Just read this artical.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20116269/
Its about us arming the Sunni tribes in the area but that wasnt what I found interesting about it.Iraqs in a bad state, maybe worse then I thought.A lots been said about the secratarian violence over there and its nothing new but I didnt realize how far the mistrust of everyone involved went.
The Sunnis seem to have alegitimate grudge against the new govt, apparently theyre not letting them sign up for service in the Iraqi army in many cases because they dont trust them.The mostly Shiite govt is worried that by recruiting them were financing and arming a militia that could undermine the new govt after we withdraw.
The Sunnis view this as the new Shiite govt wanting total control over the country and are understandably upset about it.But it goes even deeper then that, the Sunnis dont even trust each other, theyre turning each other in as terrorist supporters, one group claims a shiek we just gave a defense contract to is openly supporting Al Queada in that area.
Our positions very complicated by all of this, the Iraqi govt is opposing putting the sunnis on the pay role at all and were now faced with having to decide which ones we can trust and which ones will use the money and arms against us or the govt, its a risky policy were trying to use but it does appear areas in which weve put sunnis on the payroll are showing fewer attacks on us then they were previously.
My question is if forming a democrasy is our goal how the hell are we supposed to get there from here?We have one group running the govt, they dont trust the other group, who in turn doesnt trust themselves, and were in charge of recruiting people and cant trust any of them.The only positive thing is most of the people involved dont like the terrorist element among them.Down side is many of the people getting paid to fight the terrorists are being reported as supporting the by the people that dont trust them, its all very confusing.
I thought in a democrasy that all the people involved would be playing a more or less equal role in shaping the country, the situation we have now is far from that and leans heavily towards a shiite run country.And it could all blow up quite badly if one of these groups were paying off decides to turn around and use that money or weapons to try to undermine the new govt, its a bad situation.IMO this is going to take much more then just a police/military effort to straighten out, if we dont get all the players involved to come to sort of agreement then this isnt ever going work.Considering most of the Sunnis who were working with the govt recently quit and walked off this could be difficult.
The state of Iraq
