Howard: Blame The Iraqis, Take Their Oil

Howard suggests that the violence in Iraq is all the fault of the Iraqis themselves, and all we can do now is wait for them to sort it out:

"The most important thing that can happen in Iraq is that there can be a domestic political accommodation," Mr Howard told ABC radio.

"Horrific situations like this are always resolved through some sort of domestic political accommodation between the different Shi'ite sections and between the Shi'ite and Sunni...

"In the end, the Iraqis hold the key to their own future, our role is to give them an opportunity of consolidating the democratic choice that they've made," he said.

Howard then starts salivating at the prospect of what Dick Cheney defines as "success":

"There was some welcome news on that front a few days ago when an agreement was reached between the various parties for the federal government to have a final say in relation to the distribution of oil revenue," he said.

He's talking about the "federal government" in Baghdad, by the way, not Canberra or Washington (lest there be any confusion).

And he's excited at the "welcome news" because it means Big Oil will finally have found someone semi-legitimate to sign their Production Sharing Agreements (PSA's), which they have been anxiously peddling from door to door for the past three years.

And that means everyone can declare a Job Well Done and go home. Except the poor Iraqi people, of course, whose children's children's children will still be financially crippled by these PSAs a hundred years from now.

But as Howard himself would say, that's their problem, innit?