09/13/07: How Bush blew it with the Sunnis in Iraq

By (Democrat) Sidney Blumenthal

Sep. 13, 2007 | Two years ago the Sunni sheiks leading the insurgency in Iraq's Anbar province approached the United States, offering to end the violence in exchange for a timetable establishing that U.S. forces would withdraw from the country, a senior official at the highest level of the British government told me.

Without some sort of negotiated deal that the Sunni leaders could brandish, they explained, they would not have the essential political justification for quelling the conflict. The British believed that the Sunni offer was being made in good faith and urged that it be accepted.

But according to the senior British source, President Bush rejected it out of hand, still certain that he could achieve a military victory. He saw any agreement with the Sunnis as tantamount to defeat, the British official said. And yet, even as the Sunnis were rebuffed, Bush continued to invest trust in the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government to forge a political conciliation.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/13/iraq_war/

{;-) Dan in Miami

PS: We now know that the Shiite dominated government in Iraq has no intention of sharing power with the Sunnis or anyone else. This fact alone means we should get out of Iraq as soon as possible.

Responses to this message:

• A military solution isn't possible Rajah
• Bush cuts and runs from Iraq. Won't stay the course. Throwing_Muses

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