The German Take on the Iraq Crisis

The German news magazine Spiegel predicts Bush's next Iraq War won't begin to staunch the collapse of the Iraq government or end the civil war:

"Not even the military supports the president anymore. John Abizaid and George Casey, the two US generals currently in charge in Iraq, also oppose the plans of their commander-in-chief. "The situation in Baghdad requires more Iraqi troops," Abizaid said snidely. He is worried that sending in additional GIs will only reinforce the unstable Iraqi administration's dependence on the United States. US military leaders also believe that the Maliki government has in fact no interest in ending the civil war on the country's streets.

"Bush, for his part, apparently no longer believes in the "Strategy for Victory" he promised months ago, under which Iraqi units would gradually take over responsibility from the US military. The Iraqi security forces, trained with American assistance, are increasingly proving to be nothing but military arms of either Shiite or Sunni factions -- depending on where they happen to be deployed. Indeed, US officers have begun collecting Iraqi soldiers' mobile phones before conducting raids, to prevent the Iraqis from warning their fellow Shiites or Sunnis.

"The ranks of leading Sunnis, who Khalilzad had once hoped to lead into a dialogue with the Shiites, are also beginning to thin. Adnan Pachachi, the former president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Ghazi al-Yawer, the country's first postwar president, and Salih Mutlaq, the leader of the National Dialogue Front party -- all elected members of the Iraqi parliament -- have already left the country. It "doesn't make sense anymore," Mutlaq tersely said, explaining his reasons for leaving. Tariq al-Hashimi, Sunni vice-president, is also threatening to leave Iraq, saying that the daily struggles within the Shiite-dominated government leave him with no other choice."

Spiegel's take on the validity of the Maliki government isn't unusual. Similar accounts are coming in from many sources, some of them American. The validity and integrity of Iraq's central government should be Bush's overriding concern. What is the point of even attempting to secure Baghdad if the national government is infiltrated and compromised?

George Bush is today's Nero, fiddling while Baghdad burns.