The purpose of the visit was to get to know one another. The Iraqi official received me with palpable friendliness. I asked him about the situation in his country, and he answered me by saying that he senses significant improvement and that the Iraqis have turned the page on the bleak days, and are preparing for reconstruction and for Iraq to restore its wellbeing and its role. I almost rejoiced. But journalistic malice took over me and I told the official that I have come to hear his real opinion, especially since our conversation was not meant for publication. My converser's face lightened up, and I felt as though I had liberated him from his painful shackles. He said that he did not want to hide the fact that the situation is very bad, and that the coming days do not appear rosy at all. I asked him to disclose more, and the official took a paper from his pocket and began to read from it. The number of Sunni employees in the interior ministry was this much, and now it has fallen to this much. The same goes for the defense ministry, and even the agriculture ministry was not spared. Meanwhile, the position of the Sunnis in the army is in ongoing decline. A few days ago, a senior officer was assassinated, and most likely, the assailants who perpetrated the crime were uniformed. I asked him about his expectations and he said, “The Iraqi Sunni street is boiling. The entire political process is at risk. Sunni Iraqis will never accept to be second-class citizens." And when I asked how far the anger of Iraq's Sunnis can go, he replied, “Farther than you think. I do not like these scenarios but I fear they may happen." I came out of the meeting feeling concerned. It is no small thing for an official in a state to say something like this to a journalist he is meeting for the first time. In truth, I preferred to convince myself that the man was exaggerating a little in explaining the picture. When protests erupted in Anbar a few days ago, I called another Iraqi politician to ask about their seriousness. He answered me with a decisive tone, “They are more dangerous than many people think. If (Prime Minister Nuri) al-Maliki clings on to his policy of exclusion, marginalization and monopoly of decision-making, then I do not rule out the possibility that Iraq will be on the road to partition. His policy destroys the political process. He has brought relations with the Kurds to the brink of war and has reneged on his obligations to them. Now, he is pushing towards open confrontation between his administration and Sunni Arabs. Add to that the divisions among Iraqis over Iran and what is happening in Syria. It is in your interest as a journalist to visit Iraq because it is at a critical juncture." He then concluded by saying “Unfortunately, we cannot today hide behind our fingers and cover our divisions by blaming the occupation or the remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime." The clouds of separation were gathering in al-Anbar's sky, when reports of the United Nations and press reports spoke about fears of the growing sectarian dimension of the conflict in Syria. Perhaps this particular dimension is what made Lakhdar Brahimi, upon his return from his Russian trip, to warn against Syria turning into another Somalia, stressing that the choice is between a political solution and hell. If we take into account the fact that the political process which Brahimi is talking about seeks a “real and profound change", then moving in the direction of hell seems likely in the New Year, especially after the conflict in Syria has taken its position along the Sunni - Shiite fault line extending from Baghdad to Beirut via Damascus. The winds of separation hitting Syria, are hitting Lebanon as well. Sectarian solidarity has done away with the inviolability of international borders and expanded the scope of the risks. The Lebanese are divided over the Syrian revolution, the future of the regime, and the refugees fleeing the Syrian hell. The hell that Brahimi spoke about will not necessarily respect the international borders, which are porous to begin with. The risks taken by the allies of the Syrian regime contribute along with the risks taken by some opponents of the regime to pave the way for hell. With the winds of separation, the erosion of the State and its institutions and the fall of international borders, al-Qaeda is finding new routes and strongholds only to accelerate the descent of the Iraqi - Syrian – Lebanese triangle toward hell.
