Cloud Cuckoo Land

To quote the FT:

Iraq’s leaders squabble as death toll mounts
By Vincent Boland in Ankara and Steve Negus, Iraq correspondent

Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s president, on Tuesday criticised Iraq’s prime minister for making a visit to Turkey, illustrating the deep divisions among Iraqi leaders.

The dispute came as the government in Baghdad claimed that 379 people had died in sectarian violence following last week’s bombing of one of Shia Islam’s most holy sites – an attack that has threatened to derail the formation of a new government.

Mr Talabani said the visit to Ankara by Ibrahim al-Jaafari was undertaken without consulting the Iraqi government. He stressed that any agreements the prime minister made with the Turkish government would not be binding on Iraq.

Mr Jaafari was in Ankara to seek Turkish help in rebuilding Iraq’s water and energy infrastructure and in improving transport links with Turkey.

Iraq is burning and the clowns are squabbling over a trip to Turkey. Let me contrast this with a quote from one of the most pro-Shia Iraqi bloggers out there Hammorabi:

Civil war is going on now but on a scale less than that which was planned by the known and unknown groups and forces. ...

What is needed now is a quick formation of the government and investigation about Samara Shrines to reveal those who committed it and the groups standing behind them as no one declared responsibility yet. Delaying formation of government is step towards civil war and more dangerous situation and it is what the terrorism pushing for.

Sorry Hammorabi - these guys cannot agree on their travel itinerary you expect them to form a government? So if we are to believe Hammorabi the next step is civil war. Some have argued that this may not be a bad thing, others have argued that America could have something to gain from the current chaos. I dont thinks so. Let me quote Negroponte to explain:

"If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country ... this would have implications for the rest of the Middle East region and, indeed, the world,'' Negroponte said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on global threats. ...

Saudi Arabia and Jordan could support Iraq's Sunnis, Negroponte said. And Iran, run by a Shiite Islamic theocracy, "has already got quite close ties with some of the extremist elements'' inside Iraq, he added.

While Iraq's neighbors "initially might be reluctant'' to get involved in a broader Sunni-Shiite conflict, "that might well be a temptation,'' Negroponte said.

Now what he did not explain and the New York Times did is that the Shia minority of Saudi Arabia happen to live right on top of that countries oil. So if Saudi Arabia ends up in a shooting war with Iran and Iraq's Shia, where exactly would that leave them?

Simply put, the world cannot afford a war on top of the major oil-producuing regions. The world cannot affort an Iraqi civil war. And the current solution is not working.