After posting a link to an account of the bombings yesterday in Iraq killing over 100 civilians, Juan Cole had this to say:

"We should be clear why these bombings are taking place. It is because Bush's policy in Iraq was total victory, along with his Shiite and Kurdish allies, over the previously dominant Sunni Arabs. Bush did this thing as a zero sum game, one where there is only one pie and if one person gets a bigger piece, someone else gets a tiny sliver. The Sunni Arabs-- among the best educated and most capable people in the country-- were offered the tiny sliver. They won't accept US troops in their country for the most part, and won't accept reduction to a small powerless minority. They have succeeded in provoking the Shiites to form guerrilla groups and engage in reprisal killings, as well, as a way of destabilizing the country. Bush's allies won't share power and wealth with them, and Bush himself keeps pushing for what he calls 'victory.' Today is what his victory looks like after nearly 4 years, and it is highly unlikely to look different any time soon."

Iraqis settle their disputes by perpetrating murder and mayhem, and this is George Bush's fault? I don't doubt that a lot of Iraqis are angry about what George Bush is doing. What I doubt is that things would be any different if, say Hillary Clinton, were trying to direct some other kind of effort in Iraq (whoever is the next US president will still be trying to do something in Iraq). If Hillary or some other democrat were trying to deal with US problems in Iraq, there would still be angry Iraqis. I believe those angry Iraqis would also be taking it out on their compatriots with bombs. It takes two sides to make a violent, lawless civil war with gruesome suicide bombings, tortures and lynchings. Any policy in Iraq, whether Cole agrees with it or not, will still get a violent response from some Iraqis. That's how all too many Iraqis express themselves when they are unhappy or feel threatened. This violence will still be something somebody can blame on the US using this logic: If they act like murderers and criminals, it isn't their fault. George Bush made them do it!

Cole's "Informed Comment" blog has a wealth of valuable information; I'm a regular reader because of its links to sources, but I can't agree with Cole's ideas about what is causing this violence. I don't think Cole's blog today really clarifies why the bombings are taking place in Iraq, but I do think the suicide bombers there are trying to foster the very conclusions he draws. His specialty is rounding up every scrap of bad news he can find with the implication that the US is the cause of it. That is such a consistent drumbeat that it takes on the odor of propaganda, in some ways a lot like what comes out of Iran.