Happy Ending

With the James Report to Congress on Iraq, today, we have come the full circle. None of the commentators seem to have picked up on the interesting point that the only Iraqi institution that seems to be working (obviously, the one that the US military would be most knowledgeable in dealing with) is the Iraqi army. If we are to curtail our military activity and turn security over to the Iraqi military, guess what? We would be opening the way to another Arab/Muslim military dictator. What a surprise.

Realistically this should have always been our hoped-for outcome. All neo-con fantasies about Arab/Islamic democracy were just that-- fantasies. If our military trainers have done their job well in Iraq, we will end up with a military strongman who is sympathetic to our interests; a Moustache Muhammad or maybe a Shiite Moustache Ali that we can have some measure of control over.

Of course it will be interesting to see the reaction of all these people who are demanding that the US military disengage and only play a support ("shopkeeper/teacher") role in Iraq, when a military man, not obviously antagonistic to American interests takes over the country. Will there be calls for us to "re-engage" or more strident calls for us to leave all-together, thus opening the way for a different strongman who wouldn't be ours, or influenced by us at all.

Another Saddam? Oy Vay