Meanwhile, in Iraq . . .

The Christian Science Monitor's (one of the very best mainstream newspaper in the US in terms of its Iraq reporting) latest dispatch from Iraq today asks whether "armloads" of US cash will help the Pentagon buy the loyalty of selected tribal leaders for our continued occupation and political and economic "reconstruction" of Iraq.

Reporter Sam Dagher points out that the Pentagon and its puppet government in Baghdad has made it a regular policy of paying bribes of $100,000 and more in cash and "other perks" to tribal chiefs throughout the Iraq in a bold attempt to win more friends and support in the region.

Dagher notes that: "[A]t least $1 million has also been distributed to other tribal sheikhs who have joined his Salahaddin Province "support council," according to US officers. Together, they have assembled an armed force of about 3,000 tribesmen dubbed the "sahwa [awakening] folks. All of these enticements serve one goal: To rally Sunni tribes and their multitude of followers to support coalition forces."

As the report details, this represents a perfect blueprint for "endless blood feuds" to erupt both between and within various rival tribes in order to settle the old scores inevitably resulting from these payoffs as soon as (or perhaps even before) US troops start withdrawing at some point in the future. And you don't even need to wonder what consequences such a transparent policy will have in terms of negative Arab perceptions of the US. It's not bad enough we're sending mercenaries to the region to fight Iraqi civilians who have become part of the guerilla resistance. We are now effectively turning Iraqis into mercenaries and not even bothering to hide this fact.

This seems like a pretty awful policy for supporting democracy promotion in Iraq and the Middle East. Sadly, such reports have been emerging throughout the last few years with such regularity that it isn't suprising in the least when we find out additional details about our bribery efforts and the discord it is sowing.

For more, see this Op Ed from The Guardian back in June of this year detailing the Pentagon's "Tribal Strategy."