So everyone agrees that Iraq is a mess. I heard General Jack Keane on Charlie Rose last night. He sounded downright annoyed that people would question the strategy of sending more troops to Iraq. If I understood correctly, his idea is to retake Baghdad (this is now the third time doing this I believe) only this time after we kick ass, we stick around. He wants to keep the troops walking the street all day and all night. No more disco Thursday in the Green Zone. I assume this is close to what Bush is going to say on his talk to the nation on Wednesday.
So bigger is better is our new strategy- more power is the key. Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor is now running the war.
But what happens when one of these troops accidentally shoots up a family of innocent Iraqis? Or we inadvertently gun down a group of unarmed protestors? I don't think that the insurgents are planning to put on uniforms anytime soon, which would make it quite confusing to tell who's who I would imagine. I mean it is confusing enough for one of our members of the House of Representatives to know if Al Qaeda is a Sunni or Shia organization for God's sake. We might succeed in bringing the Shias and the Sunnis together to fight our intensified occupation. Remember when they weren't killing each other as much, they were killing us more. How will we react when we start seeing children picking up strategically placed guns in marketplaces and shooting soldiers at point-blank range? How about a beautiful woman in despair pretending to hug a soldier, only to place a bullet under his chin and disappear into a crowd? You know, they did have a screening of "The Battle of Algiers" at the Pentagon in 2003. Ahh, but it was a foreign film in black and white. I doubt anyone paid much attention.
Graeme Anfinson
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Craig Bardo commented at 7:27 AM~
I don't know what the solution is, but I know that the cost of leaving Iraq the way it is today is too high. I won't argue the merits of our going in the first place because it is irrelevant. If our troops accidentally kill Iraqis or are killed by Iraqis as we make this new effort, how is that different than what is happening today?
As I understand it, the mission focus will shift from training Iraqis to securing the population. It won't be pleasant for Baghdad residents, but neither, I suspect is the threat of being blown up by a neighbor or worrying about whether the children you send to school will survive the day.
The second component of the plan is to infuse the capital with economic development aid. To get young men working on projects and being paid to rebuild the infrastructure of their country instead of blowing us or their perceived enemy up...sounds almost New Deal like...liberals should love this aspect of the plan.
Whatever the plan, it is in the best interest of all but the islamo fascists and death squad militias that we succeed. I would hope that we would all support giving Iraqis a solid chance to govern themselves free of the whims of a tyrant or neighboring caliphate.
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Graeme commented at 9:21 PM~
It is a tough situation, but it is a situation created by bush's premptive doctrine. I don't think that point is irrelevant.
one thing we haven't tried much is talking. talk to Iran, to syria, to the insurgents (the vast majority being nationalists not terrorists). It sounds so crazy it just might work. Heck, we could even talk to the ICU in Somalia instead of blowing up people.
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sumo commented at 11:50 PM~
Graeme...don't forget that the Dub cannot talk to the leaders of the other nations until he has the power of a win behind him...you know...strutting his stuff. Then he can stick out his chest and afford to have some speak with them because they'll know he is a dude to be reckoned with. How weird is that? Until he can label Iraq an unqualified victory (I hate that word by now) he cannot let it look like he is weak. It's such crap.
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troutsky commented at 7:34 AM~
Attitudes like CBs are responsible for all the death and destruction."I don't know what the solution is , but.." This is Bush in a nutshell. The "but" is "but I know i can't withdraw or resort to diplomacy or try to negotiate a settlement,etc". In other words,I have no solution but I know it can't be such and such.
CB also knows this is no New Deal, the plan is to privitize all state owned resources, oil company, power companies, health system, etc and pay for it all with future oil revenues.( the little bit the Multi-nationals give back to the state)But remember, the US Christian "caliphate" is the one building permanent bases and a massive embassy.
You can certainly "secure a population" through military occupation but you cannot build a society that way.
