http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

true numbers

(47-50)% shia arabs

(28-33)% sunni arabs

17% kurds (also sunni's)

4% cristians

1% turkomans

shiites makes half of the populations and sunni's both arab and kurds makes the other half

I just wanted to clarify this point

It is time for a change. We should send all of our liberal babies to the Middle East and allow them to live in the culture for a time. I'm sure it would enlighten them. Where did all of the true blooded Americans go. The type that would stand up and say what is right. Not many are still left. Instead we choose to sit around and agree with all the wonderful CRAP the liberal media sends out. No one gathers facts for themselves, other than what is on the CNN ticker. All of you run around paranoid all of the time. It's always the same old conspiracy theories. George Bush went to war for oil, George Bush caused hurricane Katrina, George Bush cannot speak proper English. All of these are uneducated attacks at the GOP because liberals do not like the fact that we are trying to clean this country up. Our government spends countless dollars on welfare for people who could work and earn a decent living. So if you want to talk about wasted tax dollars I say we shut down welfare. That would be horrible though because then people would have to be responsible for themselves. No more large government breast to suck on for the rest of your life. Let's send the illegals home. Frankly, I am sick of floating the boat of people who have no right to be here to begin with. Wait, we must have compassion on all human lives. How much compassion is shown for a baby who is murdered? Abortion is legalized murder. The definition of life is a heartbeat, when someones heart ceases to beat, they are dead. So how is it that a baby can have a heartbeat so shortly after conception and we can kill it? That my left-wing friends is murder any way you look at it. As stated before, policy is backward. Everyone is concerned about everyones rights. If you are really concerned about compassion and hugging a tree, why do most liberals agree with abortion? I answer, because they are backwards. We must have bleeding hearts and hug some trees and give everyone these rights, but babies should die and illegals should stay even when they have been convicted of child rape. Evidently, sneaking into the country isn't illegal. The idiot in Newark killed 3 innocent, college students. They would have probably made something of themselves and never drawn a welfare check. Due to an idiot mayor who doesn't want his cops cooperating with ICE and some illegal who should have never been here, they are dead. Say what you want about my ideas. Say what you want about a President who has made mistakes, but in majority has done well. I say you are backwards and one sweet day everyone will realize where we need to be. Backward homeland policy equals backward foreign policy. Who is right in Iraq? I'm not sure but I am more willing to stand with someone who has their head screwed on right, than someone who has such opposing beliefs within their own belief system.

Chimpy found friends to watch cartoons with.

Like I said The Washington Post and William M. Arkin are COWARDS and GUILTY of giving AID to the Michigan Militia Terrorists by refusing to publish these "Sworn Statements" even when we try to do so in fragments.
The Good Citizens of the United States of America are NOT COWARDS and they want the TRUTH. The proof is in this recent poll;
Should this article be published,forcing prosecution of Terrorists.
* YES - Arrest and sentence them all to death - 1,103,879 votes (100%)
* no - who cares if terrorists run our State - 0 votes (0%)
* no - who cares if terrorists run our State - 0 votes (0%)
* no - who cares if murders run our State - 0 votes (0%)
* no - who cares if Nazi's run our State - 0 votes (0%)
* no - who cares if it leads to another Genocide - 0 votes (0%)
Total votes: 1,103,879

