March 8, 2007

So long as Washington and the government allied to it think their way of dealing with Iraq crisis is correct, the forthcoming regional conference will be a waste of time and blood.

The conference to be held in Baghdad comes three weeks after the start of the Baghdad security plan which many in Iraq do not see as fair and balanced. Nonetheless, the government says the plan has been successful.

If the security plan has succeeded, what do we need the regional conference for?

The answer is simple. The campaign to subdue Baghdad was the climax of government efforts to drum up support for its policies and unify the disparate political factions behind it.

But unfortunately the campaign is now in its fourth week and the political scene is as divisive as ever.

U.S. troops are more cautious and knowledgeable than the government they support. Their ceiling for the achievements the campaign has made so far is much lower than that of the government.

We believe the regional conference will be the death nail to already troubled political process. The conference is not bringing Iraqis together. It is a gathering of the powers who are taking good advantage of the status quo.

Iraq is not in need of countries delivering speeches in closed door meetings in its capital at a time the government has closed its ears and eyes to the real needs of the Iraqi people.

The conference will not criticize the political process that started with the fall of Baghdad to U.S. troops in 2003.

It will not have the courage to say that the whole political process was a big blunder for which Iraqis have paid in rivers of blood.

It will not say that the democratic track was undemocratic altogether and the Americans themselves are now aware of this fact.

This is the kind of conference whose organizers would like Iraqis to believe that elephants fly.