McClatchy: Iraqi political feuding has paralyzed Bush's strategy

[babylonsister]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/17224551.htm

Iraqi political feuding has paralyzed Bush's strategy
By Jonathan S. Landay and Nancy Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Four months after President Bush launched his new Iraq strategy, the U.S. troop buildup there is proceeding apace, but feuding among Iraqi politicians and power brokers threatens to block the political reforms on which the success of the plan depends.

U.S. officials warn that the longer the impasse persists over laws on provincial elections and the distribution of Iraq’s oil wealth among Shiite Muslims, Kurds and Sunnis, the greater the risk that the surge of 30,000 more U.S. troops into Baghdad, which is intended to provide a security umbrella for political reforms, will be for naught.

Until the political feuding ends, “we are just maintaining the status quo,” said a U.S. military official who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Some U.S. and Iraqi politicians already are predicting that the Iraqi parliament won't pass any key legislation by September, when Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, is supposed to assess the success of the surge.

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[Boo Boo]

1. "Reforms," eh? Part of the "reform" of Iraq's Oil policy includes giving U.S.

and British Oil companies the sweetheart deal of the century. That is, IMO, what the Surge is all about. We start pounding on Shiite militias, which are closely allied with governing political parties, while simultaneously twisting their arms to pass these reforms. We won't stop pounding Shiites until they stop stalling and start working toward reconciliation, which includes the poison pill giving foreign Oil companies the lion's share of Oil profits.

As usual, the Bushies undermine their efforts by pursuing parallel agendas---they sabotage themselves with their own greed. There is broad opposition to the Oil reforms, Sunnis included. Will the Administration give up their outrageous money grab in order to achieve progress on reconciliation (i.e. a share of Oil revenue for Sunnis)? I doubt it.

And our soldiers keep killing and dying. Blood for Oil.