Of tribes and governments

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BOSTON: General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have gone back to Baghdad with all the time they want, but with no clear plan other than carrying on as before and muddling through.

"Our patience is not unlimited," said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, but apparently it is. Congress has not the will to be decisive, and so we fight on, with an illusion of progress always dangling before us like a mirage of water in a desert wasteland.

Petraeus and Crocker were masters at obfuscation as they tried to thread their way between congressional hawks and doves last week. A straight answer was as rare as a day without death in Baghdad. But Petraeus did admit: "We haven't turned any corners. We haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel."

There was an effort among certain senators to blame our problems on Iran, and Crocker was quick to take it up. But there were no Iranians or Shiites in the suicide planes of Sept. 11, 2001. Al Qaeda considers all Shiites apostates.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/15/opinion/edgreenway.php