But isn’t it likely that the Sunni insurgents were either helping Zarqawi or at least had some knowledge of his network?

If they were actively helping him, (and to me it seems unlikely that his crew of Iraqi killing foreigners could have stayed hidden in Iraq without help from the Sunni’s) losing that help will be a real blow to Zarqawi.

Even if the Sunni weren’t helping him surely any “deal” made with the Iraqi government would have to include any information they have about him. Either way, if this story is true, this is hopefully VERY bad news for Zarqawi.

Chalabi is naysaying this up front so that when the Iraqi government accepts it, it will not have the appearance of being an exercise in rubber stamping U.S. desires. Bush won’t be willing to make a deal (for Iraqi governemtn’s approval) unless he’s pretty well satisfied that it will stick and help the fledgling democracy take proper root.

Divide and conquer. Once Zarqawi is one of the very few terror shows in town, his well trained volunteers will save their big bang for someplace where it may have an effect. It’s his new recruits we need to be more concerned about, but since they are easier to spot and seem to pre-explode as often as not, their dissapearnace will, I hope, soon follow.

Terrye: The principle joy of a Freudian slip is that the slipper has no standing to assess whether it was one or not; it’s the ones who hear it that decide. [Sorry, couldnt resist]

You’ve got to wonder what’s going through the minds of Syrians as they watch events unfold both in Lebanon and Iraq.

“Damascus had now told senior American officials that a unilateral withdrawal of its 15,000 troops was out of the question until Israel ended its occupation of the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed 14 years later.”

What if Israel takes it on. I know there would be strong resistance but I’d love see negotiations over the return of the Golan Heights encompass the refugee status of Palestinians in Lebanon (376,000 – 476,000) and Syria (383,000). Perhaps the refugees can be given permanent resident status in both Lebanon and Syria with retention of voting rights in Palestine. It’s too bad this region, including Iraq and Jordan, isn’t structured like the EU with respect to mobility of their citizens. (Syria has up to 1,000,000 of its citizens in Lebanon as guest workers, a country the size of Connecticut.)

I know the above is off topic but odds are Iraq will cobble together a constitution resembling Lebanon’s confessional democracy. Syrians, ruled by Alawites, may be wondering why they can’t do the same.

My daughter went back to Iraq last week, the people in the Atlanta airport stopped and clapped as they walked thru the airport.

Saddams plan has failed. Time for his minions to negotiate junior ministry postions and ambassadorships to countries no one ever heard of.

Zarqawi and crew are still out there, and will fight to the death. Look for IED’s to drop and suicide bombers staying steady.

And Chalabi comes forward and points out that there is an IRAQI government now, and (not coincidentally) he (Chalabi that is) is pretty powerful in that government.

Now, it looks to me that the US ‘diplomats’ chatting it up with the Sunnis could be those State and CIA losers who think that the ME should be dominated by ’stable’ Sunni governments, and furthermore, who – for the past decade – have libelled and slandered Chalabi as a thief and opportunist.

The best they can hope for is amnesty from the new government, and I’m not sure even that’s a good idea, since it was the unemployed legbreakers of the KGB who formed the heart of the Russian Mafia…

Do you really want to understand the Baathists? If so, watch the gangster movie, Goodfellas. The Baathists are more similar to mobsters than true believers existentially committed to death and destruction. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed there were few dedicated Marxists. The same is true regarding Baathist socialism in Iraq and Syria.