Letter: Republicans may have sealed their own fate

Monday, May 14, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

Congressional Republicans are finding it is no longer plausible to suppress religious and ethnic rivalries in Iraq. In their enduring support for President Bush's war strategy, they have perhaps wasted a final chance to use a withdrawal agreement to decentralize the Iraqi government and allow self-determination among the various groups.

The complexity of ethnic elements incorporated in Iraq has no shared values. Each sectarian group is afraid that any centralized government controlled by another will oppress the others and take a disproportionate share of the oil revenues. It is unlikely any unified government can overcome powerful forces in a fractious and violent Iraq society today.

Politicians are looking for a way to exonerate themselves from the tragic consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. It is doubtful Nouri al-Maliki's government will meet U.S. benchmarks for progress and September may be too soon to judge the effectiveness of the troop increase.

By failing to override the presidential veto for a withdrawal timetable now, the contempt Republicans have shown for any reasonable solution may justify their own electoral disaster in 2008.

George Job, Henderson