Bring down the curtain on the ‘puppet show’ in Iraq [View All]

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http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1434.shtml

Iraq is at the center of an almighty political blame game. Former Pentagon darling Ahmad Chalabi told the New York Times, “It was a puppet show, the worst of all worlds. We were in charge, and we had no power. We were blamed for everything the Americans did, but we couldn’t change any of it.” Sour grapes from a man who once hoped to grab the top job in Iraq or the unpalatable truth?

Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh believes the Iraqis are at fault. He wants pressure to be put on Iraqis to make decisions. Iraqis need to be led to the abyss, told to look over the edge before being asked, “Is this what you want for your country: Violence, death and civil war?” But if Chalabi is right, Iraqis are victims, not decision-takers.

America’s sacked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appears to blame the American people for failing to grasp the complexities of this new endless war against an evil ideology. More than 100 US generals blame Rumsfeld for his refusal to send more troops to Iraq and badly equipping those that are there.

Tony Blair blames Iraq’s former US viceroy L. Paul Bremer for dismantling the Iraqi Army and ousting Baathists from the civil service, leaving thousands of disenfranchised Iraqis little choice but to pick up a gun.

But, in truth, the buck stops with America’s Commander in Chief George W. Bush, who is now being blamed by his former neoconservative supporters for failing to bring stability to Iraq, slated to be a shining example of America’s might being put to good use. In their eyes the president is guilty of the unforgivable sins of bad judgment and inefficiency.

So what happens now that the Democrats have a majority in Congress on the back of their desire to bring “our boys home” as soon as possible? It’s certainly a knotty problem for George Bush.