On Easter Sunday the war in Iraq passed another sickening marker as a U.S. soldier in Baghdad became the 4,000th American soldier killed in the war. The bombing came in a rise of new violence after months of relative calm. Over the past months, uber-hawk John McCain has been able to claim that the surge has succeeded, and the decline in violence would apparently justify his claim. However, the cessation of sectarian killings has nothing to do with increased security.
The centerpiece of the Bush administration’s claim of success in Iraq has been the appearance of the Awakening Councils. Although they are “concerned citizens groups” in Washington newspeak, the Awakening Councils are actually Sunni resistance fighters who are currently helping the U.S. fight al-Qaeda in return for American cash and guns.
The Awakening Councils are still opposed to the U.S. occupation, according to Iraq journalist Dahr Jamail, but they are willing to take U.S. money and arms for the time being. The Awakening groups also use their interaction with American forces to gather intelligence on how the U.S. military operates — intelligence they can use when they decide a U.S. alliance is no longer convenient. Or, they could decide this when the money stops flowing. Ironically, some councils have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda, which is undoubtedly receiving a share of America’s money and guns.
Rather than ameliorate tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, the surge has only succeeded in better arming both sides. When the U.S. began recruiting the overwhelmingly Sunni Awakening Councils, Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced he would never allow the councils to join the government.
In February, the local Awakening group in the Diyala province closed their offices and threatened to rejoin the resistance if the local police chief, a Shiite, did not resign. The group accused the police chief of allowing Shiite militias to murder Sunni civilians. In early March the group announced that their demand had been met, and they returned to work. A CIA analyst summed it up when he told Leila Fadel of McClatchy Newspapers, “There is a danger here that we are going to have armed all three sides: the Kurds in the north, the Shiite and now the Sunni militias.”
Mr. Bush likes to brag about how Baghdad neighborhoods are becoming more peaceful. What he does not mention is that this is because the city has become completely segregated. The population has gone from 65 percent Sunni to at least 75 percent Shiite. While 50 percent of Baghdad neighborhoods were once ethnically mixed, this type of neighborhood has disappeared as either Shiites or Sunnis were driven out. According to journalist Pepe Escobar, “Sunni and Shiite residents alike confirm sectarian violence has died down because there are virtually no more neighborhoods to be ethnically cleansed.” The U.S. has created desolation and called it peace.
While politicians, Democrat and Republican, have blasted Mr. Bush for his “failed policy,” the reality is that divide-and-conquer in Iraq is not an accident. In fall 2004, after the battle of Fallujah, the U.S. military was terrified that the Shiite and Sunni resistance groups could join forces. Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez, former commander of the occupation forces, told the New York Times, “The danger is we believe there is a linkage that may be occurring at the very lowest levels between the Sunni and the Shia. … We have to work very hard to ensure that it remains at the tactical level.”
The sectarian divide in Iraq is not a failure of U.S. strategy — it is a part of the plan. Congress, and a large swath of American capitalists, are unhappy with Mr. Bush. Not over violence, but over the failure to secure the war’s real objective: Iraq’s oil.
Currently, the U.S. is making another attempt to pass a bill through the Iraqi parliament that would open Iraq’s oil fields to U.S. oil companies. Chevron and other corporations are already in negotiations with the Iraqi government to secure long-term rights to drill in Iraq, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. This is why, in spite of incredible failure, the U.S. remains in Iraq.
The 4,000th American casualty and the climbing Iraqi death toll, estimated by some to be greater than one million people, should be a reminder of the lengths the U.S. government will go to secure the interests of American corporations. Sadly, as evidenced by both Democratic presidential nominees declining to promise full withdrawal by 2013, and McCain’s lunatic resolve to stay for 100 years, they are willing to go much further. The question is whether we will let them.
Paul Pryse ([email protected]) is a member of the International Socialist Organization.
