Week-old news

I had to ruminate on it a while. I mean, how could I quickly analyze something that makes so little sense as arming the Sunni insurgents in Iraq.

Let's walk through this: we are attacked by Sunni Saudi Arabian terrorists, funded with money from Saudi Arabia that is funneled through Pakistan. So we invade Afghanistan, which, in all fairness, is being used as a safe haven and base by the these Sunni Saudis. Then the president spins a web of lies regarding Iraq: he says that helped al-Qaida, he says they're trying to buy materials for nuclear weapons, he says they're lying about destroying their weapons of mass destruction, he says they're violating all the UN resolutions that imposed sanctions on them at the end of the last war, etc etc etc. All lies. The Republican Congress gives him a blank check; don't forget that the Democrats went along -- wouldn't want to appear soft on terruhists.

So we invade Iraq. Oh, we're supposed to be hailed as liberators by the people of Iraq. They're going to swarm to us with flowers. That was another one of those lies. The Pentagon knew better and told the White House but, no matter. So the war is over in just a few days because, honestly, no Third World country can stand up to the US armed forces -- they don't have the training or equipment or will. Ah, but the occupation begins. And it is a long one. Keep in mind that Saddam's Ba'athists were secular socialists, not religious at all -- hated by Osama bin Laden for that very reason. But, they were nominally Sunni and they hated the Shi'a with a passion because the Shi'a are funded by Iran, as close to a traditional enemy as a 90-year old country like Iraq can have.

We purge the Iraqi army and police of Ba'athists. This means we also purge it of Sunnis. The Saudis don't like this. Al-Qaida doesn't like this. We go further. We install a majority Sunni government, and in short order, hell breaks loose. The Sunnis blow up an especially favored Shi'a shrine and the war is on: Sunni vs Shi'a. And we're standing around watching. And getting killed for our trouble and the civil war grows. Car bombs and roadside bombs are the favored tools of the Sunni. People disguised as police or the police themselves are the favored tools of the Shi'a.

After a few years, Bush & Co. decide that a increase of 20,000 combat troops will make it look like they're trying to pacify the country when, in reality, all they want is for the Shi'a and Kurds to hand over the oil. But the Shi'a and the Kurds won't do that until they've defeated the Sunnis. So we "surge." And, no surprise, it doesn't work. Because we still aren't dis-arming the militias.

It is important to keep in mind that we in the US only think we have a gun culture. Sure, they're easy to get and relatively inexpensive but there are numerous families who don't have firearms almost nobody takes to the streets shooting to celebrate weddings or births or to even the score in the tradition of the Hatfields and McCoys. The Iraqis? They've got a gun culture. And WE'RE LETTING THEM KEEP THEIR GUNS which THEY ARE USING TO SHOOT AT AMERICAN SOLDIERS and at their co-religionists who do or don't believe in the sanctity of the Imam Ali, depending.

So every Iraqi male over the age of 13 thinks his manhood cheapened if he doesn't have an AK-47 with which to impress chicks and Allah. So we let them keep them.

So the surge doesn't work. The civil war grows worse.

And then a brilliant idea comes to someone. Hey! Let's buy the loyalty of the Sunnis with guns! They love guns, right? And everybody is just as greedy and materially oriented as we are, right? Great! We give them guns if they promise to quit fighting...with...al-Qaida...I....guess. Oh! And they have to quit fighting...with...the Shi'a.

Waitaminute. I musta tole it wrong.