Post #114

Subject: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Where do we go from here?

In my Post #112, I quoted retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, coalition commander in 2003 and 2004, “Still, the U.S. cannot pull out of Iraq without causing chaos that would have global implications.”

I also quoted Pat Buchanan in my Post #37, “But those consequences [of a withdrawal] are going to be ugly and enduring. That is what happens to nations that commit historic blunders.”

Yes, and it is past time for us to accept the consequences of the defeat George W. Bush has inflicted upon us because those consequences get worse with each passing day. Turkish troops are ready to sweep into northern Iraq, Syria has apparently aligned with North Korea, al-Qaeda has found sanctuary in Pakistan.

Simply, it’s time -- and has been for a while – to “run, run, run away, live to fight another day.”

Could things get any worse?

Of course, they could.

In Charles Krauthammer’s column “Iraq divided” of September 7, 2007, he said: “The critics at home, echoing the Shiite sectarians in Baghdad, complain that an essential part of this strategy -- the "20 percent solution" that allows former-insurgent Sunnis to organize and arm themselves -- is just setting Iraq up for a greater civil war. But this assumes that a Shiite government in Baghdad would march its army into the vast Anbar province where there are no Shiites and no oil. For what? It seems far more likely that a well-armed and self-governing Anbar would create a balance of power that would encourage hands-off relations with the central government in
Baghdad. “

My respect for Charles just plummeted – either Charles is being foolish regarding human nature or he is lying about the possibility of a civil war to support his argument that the surge is working. I know that I said, in my Post #105, that Charles seems to actually listen to “the opposition” and try to understand without the usual dim-witted snipes of many right-wing-ers. But the reason for worry is that the new heavily-armed Sunni will march into the Shiite areas where there IS oil – then, ya have a civil war. Charles is just not listening – why does he continue to push a theory [the surge] that our own military deems “counterproductive?”

Does it make sense to continue to squander our military resources – blood and treasure –as the world becomes more and more dangerous? I thought the Historical lesson of the Soviet Union was that the self-inflicted wound of bankruptcy – squandering blood and treasure – led to their fall. How much longer will peeps agree with Bush and think that their loved one should die in a never-ending war? We‘ll sacrifice for enhancing the security of the United States of America, but Iraq ain’t it!