Several months ago, the U.S. military began arming Sunni insurgents that they had originally attacked because they now claim to be on our side. The Daily Show showed a funny chart showing how our enemy's enemy's enemy's enemy becomes our friend--regardless of whether or not they remain our enemy. In the end it proved that Al-Qaeda, the first enemy on the chart, is also our friend (by being our enemy's enemy's enemy's enemy). Our shifting allegiances and loyalties have led to an interesting development: we are no longer interested in democracy in Iraq.
The basic principle is that the Ba'athists were our original opponents as they were Saddam Hussein's military. They were nearly universally Sunni. This meant that our major opponents were Sunnis. The Shiites liked us for all of three seconds because Saddam prevented this ultra-conservative group (the Shiites) from practicing Islamic Law. Shiites then began attacking U.S. occupiers and Sunni insurgents. At the same time, Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had been aligned with Sunni militias, but many of the Sunni groups are now disavowing their relationship with AQI. These groups, many composed of ex-Ba'athists, are now receiving large shipments of guns from the U.S. to go after the Shiites and AQI. Confused yet?
Where this gets interesting is that the Sunnis were Saddam's people. The Shiites most closely align themselves with Iran. A fascist or totalitarian government in Iraq that would be like Saudi Arabia is suddenly preferable to a democratic state that would naturally align with Iran. There's a certain point where we say: "it took you long enough!"
Strangely, the most democratic and free nation in the region, whose political and social interests most mimic our own, is actually Iran. When did geo-politics turn into a Scooby-Doo parallel universe?
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