The Washington-Najaf axis : playing Al Qaedas game

[tocqueville]

Sistani said that even if half of Iraq's Shi'ites were killed, there would be no civil war. The message could not be clearer: hold on, power is at hand.

It was much easier for Sistani to deliver this message with the knowledge that the Americans have left "his" holy Najaf for good. Najaf security is now the responsibility of the Badr Organization (previously Badr Brigade), the paramilitary wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which rules the whole of Najaf province. This means that the Iranian-trained Badr, by themselves, have to protect Sistani's life and have to face whatever turbulence is caused by Muqtada al-Sadr's anti-occupation, anti-establishment Mehdi Army.

The Washington-Najaf axis is a neo-con dream. It would fit in a pattern of divide and rule, splitting the Arab world between Sunnis and Shi'ites perpetually at each other's throats. This would include, of course, Shi'ites fighting Sunnis in Hasa, in Saudi Arabia. That's a graphic case of neo-con thinking encouraging the rise of a Shi'ite crescent as a means to weaken the Arab world.

The neo-cons should beware of what they want. It may be exactly what al-Qaeda wants: civil war in Iraq leading to mini-civil wars in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and ultimately regime change, but to the benefit, in al-Qaeda's point of view, of Salafi jihadi regimes. As Washington wrestles - at least for public relations purposes - with the dilemma of controlling Iraqi oil or bringing the troops home, the temptation persists of an attack against either Syria or Iran. All scenarios seem to come straight from Pandora's box.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GJ01Ak03.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. If bush attacks Iran, we will lose every US soldier in the ME.

As for occupying Iran...hah. Good luck.

Suggestion; if/when bush decides to attack Iran, or Syria, run for the border. Coz the only US military left will be via draft.

[xchrom]

2. neo-cons know exactly what they want.

anxiety in the arab world leading to internal violence.
in the belief that somehow this will take pressure off israel -- israel becomes stronger, casting a shadow of greater and greater influence in the middle east.

it's dictatorial, corporate rule at it's finest.