Same Old Demons - New York Times

This is an excellent article by David Brooks of the New York Times. It talks about the situation in Iraq (in regard to the total chaos into which it is falling) and why that is. Read the op-ed piece, but the jist of the article is that the reason Iraq is failing is because Iraq, as a nation, doesn't really exist in the minds of the so-called "Iraqis."

Before the British takeover of the area known as Iraq, it was a simple group of small tribes that constantly fought with each other for the resources available. After the British created the state of Iraq, they figured that simply having a constitution and a government would be enough for them. Well, that wasn't the case.

So what you have is a boundary encasing several warring tribes (not even just the Kurds, Shia, and Sunnis, but smaller factions beyond those) that have been trying to use the government to "get over" on each other for centuries. Even the government of Saddam Hussein was one tribe getting power of the main resource of the state - oil - and forcing their will on everyone else. And now we're trying to do what the British tried and failed.

Again, the Bush Administration fails to understand history and has gotten us involved in a situation we can't win. The Iraqis simply don't have the same motivations as we do.