Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki initiated and led a national reconciliation conference on Saturday, November 16, that was praised by the Bush administration.  “We firmly believe that national reconciliation is the only guaranteed path toward security, stability and prosperity. The alternative, God forbid, is death and destruction and the loss of Iraq,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in his opening remarks.  But some media reports are saying the conference was sunk by no-shows.  Al-Sadr’s bloc said it was boycotting the two-day meeting, as did two major Sunni groups and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.  “There is no point in holding these conferences … because the situation is getting worse,” said Al-Sadr’s spokesman, Firas al-Mitairi.

The army of Ansar al-Sunnah was dealt a significant military blow by the capture of eleven senior level military leaders of AAS around the end of November, and AAS apparently responded by issuing eight communiqués between Tuesday, November 28, 2006, and Thursday, November 30, claiming responsibility for attacks targeting American forces.  AAS has specifically responded to the claims by the coalition that its leaders had been arrested by issuing another press release on December 7 denying these reports.  In this same press release AAS finds that the Baker-Hamilton report recommendations will be “unsuccessful.”

In response to Maliki’s reconciliation conference, AAS issued a press release on December 18 that ridiculed Maliki’s conferences as ”desperate.”

The group reminds of Maliki’s appearances in meetings and discussion broadcast by satellite media channels, stating that he made a “mockery� of the Sunni people during U.S.-led attacks in al-Qaim, Haditha, and al-Ramadi, and is now reaching out for their support. Sunni blood which has been spilled by the “Crusaders� and Shi’ites is sworn to not be in vain, and Ansar al-Sunnah promises nothing but the “sword� against their enemy. Alertness is advised by the group, and Sunni people are called to not be enticed by politicians’ promises and “sweet talk� because it is wicked: “A believer does not get bitten twice from the same snake�.

Many hopes had been pinned on this reconciliation conference.  But once again, population security proves itself to be paramount in establishing the pre-conditions for effecting political solutions.  Violent crime exists in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago.  But there is a general belief that law enforcement does not have their loyalties split between rival gangs.  In order to understand what the general population must feel like, imagine your family in danger from a gang member in down town Manhattan, and imagine that when you call the police for help, you don’t know which police will show up: the ones loyal to the gang or the ones loyal to families.  Now, imagine that someone is building a better water tower and installing a more reliable stepdown transformer for your neighborhood.

How much difference do you think this stepdown transformer will make to your wife?