Ever since we invaded Iraq to knock out Saddam Hussein’s mythical weapons of mass disappearance our days of blood and pain in Iraq have wandered the face of the earth, desperately searching for a reason to stay in that country, some excuse that would withstand the scrutiny of logic, good sense, and reality.

For most of this year George Bu$h has used the alibi that we were fighting and dying in order to allow the Iraqis time to form a cohesive political unity, and that must have seemed like a good one. All the bloodlusting warmongers knew about Iraq was that there was oil under the sand, and strange looking dark, swarthy people who were primitive. Messers Bu$h and Cheney had a slight advantage because they knew that Iraqis were just like their good friends the Saudis – the folks they’d made money with for 30 years.

The fact that there was social, religious, and political tension between two different sects was just good fortune. So when the cohesive elements of the country - Saddam, the Ba’ath Party and the Army - were knocked out of the equation, things deteriorated faster than six Republican politicians at a four-staller in an airport.

Mr Bu$h thought he had found the perfect excuse: we have to provide a breathing spell so the Iraqis can create some sort of political peace. Now, unfortunately, the Iraqi political class has decided Washington’s latest excuse is pointless.

BAGHDAD -- For much of this year, the U.S. military strategy in Iraq has sought to reduce violence so that politicians could bring about national reconciliation, but several top Iraqi leaders say they have lost faith in that broad goal.

Iraqi leaders argue that sectarian animosity is entrenched in the structure of their government. Instead of reconciliation, they now stress alternative and perhaps more attainable goals: streamlining the government bureaucracy, placing experienced technocrats in positions of authority and improving the dismal record of providing basic services.

I don't think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power."

Humam Hamoudi, a prominent Shiite cleric and parliament member, said any future reconciliation would emerge naturally from an efficient, fair government, not through short-term political engineering among Sunnis and Shiites.

"Reconciliation should be a result and not a goal by itself," he said. "You should create the atmosphere for correct relationships, and not wave slogans that 'I want to reconcile with you.' "

Ooops.

The two Iranian-back clerics, Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim recently signed an agreement to co-operate in helping to provide a level of security that would enable the speedy departure of “foreign troops”

Badr Organization is an offshoot of al-Hakim's Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC).

Hakim and Sadr had signed an agreement in the holy Shiite city of Najaf on Saturday to cement ties between the two Shiite groups and set up a joint committee working in all Iraqi provinces to control possible problems.

The deal emphasized "respecting for Iraqi blood under any circumstances…and mobilizing all cultural and media organizations of both sides to activate the spirit of endearment and rapprochement."

[Diaa al-Din al-Fayyad] said Iraq is about to have important political changes like the British withdrawal from Basra.

"Accordingly, all the parties that control the area like the SIIC, the Sadrists and al-Fadhila (Virtue) Party have signed a code of ethics with the Iraqi security forces to help in imposing order and security," he noted.

Time to bring out another excuse. A cynical man might wonder whether they have ever considered telling the truth?

“Just sign the damned oil agreement we wrote!”

Naaaah.