Post #91

Subject: Happy B’Day!

In Post #1 of this blog, I offered responses and additions to the column, “Is defeat now an option?” by Pat Buchanan, http://www.theamericancause.org/ .

Pat said, “ We may be at a crossroads in both Iran and Afghanistan, where he has three choices: Ratchet up the U.S. troop investment to stave off defeat. Endure in what appears to be another "no-win war." Cut America's losses and get out, risking strategic disaster.

Yes, I said, we have three options
1. Win the war. I opposed the diversion into Iraq to begin with, but it is/was winnable. Bush has lost it and probably cannot win it at this point.
2. Stay the course. More lying, more dying as Bush prays for a miracle.
3. Withdrawal. I personally favor #1, but, as that option gets farther and farther away, I favor #3. I find #2 to be morally reprehensible.

A year later, and how do things look now?

I am more convinced than ever that the Iraq War is not winnable – no matter how much money, no matter how many lives, no matter how many years, we will leave… as occupiers, not democracy’s champion. In my Post #88, I quoted Pat Buchanan, “We‘ve got 150,000 troops in Iraq. At the end of World War II, we had four million in Western Europe. We had 12 million under arms. We got an Army of 500,000 people. We do not have the ability to build a nation and deal with an guerrilla insurgency of the kind we confront with the armed forces we confront right now. We just don‘t have it!” Nor do we have the leadership required to ask us for what is so obviously necessary – an open-ended commitment… to turn Iraq into the 51st state!

But even that will not be enough. We need to address the causes of terrorism. In my Post #25, I said. “The War on Terror is a race against time – we need to convince those who want to do us harm that there is a better way BEFORE they do us harm.” If we did turn Iraq into the 51st state, will that calm Osama? Of course not.

So, a “win” in Iraq – at a cost way beyond anything our “leaders” have even dreamed of – does not translate into a “win” in the War on Terror.

Success – that’s what we want. The ultimate irony is that a withdrawal – or accepting defeat, as I’m sure neo-cons will say – is our best chance for success. Success in Iraq IS protecting America’s interests. America’s interests (for those not paying attention) = ending the war. We must not leave chaos behind. We must stop the bleeding so that we may respond with our military to other threats -- such as the on-going threat from London -- :p -- uh, Afghanistan.

Surging… again is nothing short of murderous. It is not in America’s interests to send more soldiers to their death so that George W. Bush can try to duck blame for his war.