That odious neocon creep, Paul Bremer, was invited by ITV News - 18:30, 22 Dec 2011 - to comment on the day's events.  [SW]

There was no indication that he had asked himself any questions about his role in the 'post-war reconstruction' of Iraq following the deposition of Saddam Hussein.

Nor should this surprise us, since there was no plan.

That deus ex machina the 'invisible hand' - aka the 'shock doctrine' - was going to undertake it.

Pinochet's Chile was to be the model.

Freed from Sadam Hussein's stalinist dictatorship the Sunni, the Shia, and the Kurds, were - in the dreams of Paul Bremer - going to embrace McDonalds, Wal Mart, and autonomous individualism.  [Cf: Naomi Klein "The Shock Doctrine", pp 343ff]

These nostrums - which have caused the current recession in the West - are as far removed from the concerns of the indigenous populations, as they would have been in the 1630s had they been suggested to the Catholic and Protestant powers at war in one of the most vicious conflicts in Europe before World War One.

Bush and Blair - and their neocon cheerleaders - didn't bother to find out why Iraq was three separate provinces under the Ottoman Empire.

It was three separate provinces for ethnic, linguistic, and religious reasons, but this fact cut no ice with the new colonial power after the Anglo-French carve-up of the Middle East in 1919.

Not much has changed since Winston Churchill - "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes" - was in charge of the British 'mandate' which became Iraq in the 1920s.  [BBC]

Saddam Hussein's presidency represented the domination of the other two communities by the Sunni.   [SH]

Now he - and the US - have departed, the Shia are nominally on top, but they have not yet been able to establish the leviathan that was Saddam Hussein's regime.

Hobbes would have understood what Bush and Blair couldn't be bothered to work out: when the chips are down dictatorship is preferred to anarchy.

Better still, a Norther Ireland-style peace process might have been worth more effort than simply bombing Iraq back into the third world.

But the reason anything positive was off the radar was that the Iraq War was actually part of the ongoing 'last nation standing' battle for resources, in this case oil.   [LNS]

Baghdad car bomb ...

By the end of the day, 63 people had been killed and 185 had been injured.

It was the second worst daily toll of the year, which once again underscored the capacity of militants to co-ordinate extravagant attacks at will.

Perhaps worse than the death count was the effect that the attacks may have on a country that many, both inside and outside of Iraq, believe is fast unravelling.

The blasts took place against the backdrop of a political crisis that led to the Shia-dominated government of the prime minister, Nour al-Maliki, this week accusing the country's Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, of terrorism.

Sunni ministers have pledged to boycott cabinet meetings in retaliation and several Sunni provinces have made a claim for autonomy in a bid to claw back lost political power ...

Gdn  22 Dec 2011

Clash Over Regional Power Spurs Iraq’s Sectarian Rift

Iraq heads towards seemingly inevitable sectarian conflict

Iraq

Arrest Order for Sunni Leader in Iraq Opens New Rift

A day after the United States withdrew its last combat troops, Iraq faced a dangerous political crisis Monday as the Shiite-dominated government ordered the arrest of the Sunni vice president, accusing him of running a death squad that assassinated police officers and government officials ...

“Any leading Sunni politician seems now to be a target of this campaign by Maliki,” said Reidar Visser, an expert on Iraqi politics.

“It seems that every Sunni Muslim or secularist is in danger of being labeled either a Baathist or a terrorist.” ...

NYT  19 Dec 2011

Saddam Hussein

Iraqi society is divided along lines of language, religion and ethnicity; Saddam's government rested on the support of the 20% minority of Sunnis.

The Ba'ath Party was increasingly concerned about potential Shi'a Islamist influence following the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

The Kurds of northern Iraq (who are Sunni, but not Arabs) were also permanently hostile to the Ba'athist party's pan-Arabism.

To maintain power Saddam tended either to provide them with benefits so as to co-opt them into the regime, or to take repressive measures against them.

The major instruments for accomplishing this control were the paramilitary and police organizations ...

Wikipedia 

Shi'a–Sunni relations

Sunni v Shia

Britain's role in shaping Iraq

• Born Sutton Coldfield, 1936
• Bishop Vesey Grammar School, 1947-53
• National Service, RAF, 1954-56
• Clerical jobs, 1956-62
• Coventry College of Education, 1962-65
• Primary Teaching, 1965-69
• Special Education, 1969-72
• Edge Hill College, 1972-73
• Adult Literacy - Teacher Training, 1973-80
• Special Needs in mainstream schools 1979-90

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