Five more years!

From Agence France Presse via Le Monde.

Leaked cable from the British Ambassador to Baghdad:

A “low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy” writes the UK Ambassador to Iraq in his last telegram, leaked to the BBC.

In an telegram intended for Tony Blair, Ambassador William Patey adds, "One can doubt the hopes of President Bush to see a government capable of functioning and defending itself while serving as a reliable ally in the war on terror.”

The situation is not desperate, says Patey, although Iraq will remain "difficult and disorderly for the next FIVE TO TEN YEARS." [Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The US Army should last that long.]

If we wish to avoid the collapse into civil war and anarchy, it is a priority to prevent Shi’ite militias from becoming a State within a State, as Hezbollah in Lebanon, says Patey. [SIR, WHAT IS IT ABOUT ISLAMIC REVOLUTION THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND? Oh, the sorrow. Even the skeptics are hopelessly ignorant. --Nur]

According to the BBC, citing high-placed military sources, the British contingent in Basrah is preparing to gear up operations against armed Shi’ite fighters. Ambassador Patey urges his government to included Iraqi army units in such operations because British forces “cannot, alone, deal with the militias”. [And what is the Iraqi Army? ONE BIG SHI’ITE MILITIA! ROTFLOL!]