"Iraq as a political project is finished," a top gov official told Reuters

[kpete]

Mosques bombed, tense Baghdad under curfew
By Ahmed Rasheed and Mariam Karouny

.......................

On the eve of a high-profile meeting intended to demonstrate reconciliation among sectarian and ethnic factions ahead of a White House visit by the prime minister, senior leaders admitted to despair about the chances of averting all-out civil war.

"Iraq as a political project is finished," a top government official told Reuters -- anonymously because the coalition of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki remains committed in public to a U.S.-sponsored constitution preserving Iraq's unity.

"The parties have moved to Plan B," the official said, saying Sunni, ethnic Kurdish and majority Shi'ite blocs were looking at ways to divide power and resources and to solve the conundrum of Baghdad's mixed population of seven million.

"There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into east and west," said the official, who has long been a proponent of the present government's objectives. "We are extremely worried."


more at:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-21T144652Z_01_L10437415_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml&archived=False

[redqueen]

1. Good going, GOPranos!

:grr:

[truthisfreedom]

2. who didn't see this coming. oh, bushco, forgot... they can't see anything

realistically because they're so busy trying to appease their little boot-stamping thug prezdunt.

[kenny blankenship]

7. I'm not sure that they'd even care if they could be made to see it

what they are concerned about is planting 100,000+ US troops in the center of the world's biggest oil patch. Iraq can go fuck itself, erupt into civil war, become a dictatorship or a failed state with no government at all. In fact it would be just as pleasing to Bushco or maybe more pleasing even, if all Iraqis were to suddenly die. Then we'd have no friction with the local population as we squat on the world's oil.

[Skidmore]

3. Ya, those PNACers little political project is kaput.

What now? Will they take up knitting for a hobby? Or will they start another war?

[whistle]

4. John Negroponte wins!!!!

....I can't find the more current article from a few weeks ago, so this will have to do until I can post it:

<snip>
Negroponte's 'Serious Setback'
By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 03 March 2006

John Negroponte, the US National Intelligence Director, provided testimony on Tuesday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on "global threats."

Negroponte, who was the US ambassador to Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005, was immediately promoted to his current position after his presence in Iraq. Ironically, he warned the committee on Tuesday, "If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country ... this would have implications for the rest of the Middle East region and, indeed, the world."

Warning of the outcome of a possible civil war in Iraq, Negroponte said sectarian civil war in Iraq would be a "serious setback" to the global war on terror. Note - he did not say it would be a "serious setback" to the Iraqi people, over 1,400 of whom have been slaughtered in sectarian violence touched off by the bombing of the Golden Mosque last week in Samarra.

No, the violence and instability in Iraq would be a "serious setback" to the global "war on terror."

But it's interesting for him to continue, "The consequences for the people of Iraq would be catastrophic," whilst feigning his concern. Because generating catastrophic consequences for civilian populations just happens to be his specialty.

If we briefly review the political history of John Negroponte, we find a man who has had a career bent toward generating civilian death and widespread human rights abuses, and promoting sectarian and ethnic violence. <more>

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/48/18107


Hold on, I found the current one:

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=11542

[zippy890]

5. uh oh, serious setback to 'war on terror'

wonder what plan B is going to be from our government.

*sinking feeling*

[lovuian]

6. There will be no oil gotten out of Iraq

those days are over...

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. Iraq is irrelevant to the Republicans.

They did what they set out to do. They stole billions of dollars, shifted the balance of wealth and political power in this country, took control of the media, stacked the courts in their favor and took control of the elective process.

Iraq had nothing to do with American security.