Asking Permission to Play Hide-and-Seek in Iraq
So today there are the bodies of three dead French nationals in Iran, killed on a desert trip by Islamic radical elements .... oh wait, those killings were in Saudi Arabia. My mistake. See, even I've been influenced by all of this Iran = Al Qaeda + 9-11 hype. Sporatic incident or a resurgence of the 2003-2004 mini-insurgency which killed more than 150+ foreigners and Saudis and about 136 Islamofacists, before the Saudis laid it down enough, though they swear it was achieved through force and not cash. All in all, couple with continued suicide bombings and sectarian violence, and the President of Iraqi in a hospital in Jordan, it makes for a queasy week over in the Territories of the Grand Western Oil Reserves. Just to cheer you up, our soldiers over in Baghdad are getting to play a wonderful game of hide and go seek. The Sunni Insurgency is making the popcorn and the Shia Militias are bringing the sodapop, so peace may yet break out. Becuase they finally have something they can both laugh at, at the same time. Cheery. Especially for the estimated 1,050 more dead city-dwellers since Feb. 1, among them the 269 kidnap-torture-execute victims who are now only unidentifiable bodies to be buried.
I thought to stop and talk a moment about how this plays out in the American political scene. In my own personal life I've faced a lot of snide remarks that Democrats want the surge to fail (merely because we estimate it will) and that we want a failed state in Iraq (although we expect the rise of a Shiite, Iran-friendly power). Rational discourse becomes next to impossible when faced with such accusations, considering that we are bound by some imposed morality not to start posting blog after blog, or ruining dinner after dinner, by saying that the Republicans only want to send troops to Iraq to cause a bloodbath or to rape Muslim virgins. I'm content with being so nice, despite the thousand little wounds inflicted by the ill-mannered. However.
Why the fury from the Democrats over this one little surge? We aren't stupid. Just the other day the McNeil Newshour reported that the National Guard is getting warnings about future deployments next year. Bush has said let me have one more try and what seems so harmful about that? Ah... he asked. So why did he ask? You all know the saying, better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Bush declared on national television to the insurgents in Iraq that he was sending them, giving them ample time to rent trucks from U-Haul and hide all their goodies, and order "Good Arab" costumes online with regular mail delivery. Bush then sent the troop surge after using the issue to hoard as many congressional working hours as possible. No wonder they can't figure out who to shoot or who's shooting back.
Yes, the Shiite militias are doing horrible things. And what happens if you do remove them, and leave an Iraq vulnerable to the rise of Sunni militarism? The Sunni are backed by al-Qaeda friendly Saudi "private charities" while the Shia are backed by the OBL-unfriendly Iran. Pick your poison. Peace in Baghdad would be nice.. in the short run. And as soon as we leave, that might in itself create the very Islamofacist state we are supposed to be trying to avoid giving birth to. Get rid of the Mahdi Army and Iran still has an interest in backing the Shia in Iraq. Different day and different faces. You will not have changed the underlying causes of the outbreak of sectarian violence.
What do I as a Democrat want? I wanted some evidence that this really would be Bush's last hurrah, the final reinforcements to Custer's Last Stand. I didn't want this sinking feeling that Bush is going to come back again with his hand out. I want to be out of Iraq before the next Presidential elections, I want Bush to finish what he started, and not to have him insist that we clean up all the messes that he has made. You know, a little responsibility? I want the Democratic leadership in Congress to set the "redeployment from Iraq" date by the simple way of saying, there will be not be funding for the War in Iraq in the 2008 military budget, so you have ten months to figure your shit out. If this is the last surge Bush really needs then ten months is by far more than he needs and certainly gracious of the American public.
I thought to stop and talk a moment about how this plays out in the American political scene. In my own personal life I've faced a lot of snide remarks that Democrats want the surge to fail (merely because we estimate it will) and that we want a failed state in Iraq (although we expect the rise of a Shiite, Iran-friendly power). Rational discourse becomes next to impossible when faced with such accusations, considering that we are bound by some imposed morality not to start posting blog after blog, or ruining dinner after dinner, by saying that the Republicans only want to send troops to Iraq to cause a bloodbath or to rape Muslim virgins. I'm content with being so nice, despite the thousand little wounds inflicted by the ill-mannered. However.
Why the fury from the Democrats over this one little surge? We aren't stupid. Just the other day the McNeil Newshour reported that the National Guard is getting warnings about future deployments next year. Bush has said let me have one more try and what seems so harmful about that? Ah... he asked. So why did he ask? You all know the saying, better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Bush declared on national television to the insurgents in Iraq that he was sending them, giving them ample time to rent trucks from U-Haul and hide all their goodies, and order "Good Arab" costumes online with regular mail delivery. Bush then sent the troop surge after using the issue to hoard as many congressional working hours as possible. No wonder they can't figure out who to shoot or who's shooting back.
Yes, the Shiite militias are doing horrible things. And what happens if you do remove them, and leave an Iraq vulnerable to the rise of Sunni militarism? The Sunni are backed by al-Qaeda friendly Saudi "private charities" while the Shia are backed by the OBL-unfriendly Iran. Pick your poison. Peace in Baghdad would be nice.. in the short run. And as soon as we leave, that might in itself create the very Islamofacist state we are supposed to be trying to avoid giving birth to. Get rid of the Mahdi Army and Iran still has an interest in backing the Shia in Iraq. Different day and different faces. You will not have changed the underlying causes of the outbreak of sectarian violence.
What do I as a Democrat want? I wanted some evidence that this really would be Bush's last hurrah, the final reinforcements to Custer's Last Stand. I didn't want this sinking feeling that Bush is going to come back again with his hand out. I want to be out of Iraq before the next Presidential elections, I want Bush to finish what he started, and not to have him insist that we clean up all the messes that he has made. You know, a little responsibility? I want the Democratic leadership in Congress to set the "redeployment from Iraq" date by the simple way of saying, there will be not be funding for the War in Iraq in the 2008 military budget, so you have ten months to figure your shit out. If this is the last surge Bush really needs then ten months is by far more than he needs and certainly gracious of the American public.
Labels: Bush, Congress, Iran Iraq, war on terror
posted by omelas at 11:36 AM
1 Comments:
I just thought I should point out that there are no more muslim virgins on earth due to the overwhelming success of the 72 virgins for blowing yourself up to promote the political gains of a seventh century ideology in the name of the prophet (PBUH) Muhhamed policy. but it was a nice try, I mean really "raping virgins"??? cmon, you can do better...
Hi Dead..
Post a Comment
<< Home