[. . .]
Washington has been pushing hard to stick to a timeline on government-building that would allow for a significant troop withdrawal as soon as early next spring.
Key provisions of the draft would formalize an already autonomous Kurdish state in the north, under a federal system. The rest of the country also would be allowed to form federal systems -- opening the way for the demand by the dominant Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq [sounds awful Iranian, don't it? - F-man] to create a southern Shiite sub-state out of up to half of Iraq's 18 regions.
Sunnis and others say such a state would be under heavy influence from neighboring, Shiite-ruled Iran. [my emphases}
[. . .]
Yes, Cindy Sheehan and all you other Gold Star Mothers, your children died to create an Iranian puppet state out of a nation who threatened us not one iota. Your President is a murderer.
Update:
Billmon:
[. . .]
But the whole point of the constitutional exercise, from the U.S. point of view, was to give enough Sunnis enough of a stake in the New Iraq® to undermine popular support for the insurgency, or at least split the resistance into pro-political participation and anti-participation camps. A deal perceived by Sunni elites has leading to the destruction of the Iraq state, rammed through an assembly in which Sunnis are almost entirely absent, will have the opposite effect. It could be read, in fact, as a declaration of civil war -- and probably will be so read by Sunni moderates and rejectionists alike.
[. . .]
At best, it means the Sunni insurgency will last for years, maybe decades, spawning the creation of more fundamentalist "mini-caliphates" in the wilds of Anbar province [can you say 'Soviet' Afghanistan, kiddies? I thought you could. - F-man] and driving a weak, Shi'a-dominated central government deeper into the arms of its Iranian ally. At worst, the country could collapse into complete chaos, or a full-scale, Lebanon-style civil war. Either way, an awful lot of people may have to die so that the president and his supporters can spend the next few days talking about the political "progress" being made in Iraq. [my emphasis]
[. . .]
More Update:
The Rude One:
[. . .]
It's not that the whole Iraq War isn't an epic disaster the likes of which makes Custer's "Last Stand" seem like a well-planned, well-ordered, by the book military operation. It's not that anyone not suckling at the teat of Bush administration "leaks" and "anonymous sources" didn't know that there was going to be a prolonged conflict, with lots of casualties, and, you know, no fuckin' WMDs. No, no, we know all that shit, along with the inevitable civil war and/or Islamist state as the end result. It's just that it's about to get really, truly, oh-fuck-how-can-he-even-show-his-face-in-public embarrassing for George W. Bush.
[. . .]
Now I'm done.
