In Which I Am Not Wowed
The Decider has spoken.
Bush plans to send 21,000 troops to surge in rotations that probably cannot be sustained for very long. Not the remainder of the 300,000 troops that General Shinseki originally spoke of, or even the recent neo-con request of 32,000. We're relying on 21,000 to change the course of Iraq.
There's nothing in this new plan that's new strategy... we'll attempt to quell the violence and then try to hand it over to the Iraqis to manage. We've futzed around with a few of the tactics, of course. This time instead of holding the Iraq government accountable for progress benchmarks, we're going to hold them really, REALLY accountable, for real! And Maliki has FOR SURE promised to get Sadr under control. And we're not kidding around anymore, guys -- this time we'll TOTALLY create an Iraqi Army that will actually show up and take orders!
I hope it works this time but I'm nowhere near close to believing it will.
What bothers me most is that I still -- still! -- can't tell what our end game is. How do we know when we've won? Are we really going to stick around indefinitely until the militias (or as Bush quaintly referred to them, "tribal forces") voluntarily relinquish their power? Or until the various tribes and sects learn to embrace their inner nationalist? I mean, who are we rooting for in this mess, anyway... the Shia are just as barbaric as the Sunni! It's all so.... surreal.
Probably more persuasive than Bush was McCain, who reminded us what would happen if we failed in Iraq. An excellent point actually, and one that should serve to anger everyone who heard it. This was a foolish war to begin with, executed with awesome incompetence, and there's still a very good chance that this surge isn't going to win it for us. We may well be on our way to the horrible loss already. What will we do next if this fails? Withdraw. Maybe it makes sense to try one more time but you know what? I'd go absolutely batshit crazy if my kid was the last one to die for a lost cause.
It makes me sick to think of what we've gotten ourselves into here.
Bush plans to send 21,000 troops to surge in rotations that probably cannot be sustained for very long. Not the remainder of the 300,000 troops that General Shinseki originally spoke of, or even the recent neo-con request of 32,000. We're relying on 21,000 to change the course of Iraq.
There's nothing in this new plan that's new strategy... we'll attempt to quell the violence and then try to hand it over to the Iraqis to manage. We've futzed around with a few of the tactics, of course. This time instead of holding the Iraq government accountable for progress benchmarks, we're going to hold them really, REALLY accountable, for real! And Maliki has FOR SURE promised to get Sadr under control. And we're not kidding around anymore, guys -- this time we'll TOTALLY create an Iraqi Army that will actually show up and take orders!
I hope it works this time but I'm nowhere near close to believing it will.
What bothers me most is that I still -- still! -- can't tell what our end game is. How do we know when we've won? Are we really going to stick around indefinitely until the militias (or as Bush quaintly referred to them, "tribal forces") voluntarily relinquish their power? Or until the various tribes and sects learn to embrace their inner nationalist? I mean, who are we rooting for in this mess, anyway... the Shia are just as barbaric as the Sunni! It's all so.... surreal.
Probably more persuasive than Bush was McCain, who reminded us what would happen if we failed in Iraq. An excellent point actually, and one that should serve to anger everyone who heard it. This was a foolish war to begin with, executed with awesome incompetence, and there's still a very good chance that this surge isn't going to win it for us. We may well be on our way to the horrible loss already. What will we do next if this fails? Withdraw. Maybe it makes sense to try one more time but you know what? I'd go absolutely batshit crazy if my kid was the last one to die for a lost cause.
It makes me sick to think of what we've gotten ourselves into here.
posted by Logic101 at 1/10/2007 07:59:00 AM
2 Comments:
They are no even really sending in 20 thousand fresh troops, they are sending some units in early, units back from iraq, and other units will be staying longer.
Hi edward ott -- Yeah, I actually already knew that but the theory is that we'll have a greater number of troops on the ground at one time. That should beg a whole other question for folks, shouldn't it? Is 20,000 really what we need to win or is it just the best we can do?
Post a Comment
<< Home