Perhaps not ethical, but: Support the Sunnis

Submitted by Noto (Canada), Oct 27, 2006 at 02:01

"This way, the troops remain indefinitely in Iraq, but remote from the urban carnage. It permits the American-led troops to carry out essential tasks (protecting borders, keeping the oil and gas flowing, ensuring that no Saddam-like monster takes power) while ending their non-essential work (maintaining street-level order, guarding their own barracks)."

the problem here is essential duty #3. It is fairly likely that whomever seizes power after the inevitable civil war will be strongly against US interests, dragging the troops into yet another confrontation and alienating the region even more. Right now, maintaining order on the streets is probably a chip in the US's favour- the Iraqis and the Americans are bleeding together. Take this away and you'll get 'the Americans have fled to the desert after leaving our cities in chaos'. What the US has to do, is cultivate a beneficial reaction from the populace. This is almost certainly impossible given the current state of affairs. To do so will require a certain cultivation of the Sunni-Shiite struggle.

A continual media villification of the Shiite militias will grant an air of morality to any aid given to the Sunnis. With American backing, hopefully the Shiites can be broken, and the Sunni government which will be put into place will become pro-US, due largely to it's continued dependence on the US for miitary aid. This all has the added benefit of weakening any potential Iranian influence in the country.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".