Centerblue.org

It seems the British ambassador to Iraq isn’t the only one being candid these days–generals testifying before Congress today are offering a similarly bleak assessment on the likelihood of Iraq devolving into civil war.

“I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it,” Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed Abizaid’s observation, saying “We do have the possibility of that devolving into civil war.” He said whether this occurs depends on the Iraqis more than on the U.S. military. “Shiite and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other,” Pace said, before the tensions can be overcome. “The weight of that must be on the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government.”

God save us all.

The assessment comes amid reports that up to 2/3 of army units are not in a state of operational readiness because of the strain and damage their equipment has suffered in Iraq. I’m sure that makes our military’s men and women feel really confident about their likelihood of survival in a mission that makes no sense.

Thankfully Donald Rumsfeld decided he wasn’t “too busy” after all to testify about this ever-worsening fracas and his disastrous policies before the US Congress.