NEWS FLASH: THE MASS MEDIA FINALLY GET IT-A LITTLE. IRAQ IS DECLARED A FULL-BLOWN CIVIL WAR

NEWS FLASH: THE MASS MEDIA FINALLY GET IT- A LITTLE. IRAQ IS DECLARED A FULL-BLOWN CIVIL WAR

COMMENTARY

IT IS NOT YOUR FORBEARS’ CIVIL WAR, BUT A CIVIL WAR NEVERTHELESS. CHRIST, EVEN THE GENERALS ARE STARTING TO GET IT.

As of today, November 28, 2006, we can comfortably start calling the situation in Iraq a full-blown civil war. Why? The esteemed mass media, the blessed Fourth Estate led by NBC, has finally come out and call it so. And during the breakfast hour, no less (at least that is where I first heard it spoken that way). They will, however, win no Profiles in Courage awards for this call from this writer. While the media were waiting around for the equivalent of the Battle of Bull Run to occur so they could stroll out to the battlefield in order to signal the start of the civil war in Iraq this writer had several months ago declared this to be the case. Hell, if I really wanted to press the issue the outlines of civil war were apparent to me from the summer of 2003 when the insurgency against the American troops started. If modern war tends toward asymmetric warfare then modern civil wars should be called asymmetric civil war. In either case the results have been nasty.

I have no special knowledge about Iraq but, as noted below in a commentary I wrote in September, the situation had all the earmarks of a classic sectarian civil war that we have become all too familiar with over the last few decades. Since that time the ethnic cleansing and communal violence has only been ratcheted up to the nth degree. However, the point is not to score political points as a Cassandra but to figure out what to do about the situation. I have reposted the September commentary below as I stand by the comments there. Again- Get the Hell out of Iraq Now. Form soldier and sailor solidarity committees because, unfortunately, organizing the troops in Iraq is the key to getting out now.

ORGINALLY POSTED: SEPTEMBER 2006

NEWS FLASH: OUT OF THE LOOP MILITANT LEFTIST CALLS THE SITUATION IN IRAQ A FULL-BLOWN CIVIL WAR

COMMENTARY

A BASIC RULE OF POLITICS- DO NOT BE AFRAID TO CALL A THING BY ITS RIGHT NAME

FORGET DONKEYS, ELEPHANTS AND GREENS- BUILD A WORKERS PARTY

I am privy to no special insider information on the trials and tribulations of the internal situation in Iraq. I get my information from the mass media just like most citizens. However, as a politico I pay very close attention to the writings of political journalists, especially those who have been to Iraq and have eyewitness observations about the situation. What is amazing in the fall of 2006 is their near unanimous agreement, regardless of political persuasion, that Iraq is in the midst of a sectarian civil war. Yet, virtually none will call the situation there by that name. They are in a classic position of hedging their bets. Why? This writer has not and does not support American foreign policy in general and Iraq in particular. On the other hand the political writers I have read have some kind of fundamental belief in the rightness of general American foreign policy. In short, those writers exhibit, in a different way, that same hubris that animated the Bush Administration to go into Iraq in the first place. That is, it seemed to be the right thing to do at the time and although it did not turn out to be the right thing to do nevertheless we must stay to correct the errors. This the arrogance of power-once removed. Sweet Jesus, under that theory our grandchildren will be fighting in Iraq.

The daily news out of Iraq is uniformly grim. X number of Shia, Sunni or others are daily found handcuffed, shot and dumped on the outskirts of town. Or in a river. The recently augmented American forces sent into Baghdad have seemingly kicked every door in the city down to no real effect, except to recruit for the insurgents or some sectarian militia. There are not enough morgues in Iraq (and maybe the whole Middle East) to hold the victims. Additionally, this week, the week of October 1, 2006, a whole brigade of American trained and financed Iraqi police had to be disbanded for complicity with militias and general ugliness. Dear readers this is civil war pure and simple. Not the prelude to, not a low-level about to be, but a full-blown civil war. A year or so ago the situation was not nearly as clear. However, why are even thoughtful bourgeois journalists and commentators now being so coquettish about calling a thing by its right name? Does it have to look like the first skirmishes of the American Civil War at Bull Run before the situation in Iraq is recognized as such? Well, this out-of-the-loop leftist is not going out on any political limb whatever-Iraq is in a full-blown civil war. End of story.

What to do about it. This writer has long called for immediate withdrawal from Iraq. That position is a no-brainer now. However, for the slow-witted Bush Administration here is a quick and short term solution. And it has the virtue of coming from a late revered member of the Republican Party. Call Iraq a victory and withdraw now. During the Vietnam War Vermont Republican United States Senator George Aikens (I believe) made that comment. For those enthralled by parliamentary solutions this seems reasonable. Let future historians argue and fuss over the truth of that assertion of victory. In the meantime-GET THE HELL OUT OF IRAQ NOW!


THIS IS PART OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES OF COMMENTARY ON THE 2006-2008 ELECTION CYCLE UNDER THE HEADLINE- FORGET THE DONKEYS, ELEPHANTS, GREENS-BUILD A WORKERS PARTY!