Publish this front page of your paper if your not a COWARD.
The following was most recently sent directly to comment@ dps.state.ok.us, webmaster@ oldthinkernews.com, webmaster@www.ok.gov, webmaster@ocjrc.net, letters@ washpost.com;
The following truth is told on many blogs and will continue to be told until such time as these Michigan Millitia Terrorists are prosecuted and sentenced to death as our U.S. Constitution and Law clearly states. CONTINUED AS PROMISED;
The following is a Sworn Statement that I gave the U.S. Attorneys
Office in January 2006;
Remember April 19, 1995 Amended with additional information.
Additional information added to end of the original statement.
The original statement follows;
Remember April 19, 1995, Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg. Oklahoma City,Okla.
The following is a short list of easily recognizable names from Jackson County Michigan. All of these names are taken directly from the
"Michigan Militia Membership Roster" and were all present at Michigan Militia meetings which took place in Grass Lake Michigan and in Bunkerhill Michigan during the months of November and December of 1994;
1. Jackson County Sheriff Henry C. (Hank) Zavislack (I have known since
1977 or 78 when he lived next door to my brother Clark Edward Thulin
on Cherokee Cres in Jackson Michigan)
2. Jackson County Judge Perlos
3. " " Attorney Perlos (was once my lawyer)
4. " " Prosecutor Houck
5. " " Judge Nelson
6. " " Judge Grant
7. " " Judge Hall
8. " " Judge Vandercook and male friend
9. " " Judge Britten
10." " Judge Schmucker
11. Timothy McVeigh (who sponsored Tim Corts into the higher level in
the Michigan Militia)
12. Timothy David Corts (a local bail bondsman at the time and I
thought my friend)
13. Several employees of Consumers Power
14. 13 Jackson County Sheriff Deputies
15. 6 Jackson City Police Officers
16. 1 Leoni Township Police Officer (in uniform)
17. 2 Blackman Township Police Officers
18. Clark Edward Thulin (yes my brother)
All these people and a few hundred more were present for the planning
of the Bombing of April 19, 1995, Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg Oklahoma City, Okla. And they all voted to go ahead with it. I know this for a fact because I was an invited guest. I was invited because they were trying to recruit me.
I was invited by the guy I thought was my friend (Timothy David Corts).
I was first introduced to Timothy McVeigh in October of 1994 at which time Tim Corts and Tim McVeigh tried to recruit me to build a bomb for
the expressed purpose of blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg. Oklahoma City, Okla. Because they said that is where the ATF and FBI
came from that did the "Waco massacre". I contacted the local FBI Office in Jackson Michigan the next morning after this introduction to Tim McVeigh by Tim Corts.
I spoke in person to a male FBI Agent by the name of Lapinski and another male FBI Agent who I do not recall his name but they were the only two in the FBI Office. Lapinski had placed video/audio surveillance at the home of Linda Williams and Timothy David Corts at 614 E. Ganson St. in Jackson Michigan before I was asked to meet with Tim McVeigh again by Tim Corts.
Lapinski had me carry a wire which I dropped off in Tim Corts house in a hanging plant in the living room.
The entire plans for bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg Oklahoma City, Okla. were discussed and I was invited to their next Michigan
Militia meeting in Grass Lake Michigan where I personally observed the people that I listed above at the meeting using their real names and
voting to go ahead with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg Oklahoma City,Okla.
I observed the same people in conversation with Timothy McVeigh at this first meeting that I attended at the request of Tim Corts and Tim McVeigh and FBI Agent Lapinski and again at the second meeting which took place in Bunkerhill Michigan.
At the second meeting in Bunkerhill is where Timothy McVeigh and two others were nominated and a vote was taken which elected Timothy McVeigh and those two others to be the three to carry out the actual bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg. Oklahoma City, Okla.
The Michigan Militia with the funding of its members ( including those listed above) practiced building bombs in New Mexico and in Arizona over the winter and then on April 19, 1995 the three who were nominated to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg. Oklahoma City, Okla. And they did just that.
Why the FBI did not stop them I do not know. I do know that one of the three nominated to do the deed was in fact an FBI Agent that FBI Agent Lapinski had me introduce to Tim Corts and Timothy McVeigh.
I have no choice but to believe that FBI Agent Lapinski and his partners either allowed it to go to far or they decided to join them in their Terrorist Act of Treason.
All those people listed above tried to recruit me to join them and their Michigan Militia and to give them aid in their planned Terrorist Act of Treason and I chose not to join them and I walked away with the mistaken idea that FBI Agent Lapinski and the United States Justice Department had everything under control.
Maybe they did and they acquired their desired results.
Mr. Thulin
Retired Court Officer
State of Michigan
P.O. Box 6279
Jackson, Michigan 49201-6279

