Spot's former Iraq war correspondent Dave took issue with Spot's citation of Chris Hedges on the current situation in Iraq. Dave quarrels with the assertion that we are funding and arming groups like the Sunni Awakening, to our detriment. But it's not hard to find other voices that think so, too:
U.S. casualties are down in Iraq. But a retired Army Colonel argues that the surge and American payoffs to Sunni tribal leaders may eventually backfire—producing more instability and possibly a regional war.
Who is this nay-sayer, Spotty?
It's this guy:
Douglas Macgregor is a retired Army colonel and a decorated Persian Gulf War combat veteran. He has authored three books on modern warfare and military reform. His latest is Transformation Under Fire: Revolutionizing the Way America Fights. He writes for the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C.
Here's a little more from Col. Macgregor:
Officers familiar with Iraq's Sunni Arab leaders insist these leaders genuinely believe that if left alone by U.S. occupation forces and receiving modest financial support from Saudi Arabia they can eventually crush the Shiite militias and regain their dominant position inside Iraq. If true, the "awakening" may simply be an opportunity for Iraq's Sunni Arabs to consolidate and prepare without American interference for an inevitable, future showdown with the Shiites whether U.S. forces withdraw or not.
On the other hand, of course, Dave is probably right, and an era of Pax Americana in Iraq is at hand. Ah, but maybe not.
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