Fat, Dumb and Happy

If we fail in Iraq, here's a picture of the guy who will have defeated us. Not Zarqawi, not Sadr, not Usama and certainly not Saddam. He's a Shiite Baghdad "policeman" who, along with 150 of his colleagues, is protesting an Interior Ministry order to redeploy from Sadr city over to a Sunni neighborhood across town. Here are the details. They claim they're happy to "defend" Sadr city, but their lives won't be worth diddly in a Sunni neighborhood. On the face of it, that's almost understandable. It's easier to police your own turf than a neighborhood where you're not wanted. Problem is, they aren't policing. In their own words, they're "defending". They're not there to enforce the law on their own. They just want to protect their own from the Sunnis across town.

For example, on a day when we're told American and Iraqi forces are scouring the country for kidnapped American contractors, an American soldier, and dozens of Iraqis from the Education Ministry, these officers find time to jump around in the streets of Sadr city, in uniform, brandishing weapons. Doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. I'm not sure this is the sort of civil authority that will allow democracy to thrive.

On a side note, I'm also perplexed as to why in a county of rampant unemployment, poverty, and generally hard livin', the police department is willing to hire a guy who seems to be roughly 50 pounds overweight.