The Myth of Iraq

George Bush goes to the American people tomorrow night to pitch his latest attempt to salvage what already may be little more than a myth, the nation of Iraq.

Imagine what Canada would be if, from Newfoundland to British Columbia, French Canadians were driven from their homes and forced to take refuge within Quebec while all non-French Canadians were, in turn, driven out of Quebec. And then imagine an oil-rich province deciding to leave altogether and go it alone. Canada might continue to exist as a legal entity but that would be a largely symbolic statehood, nothing more.

George Bush wants his people to believe that Iraq exists as it was prior to the invasion just with different leaders and more violence. In fact, thanks to ethnic cleansing and Kurdish autonomy, Iraq has already been transformed by partition into an unruly assembly of mutually suspicious and hostile states.

Political science professor Adeed Dawisha told the Toronto Star's Olivia Ward the Americans have failed to grasp the new realities of Iraq: "Their focus is on strengthening the army as a symbol of a united Iraq. But Saddam's Iraq is finished, and day by day the idea of Iraq as a country is disappearing. It's not just the huge death tolls. The most disturbing thing is the cross migration and demographic displacement. The real problem is the de facto partitioning of Iraq."

If the Iraq that George Bush wants to see no longer exists then no number of American troops can do more than postpone the inevitable. The McClatchy News Service reports that US officials in Baghdad and Washington have concluded that, "...Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government is led by Shiite Muslim radicals and can't be counted on to disarm Shiite militias.

"Several U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington told McClatchy Newspapers that, practically speaking, the Bush administration no longer can expect Maliki to tackle the militias because Saddam's hanging exposed the depth of the government's sectarianism.

"Links between the Sadrists and the Dawa party have long been a topic of speculation here, with Iraqi and U.S. officials agreeing that Maliki rose to his position largely with the support of the Sadrists, who control the largest bloc of seats in Iraq's 275-member legislature.

"Sadrists also control four ministries - including health, agriculture and transportation - and Mahdi Army members are widely believed to have infiltrated Iraq's security services. The recent report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group described the country's Facilities Protection Services, a security force charged with protecting government buildings, as "a source of funding and jobs for the Mahdi Army."

"But the scene at the execution, captured by a cell phone and posted on the Internet, was the starkest example yet of the ties between Maliki's government and Sadr's militia.

"Mithal Alusi, a secular parliament member who took part in the government's deliberations about Saddam's execution, said the video made it clear that the Maliki government was harboring militia members whom it didn't control. He called the display of emotions a warning that the government must cut its connections to the militias.

"'What happened was a clear and lasting warning to Maliki to rid the security services of militias,' said Alusi, one of a handful of secular politicians in the government, who said he supported the decision to hang Saddam quickly. "Why not now?" he answered when asked about the timing of the execution."