SEM SAÍDA

E, como era previsível (até no meu post de ontem), a audição no Senado do comandante no terreno das propas norte-americanas no Iraque, General do Exército David Petraeus (um nome que parece saído das guerras pérsicas) , não anunciou nada de novo: a retirada não tem data marcada, na melhor das hipóteses não serão necessários meios adicionais para continuar a guerra. Obama e Hillary tiveram intervenções contidas, sublinhando as posições já conhecidas, MacCain voltou a dizer-se confiante na vitória final.

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Ninguém reconheceu (ou pôde reconhecer) que, até alteração das causas que primordialmente movem a intervenção norte-americana no conflito, que agora opõe, sobretudo, sunitas, xiitas e curdos, não há saída à vista.

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Porque há um mar de petróleo que não pode ser abandonado.

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Frustrated Senators See No Exit Signs
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=18102064&postID=6328159726706228336

Congress Hears Iraq War Update
Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the two top U.S. officials in Iraq, are in Washington this week to update Congress on the status of the Iraq war. The hearings are giving three leading contenders for the White House a chance to promote their approaches to the five-year-old war.
Asked repeatedly yesterday what "conditions" he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer's scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough.
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Petraeus and Crocker repeated warnings that al-Qaeda in Iraq, while weakened, remains a threat. But they described an ongoing U.S. troop presence as necessary largely because no one is certain that security gains will endure if U.S. forces leave. The consequences of withdrawal, Crocker said, "could be grave."
But after hours of questions, they acknowledged that they had gotten at least part of the message. The United States was still funding the roughly 90,000 Sunni security volunteers who Maliki's Shiite-dominated government is reluctant to put on its payroll, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told Petraeus. "I'm just asking you why you would object to asking [Iraq] to pay for that entire program, given all we are giving them in blood and everything else."
"It is a very fair question," Petraeus responded, "and I think that if there's anything that the ambassador and I will take back to Iraq candidly after this morning's session and this afternoon's is, in fact, to ask those kinds of questions more directly."