The end game is obvious, and it is not pretty for the Sunnis.
Over 60% of the population are Shi'ites. And then there is the large Kurdish minority concentrated in the North.
15% of the population are the Arab Sunnis who have dominated the country, and terrorized the rest, since the founding of the country.
4 provinces are too unstable: the Sunni ones. The Sunni parties are pulling out of the elections. The Sunni Triangle terrorists are able to carry out terrorism in the Sunni Triangle, especially, where they will seriously depress the vote, but not in the Kurdish and Shi'ite area.
What will emerge is a democratically elected Shi'ite super-majority hellbent on asserting its control over the country. And they will. They saw Saddam do it to them, after all, as did the Kurds. They have this in common with the Kurds. And the only people more or less safely voting in this election will be the people who the Sunnis tormented.
Now, the Shi'ite government after this election may not be all that friendly to the US. Relatively shortly, they will not NEED our help to support their government. Once they well and truly have been elected to control of it, they will be able to raise plenty of troops and pacify...or sow the earth with salt...in the Sunni Triangle areas that resist them.
This new Shi'ite government may be relatively cool towards the US, and may well ask for a quick US exit, and if they do not support global terrorism, we will go.
Which is why the ultimate irony for the Sunnis and their terrorists hellbent on fighting us and the elections, is that they are only ensuring a depressed Sunni vote and a more crushing victory of their ethnic enemies within the country...and the day may well come when they will wish that there were American forces there to PROTECT THEM.
But we won't be.
General Will Assess Iraqi Training, Not War Strategy
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2005 -- A retired Army general isn't going to Iraq to assess the effectiveness of U.S. warfighting operations there, but rather will evaluate efforts to develop Iraqi security forces, a senior Defense Department spokesman told reporters here today.
Retired Gen. Gary E. Luck and a support team will soon go to Iraq "to provide some assessment of how we're doing" in training and fielding Iraqi security units, spokesman Lawrence Di Rita noted at a Pentagon press briefing.
Luck, who advised then-U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Tommy R. Franks during the Iraq campaign in 2003, was described by Di Rita as "an extraordinarily intelligent individual" who "knows an awful lot of what we're doing in Iraq."
Iraqi police and military units have so far experienced mixed results in engagements against insurgents, Di Rita observed, noting "areas where the Iraqi security forces have performed well" and instances "where they've performed sub-optimally."
Asked by a reporter to verify speculation that Luck will also assess the overall U.S. military strategy in Iraq, Di Rita replied: "That's not true; I mean, it's just not accurate."
Luck is going to Iraq "to take a look at Iraqi security-force development," Di Rita said.
"That's the mission," he reiterated, noting that the Pentagon has periodically sanctioned similar evaluations of how Iraqi security forces are being trained and used.
"This is another one of those assessments," Di Rita noted.
Iraqi security forces "are getting more and more involved in the security of Iraq," Di Rita said. He acknowledged the Pentagon's interest in keeping their training "on track" and "to see that they continue to perform to their utmost potential."
Di Rita said he didn't know the full complement of Luck's support team.
"Multinational forces and Iraqi security forces will continue offensive operations to ensure that conditions are set to support a safe and secure environment" for the Jan. 30 elections, remarked Army Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez, the Joint Staff's deputy director for operations, who accompanied Di Rita to the press briefing.
Rodriguez also updated reporters on U.S. military support for tsunami aid in South Asia, noting that more than 13,000 servicemembers deployed to the region have distributed more than 365 tons of supplies. American aircrews have flown more than 450 rescue, recovery and supply missions to bring aid to tsunami victims, the general said.
1/07/2005: U.S. General: Terrorists Afraid of Vote in Iraq
1/07/2005: Bush Is Optimistic About Iraqi Elections
Our main strategy for dealing with Iran and Syria should be that they would change through a sphere of influence emitted from a free, prosperous, and stable Iraq and Afghanistan. After the intelligence failures of 9/11 and Iraq, hopefully the CIA will get its act together and be able to keep the tabs on Iran and Syria. We should keep brief incursions in Syria and Iran to take out nuke facilities or terrorist camps on the table though, but full occupation must be our last option.