Aug. 26, 2007 (LPAC) -- David Ignatius published a leak from (un-named) Cheney circles in the Washington Post today, presenting the Cheney/Saudi "Sunni alliance" war plan against Iran in stark terms. Calling it "Back to the future," he writes that the U.S. is now returning to the Sunni alliance against Iran of the 1980s, following the Iran revolution, especially in regard to cooperation with the Saudis. U.S. policy in Iraq is no longer based on success, Ignatius writes, but "the possibility of failure," while, "to the extent that it comes under radical Iranian influence, it, too, will have to be contained."

Iran blew its chance to work with the U.S., says Ignatius, early this summer, when U.S./Iran discussions began under Ambassador Crocker. Without mentioning Cheney's intentions that these talks should fail, Ignatius writes that the condition for the talks was that the "Revolutionary Guard had to stop shipping deadly weapons to Shiite forces in Iraq that were destabilizing the country and killing American soldiers." That didn't happen, he says, quoting State Department officials.

The alliances the U.S. has now formed in Anbar Province with Sunni chiefs are "an alliance of convenience," Ignatius writes. "The Sunnis increasingly see U.S. troops as their best ally for containing the power of Iran and its proxies in Iraq," with "increasing interest in a coalition to replace the feeble Maliki." Allawi, he writes, "has bundles of money to help buy political support, but it comes from Saudi Arabia and the UAE rather than from the US."

Ignatius admits this insanity won't work, and will leave the region in turmoil, but concludes that it "has the virtue of realism."

Asked about the Saudi backing on CNN this morning, Allawi hedged, saying that the $300,000 he paid to the Bush-league Barbour Griffith & Rogers lobbyists to help overthrow Maliki came from an Iraqi who could not be named.