Washington Post editors are guilty os "Sensorship" and infringing on the citizens right to "Freedom of Speech' and "Freedom of Press".
Several times myself and six other direct witnesses to votes taken by the Michigan Militia in November and December of 1994 have tried to post some of our "Sworn Statements that we have given to the United States Attorneys Office and the Michigan Attorney Generals Office as well most recently sent directly to comment@ dps.state.ok.us, webmaster@www.ok.gov, webmaster@ocjrc.net, letters@ washpost.com
The Washington Post and William M. Arkin the aledged owners of this NEWS BLOG.
These Sworn Statements name Michigan Militia Members which include Judges,Sheriff,Deputies,Police,Lawers,Bail Bondsmen,City Councilmen(my brother Clark Edward Thulin) and many many more.
That makes the Washington Post and William M. Arkin GUILTY of giving AID to TERRORISTS by refusing to Publish the TRUTH.
And therefor PROTECTING the Michigan Militia Terrorists who still have control of all aspects of government in Jackson Michigan and in Michigan itself.
Mr. Thulin
Retired Court Officer
State of Michigan
P.O. Box 6279
Jackson, Michigan 49204-6279
benthulin@yahoo.com

Hadley's knee-jerk press bashing is factually incorrect. It wasn't "reporters" who described Anbar as "lost", it was the chief military intelligence officer of the USMC in the province.

I'm sure Hadley knows this, but is lying because it wouldn't do for a GOPer to attack the men and women in uniform etc etc.

As for the real state of reconciliation in Anbar, this short Marine embed video is instructive:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3yLV-Nxa1BI

Here's more with the same Marines, plus some 10th Mountain troops in the Triangle of Death.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4WbhuFWvXkU

Well Muslim's are muslim's. When people are looking at the world many will say, this is a Christian nation, but this is not a simple thing to solve.

Sunni Arabs in Iraq are about 15% of the population. Kurds actually are the second largest ethnic group after Shiites. Being so small in number, Sunnis had turned themselves into semi-gods in Iraq since forever and the U.S. arrival changed their status. Shiites and Kurds will never accept a second-class citizenship again and since they make up around 83% of the population in Iraq, they will have the majority all the time. The problem with Sunnis is that they don't trust Shiites and Kurds calling them "agents for foreigners" thinking that you need to be Sunni in order to be a real Iraqi. It's just like saying that you need to have European blood so you can be a real American. Sunnis did not apologize for what they did to other Iraqis during their minority rule but at the same time they ask other Iraqis to work on a national reconciliation and accept former Ba'athists in the new government. They storm the streets of their towns whenever a war criminal from the former regime is sentenced to death! Germans did not do that after WWII because they acknowledged the fact that Nazis were criminals. Sunnis don't consider their guys who killed tens of thousands in other parts of Iraq criminals!
We need to deal with reality the way it is if we really want to win the conflict in Iraq. We need to admit that it's not just Iran that plays the bad guy here. Our best buddy, Saudi Arabia, is actually the leading source of death in Iraq and it is behind most the American causalities we lost there. Putting a Sunni dictator in power again in Iraq means that we step on the dead bodies of our great guys who lost their lives fighting in Iraq. I don't care about the damn political debate! You can have all your debates in your air-conditioned rooms with you huge Starbucks coffee on your desks. Those great men who gave their lives in the fighting in Iraq believed in what they were doing and helping Iraqis was the first thing they wake up with every morning. A Kurdish official said to Thomas Friedman: "If you wanted a united Iraq, you never should have gotten rid of Saddam, because he was the only one who could hold this place together." (New York Times: August, 29, 2007). There's no way we go back!
And for those who take about getting rid of al-Maliki, this is not your parents' maid honey! This is not South Vietnam! Iraqis elected this man and we better live with it. I don't like the guy but I like the fact that Iraqis cast their votes for his government knowing that they might be killed on the road to the voting centers! Nothing easier than voting here in the U.S. and almost half the Americans don't care!

Yawn,
You seem to be asleep all the time, as your moniker shows. Jesus talks much about waking up, perhaps you should view ZEITGEIST, its free on the internet it would broaden your understanding of our times and dilemma, if you prefer to remain asleep with your eyes open please ignore my note.I sleep in bed and not 24/7 that ignorant americans sleep.

yes...the Sunni "world" will think exactly as Arkin fantasizes...afterall...they have acted in lockstep all along.

you all can't be this hopslessly stupid can you?

go...say..you are some comedian! do you manage to sleep at night?...why the blackboots could be marching up the stairs this very moment! better run and duck under the covers - I assume that's your natural position in life.

