al-Maliki is Shia, right? So are the 14 dead Pakistani Shia

[patrice]

in the Iraqi dessert evidence of al-Maliki's weakness? Or are they, because they were Pakistani, evidence of Maliki's strength - in allowing this sacrifice to Sunni insecurity, because they were, afterall, outsiders and their deaths, therefore, justifiable to Iraqi Shia?

If Maliki's relationship to Iraqi Shia IS strong enough, Iraqi Shia will not be threatened by these deaths and will not, therefore, enhance their relationships with Iranian Shia. If it is not strong enough, they will be threatened by these and the rest of their Shia dead and that will drive them toward Iranian Shia.

Of course, even if al-Maliki's relationship to Iraqi Shia IS strong enough, they could double-cross him and play both sides of the streen anyway.

In either case, that puts us in a position of supporting Shia as Iran, with its large Shia population resists our control of its nuclear industry, so it's lose:lose for the U.S.

[MADem]

1. There were Indians killed too in that dustup

This is a Sunni-Shi'a thing.

We have a few choices, we can pretend (la la la la la I can't HEEEAAAAR you!!!) that nothing really awful is happening, we can back a side, or we can back off. I say go for number three. Give strategic deployment to the periphery a chance. Fuck it. This government didn't even realize that there was more than one sect in Islam, it's too much to hope that they could actually come to understand the roots of the disagreement, which go back to the death of their Prophet Muhamad. It's like asking a kindergartener to comprehend Einstein's theory. Not gonna happen.

No amount of "Come on, dears, let's all be nice" will work. It's like Yugoslavia. Or as the engineer on the Starship Enterprise said, "She can't take anymore - she's gonna blow!"

[patrice]

2. I agree re #3. There's just tooooo many ways this thing CAN be played by

Iraqis. The whole notion of "convincing our adversaries that victory is impossible" IS - NOT - POSSIBLE!

My thinking is that the Indians would be outsiders too, and therefore okay to kill when it comes to explaining yourself to your fellow Iraqi Shia, when they ask "Are you (al-Maliki) in charge here or not?"