We are at the edge of an abyss and we’re close to being irrevocably lost.
David R. Brower

When Brower uttered that quote he wasn’t referring to Iraq, but no quote can sum up the problem better. Shi’ites and Sunnis are standing at the edge looking into the abyss. The worse part is they even if they want to pull themselves away, there are outside sources pushing them closer and closer.

Both sides have committed and continue to commit some pretty terrible atrocities. On Thursday Sunni’s launched a wave of attacks against the Shi’ite militia in Sadr City. Sadr City is a district of Baghdad that is home to the Shiite filled Mahdi Army militia who is run by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. In total the death toll of Thursday’s attack against Shi’ites in Sadr City was over 200 with hundreds more wounded. After the attacks U.S. and Iraqi forces ordered a round the clock curfew to try and prevent reprisal attacks.

On Friday, despite the curfew, the reprisal attacks on Sunni’s began. Shi’ite militia attacked Sunni neighborhoods and Mosques. They launched RPGand mortar attacks against neighborhoods and mosques. In one mosque the Shi’ites detonated a cooking gas cylinder, at another 6 worshippers were doused in kerosine and set on fire after leaving Friday prayers, at a car dealership in Northern Iraq they exploded two bombs killing at least 22, and list of atrocities go on and on.

While the intensity of reprisal attacks this time around are less, mostly due to the curfew, the ferocity of the attacks is troublesome. Sunni’s say their attack on Thursday was to avenge the death of 1000’s of Sunni’s that have been found tortured and killed by Sadr’s Mahdi Army’s Death Squads. For the most part the Sunni’s, who are the minority in Iraq, want the American military forces to remain in Iraq and help maintain order. The Shi’ites who are in part financed and supported by Iran and Syria of course want U.S. troops out.

While everyone points fingers at Sadr for being behind the Mahdi Army, the latest rounds of violence is caused by Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his parliament. Maliki has prevented U.S. forces from being able to get the Mahdi Army under control. In the past he has lifted curfews, the barricades and checkpoints that were in place around Sadr City, and has refused to allow the U.S. from removing al-Sadr from power. He is a puppet of a large faction within the majority Shi’ite run parliament, called the Sadrists, and they are puppets of al-Sadr.

Now Maliki is caught between a rock and a hard place. Bush has already planned on meeting Maliki in Jordan for what is now crisis talks, and the al-Sadr allies in parliament have threatened to walk if Maliki goes to the meeting with Bush. This is why the U.S. should stay away from nation building. As Americans at home want troops to leave Iraq, it is apparent the Iraqi security forces are not able to maintain any real law and order. In fact they are responsible for some of the attacks or will allow attacks to occur without intervening.

Many Americans here at home buy into the misconception that the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq is the cause for the violence. It’s not. The reason the sectarian battles didn’t exist before the U.S. led invasion was because love him or hate him, Saddam Hussein was able to keep the faction in relative peace and united. Like Tito in old Yugoslavia, Hussein would not allow any insurrection in his country. If Shi’ites attacked Sunni’s, Shi’ites would be rounded up and executed men, women and children. If a person attacked Iraqi forces, Hussein would send in his Republican Guard to wipe out a whole neighborhood if need be to send a message. Sunni’s and Shi’ites got along better than because as the old saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

The big problem now is identifying who is the real force behind the unrest, and to have the resolve to hold them responsible. It is a fact that the Sunni led Al-Qaeda operatives are fanning these flames, as are Syrian and Iranian Shi’ite fighters who are coming to Iraq to fight the Americans and drag the whole of Iraq into a sectarian killing field. The sad part is that the new Iraq study group is recommending the U.S. open dialog with Iran and Syria to allow them to help stabilize Iraq. To put that in laymens terms, to make concessions to Iran and Syria to get them to quit fanning the flames of war.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I believe that when Bush Sr. was talking about a New World Order he meant one that centered on money and power, not good and evil, right and wrong. The new proposed Secretary of Defense is a businessman and a politican, he isn’t a warrior, he isn’t a military man, he is a think-tank idealist, like Rumsfeld was, who will put the interests of business ahead of the interests of our nation. If Bush was serious about winning this war he would have nominated an aggressive military leader who will get us out of this war. Instead we are getting some corporate whore who knows how to make a buck, but knows nothing about waging war.

So where does that leave the many men and women who have died, and the tens of thousands who have been wounded to liberate Iraq? This doesn’t really matter to James Baker and the rest of the politicans and businessmen who are in the study group. As long as their companies and foreign financial interest are safe, they will be happy. I disagree that this is a war for oil, but I do agree that until the government takes a step back and quits getting into bed with every despot and thug government, including Russia and China, we are heading for the abyss with the rest of the Middle East.

Leave war to the warriors, not the politicans and businessmen.