Was a peaceful solution possible?
On the day when thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces have entered Fallujah to kick some insurgent ass, Leah at Corrente takes note of an article in the Washington Post which reports on local Iraqi efforts to create a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Fallujah and elsewhere. She is rightly angered to find that the administration wanted no part of it.
Can anyone who isn’t a completely crazed neocon not understand that the offer described above has the makings of a major breakthrough, one that Bush & Co could even take credit for, deserved or not, one they could even use to justify their bloody air attacks on Fallujah as a “get tough” policy that is working. Thus, I read those first quoted paragraphs with increasing excitement. Nothing is more important than that the Sunni Iraqis participate in the January election, absolutely nothing. Without their participation, the election will be seen as an American/Shia election, not an Iraqi one.
Do I have to even tell you what the response of the Bush-league administration is thus far? Zero. Zed. Zilch. Nothin.