Richard WarnickThe Iraq Study Group Report
Now Bush has something to read that’s better than Camus’ The Stranger (which is about a guy who kills an Arab for no good reason).
In fact, we can all read the short (160 page) Iraq Study Group Report today in PDF format. Below are the options presented in the report. Which one would you pick? I vote for number one, which is the only option that offers a chance of success IMHO. I would assume that the Iraq Study Group thinks withdrawal within six months is “precipitate,” but it’s what most Iraqis and Americans want. We’re willing to accept the consequences. The “way forward” suggested in the report includes some new diplomatic initiatives, but the rest consists mainly of ideas that have been tried already and haven’t worked.
1. Precipitate Withdrawal
2. Staying the Course
3. More Troops for Iraq
4. Devolution to Three Regions
5. The Way Forward - A New Approach
Current U.S. policy is not working, as the level of violence in Iraq is rising and the government is not advancing national reconciliation. Making no changes in policy would simply delay the day of reckoning at a high cost. Nearly 100 Americans are dying every month. The United States is spending $2 billion a week. Our ability to respond to other international crises is constrained. A majority of the American people are soured on the war. This level of expense is not sustainable over an extended period, especially when progress is not being made. The longer the United States remains in Iraq without progress, the more resentment will grow among Iraqis who believe they are subjects of a repressive American occupation.
Now we know why the GOP didn’t want this report to come out until after the election.
UPDATE: Rep. John Murtha comments on the Iraq Study Group Report:
“On November 7th, 2006 the American public sent a message on Iraq and as the new Democratic majority, we must respond with decisive action. Staying in Iraq is not an option politically, militarily or fiscally. The American people understand this. Today there is near consensus that there is no U.S. military solution and we must disengage our military from Iraq. The ISG recommended that we begin a withdrawal of U.S. troops by early 2008, depending on conditions on the ground. This is no different than the current policy. We must do what is best for America and insist on a responsible plan for redeployment. Iraq is plagued by a growing civil war and only the Iraqis can solve it.”
UPDATE: The Associated Press asked some soldiers in Ramadi what they think of the Iraq Study Group’s “way forward” recommendation:
First Lieutenant Gerard Dow, 32, of Chicago, Ill.: “In Iraq, we try to win the hearts and minds of the population. They want Americans out of here. They blame us for all their problems. They look at us as the terrorists and then they turn around and help the terrorists who are trying to kill us…. U.S. soldiers are dying trying to help people who don’t want their help.”
December 6th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
All good points, and I think it’s about time Iraqis started taking care of themselves, but amid all the negativity, is it taboo to talk about some of the good things that are going on?
I hear many people say that we are “losing the Iraq war”. In fact, that’s what’s being reported by the associated press, but I think that is a matter of semantics and opinion.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
We captured 11 terrorists? That’s the good news?
If the war was just about regime change, i.e. overthrowing Saddam, well then mission accomplished. If the goal was to re-make Iraq as an ally the U.S. and Israel and get control of the oil, that was a non-starter and the war was lost even before we invaded. The other putative war aims have been debunked by now.
December 6th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
here are some good lyrics:sung to tune of star spangled banner:
i killed alot of muzzies
while i was working for israel
yes the neocons tricked me and all the people around bush
and we watched the big bombs and we slaughered the kids and we said it didn’t matter cuz we didn’t intend to kill them all,
but we knew they were there and we knew that they would die, but we listened to the boss and he said it was just a collateral casualty,
now i am going insane and if wonder how the israeli tricked us.
is it just the media pentration, or do they also own the pentagon, i hope that congress stays free but i doubt it is true.
oh say i can never admit that we did it for israeliiiiii, i will truly go insane if i realize andcknowkdge the wrong.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
The war was about giving the asswipe, pictured above, something to take our minds off ENRON. But that was sooo 2001.
Ok, It was about grabbing oil. But that’s so obvious.
Surely it was about killing, torture, and destruction. Somebody’s got to do it. Why not Us? Our tax $ @ work. Thanks again, Republicans.
December 6th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
The text for the picture should read, “there is nothing on this menu I like”
December 6th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
who was that smart wench who predicted that the dems would be more hawkish than bush and co. that pelosi was part of the problem.
didn’t she also say the hillary would be worse than bush. rmember yugoslavia ?(oh right..the libs don’t like to discuss that one because they collaborated in mass murder). recall how the demos zombie crowd walked in lock step to the tune of “milosovic is war criminal”. no thought involved. well, those worms are now about to take a sizeable amount of control.
December 7th, 2006 at 6:04 am
areola02, There is little to be said in defense of this administration and, you are correct that the Dems are similarly indefensible, however, despite the ‘no-brainer’ aspect of the population at large and the power of the corporations who profit from wars, we are presently in a moment of possible change, wherein if citizens pitch hard enough and thoughtfully enough and in numbers sufficient enough to force those representatives who we just hired to express our will in foreign and other affairs, something more reflective of our real values might come into being, other than greed driven war, sadistic torture and other misbegotten policy failures. Citizen action and input is absolutely essential to the restoration of any good image that we’ve seen diminished since we’ve gotten it in our heads that we are infallible and supremely Blessed. The U.S. is only part of this worlds community, and not necessirily the best part.