There is a documentary movie on these times, ZEITGEIST, that is available at the following link:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331

@GOPMAN,
I suggest you read Conservatives Without
Conscience-John Dean, you will find that the GOP has been taken over by psychopaths.
Newt Gingrich, Rudi Gulliani, Mark Folley, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Tom DeLay, Eliot Abrams, Karl Rove, Scooter Leibowitz, Paul Wolofowitz, et al. are examples of humanoids without conscience who have ordered premptive war as a foreign policy doctrine, and without hesitation or mercy their rule has resulted in the torture, murder, and trauma for millions of human beings. This false war on terror is a tactic to enslave america, not a republican idea, but a fascist idea. Read the Report From Iron Mountain, and Macheivilli's The Prince to understand the CONTEXT of GENOCIDE IN IRAQ.

Sunnis are about 50% in Iarq:Arabs and Kurds.Arabs:Sunnis and Shias are the majority.
A secular democracy is the only possible solution;confessionalism will never work-look at the misrable Lebanese model.

True Bush genius. Arm both sides of a conflict,bribe a few to make it look like the strategy is working.Fly to Austrailia to make sure the last legitimate ally is still on board. Secure another $200 billion from congress. High tail it back to Washington and plan the next few scams to see out his presidency.Lay it in the lap of the next administration and get down to "refilling the ole coffers"thru speaking engagements on how to dupe 250 million people out of a trillion dollars of thier hard earned tax monies. He's either smarter then we thought or we're dumber than we know.

True Bush genius. Arm both sides of a conflict,bribe a few to make it look like the strategy is working.Fly to Austrailia to make sure the last legitimate ally is still on board. Secure another $200 billion from congress. High tail it back to Washington and plan the next few scams to see out his presidency.Lay it in the lap of the next administration and get down to "refilling the ole coffers"thru speaking engagements on how to dupe 250 million people out of a trillion dollars of thier hard earned tax monies. He's either smarter then we thought or we're dumber than we know.

==It's not time to quit, it's time to fight.==

It is definitely time to fight the kind of mindless, brown shirt, red state fascism that has become endemic in the right-wing population of fake, unamerican "patriots", who unashamedly bring up the founding fathers of this nation to justify a foreign policy of relentless aggression, something the old men would have found horrific and antithetical to the very idea of the country they were starting.

Isn't it funny that people can get on this blog and say plenty of worthless things but can put nothing into action. Where are the wonderful plans when you need them? As stated in someones blog, Mr. Strangelove, our President, is the only one who could start a war by siding with one team and end up siding with another. NEWSFLASH!!! Aren't there several left-wing loons who voted yes to the war and now that things are tough are wanting to back out. This country is made up of the faint of heart. Babies who try to offer an opinion on something they know nothing about. It's funny, people want to exercise their right to free speech, or religion, or a fair trial. Our founding fathers fought a much worse war at a much worse time in the Revolution. I don't think that we would have the rights we have now if they had quit because it was just too tough. People want to protest the war, thats fine as long as it is peaceful. There was a church who protested the war at soldiers funerals with signs that read "thank God for IEDs" and "God hates you" That's true respect for our soldiers. There seems to be a lot of breakdown in the ranks of liberal brainwashees of society and media. Some say we should not abuse terrorists but we can kill babies with abortion. The terrorists attacked our country and it's not okay to use any means necessary to get important information out of them. The LWL (left-wing loons) also say that we should pull our troops out of Iraq because they are dying. Number one they willingly signed up for the military and knew the risks. Our soldiers are men and women enough to accept responsibility for themselves. That is a much more important problem in America and it is linked to all of our other problems. Why does no one accept responsibility for themselves? If we spill hot coffee on ourself we can sue Mickey D's for millions. Did that uneducated woman really expect to get cold coffee. I'm sure if that if she had she would have sued them for that also. The welfare hungry people are allowed by our government to sit at home and draw a check when they are perfectly able to have a job. It is not the governments responsibility. People in areas afflicted by Katrina expect the government to pay for them a new house. Why? They knew the risks of living there. The government did not make them. If they are stupid enough to live in a dangerous environment then they should have to live with the consequences. So now we should raise taxes to support welfare junkies and stupid people. Awesome! I can't wait. Why don't we also raise them to form larger environmental organizations to help us grow more trees? That way, when we pull out of Iraq and appear weak to the radical Muslims, they can come bomb us and take us over. That's a grand idea, they will have clean air to breathe because of our environmental programs. Like I said, we are made up of the faint of heart. Where did all of the patriots go? Another reason to raise taxes would be so that we can allow more illegal immigrants to come over and we can support them as well. I know that all of this is completely off topic of Iraq it seems. However, if you think really hard, it is linked. Those of you who have all of these backward policies are the ones screaming to back out of Iraq. If you have backward policy on the home front, as you do. Then you have backward foreign policy as well. The Roman empire fell for some of the same reasons we are falling. Sexual immorality was number one, mainly allowing homosexuality to advance. Read some history, it repeats itself. Also, think very hard about the backward mentality you have. It's not time to quit, it's time to fight.

Off topic...

Perhaps when the President makes his next surprise visit to Iraq (Thanksgiving perhaps), he will visit cemteries, and consider all of the innocent lives that were needlessly and recklessly destroyed under his watch and by his command.

Sunni days are here again!

"So what to make of the turnaround in Anbar?"
I'm so glad you asked.
What is different this summer from the past three?
Last November's election and the call by the American people to have combat troops leave Iraq.
Past surges did not work, what has is exactly what the Sunnis have been asking for since Feb 2005, an exit date. Proof that the US wasn't planning on staying forever or like Korea, 50 years.
If Bush claims credit for these successes he should also take the blame for not trying this approach sooner.
I do believe that this admin wants complete victory or total chaos. The same tactic being used against the Palestinians and Lebanon. Syria and Iran to follow.

Bush's Iraq journey preludes to policy change. he will attack Iran recently.

What this war is about? democracy? Security? Oil? Or perhaps big business for the military complex?

Al-Qaeda are Sunnis, not Shia.

Just like Bush's Mexican border security, Bush's Katrina aid, Bush's Attorney General, Bush's Life, and everything else about Bush, this was a FAKE war that never should have been. Every day that it goes on, Bush and friends make more money while America's BEST die for no good reason. This was was never winable and wasn't intended to be won. Winning this war would stop the profits for Bush and friends. It will drag on as long as we let it. The only way to know if baby bird Iraq can fly is to kick it out of the nest. Talking to it another 5 years trying to convince it to jump will just kill more Americans. If our interest in Iraq is that critical then we're going to have to go psycho on it regardless. Let's do so with rested and refreshed troops in a focused conflict instead of feeding this loser with more lives. If the enemy, whoever that is, overcomes the place, then we'll know where to bomb.

It never should have been and multiple wrongs don't make it right.

lonewolf,

It's not that detailed or intelligent. Sum it up as "alcoholic narcissism" and it gets a little closer to the core. Beyond that, don't reach out to try to figure it out. It's not worth the interruption to rational living for the mere observer.

bush's goal in iraq is to create a war of internicine religious fratricide, thereby hoping to achieve dominance through the roman maxim of "divide and conquer". the american taxpayers should expect to continue to foot the bill as the saudi's continue to sell themselves off to the highest bidder. the saudi's supply the majority of the so-called "terrorists" in order to add fuel to the fire. in this manner bush can hope to "manufacture" the excuse he needs to wage war upon iran. by "whoring" out the gulf states to economical pratfall in return for "protection", bush believes that he can turn iraq into a central battlefield for the oil and gas reserves of the middle east and central asia. nice approach, but fatally wrong. russia and china will not simply sit idly by and allow the u.s. free pass into central asai and especially the caspian sea reserves. does WWW3 loom?

This Just In:
G.W. Bush has "decided" that he is going to do whatever he wants for the remainder of his presidency. He also said that he has the power to "not recall" and stall those whom he can't veto, long enough to make it work. "They won't be able to see the truth through the smoke screens" and "I listen to nobody",
he has said.
(The source of these statements has refused to identify himself for fear of being considered the enemy by G.W. Bush and Assc).
G.W. reminds me of the mad scientist in his lab proclaiming,
"I Will Control the World!"
As in the movie... nobody can figure out how to stop him.

The critical parameter is time. There's about fifteen months only to work within.

If backing of the Sunni shortens the critical path, then that's what to expect. Repeat, the critical parameter is time.

Has Mr. Arkin ever been right about anything. I can not remember when.

The way out of Iraq is by shifting TO THE RIGHT alliances.Al Maliki and his Iranian gang should be dumped immediately.The worst mistake the US had ever made since the invasion was to ally with the Shiites whose only loyalty is to their Mullas in Iran.In fact Shiites and Iranians are the same.All Shiites in Iran,Saudi Arabia,Bahrain,Kuwait,Emirates receive their instructions and their support from their mullas in Iran.
Shiites in Iraq have ostensibly allied with US forces to gain time and to form their own militias for killing US forces.
Sunnis have always had problems with Shiites in Iraq due to their undesired allegiance to Iran.Sunnis are the elites of the country and they have run secular governments and always managed to contain their worst enemies,Al Qaeda and Iran.Our full alliance with the Sunnis in Iraq could change the whole situation and mark a real breakthrough in the Iraqi crisis.

Does anyone see anything in the Bush visit that benefits anyone in Iraq? It's being spun that the visit is in recognition of the claimed success in Iraq, but is there any positive fallout from Bush having been there and have having talked to a few select Iraqis in the manner Bush talks to others? Which would be self-centered, unaccommodating, uninterested, unresponsive. Bush will use a script and the script will be stuffed with maddening platitudes, most of which will range from meaning nothing to an Iraqi audience to downright infuriating them. Tell me that most of the Iraqis who receive reports of this aren't shaking their heads.

This is and always was the wrong war but if the US is in it then the US President should say and show that he is in it all the way w i t h the Iraqis (not above them.) Instead they're treated as stage props (at best, and not counting all who have died.) These are human beings, not monkeys, and they recognize all that Bush is doing. And not doing. And lying about. They have centuries of experience with both local-to-the-region and with external-to-the-region domination. They know the ropes.

They live in a part of the world in which everyone is familiar with modes of interaction and with how to negotiate. They know how to be friends and show and maintain friendship. If there's anyone who looks like a monkey(my choice of word, of course) there it isn't any of them, it's GWB.

Petraeus is trying to follow in Iraq the same tactic that the was so successful in Afganistan. And the same tactic that the British followed in Iraq in the 1920's.

"by many others in the Islamic world, as part of a great conspiracy. The conspiracy's goal? To create an American-Sunni alliance, restore the Sunni minority to power and suppress the Shiite majority."

What isn't viewed as a conspiracy in the Islamic world? There is no action that the U.S. could take anywhere that would not be framed within the darkest intentions and most convoluted methods by some in the Middle East. I once had a conversation with a pleasant and intelligent Lebanese immigrant who insisted the Egyptian Army did not lose the 1973 Yom Kippor War to the Israelis, but rather, was defeated by an American force that was somehow assembled, inserted into and withdrawn from the Sinai without the knowledge of the American public (amazing how we ever lost in Vietnam with such an efficient force). Such prattling is much closer to the norm than the exception. Arkin's apparent belief that we should base policy on the inevitable fantasies of the Arab street is further evidence of his inability to stifle any explanation for any event that places the blame on George Bush or the United States - he ought to look for a job with a newspaper in Cairo or Damascus.

I am soooooo tired of seeing this "morphing into Alfred E. Newman" President on TV and so tired of hearing his incomprehensible and inarticulate double-speak that I just click the remote now to a more intellectual and meaningful news report or documentary. I cannot believe I feel this way toward a sitting President, but he has become the proverbial 'straw that broke the camel's back'. January of 2009 cannot come soon enough. It truly will be the 'end of an error'.

Keep him in Iraq, dress him up in a flak jacket, stick him on the front lines and leave him there. This will make up for his weaseling out of Vietnam and he will see first-hand what war is about. Maybe he'll earn a purple heart or come back to Walter Reed as a patient; poetic justice?

