Not only has the Iraqi government of Nuri al-Maliki closed down for vacation during the entire month of August, the Sunni faction in the cabinet has walked out. With numerous contentious issues facing the government, progress toward establishing a workable Iraqi government and toward relieving U.S. forces of their dangerous assignment has not only not been made, it now seems even less likely.

Follow this link to the original source: "Iraqi leaders hope for break in standoff"

COMMENTARY:
It's a gross understatement to conclude that Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims don't get along. Most of the sectarian violence in Iraq results from the centuries-old dispute about which form of Islam is pure, and which form will become dominant in Iraq once the killing stops. If there is going to be peace, the two factions must learn to live together, and also coexist with the Kurdish faction that occupies the northern tier of Iraq.

Hopes toward resolving this fundamental problem were essentially dashed when members of the leading Sunni bloc in the government, the Accordance Front, walked out of their cabinet posts on August 1st. They did so because no progress toward solving important issues had been achieved. Contentions continue over dividing the revenue from oil production and whether former members of Saddam Hussein's Baathist party will be permitted to serve in government posts. Prime Minister Maliki belongs to the Shiite faction and isn't trusted by rival Sunnis.

The months-old "surge" of 25,000 more American forces had the goal of putting an end to the violence between the factions so that the Iraqi government could begin to function. While some U.S. officials claim that this plan has achieved some success, the killing continues and Americans caught in the middle are still dying. Deputy Prime Minster Barham Salih, a Kurd, labeled the Sunni walkout the worst political crisis since the Iraqi government has been formed.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, just back from a visit to the war zone, issued a rather bleak assessment of what he found. On August 2nd, he stated, "We probably all underestimated the depth of the mistrust and how difficult it would be for these guys to come together on legislation which, let's face it, is not some kind of secondary issue."

Attempts will be made to resolve the seemingly insurmountable crisis. But the numbers calling for U.S. forces to be extricated from what amounts to a civil war continue to rise.