Iraq - a disintegrating country, US - a weakening super power

Despite the optimistic picture given by the US President George W Bush, we all knew that life in Iraq was unbearable for the innocent civilians.

We knew that the sectarian violence in the embattled country was affecting everyone. What was more disappointing was that the US forces there could not do anything to stop the bloodbath.

At times, the western powers either played down the daily dose of atrocity or said that the local Iraqi government and their troops were gaining upper hand over the situation. Some even said that the press was guilty in over-sensationalising the conditions in the ground.

However now comes the definitive proof that things are not so rosy in the Iraq. A leaked memo from the US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to the State Department in Washington on 6 June revealed Iraq as a country disintegrating in which the real rulers are the militias, and the central government counts for nothing.

The memo was first leaked to the Washington Post and today the Independent published it.

In it, ambassador says:

“Islamist and Militia groups have been negatively affecting daily routine. Harassment over proper dress and habits is increasingly persuasive.”

He added that the pressures from these groups are so unbearable and that the people are in a constant state of mistrust – not knowing who will stitch them up for wearing western clothes, or for using a mobile phone or if you are a woman, for driving on your own.

Iraqi employees at the US embassy are now living in fear for their lives, worried that other Iraqis will find out who they are working for.

The cable says:

"We have begun shredding documents printed out that show local staff surnames."

The fear and untrustworthy is so deep that the local staffs are also worried the Iraqi military units guarding the perimeter of the Green Zone, the heart of US power in Iraq, are actually members of the militia.

Such concerns are definitely perturbing, especially when not knowing whom to trust in your own country. And it looks as though the US-led invading forces and the local government are in the dark as to the happenings on the ground.

Worse still, both the US and Britain have said that they will withdraw their troops as the security situation improves. Based on the memo by the US ambassador, situation in Iraq seems to be going from bad to worse.

What does this mean based on the news about US troops reduction by Christmas? If that reduction do take place, what does this say about the American strategy in Iraq? Looks like they have none - and that they are ready to drop everything and jump the sinking ship.

If that happens, would they then have the moral authority to continue to be the global police?

As I see it, it is yet another sign of a weakening world power, waiting to be overtaken by the new power houses.