The cost has been high: in the last six weeks

The cost has been high: in the last six weeks, 21 Americans have been killed here, far more than in any

other city in Iraq and double the number of deaths in Baghdad, a city with a population 15 times as

large.

Does this sound as if Iraq is getting any better? Even before these stories were reported, Larry

Johnson made the following astute observation:

The delusional happiness reflected in Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s remarks this week to

Congress about the so-called progress in Iraq ignores hard facts that point to a debacle. The

international media appears to be finally catching on that the Washington spin about the purple thumb

as a sign of democratic progress is pure nonsense. It is true that more people in Iraq voted in this

election than last January. What Rice and other folks out of touch with reality ignore is that the

increased number of Sunnis who voted came out to defeat the constitution. Unfortunately, the fix was

in. Vote fraud was rampant. NIKE SHOX TV crews caught one Shia on tape casting seven yes votes. That’s

sort of an old style American politics a la Chicago’s Daley machine–you know, vote early, vote often.

And, results are now, once again, being withheld to “investigate” the irregularities.

Here is a bold prediction: The Constitution will pass and Shia politiNIKE SHOXns will have a lock on

the new Government of Iraq. Consequently, the civil war currently underway will escalate. As the Iraqi

Army grows, comprised mostly of Shia and Kurds, attacks against Sunnis will also increase. And that

will put the United States in an impossible situation. If we allow the Shia Army and militias to attack

Sunni targets we will continue to be the target of Sunni insurgents. If we intervene to try to aid the

Sunnis, the Shia’s will turn on us. If you doubt that I would ask you to recall what happened in the

Shia enclave, Sadr City, in April of 2004. That battle killed Casey Sheehan and left my cousin’s son

with a shattered leg.