When the definitive history of the sad affair known as the Iraq war is written, a meeting on September 27 between Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, the country’s most influential Shiite politician, and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most respected Shiite religious leader, will be a mere footnote.
That meeting, widely viewed as a last-ditch effort to jump start a dialogue among Iraq’s warring factions, ended with the two men issuing a joint statement expressing support for the endeavor.
But few people were listening, and there is a better chance of the ribbon being cut on a $700 million-plus abomination known as the American embassy in Baghdad — which at this writing is months behind schedule and unsafe to occupy — than there being genuine nation-building.
Which, to cut to the chase, means that the Surge, which was designed to give Iraqis the breathing room to sort out their differences, is d-e-a-d.
This is because as no less authority than Mister Surge himself, General David Petraeus, has said early and often that without political reconciliation there can be no military victory.
Please click here to read more at Kiko’s House. And here for an update on some surprisingly developments regarding the Haditha massacre.