Letters to the Editor
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That's right...
It's those lazy, shiftless, untrustworthy natives that are responsible for cleaning up this mess
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But does ANYONE doubt...
...that sufficient progress WILL be claimed in September, or at the very least, that "progress is right around the corner", no matter what the reality is in Iraq? And that the so-called "surge strategy" will continue unabated? I have zero doubt.
I'm not a gambler, but I'd take THAT bet without hesitation, because it's as close to a sure thing as I can imagine.
Dubya didn't pick Gen. Patreus as his replacement commander in Iraq, or search high and low until he found a compliant Lieutenant General Douglas Lute as his "war czar", if he didn't plan to stay in Iraq for the long haul.
Get real, and STAY real, people.
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Iraqi police forces not up to snuff? Surprise!
Much of the blame for this is apparently being laid at the feet of Iraqi police and security forces. In some cases, according to the Times, they're not doing an adequate job of the tasks assigned them; at other times, they're more concerned about sectarian loyalties or even participating in attacks on U.S. soldiers.
Where have I heard this all before? Oh yea, every single time they have been mentioned the past three years. It's not like this is news. Did Kagan (and Kagan and Kagan and Kagan) really think they would just shape up because Bush told them to? Why did this surge plan rely on them so heavily? How stupid do you have to be to design a plan around something that has shown no evidence it will live up to that plan?
Oh, wait.
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And even with this
You haven't the balls to shout down President Monkey on 'supporting the troops'? What on God's Grey Earth will it take?
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Comparisons?
If things continue to develop like they are now, would it be false to compare the "victory" in Iraq with that of Israel in the 1967 war? That would mean 36 more years! What a surge that would be.
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The more things change, the more they stay the same -
and blaming the natives is an old game. We played it in Viet Nam, and we played it in Korea - and here we are again.
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6 months
Come September we'll be told to wait another 6 months for a re-assessment of the situation, and things will surely be better then. All the President will ask is our patience (again) for 6 months.
Complain all you want about this incompetant and criminal adminstration, but at least they're as reliable as clockwork. I'm far more upset with the weasely, ineffectual Democrats who refused to stare this fool down.
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I think you mean 37 more years
That's how long the British army was in Iraq; 1919-56
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That's rich. Let's continue
to blame the Iraqi people for this debacle. Heavens, especially because they didn't invite us, don't want us there anyway, and now wish we were gone. I mean, really, those ungrateful sots. Here we are trying to country build and they lose a few hundred thousand people and lose their professional class to neighboring countries, and their very identity and Bush can't imagine why they can be so pissed that they don't want to help to continue with the killing. I mean, they are the ones that are going to be left there to fend for themselves when we are gone. They're probably just storing up some needed energy for when we back stab them and leave because we couldn't successfully pull-off stealing their oil. Surge my ass. None of the previous six-month tries/surges worked and neither will this one. Ask the British who occupied the Colonies how well that 'surge' worked. Unless we are willing to commit genocide (i.e. Manifest Destiny) country building is nothing but a sucker punch from left field. There are hundreds more Americans wearing targets waiting to be killed anyway, so why bother to help. Wait them out.
Then pull up a seat for the target practice on Bush's other erection: The American Embassy in Iraq. Bin Laden couldn't have written a better or more cynical scrip for Bush's hubris. Heck of a job Mr. War Criminal President...
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They told us...
They told us Iraq was part of 9-11.
It wasn't.
They told us Saddam had WDM's.
He didn't.
They told us we would be greeted as liberators.
We weren't.
They told us "Mission Accomplished."
It wasn't.
They told us the insurgency was in it's last throes.
It wasn't.
They told us the surge would fix everything.
Ok, I guess I will believe them this time.
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In God's Name
They talk about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. But the road to Iraq was paved with bad intentions, so where does that leave us? Screwed, that's what.
We're fighting the guys (the Sunni minority) we're really like to run Iraq; we're pretending to tolerate the guys (the Shiite majority) we'd really like to NOT run Iraq. The only guys who like us (the Kurds) are a minority who really want their own nation -- which we don't want, because doing so breaks up the demographic fiction that is present-day Iraq (and would piss off Turkey, who have their own Kurdish "problem"). So we'll probably piss them off, too, eventually.
It really feels like a textbook entry in the making, a case-study in what not to do; I can almost see the historians scratching their heads at early 21st century American foreign policy, wondering what in God's name the Bush League had in mind when they invaded Iraq.
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The surge
This is a shame. I'd still say we should give it some time to work, late summer or so.
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Mission creep...
And speaking of the Kurds (from today's AP)...
Kurdish rebels fired rockets and grenades at a Turkish military outpost Monday, killing seven soldiers in an attack that heightened tension at a time when Ankara has threatened military action against the rebels in northern Iraq.
We're chums with the Turkish police state, send them much aid; I can just imagine how Condi and company will deal with this, trying to placate the Kurds while trying to placate the Turks.
Can you imagine the mess if Turkey went after the Kurds in northern Iraq? And I'd love to see whose side we'll take -- for the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey to have their own state, Turkey would lose some territory, as would Iraq, which would be very bitterly received by the Turks, who already hate the Kurds with a fierce passion.
So, the neocon diplomatic route would appear to be to deprive the Kurds their nation, while also throwing money and weapons at them to keep them happy, or letting them deal in poppies or something like that, which would probably worsen the situation with Turkey. So we throw more money and weapons at Turkey, to placate them.
Money, drugs, and guns. A recipe for lasting peace.