Iraq Chief Shiite Favors Moderate Coalition

Excellent post. I heard this report this morning and even thought to blog on it - but you beat me to the punch and did much better than I would have. Thanks.

As has become obvious, I am more cynical than some. Moderate or not, it comes down to having the will to do what they must, as you have stated. At some point Iraqi's need to realize that Iraq belongs to them and it is their responsibility to take control of it. If "religion" is going to be THE stumbling block, then they will never attain any level of self-governance other than on paper. Once again, I don't like the word stability. They can insert a strongman dictator into poswer and have stability. What happens when this guy is gone? Iraq has a very long way to go in it's development. They are going to have to build from the ground up. Existing institutions and infrastructure is worthless in what they are trying to mature into. It's one thing that the US people lack the will, it's another if the Iraqis lack the will. I don't see anyone in Iraq strong enough to overcome any kind of internal attack even with our help. There are way too many tribal and militia elements that will continue to stir up resentment and hate. Our first course of business needs to be to eliminate (kill) these people. Until they are gone Iraq will continue to boil. As long as they are around they have the ability to keep the Iraqi people focused on the near term as well as scaring them to death.

Political solutions aren't going to work until people stop shooting at one another, and for that to happen many of the fanatics and puppets of the Iranians are going to have to be defeated [read:killed]. Right now the government hasn't got the independence from the militias to even attempt this,and that's why I look at this as a positive step.

I wrote a post a few months ago detailing the birth of an effective democratic Republic in the US and noted it took about 13 years from the start of the revolution to the adoption of the Constitution, and that in a relatively homogenous country where probably 95% of the people agreed as to values, law and the other intangibles that make up a nation. Iraq has a long way to go and much greater hurdles in terms of internal dynamics and divisions.