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Saturday, Nov 25, 2006
Bits and Pieces
Fareed Zakaria interviewed Qubad Talabany, the Kurdish embassador representative of the Kurdish Regional government to the US, recently on his program Foreign Exchange.
The entire program was about Iraq. I noted how the real problems facing Iraq may get attention in certain policy wonk circles, but the real problems are seldom, if ever, addressed by Mr. Bush and never surface in the talking points in the right wing radio propaganda outlets talk shows. The actual issues on the ground that Zakaria reported on and discussed simply don't fit into the "War on Terra" frame that has provided the foundation for pro-war arguments.
Iraq is being pulled apart by sectarian strife. Terrorists are taking advantage of the chaos to kill Americans. But the root problem is not and never has been the terrorists. It's the chaos. The pro-war camp, lead by Mr. Bush, is trading in delusions that continue to grow in their dissonance with reality.
The exchange with Talabany was telling. In a discussion about the Shia-Sunni strife, Talabany essentially said, "Those Iraqis over there in Iraq sure have some big problems." Other than offering some revenue sharing, the Kurds have checked out. I had read this in Galbraith's End of Iraq. Galbraith's contention that Iraq is permanently broken was confirmed by Talabany's words and tone.
He's an ex-Iraqi.