While the Biden-Brownback-Boxer (et al) amendment passed last week 75-23 with impressive bipartisan support, the White House and its underlings immediately began attacking it, because accepting the recommendations of the amendment would mean confronting the reality that Bush’s pipe dream of a strong, centralized, peace-loving Iraqi government is just an ephemera. Soon after, we heard that the current, impotent Iraqi government itself was opposed to the BBB amendment, but as it turns out, that was probably just because Bush’s ambassador Crocker told Prime Minister al-Maleki a bunch of lies about it and trotted him out to toe the Bush party line. Radio Free Europe listened to the Arab street and found that some op-eds in Iraqi and neighboring papers were screaming that the sky was falling:

[Observers] believe this decision raises many questions concerning its timing, intention, and hidden objectives. First of all, we have to say that this decision is completely unacceptable to all Iraqis, except those who falsely believe that this decision supports the provisions of federalism in our constitution. They don’t realize that this decision is a dishonest attempt to confuse federalism and division; consequently, this decision will abort the attempt at federalism.

Except no, it doesn’t. Sure, if you ask an Iraqi on the street how they feel about “partition,” they’ll open a hookah of whoopass on you, what with all the unsuccessful previous attempts by Western powers to draw arbitrary lines in the sand and call ‘em states. Fortunately there are more rational editorials over there pointing out that such misleading rhetoric “only serve opportunists.” (Oh my gosh, you mean Hizballahi “newspapers” can be paranoid and hysterical?!) And the Iraqi president himself now understands that the intent of the resolution was to encourage a renewed drive to implementing the actual Iraqi constitution, and not whatever myth the Bush administration might have sold him:

Today, Senator Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. President Talabani welcomed the Senate’s approval of the Biden-Brownback amendment last week supporting federalism in Iraq, on a bipartisan vote of 75-23. He expressed his strong belief that the amendment promotes the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq and is not, as some have mischaracterized it, a call for partition. He also emphasized that the amendment is completely consistent with the decision Iraqis have made to adopt a federal form of government in their Constitution.

In addition, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [said], “They said they welcomed federalism. If federalism is what they really meant, why not? Federalism, after all, is stipulated in the Constitution. We, too, talked about federalism as this is a constitutional issue.”

So quit calling it partition, damnit, you’re just dragging this war out.



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