UNENDING NIGHTMARE

Khaleej Times
Oct 15 2007
United Arab Emirates

THE White House’s claim of progress on Iraq has suffered yet another
strong setback, this time one of the former US commanders on the
ground rubbishing the official line. Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez ®, who
led the Joint Task Force 7 in Iraq in ’03, is a weighty addition to
the anti-war drive’s momentum that is questioning the White House’s
handling of the insurgency.

Having led the US forces at the beginning of the campaign, his word
no doubt carries more weight than media watchdogs and thinktanks,
and therefore poses greater difficulties for the Bush lobby. That
is especially so since his take is in stark contradiction to the
commander now running the show. Putting things in perspective, it
is little surprising that the General is extremely critical of the
recent troop-surge, which General Petraeus claims has made way for
considerable improvements.

And if the show so far has featured "a glaring unfortunate display
of incompetent strategic leadership", then the immediate days ahead
stand to be much worse. The unnecessary standoff with Turkey is all
set to create havoc in the only part of Iraq that enjoys a relative
degree of stability – the Kurdish north. Considering the US congress’
ill-timed decision to rub salt into Turkey’s Armenian wounds, only the
most subtle diplomacy will stop Ankara from authorising use of force
to deal with the irritating Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from inside
Iraq. And going by the recent track record of Condi and her team, with
little impressive stemming from their engagement with Middle Eastern
countries, Pakistan and now Russia, concrete progress is unlikely.

A Turkish assault on the PKK would not only introduce another active
front in the war-torn country, but also block key supply routes for
America’s struggling military presence in the rest of the country.

And even the prospect of the debacle has sent international oil prices
to unprecedented highs. Therefore, on top of the current chaos,
yet more uncertainty seems destined to come Iraq’s way in not too
distant the future.

It is unfortunate that no matter what lows the Iraq equation touches,
there is not the slightest show of soul-searching from George Bush
and his team. They continue to justify their policies, with their
more-of-the-same rhetoric insulting concerned opinion across the
globe. Iraq’s continuously worsening situation reminds one of the
old adage, "No matter how bad things are, they can always get worse."

–Boundary_(ID_BeeDjZZ1uksOYEX0QFC/s g)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress