Car bomb kills 51 in Baghdad

Wednesday 18th June, 06:57 AM JST

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Betzee at 10:11 PM JST - 18th June

What has been broadly recognized is that political reconciliation is the best path to reducing violence. Indeed, the surge was intended to enable that to happen. Yet when you follow up on news that was hailed a few months as "a major step forward" it turns out not to have produced the desired outcome.

Some Americans feel by maintaining such a large troop presence in Iraq, the US enables this elected Iraq government to avoid fulfilling it's responsibilities. Notice yesterday the Iraqis blamed their government for failing to provide adequate security, a widely heard criticism.

BAGHDAD, June 17 (Reuters) - When the Iraqi parliament passed a law in January aimed at rehiring former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, U.S. President George W. Bush praised it as a step towards national reconciliation.

But five months later, implementation of the law is bogged down by infighting between politicians, and the committee once tasked with hunting out Baathists in government has found itself in the odd position of overseeing the process of rehiring them or offering them state pensions.

The law is seen as crucial to easing sectarian tensions between Iraq's majority Shi'ite sect and Sunni Arab Muslims that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSYAT251579
sailwind at 10:19 PM JST - 18th June

Betzee, No offense but were you not telling us the surge was a failure because of the benchmarks, and that the Iraqi's were even incapable of even having a forming a representive Government?

Notice yesterday the Iraqis blamed their government for failing to provide adequate security, a widely heard criticism.

They blamed THEIR government not America, the surge seems to have worked.
Betzee at 10:25 PM JST - 18th June

The media's tendency to print one sound clip in what could have been a very long statement about the event also gets us into trouble... It makes it sound like that's all this man has to say, when in reality it's just one sentence.

Funny, you didn't seem to feel threatened by this yesterday when you simply pasted in all the quotations which buttressed your case and ignored those which didn't.

Most people who complain about the simplistic way widely-distributed news is presented seek information from other sources in order to gain a fuller appreciation of the situation.
Betzee at 10:34 PM JST - 18th June

No offense but were you not telling us the surge was a failure because of the benchmarks, and that the Iraqi's were even incapable of even having a forming a representive Government?

That was the stated purpose of the surge when GWB announced it in January 2007. "Breathing space." Otherwise we're stuck there keeping the peace indefinitely, which may be the real goal.

Despite the fact they get so little done, the parliament is considering a move out of the Green Zone into the old National Assembly Hall. That's probably a good idea; it gets them closer to the people they are supposed to represent.

Democracy requires compromise for the greater good which doesn't come easily to those who've only known dictatorship and represent tribalized constituencies. Nobody, for example, was elected to represent the interest of push-cart vendors who come from all the religious communities. This is a problem the troops can do nothing to address.
shimajiro at 10:46 PM JST - 18th June

**Madverts **= Adverts of yore?

Shima,

"This blast would have been relatively unremarkable a year ago."

That in itself speaks volumes about the state of Iraq. Yesterday, aside from this horrendus bombing, Iraqi state TV journalist Muhieddin Abdul-Hamid was shot and there were two other seperate suicide bombings targetting the Iraqi police.

A resistance of this magnitude...isn't suddenly going to wane IMO.

Agreed.

The sad fact of the matter is that all the terrorists have to do is wait.

What do you imagine they are waiting for? I doubt the terrorists see advantage in giving the Iraqi government and military and civil society breathing space.
shimajiro at 10:47 PM JST - 18th June

sailwind:

They blamed THEIR government not America...

Yeah, I found that noteworthy as well.
Betzee at 10:49 PM JST - 18th June

I think it's good some of the former Baathists have been rehired in the absence of a law. The problem is, as things stand now, they can be sacked at any time.

The US erred in approaching this from the perspective of Baathist = Bad. I very much doubt anyone involved in the CPA (?) had lived under any type of dictatorship. Has they done so, they would have appreciated that dictatorships remain in power not simply through the use of force but by recruiting the best people into their upper-level administrative ranks which denies dissident groups this pool of talent.

It would have been relatively easy to cull the technocrats from the political hacks, instead we sent them all packing on the presumption they supported Saddam. In fact they may well have been pressured to join his party, I mean it's not like you can refuse without dire consequences!
yabits at 10:58 PM JST - 18th June

The key question of whether this marks an inflection point or just a deviation from trend can only be answered with the passage of time.

Good. Then it is foolish to jump to any conclusions about the trend, and certainly dumb for some to declare that this temporary lull in violence constitutes the kind of "success" other than the trumped up variety. The US commanders on the ground continually remind us that this lull is extremely fragile, which says to me that there's a real likelihood that the place erupts again.

Republican defenders of Bush, in their desperation, have a constant pattern of ignoring what the US commanders on the ground have been telling us all so plainly.
sailwind at 11:00 PM JST - 18th June

shimajiro

They blamed THEIR government not America...

Yeah, I found that noteworthy as well.

Angry survivors blamed the army and police for failing to protect them.

Tipping point has been reached, the Iraqi Government has no excuse but to step up to the plate, and it will the surge gave them the 'breathing room'.
Betzee at 11:11 PM JST - 18th June

Tipping point has been reached, the Iraqi Government has no excuse but to step up to the plate, and it will the surge gave them the 'breathing room'.

That's what adaydream posted near the top.

Alas, on JT there are only two villians, America, as personified by GWB, and terrorist-hugging global liberals. But if you listen to the Iraqi people they have different opinions.
Madverts at 11:52 PM JST - 18th June

"**Madverts **= Adverts of yore?"

Indeed, my friend. And may I say how relieved I am to see you back on the boards fighting your corner in the usual manner.

"What do you imagine they are waiting for? I doubt the terrorists see advantage in giving the Iraqi government and military and civil society breathing space."

Indeed - I think they're simply waiting out the surge which is already - well, un-surging, to get back to their antics. This does indeed show that the US's last-gasp tactic has had the desired effect in reducing the insurgency's ability to get a daily bombing on the news. Sadly, the surge tactic is un-tenable, therefore I imagine that any recent gains will be reversed.
bushlover at 03:36 AM JST - 19th June

Now I know what JT was missing!! A good ol so many killed by bomb in Baghdad story! Thanks JT for getting back into the groove. Let the endless repetitive debating begin.
Betzee at 04:01 AM JST - 19th June

Tom Friedman has an exellent column in todays NYTs in which he notes:

Iraq has become one of those subjects that so many people now come to with so much emotional scar tissue that it is very hard to have a sober discussion about the actual situation there today. So much is colored by how you feel about George Bush or whether you were for or against the war.

Indeed. As a Liberal who supported the invasion, Friedman has had his feet in different camps. He parted company with the GWB administration long ago and has nor been reticient about discussing his own misconceptions which led him to support the invasion in the first place. Nor is his ego invested in a particular outcome making him a rare objective voice in a highly partisan debate.

Last summer he was really down on the situation. Over the past few months, he's seen cause for optimism, such as Al-Maliki's cracking down on the Shi'ite militas demonstrating he can be a national leader, but not yet progress which can be considered self-sustaining.

Moreover, he worries our political system is ill-equipped to factor in "nuance." He notes each party's candidate has strong points:

It would be a huge mistake for McCain to give up his goal of salvaging something in Iraq. But it would also be a big mistake to assume that the public would tolerate another president’s open-ended commitment there. Similarly, it would be a huge mistake for Obama to now give up his commitment to a phased withdrawal. That is very important leverage on the Iraqis. But it would also be a big mistake not to give Iraq a fresh look and ask: can something decent still be salvaged there at an acceptable cost — something that can still serve our interests, do right by Iraqis and maybe put in place the seeds of an open society that will pay long-term benefits?

Yet none of this can be recognized during the campaign in which Obama will be painted as the second coming of Jimmy Carter while McCain will be denounced as offering "GWB's third term." On only need to scan the posts here to see it's already happenin'.
shimajiro at 01:08 PM JST - 19th June

Madverts:

Indeed, my friend.

Cool. Hey, buddy.

Indeed - I think they're simply waiting out the surge which is already - well, un-surging, to get back to their antics.

I don't think the recent improvements are solely attributable to the surge so I think there is some basis to hope for continued improvements even if the surge ebbs somewhat.
bushlover at 01:40 PM JST - 22nd June

Beetzee never fails to educmacate us. thanks beetzzzeee!