How do we affect change? Split Iraq(borders made by the British in 1961) into ethnic economic zones. Three distinct areas depending on each other and Pax Americana for its renewed vitality.(#2 in oil reserves!) Secure the oil and sell it in dollars and get the hell out of that god forsaken desert. Respectfully, Dennis.

Yeah Bush will succeed as the first US president to have armed both opposing factions in a conflict every one in the world can see coming. A conflict that they warn us will destabilize the whole region where half the world's oil supply comes from.

On the other hand the power that be may have decided a showdown with Iran is worth the trade of a Sunni insurgency from 20% of the population for a Shiite insurgency from 60% of the population.

Could this be the reason the Brits are getting out while the getting is still possible?

The visit to Sunni leaders sounds like a "plan" to put pressure on Al-Maliki, to let him know the U.S. still believes it has other options if he doesn't get it in gear.

But it'll probably just cause him to redouble his efforts to cozy up to Iran & As-Sadr's militia, who are increasingly the real power behind Al-Maliki anyway.

If we really want to cozy up to the Sunnis & make Al-Maliki realize we mean business about national reconciliation, we should serve the arrest warrant on As-Sadr for the political murders he committed shortly after the U.S. invasion, not to mention the murders he has ordered since then.

The "success" in Anbar province has more to do with the fact al-Qaida does not play well with other people. However, exploiting that success also has a lot to do with the fact that the military was finally working with locals to solve problems and points the way to a bottom up solution to security in Iraq. It is only when security is obtained that the various factions can come together to solve their national problems. We have tried, with limited success, to organize a national army so that Iraqis can secure their own country. We have used the Sunni insurgents to secure their area, so why not use the Shia Militias to secure their own areas. Quit fighting the problem and start working the problem. The Shia would be less nervous if similar programs were started in their areas. Secure first, and let the Iraqis proceed at their own pace toward national reconciliation.

Mr. Strangelove drops out of the sky, stands around for eight hours, then leaves with a complete understanding of all that is wrong, or right with Iraq. Amazing.

What is it with these people? Rice has the same drop-in-know-all-come-home-problem-solved affliction.

Only Mr. Strangelove could within the space of one war begin by supporting one side and part way through decide to support the other side.

How come he didn't just take Katie Couric along with him? Why should she make a separate trip?

The way I see it, once #43 is out of office, he should do like Tony Blair of England and stay involved; he can be America's special envoy to Iraq.

Let's face it, the army is already there, so the commander-in-chief ought to remain in Iraq with the army.

It makes you wonder where #43 and the United States fit in, given Daniel's eschatalogical visions, in the Hebrew Bible? I will check, perhaps I do remember something about 'Emperor Bush of Bushdad', I mean Baghdad, ruling the world from the cradle of civilization!

Arkin is right on, this time! Context: the Saudis have been growing more impatient with Bush's debacle, and the threat (to them) represented by a second Shiite state (with Iran).

Bush's performance in the middle east is one of ill-informed passivity. He follows whoever is pushing him the hardest -- Ariel Sharon, the Cheney/Neocons, the oil companies.

Now the Saudis have cracked the whip, and Bush is standing and smiling with leaders who not long ago were methodically killing US troops.

On the bright side, the Saudis are at least interested in what the Bushies used to disparage as "reality". We are looking at a sectarian partition of Iraq, with the potential for devastating warfare, but at least we have begun to look at the truth: the notion of a real Iraqi state, at this point, is a pipe dream.

if this is all bush can show as "progress" after 5 bloody years and untold billions of $$$ expended, then the results on the ground are just as convoluted as the tale of where the money went. do we need any more evidence that the administration is flying by the seat of its pants, with events so totally out of its control that any photo-op, no matter how pointless and pathetic, is touted as "news" -- good news at that. far from the neo-con vision of an compliant iraq controlled by US-friendly stooges, they're forced to rely on PR stunts while bombing and maintaining a military occupation to hold onto their prize. at the same time, seeing the mess they've created, they've recommitted themselves to regime change in iran -- living large in the delusion that their outsized competence and omnipotence will enable them to put things in order.

Exactly! And in what way are the US armed Sunni "neighborhood watch groups" any different from "the militias" that the US doesn't like in other parts of Iraq?