Enemies and Friends

Wednesday's repeat attack on the Shi'a al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, and the Shi'a reprisal attacks on at least six Sunni mosques that followed, further evinces that the sectarian bloodbshed between the Sunni and Shi'a is still a constant threat to civilian lives and miltary personnel. While PM Nouri al-Maliki's party blamed al-Qaeda for the attack, the sectarian warfare isn't limited to insurgent groups or terrorist cells. This is a civil war that destroys relgious shrines and places of public worship, and targets non-combatants. Even if an Iraqi cell of al-Qaeda destroyed the minarets of al-Askari shrine, they didn't then bomb, burn, or attack six Sunni mosques overnight.

While the American troops should try to promote peace and the rule of law in Iraq; we do not wanted to be connected with groups that are willing to kill civilians indiscriminately based on whether or not they believe the banu-Hashim should control the caliphate and that the mahdi will usher in the end of days. However, I fear that our current military strategy is going to link us to such sectarian murder.

By funding and arming local Sunni factions we are not only giving them the means by which to fight al-Qaeda, we are also giving them the means to continue the sectarian violence which undermines a unified state and government. If we start arming the Sunnis, how long until the Iranians arm the Shi'a factions for purposes of "self-defense" after claims of United States prejudice and the arming of sectarian factions determined to kill Shi'a civlians? The United States already claims that Iranians are giving arms to the Shi'a factions and the Taleban in Afghanistan. Is our response to arm the Sunni factions? Are we going to ask the Sunni insurgents to wage the war the Bush Adminstration so desparately wants with Iran?

Even if the United States were to arm both sects - of course then we will need to make sure the Kurds are well armed too - and avoid the Iranian arms quagmire, once we pull out of Iraq we will leave trained and armed sectarian factions. These factions aren't afraid to kill each other when we occupy the country, what will they do when we leave? Will the new Iraqi government and police force be able to defend themselves from multiple armed factions trying to gain control of the country? Obviously not. The whole reason we're arming the local factions is because the Iraqi government and police can't control the violence within it's borders as is.

If a civil war is going to happen, we should do our best provide a stable government infrastructre and rule of law, train and arm the government to deal with insurgent groups. and offer whatever aid is necessary to protect the civilans from sectarian violence. We should not, however, start picking sides. How will the next generation of Iraqis respond to the United States for not only occupying their country and failing to provide the government and safety from death and tryanny it promised, but also for giving local factions the means by which to continue the reign of tryanny and sectarian bloodshed. We must becareful proceeding with a foreign policy that espouses: "The enemey of my enemy is my friend." It's not very hard to play this roulette style game before our new allies are Iran and al-Qaeda.