just how the hell did we get here?
The President made a speech to the nation Thursday evening in which he announced that he would begin to bring home some of our troops from Iraq. It is a start, not a withdrawal to speak of, he just isn't replacing troops that are scheduled to be rotated back to the states, but it is something that most people seem to have sought for a while.
Why are we not happy? (OK, for the purposes of this post, you can say, why am I not happy?)
Well, for one, the President is coming away from this none the worse for wear, whereas the rest of the country, and specifically the armed services are really feeling the impact of his decisions, and will live with the ramifications for years, if not decades. Politically, he may emerge no more dented and bruised than his intellect and inherent abilities would have allowed otherwise...
Secondly, I have to wonder, what was the situation that led us into this particular morass, what is the situation today, and what was accomplished, and just as importantly, what is still in play?
We went in to Iraq in 2003 although the decision appears to have been made very shortly after the plans for the invasion of Afghanistan, and may even be leftovers from the first gulf war. the motivation is not clear, but it seems to have been, at least in part, because Iraq was perceived at the time to be 'low hanging fruit', an easy mark, a cakewalk, a quick easy score that would burnish the Presidents credentials, and in part because it was a huge opportunity for certain business interests to get in the door and rake in the money that appeared to be laying around like so much sand in the desert.
If you are a regular reader of this somewhat irregular page, you might think that I am completely opposed to this foray into the mideast. That is not so. I supported the invasion of Afghanistan and was only opposed to its apparent limitations at the time, as well as its apparent fastidious avoidance of any appearance of stepping on the toes of Pakistan. Pakistan is an ally of the US, but its government is not in control of the country or even its own facilities. A few days in the northwest corner of Pakistan might have taken care of the bin Laden issue from the get go, thus reducing our need to make a grander show of things while we were in the neighborhood.
So, as we begin to change direction in Iraq, what should our focus be? Who is the enemy? What war are we fighting? I intend to comment on these two questions over the next couple of days, but I ask you, the reader, what you think? What is our interest, and what is going to happen when we leave?
Why are we not happy? (OK, for the purposes of this post, you can say, why am I not happy?)
Well, for one, the President is coming away from this none the worse for wear, whereas the rest of the country, and specifically the armed services are really feeling the impact of his decisions, and will live with the ramifications for years, if not decades. Politically, he may emerge no more dented and bruised than his intellect and inherent abilities would have allowed otherwise...
Secondly, I have to wonder, what was the situation that led us into this particular morass, what is the situation today, and what was accomplished, and just as importantly, what is still in play?
We went in to Iraq in 2003 although the decision appears to have been made very shortly after the plans for the invasion of Afghanistan, and may even be leftovers from the first gulf war. the motivation is not clear, but it seems to have been, at least in part, because Iraq was perceived at the time to be 'low hanging fruit', an easy mark, a cakewalk, a quick easy score that would burnish the Presidents credentials, and in part because it was a huge opportunity for certain business interests to get in the door and rake in the money that appeared to be laying around like so much sand in the desert.
If you are a regular reader of this somewhat irregular page, you might think that I am completely opposed to this foray into the mideast. That is not so. I supported the invasion of Afghanistan and was only opposed to its apparent limitations at the time, as well as its apparent fastidious avoidance of any appearance of stepping on the toes of Pakistan. Pakistan is an ally of the US, but its government is not in control of the country or even its own facilities. A few days in the northwest corner of Pakistan might have taken care of the bin Laden issue from the get go, thus reducing our need to make a grander show of things while we were in the neighborhood.
So, as we begin to change direction in Iraq, what should our focus be? Who is the enemy? What war are we fighting? I intend to comment on these two questions over the next couple of days, but I ask you, the reader, what you think? What is our interest, and what is going to happen when we leave?
posted by eccentric recluse at 12:03 PM
3 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Twice recently I have heard the phrase "our interests in the area." Bush used something like that in his speech without identifying what that was. I think he intends for this to be our new rallying cry, because we can no longer say "let's win" or "mission accomplished."
Protecting our troops can't be our primary interest in being there, and "stability in the region" is just a rallying cry to help further the real reason for our presence: "protecting our interests in the area."
I guess you could say we're fighting "Al-Qaida in Iraq" but I was under the impression that a lot of the deaths, military and civilian, are coming from that civil war.
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