \tRevolution in Iraq, SCIRI, dominates that council and most of the other \tprovincial-level positions, the mayorships and so on….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Accordin to <a href=\"http:\/\/today.reuters.co.uk\/News\/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=B269913\"> Reuters<\/a>, Maj. Gen. Lynch doesn’t have much confidence in the SCIRI crowd that is running Babil.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He said of the three tiers which comprise the U.S. strategy in Iraq, \tgovernance issues worried him more than security matters and transition work \ttowards handing control back to Iraqi institutions.<\/p>\n<p>“I am concerned about the capacity of government,” Lynch told reporters on \tSunday.<\/p>\n<p>“As I deal with the government at a provincial level, I have a concern about \twhether or not that government is truly a representative government that \trespects the human rights of all the Iraqis in that province,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Are these the same provincial government officials who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usembassy.it\/viewer\/article.asp?article=\/file2005_07\/alia\/a5072603.htm&plaintext=1\"> met with President Bush<\/a> in July 2005?<\/p>\n<p>And\/or are these the same provincial government officials discussed in an official <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2006\/04\/09\/world\/middleeast\/09report.html?ei=5088&en=b9e01b5f447158c3&ex=1302235200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all\"> province-by-province snapshot<\/a> of Iraq produced by US officials in April 2006?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Babil Province, an important strategic area abutting Baghdad, also has \t“strong Iranian influence apparent within council,” the report says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maj. Gen. Lynch appears very eager for the Maliki government to move forward on one of the major “benchmarks” set forth by the US: <em>provincial elections<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Iraq’s parliament last month chose an election commission, seen as a big \tstep towards calling local polls, but Washington is still pressing for a \tdate for the elections before parliament rises for its summer break.<\/p>\n<p>Lynch said U.S. commanders believed the elections were crucial if Iraq was \tto have a truly representative government in which decisions were not made \talong sectarian lines. Sunni Arabs boycotted the last provincial elections \tin 2005.<\/p>\n<p>“That has to happen. We’ll facilitate an election, but the government of \tIraq has to schedule those elections,” Lynch said.<\/p>\n<p>“<strong>You do have leaders in very high positions who are making \tsectarian-based decisions, no doubt about it. I see indications of sectarian \tdecisions and not Iraqi decisions<\/strong>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I don’t mean to go <em>way out<\/em> on a limb here, but I do not think Major General Lynch is a big fan of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki or Shiite political dominance in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it was with figures like Maj. Gen. Lynch in mind that <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=274\">Fouad Ajami<\/a> spoke hopefully of Prime Minister Maliki:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mr. Maliki will not do America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bidding, and we should be grateful for \this displays of independence…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/06\/11\/world\/middleeast\/11iraq.html?hp=&pagewanted=all\"> <em>New York Times<\/em> article<\/a> on Lynch and his “Anbar Model” for Babil province offers up some words of caution:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[C]ritics of the strategy, including some American officers, say it could \tamount to the Americans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <strong>arming both sides in a future civil war<\/strong>… \tThe United States has spent more than $15 billion in building up Iraq\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s army \tand police force, whose manpower of 350,000 is heavily Shiite. With an \tAmerican troop drawdown increasingly likely in the next year, and little \tsign of a political accommodation between Shiite and Sunni politicians in \tBaghdad, the critics say, there is a risk that any weapons given to Sunni \tgroups will eventually be used against Shiites. There is also the \tpossibility the weapons could be used against the Americans themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It may be tempting to imagine a <em>unified<\/em>–if deeply cynical–American strategy to arm both sides in an Iraqi civil war.<\/p>\n<p>There continue to be signs, however, that such a scenario might develop less on the basis of a unified master plan so much as an <em>ongoing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zmag.org\/content\/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10185\">civil war in Washington<\/a><\/em>–between Right Zionists like Ajami and Gerecht who favor Iraqi Shiite rule and Right Arabists, like Maj. Gen. Lynch who appear to favor the restoration of Sunni Arab political dominance in Iraq.<\/p>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Right Zionists like Fouad AjamiRight Zionists like Fouad Ajami and Reuel Marc Gerecht have learned to love the Shiite-led Maliki government in Iraq, but the US military brass on the ground in Iraq seems to feel very differently. Consider, for example, Major General Rick Lynch–commander of the Third Infantry Division responsible, according to a Reuters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}