A Plan for Defeat
I actually basically agree with the President. Last night, he said that in Iraq "there are now only two options before our country: Victory, or defeat." Certainly, the war was a mistake, and certainly, deception, half-truths, and outright lies were involved in forcing America into a war with a nation that was no threat to the United States, unlike, say, Iraq's neighbor Iran.
But that's all spilled milk. No one can reasonably say that Iraq is no threat to our national security now, not now that it has become the laboratory and training ground for the world's terrorists...and that years of occupation have made America more hated throughout the Middle East than ever before. I just don't understand why the President is trying to get us defeated. By making no plans to leave, he makes defeat likely, if not inevitable. The only way we can win in Iraq is if we get out in time. The truth is, with every day we spend in Iraq, the credibility of the Iraqi government decreases and they seem more like US puppets. With every day we spend in Iraq, hatred of the US grows. Every day we spend in Iraq is another day the Iraqi military does not learn to operate on its own. We've spent years training the Iraqi army, and they can't seem to do anything. Who's training the Iraqi resistance? They appear to be doing all right without an $80 billion-a-year helping hand from the US. So far the Iraqi resistance seems to be evidence of a triumph of the will, while the Iraqi military is a triumph of the won't.
The Iraqi resistance is fed by hatred of a loathed foreign occupier, while at the same time, each soldier in the Iraqi military must wonder if he is not a traitor to his country by serving the government we put in place. The longer we stay in Iraq, the less likely the Iraqi military will ever be effective, and the longer we stay there, the more likely an overwhelming majority will come to support our removal and the ouster of the government. There may come a day that Americans are so hated that Shiites are in the streets calling for a return to the good old days of Saddam Hussein.
And if that day comes, it will come because we stayed too long. It may already be too late. A year from now may well be too late. Much later than that, and what comes after will probably make us wish for the good old days of Saddam Hussein.
11:05:44 PM 
|
|
