2007-11-08
Victory in Iraq
Wow, even the US military is acknowledging what I've said for a long time. We've won.
There's a lot of distrust in the government for the Sunnis -- one could almost use the word "paranoia" about the Sunnis -- and a possible return of the Ba'athists. It's kind of hard to believe when you look at the numbers and when you look at the size of the Shi'a community and the fact that, you know, they're positioned where they are and they have the population that they do and there's as many of them as there are in the security forces. It's like -- the best description I've heard of it is, the Sunnis recognize that they've lost, and they're coming to the table.
The Shi'a don't recognize yet that they've won. I think General Odierno said that, and I think he's right.
The other analogy you can use is the Shi'a are like an enormous mouse that's, you know, very, very afraid of a tiny lion, but in actuality, they don't really have anything to fear in terms of losing the government to the Sunnis. It's -- there's no way the coalition would let that happen, and there's no way the Sunnis have the numbers to make that happen, even if they wanted to. And the ones that I've talked to, you can tell that -- I don't think that's in any of the cards from the Sunni people that I've talked to. I think most of them genuinely recognize that there's no going back and that, you know, we have to make some kind of political accommodation and agreement with the Shi'a community.
But the Shi'a community is scared and we have to hand hold them through this, and it's painful and it's taking a lot of time. But ultimately, I do think we will be successful.
Note especially the way he describes it. In much the same way that I described it. He says "it's kind of hard to believe", which is exactly right. You can show people the military situation, but they refuse to see their hand in front of their face. So long as their TV keeps blaring "quagmire" or showing military irrelevant car bombs, they will ignore their hand in front of their face. Is that really a hand? Are those really fingers? Is my hand really that colour? Are you sure? I don't remember seeing that freckle before! Nah, that's not my hand. It's probably someone else's foot. You're lying to me. I know the truth. Bush did 9/11 and put someone else's foot in front of my face. Yes, Bush did it. Bush Bush Bush!
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There's a lot of distrust in the government for the Sunnis -- one could almost use the word "paranoia" about the Sunnis -- and a possible return of the Ba'athists. It's kind of hard to believe when you look at the numbers and when you look at the size of the Shi'a community and the fact that, you know, they're positioned where they are and they have the population that they do and there's as many of them as there are in the security forces. It's like -- the best description I've heard of it is, the Sunnis recognize that they've lost, and they're coming to the table.
The Shi'a don't recognize yet that they've won. I think General Odierno said that, and I think he's right.
The other analogy you can use is the Shi'a are like an enormous mouse that's, you know, very, very afraid of a tiny lion, but in actuality, they don't really have anything to fear in terms of losing the government to the Sunnis. It's -- there's no way the coalition would let that happen, and there's no way the Sunnis have the numbers to make that happen, even if they wanted to. And the ones that I've talked to, you can tell that -- I don't think that's in any of the cards from the Sunni people that I've talked to. I think most of them genuinely recognize that there's no going back and that, you know, we have to make some kind of political accommodation and agreement with the Shi'a community.
But the Shi'a community is scared and we have to hand hold them through this, and it's painful and it's taking a lot of time. But ultimately, I do think we will be successful.
Note especially the way he describes it. In much the same way that I described it. He says "it's kind of hard to believe", which is exactly right. You can show people the military situation, but they refuse to see their hand in front of their face. So long as their TV keeps blaring "quagmire" or showing military irrelevant car bombs, they will ignore their hand in front of their face. Is that really a hand? Are those really fingers? Is my hand really that colour? Are you sure? I don't remember seeing that freckle before! Nah, that's not my hand. It's probably someone else's foot. You're lying to me. I know the truth. Bush did 9/11 and put someone else's foot in front of my face. Yes, Bush did it. Bush Bush Bush!
# posted by Paul Edwards @ 08:25 
