I'm Finally Giving Up

Unless you've been living under a rock these days, you know that they executed Saddam Hussein a few days ago, and unless that rock wasn't a wi-fi spot either, you know that they did it on the first day of the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-adha.

Now, as if that isn't an insult enough to the 40% of Sunna Muslims in Iraq, it gets better. I know, Saddam was an evil man and deserved a fate worse than death. However, would waiting 5 or 6 days really hurt anything, just so that you could make sure that it wasn't done during a day that would aggravate an already aggravated situation? Is it that important to thumb your nose at the Sunna and show them that the Shi'a are in power now?

I'm finally just going to give up. I don't mean this as a big I told you so, since no one who makes those kinds of decisions reads this. We went on and kept making mistakes in Iraq, and now the Iraqi government is just powerful enough to keep us from changing it, but not powerful enough to let us leave. We are the strong arms of a Shi'a revival that will bring a Irani-esque theocracy in to power in Iraq.

The most significant part of Saddam's execution, other than the lack of professional dignity, was what the onlooker's chanted afterwards. It was bigger than the fact that they executed him in the same method and room that he executed countless innocents. Bigger than the fact that they executed him on a religious holiday where traditionally no executions take place. Bigger than the fact that they proved themselves no better than Saddam.

"Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!"

Are you kidding me? The man who oppressed your nation for a quarter century is finally dead, and that's what you decide to say? Not, Allahu Ackbar or Il'hambdu Allah, praising God for their liberation from a monster. Not, "Bless Democracy, for bringing him to Justice". But the name of an upstart cleric who isn't considered to be an Islamic Scholar, who wasn't even a big enough pain for us to have dealt with when we were the authority there.

Is this your plan for a unity government Maliki? Is this how you unite Iraqis with a national identity? Is this what you want the world to see when they think of the Iraqi government? If so, how can any country respect you? Or is your plan at "national unity" a lesson from Mein Kampf, to kill all Sunna and oppress them in revenge for Saddam's rule, and therefore only have Shi'a who are in Iraq and united behind you?

It is a shame. The leadership in Iraq is acting like a 12 year old kid when his parents are out of the house. Who's really in power there, Maliki, or Muqtada? Muqtada only pulls Maliki out of his back pocket when he wants to get something done. If he can't get it done that way, then he just sends his death squads in to murder their way through. If that doesn't work, they just inform US troops of "Sunni death squads" and a few minutes later we drop a 500 lb. bomb on a house.

I am all for US troops stabilizing and helping nurture Iraq's democracy. I however, can not stand the fact that our troops are being used in such a way that makes them a tool for Maliki and Muqtada, while Muqtada kills them from the shadows. They need the ability and the backing from Washington to be neutral, and deal with all threats equally, up to and including Maliki's abuse of power and child like antics. Things are slowly reaching the point of no return in Iraq, and if we don't act fast, Iran is going to get a lot bigger.