Anyone Who Can Count Could Have Foreseen This

After the recent flirtation with civil war in Iraq, sunnis are starting to come the obvious f*cking conclusion that it's in their interests for the U.S. to stay in Iraq.

BAGHDAD — Two years ago, doctor Riyadh Adhadh cursed the U.S. soldiers who had overrun his homeland, toppled the Sunni-dominated government and tormented prisoners at Abu Ghraib. A member of the city council, he loudly demanded that American troops leave Baghdad.

Last week, his Sunni Arab neighborhood under attack by Shiite militiamen, Adhadh found himself huddled over the telephone in panic, begging the U.S. Embassy to send American soldiers.

The moment of bitter irony for the 52-year-old father of six is emblematic of a sharp shift in Iraqi opinion. Three years after the March 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, with the threat of civil war looming, leaders of a nervous Sunni Arab minority have started to drop demands for an immediate U.S. withdrawal.

"We've changed our ideas," Adhadh said. Iraq's current government, dominated by Shiites, has been "abusing people more than the Americans," he said. "Iraqi security is the responsibility of the Americans. They have established this type of government — this will be written in history. We are living in a jungle."

For the longest time, the Iraqi sunnis have really believed that the only thing standing between them and regaining power is the American military. When in reality, the only thing standing between them and a genocide is... the American military.

Jesus, we've been going around with this for two and a half f*cking years! It's not rocket science man!

And remember, you heard it here first.