August 26, 2006

 

I know, moron the war

.
Nailhead, vol. IV
From the Chattanooga Times editorial page:

A disingenuous defense of war

With public dissatisfaction rising over the war in Iraq as November’s midterm elections approach, Republicans urgently want to deflect the negative fallout at the polls. To achieve that, President Bush has to begin pitching election-year spin for his "stay the course policy." His hastily convened news conference last week served that political purpose, but little else. Indeed, his disingenuous defense and lack of candor about the roots and spread of the sectarian violence and the Sunni insurgency in Iraq should repel voters rather than secure their support.

The thrust of the president’s defense of his war policy is that a pullout — his misleading description of opposing calls for phased withdrawal — would leave freedom-loving Iraqis in the lurch, promote chaos in the country, send the wrong signal about U.S. reliability in the Middle East and embolden terrorists.

In fact, there’s a stronger argument to be made that it is the Bush administration’s mismanagement of the war that has already achieved each of those tragic milestones to some degree. The continuation of its failed war policy is simply an invitation to deeper quagmire without any benefit or prospect for improvement in Iraq.

With the United States bogged down in the war, Iraq has become a terrorist breeding ground and, if not directly destabilizing other areas in the Middle East, at least emboldening Iran and Syria to unleash Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran also feels free to defy U.N. demands to halt its nuclear program, further plummeting U.S. prestige in the Muslim world (for those inclined to wonder what difference that makes waits the question, “Do we want to be right, or do we want peace?”).

Election-eve sloganeering won’t change all this; only a fundamental shift in policy holds out any hope for improvement in Iraq. Bush’s spin on the war may generate short-term political relief before the November voting. But in reality, it’s just a pitch to keep pursuing a policy that is imploding at a frightening pace.

The indices that measure the state of Iraqi life and the effect of the war over the past 18 months in Iraq confirm that: insurgent attacks, civilian deaths, police deaths, American deaths, and the numbers of wounded all around have all soared. Oil and electrical production still remain below prewar levels, joblessness and despair among Iraqis are higher, and 82 percent of them now think the first answer to their troubles is an American withdrawal.

Both the Sunni insurgency and the Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence — now a virtual civil war with ethnic cleansing increasing on both sides — are more violent and deadlier than ever. July was deadlier than June. June was deadlier than May, and so on going back into last year. U.S. Defense Department statistics confirm that, and this nation’s top three generals earlier this month acknowledged that Iraq is sliding into civil war.

All this is the result of a war policy that was inadequate to begin with, that has never been improved, and that has failed to get Iraqis to create a government that will rein in the sectarian death squads embedded in the Iraqi police and the wide-spread corruption in the Iraqi military.

The Bush administration ignored its generals’ prewar advice to put several hundred thousand more troops on the ground to preempt the predictable sectarian violence that would occur when Saddam's ruling Sunni minority that had massacred majority Shiites was toppled from power. Instead, it went to war in Iraq on the cheap and horribly unprepared for the long term, and has remained unwilling to do anything more than incremental tinkering.

Now this nation’s soldiers, treasury, and image abroad as well as in Iraq are paying the price. Bush’s defense of that is more disingenuous rhetoric rather than a logical argument to rally support for his policies.

Voters must wonder how following the Bush stay-the-course direction will improve matters. They should consider that it's a phased withdrawal (which would force Iraqis to choose between defense of a prospective federalized democracy or a disastrous, all-out civil war) that would provide the clarifying effect that the president has said he seeks.

Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 
Shame on you, O'Tim! Haven't you received the memo clearly stating that using the term "moron" anywhere in a blog is the most heinous offense imaginable?

You should have titled this essay either "I know, Asshole the war" or fucktard, or something else, as those terms are gleefully (if not more than a little hypocritically) pardoned.

You'd better watch what you say, because the "peeps" are out there passing judgment. It's the new order of things, mate.

Just being a helper monkey.

Ook ook
 
For fuck sake, FM, when are you going to stop whining about something that happened a week or more ago? Get some pride and move on.
 
Oh, wait, I owe you an apology - it was SEVENTEEN days ago.
 
WHy was my comment deleted? I didn't put anyone down but Bush, and that's usually okay here. I didn't even call him a "moron".

Fez- Can we move on now?
 
Joe, your comment was deleted because you *thought* Bush was a moron.

Re-read your memo.

ook ook
 
Joe did you post it around 10:40 AM? That's when I got e-mail notif. of yer comment on the books post. But I didn't did not delete anything.

Mark - like you said in your post, "WE" have things to work on. Get crackin'.

Fez - what Joe said. I stuck up for you when (as?) the vendetta spilled over here, so try and show some restraint, kay?

Now, on-topic, anyone?
 
You're absolutely right, O'Tim, that the Bush admin. screwed up the war by sending too few troops (and possibly by doing a ground invasion to begin with--I've thought all along that limiting this to a bombing campaign only might have been the best way to go). Bush's inability to articulate a strategy that makes any reasonable sense is inexcusable. Given all that, you would think that the Dems could easily sweep at midterm, but we shall see...
 
"But I didn't did not delete anything."

Okay....so WHY didn't you did not delete anything?


That was about the time I posted. I wonder what happened?
 
Man, my recent attempts at humor have evidently been waaaaay off! But then again, with shields raised and photon torpedoes loaded, I guess that's to be expected.

I meant my initial comment to be a off-handed and more than slightly tongue-in-cheek joke mocking the absurdity of recent events, while giving a wink to your strategic use of the word-which-caused-the-uproar.

Boy, did I miss that target. Well, I guess they all can't be Ferrari's eh? Every now and then one of them ends up a Fiat.

Sorry for the brouhaha (or would this be an appropriate spot to use kerfluffle??). I suppose one of those emoticons would have helped clarify the intent, but I do abhor them so.

Ook ook.
 
"But I didn't did not delete anything."

DAMN THIS STINKING KEYBOARD ! !
 
your strategic use of the word-which-caused-the-uproar.

Ahh, therin lies part of the rub - I tweren't aware of all that whenst I used said word - just a coincidense that I like making bad puns in my blog titles, I guess!
 
Oh yeah, topic.

Paula - I was confused and skeptical when we u-turned from Afghanistan into Iraq, but gave the benefit of the doubt for a short time. When it became clear that Iraq was way more about the neo-con agenda than any priority concern over terrorism, I started getting pissed with every arrogant boneheaded move (or lack thereof)of Buschenesfeld.
 
"I've thought all along that limiting this to a bombing campaign only might have been the best way to go"

Jesus H Christ...
 
Sorry, Cheezy, but if there's no price to be paid for throwing out UN inspectors or violating no-fly zones, then what's the point of having a U.N.? Why not just tell everyone to do whatever they please and there'll be no consequences, ever?
 
I think everyone who ever expressed support for our current moron's war in Iraq should stop by the following blog.

It is written by a young woman living in Baghdad - one who hated the regime of Saddam Hussein and who initially viewed the American occupation with hope (despite the lies with which it was launched).

Those who supported this war, who thought it was a good idea should try and have an open mind (but they won't) when reading.

How those people can sleep at nights or look at themselves in a mirror, with all their complicity in this horror is beyond me.

Here is the link: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Ook ook.
 
Apparently I cannot comment here without being subject to vicious personal attack. I tried, O'Tim.
 
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