Real News Network has recenlty began showing better and better reports about the Middle-East (Pepe Escobar’s analyses are particularly interesting). Take a look at these two:

These two reports make one thing absolutely clear: there is no way in hell the USA is going to get its wish in Iraq. More importantly, if the USA persists in pushing al-Maliki to sign the US SOFA it will totally discredit him and any other Iraqi politician agreeing to it. Yet again, the USA is doing exactly the same mistake it committed with its other puppets like Abbas or Siniora: it pushes them into supporting policies which end up totally wrecking any political capital they might have (and that is not much, in the case of al-Maliki). In the case of Iraq, this imperial myopia is reaching new heights. Consider that all of the following have already made their opposition to the US SOFA absolutely clear:

* All senior Iraqi Shia religious
* A majority of members of the Iraqi Parliament
* Iran’s Supreme Leader
* The Iraqi government (see here)
* The former Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari (see here)
* The Sunnis in the Iraqi Parliament (judging by the Real News Network report above)
* Tens of thousands or Iraqi protestors in the streets of Baghdad

Basically, *NOBODY* in Iraq will accept this; well, maybe al-Qaeda will be rather delighted to have the US forces always available as targets for their attacks, and the Iraqi Kurds can probably be convinced to sign on to this SOFA, but that’s about it. The ovwewhelming majority of Iraqis will never, ever, accept this.

So why is the USA still trying to bribe Iraqi MP with $3’000’000 each and why is the USA blackmailing Iraq itself with $50’000’000’000?

My guess is that the Dubya Administration is trying to secure a “success” to show before the November election and it is telling that it would be willing to create political chaos in Iraq, even for its own stooges, just in order to add a good talking point to the McCain campaign. But then, is this not exactly what the “surge” was all about? Getting a short term and totally fake “success” just to win a few political points on the home front?

The reality is that the entire US policy in Iraq is a train wreck in slow motion and that the current administration is only trying to factor in Iraq as a part of the ungoing presidential campaign. No wonder that the entire US Middle-East policy is totally FUBARed!