Profiles in Cowardice
And so the Bush strategy is clear: stay the course, ride out his term, and dump Iraq and all the other consequences of the most disasterous presidential run in American history onto his successor. If, as now seems likely, that person is a Democrat who begins bringing the troops home, she or he will be blamed for the inevitable collapse of the Iraqi central government and the bloodbath to follow.
Things were going well, we were starting to see some progress, Bush and his hearty band of war criminals will claim. The Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of certain victory.
If, by some miracle, Iraq survives, the perpetrators of one of the dumbest wars ever will claim credit for holding the line.
Either way, they can’t lose. In January 2009, George Walker Bush will leave office and hit the lecture trail where he will ”replenish the old bank account,” big time. What is most disheartening is that neither he, nor anyone else, will ever be held accountable for wasting more than 3,000 lives and more than a trillion dollars in taxpayer money in what is a true, American tragedy.
Posted: September 14th, 2007 under Bushco.
Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from Max von Schuler-Kobayashi
Time: September 14, 2007, 10:01 am
I wonder if the line can truly be held past January 2009. but I agree, many Americans will not want to face the truth that they helped elect the worst president in US history, it will easier to blame his successor. The big lie concept can work.
Unfortunately, America comes out of this seriously damaged.
Comment from jabartlett
Time: September 14, 2007, 10:35 am
Put this post in a time capsule and open it two years from now—and it will be completely right.
Comment from Koerling
Time: September 14, 2007, 8:39 pm
We should start calling this disasterous war “The Bush/Cheney War”;
no more Iraq War, ever.
This should make it easier for the next president to do what is right and lift this burden off the American People.
Comment from timr
Time: September 15, 2007, 11:07 am
One big problem with just up and leaving, is what I have heard more than one GI say. “We created the current problems thru our invasion and occupation of Iraq. We should stay here until we get it right and at least leave the Iraqi’s with something better than they have right now”. Like it or not, a very large number of both soldiers in Iraq and their families have bought into this narrative. I also think that there is something to this. We can’t just pack up and leave, it would take several months if we want to get all of our equipment and people out. Like it or not, the Vietnam picture of people leaving from the top of the embassy is ingrained in the public consciousness, and our soldiers don’t want to leave Iraq that way. On the other hand, gwb wants permanent bases in Iraq, just like in Korea. But, the koreans still pretty much like us, and we never fought an insurgency in Korea. A survey done about 2 weeks ago in Iraq showed that about 70% of the people want us to leave and think that it is just fine to kill american soldiers, and not let the door hit us in the ass on our way out. Permanent bases in Iraq would only make muslims want to get rid of us even more. gwb led us into Iraq with our eyes closed, zero knowledge of either people or customs and zero knowledge of whether or not the people even wanted us to “free” them. We gave the shia the power in Iraq, because the sunni had opressed them for many years. Now the shia are fighting us, while the sunni are begging for our help. Then just to make the farce whole, we are rearming sunni militias, while trying to disarm shia militias. To top that off, the Maliki gov. doesn’t want us to rearm the sunni, which we are doing dispite their strenuous objections. Welcome to the world of the mad hatters tea party.
Comment from timr
Time: September 15, 2007, 11:19 am
Comment from Max von Schuler-Kobayashi
Time: September 20, 2007, 9:26 pm
Hey folks,
Take a look at this:
Read Juan Cole’s 9/20 entry, and the guest op ed by David Wagner. He goes into detail about port cpacity in Kuwait, it needs to upgraded, and so does Umm Qasr, in case of a pullout. The Mahdi Army and the Badr Corps, two main Shitte factions, have started to go at it hammer and tongs in the south of Iraq.
This could force a US withdrawal whether we want to or not.
Convoys are escorted by Mercenaries from Kuwait to Baghdad. Blackwater security is now in trouble for it’s free firing ways, which have gone on for years. It is now banned for business.
This puts pressure on the remaining Merc companies. Area security from Kuwait to Basra is provided by local Shitte Sheiks. The upshot is, with the south beginning to go up in flames, the Sheiks may not wat to or may not be able to keep the roads clear.
Thus, no supplies get through, triggering a hasty US withdrawal.
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