So... George what side are we on in Iraq?

Larry Johnson in No Quarter

We have four basic choices confronting us in Iraq:

1. Fight the Sunni insurgents (there are at least 15 separate groups) and risk alienating the Saudis, the Jordanians, and the Turks.
2. Fight the Shia insurgents/militia, which means we will engage 60% of Iraq's population (and strengthen the hand of Shia-led Iran).
3. Fight both the Sunni and Shia and put ourselves in the middle of the civil war.
4. Retire from Iraq and let the Sunni and Shia sort things out among their various sectarian factions.

There really are no other logical options. It looks like Bush chose Option 3.

By engaging both Sunni and Shia we will have a surge--a surge in U.S. casualties that is. But we are not going to be fighting two separate insurgencies. Nope. It is worse than that. We will be faced with in excess of 20 separate insurgent groups. Some cooperate with each other but most do not.

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