An Iraqi Success Story

With a mess like Iraq, it's always nice to emphasize the positive - even if that's only the least negative.

That was the approach of David Brooks writing in today's New York Times. Brooks was making the case for Iraqi partition as the only viable option remaining:

"...while the center remains paralyzed, local armed bands are grasping for power and creating their own facts on the ground. ...In the Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya, Shiite militias are gradually consolidating control. They are expelling the Sunnis. They have created a system of street justice, complete with underground Islamic courts. They’ve battled rival militias. They fund their activities through extortion and bribery. But amid the mafia behavior and ethnic cleansing, they’ve created relative calm. Two thousand Shiite families have moved in.

"This is now a success story: an ethnically cleansed safe place. Instead of a sort of managed soft partition that at least has a shot of transferring power to the best local people, we’re now getting machine-gun partition that transfers power to the most violent people. For Iraqis, the thug who rules your local gas station rules your life."

Interesting approach, coming from Brooks, a staunch Republican supporter.