Civil War's Not So Bad Says Hawk

I've written before about how the current administration plan for Iraq seems to be to declare victory and get out while decrying obvious evidence of a descent towards civil war as "liberal media bias".

But now I am dumbfounded by the gall of the rightwing hawk, David Ignatius, writing in the Washington Post. He begins by quoting an Iraqi friend of his:

The rough language of his e-mail conveys the situation better than a hundred polished Pentagon reports: "The political process, and the American project, it has failed," Gaaod wrote. "Believe me, there is no need to waste anymore one penny of the American taxpayers' money and no more one drop of blood of the American boys." He added: "Continuing on the basis to build a democratic process in securing the country, it's only a dream."

Ignatius' friend thinks the best way to preserve order would be to hand power to a military junta, presumably appointed by America, "in which generals drawn equally from Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds take control of security".

Now hang on just a second, but isn't that what the last Iraqi regime was - the one we went to war with?

Anyway, Ignatius says he hopes things aren't as bad as his friend paints them but admits that they are pretty damn awful. Then comes the bombshell:

Pessimists increasingly argue that Iraq may be going the way of Lebanon in the 1970s. I hope that isn't so, and that Iraq avoids civil war. But people should realize that even Lebanonization wouldn't be the end of the story. The Lebanese turned to sectarian militias when their army and police couldn't provide security. But through more than 15 years of civil war, Lebanon continued to have a president, a prime minister, a parliament and an army. The country was on ice, in effect, while the sectarian battles raged. The national identity survived, and it came roaring back this spring in the Cedar Revolution that drove out Syrian troops.

So 15 years of Lebanon-style sectarian violence, atrocities and civil war wouldn't be too bad an outcome? Never mind the fact that for the whole of that 15 years it was a hotbed of terrorism and the eventual involvement of Syria.

How on earth can the Right square this kind of crap with their rhetoric about freedom and democracy?

I think I shall go puke now to get the nasty taste out of my mouth.