Iraq is hell

Iraq is hell and the surge is one of the seasons of hell-- a slight change of scenery, a costume change between acts. The Surge is part of the selling campaign, it's the 2007-8 model of the long stay in Iraq.

And we stay and stay. Why? The place would revert to chaos of we were to leave. Revert? Chaos is US. We stay because we broke the pottery and now we need to fix it. Fix it? Not in a million years. Asking the US to fix Iraq is like asking Michael Jackson to babysit you children. So we stay, for what? What does the place have of value? Oil. That's why we stay. Simple question: why don't we go to Darfur? Simple answer, No oil.

The surge will come and go. Next season there will be a new hope: perhaps Chalabi will return and bring peace. And then the denouement-Chabali summarily killed and revealed as a fraud and on and on, more plots, sub-plots, pipedreams which will last 50 more years when the oil will run out.

The British took over Iraq when the Ottomans were defeated in WWI. They needed oil for their fleet which was switching over from coal. Pro-Council Gertrude Bell thought the Shias were not to be trusted, so she went with the Sunnis. Churchill's RAF gassed the Kurds and after that everyone kept pretty much in line.

The country was turned over to CIA station chief Kermit Roosevelt (Teddy's grandson) in the 50's and the oil became US corporate property. Saddam nationalized the oil and tossed out the Enrons of the time. Bush tossed out Saddam and now we have chaos but also some oil.

A ghastly tale, I'm sure you'll agree.