Let me see if I have this straight, the President proposes to increase troop strength to bolster the transition in Iraq. The new congress, whose former minority was for some time calling for just such action, is now preparing to use the power of the purse to influence foreign policy. This was the same tactic employed by congress during the Ford administration in which support for South Vietnam was cut off.
What's wrong with this picture? No one likes the conflict in the Mideast. It is a dangerous, difficult and hard to fathom situation. It is not about oil, Israel or any other single issue. It has more to do with the post WWI partitioning of Europe's old colonies and their later division during the Cold War.
I think all of us would rather live in a world where we only had to worry about the next reality TV show or what cool new cell phone was going to hit the market.
Remember those times?
It was called the Clinton era. Nothing much seemed to be happening in foreign affairs. Oh there was the Balkans, and the genocide in Rwanda, the Cole and the first bombing of the WTC, but other than that not too much occurred.
Most soldiers in Iraq would like to leave, but most also want to leave a country which can stand on its own. The United States is the ONLY nation remaining in the world that has the capability to support other nations in their security measures. Other nations, even developed ones, still rely upon us for a lot of logistics, C4ISR and other "specialties" which we have developed during our war with the USSR, a war which we won only when we decided upon the right tool to lead us to victory.
Arbitrary timelines and budget restrictions are not the right tools.
13 comments:
Remember those times? It was called the Clinton era.
Ah my friend. You, a good conservative fellow, have just demonstrated perhaps the best campaign strategy that can bring Al Gore back into the oval office - Ninety's Nostalgia!
Why am I obsessing over Al Gore? I don't want him there, but I think he's gonna be - depending on the Obama fator.
I still have no oppinion on the Republican field so far. They're all so... well, predictable = boring.
Al Gore can not return. The ticking timebomb which is An Inconvenient Truth will be used against him mercilessly. The realities of the war will be the deciding factor in 2008. If the democrats can maneuver their handling the war to look like their success (very challenging), then they have a chance.
On the other hand, if we can be successful in Iraq, it will be hard to argue that the administration was wrong.
Iraq could also be a plus for AG. If there is no miraculous change, cease fire, whatever; if the current tagline does not change for the better, AG is one who can honestly say he never voted or approve of the action.
The bending or misuse of some facts in "AIT" will never get wide spead coverage, because anthropogenic global warming has become conventional wisdom. There are still A LOT of people who believe the muck dished out in some of Micnael Moores sclocumentaries.
How can a critically acclaimed, box office topping film be "used mercillessly" against someone? I think after this winter, with the non-winter we are having in the east, the huge storms in the west, the breaking off of eons-old ice shelfs in the arctic, and visions of drowing and malnourised polar bears not drinking coke with the penquins, many people might consider him a prophet whose time has come. Very few people, and only a small number of scientists, still believe that it not human activity that has contributed to this rapid escalation of golbal warming.Um. Excuse me climate change.(Intersting that many insurance companies have stopped writing insurance for "storm zones", i.e. "beachfront property".)
As for the speech last night, I don't think that anyone is against Iraq becoming stable, but Bush was supposed to come up with a "new strategy". People are frustrated that he has come up with more of the same. Even many republicans are against a "troop surge."
Many, many Iraqis do not consider the US their friends anymore, and they do not see us as liberators. If they ever did. (oh, I am gonna get spanked for that.....)
Off to school as I will never ever have another snow day....
Ver Word: kriryz
For the record I would like to see the consensus from the FAS or the NSF regarding the scientific community's concurrence that GW is the result of human activity.
Secondly, I am not sure what a new strategy would look like. This is not a marketing campaing where we switch spokesmodels and change the packaging color. This is about getting people to cooperate and stop killing one another.
Perhaps the successful strategy in the Balkans should be employed, oh yeah, that was partitioning.
Partition, which I think is similiar to what Sadam did (remember when he was our friend before he was our enemy) despite all the evil dictator torture stuff. But hey, it worked....and of course, Mussolini made the trains run on time. The question is, in a region where religious/idealogical hatreds which are centuries old exist, and dealt with in very different mindset than our own, how is it possible to get people to "cooperate and stop killing each other"? I am not sure that we can, or that we should even try.
They were for it before they were against it. I swear if George Bush were to come out strongly against suicide they would all run up to the top of the Washington Monument and leap. Honestly, I cannot figure out what they want...
The old adage about shifting loyalties simply exposes how difficult it is to manage a world where you DO NOT control all the elements.
Partition would be a three nation region, or a federalized region with three states. In any case, the inherent adherence to tribal loyalties will be a challenge to ANY government to manage in a civil way. Saddam got around this through murder, torture and a ruthless use of the military (see Yugoslavia).
Off topic - but important if it pans out!
Police Reunion!
Sonic, you are such a healer. Really.
How did I miss this news? Was I too busy listening to the weird Sting sings Elizabethan Love Songs Album that I bought over the holidays to notice?
Ver word: efisunck. Who even knew Efi had an uncle?
Sting sings Elizabethan Love Songs?! That does it, I'm off to a bunker in Northern Idaho...
Yes. SONGS FROM THE LABYRINTH. On Deutsche Gramnaphone, no less. Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Labyrinth-Music-John-Dowland/dp/B000HXDESU/sr=8-1/qid=1168630597/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0473139-7176161?ie=UTF8&s=music
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