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Entry: The Surge--Is It Soup Yet? Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_surge_is_it_soup_yet#21599 Post contents: What the surge did was to take over the job that Al Qaeda was doing. Al Qaeda provided weapons and structure to the anti-gov't Sunni militias. But they also provided religious fundamentalism, which was less popular. Petraeus has put Al Qaeda out of business by providing the arms to the insurgents himself. All the militiamen who used to be Al Qaeda are now "The Awakening," but it is the same men with the same aims. We are trying to build up the Al-Maliki gov't while at the same time arming its opponents. This is not a strategy for success. But it hardly matters. There is no gov't in Iraq. The so-called gov't meets in the Green Zone, an American fortress not even under the control of the gov't that meets there. No one takes these people seriously, neither the Sunni nor the Shia. And indeed, the role of the ministers is to loot as much money as possible from the Americans and stuff it into Swiss bank accounts, against the day when they will finally be kicked out, by one side or the other, and most likely by both. Sent at: 2008 05 13