Comments on: Mission Creep in the Mideast http://themoderatevoice.com/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/ An Internet hub with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, indies, centrists, moderates, and right Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:43:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: GreenDreams http://themoderatevoice.com/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/comment-page-1/#comment-150094 GreenDreams Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:28:30 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/war/iraq/sectarian-violence/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/#comment-150094 Two points. We threw all we had at Vietnam and "lost". Asia didn't collapse and now Vietnam is a bustling part of our manufacturing base. Could we have done better in Southeast Asia? Yes, just as we can do better in the Middle East.<br><br>Years ago, I argued that we could have bought victory in Iraq long ago. We have spent more money per Iraqi family than the lifetime income of nearly all of them. We have given them a devastated country of unemployed angry men, orphans and widows, without jobs, clean water, working sewers and electricity and daily fear of death. We could have handed them, at far less cost, 100% employment (placing them under our supervision) rebuilding the water, electricity, gas and sewer, and a working oil infrastructure that they would have a stake in preserving, rather than blowing up. Border security? We could hire a million Iraqis with cell phones on the Iranian border. Pipe dream? Hardly. The linked article echoes my points:<br><br>"Dollars are as important as bullets, and so are political accommodation, effective government services and clear demonstrations that there is a future that does not need to be built on Islamist extremism." Two points. We threw all we had at Vietnam and “lost”. Asia didn't collapse and now Vietnam is a bustling part of our manufacturing base. Could we have done better in Southeast Asia? Yes, just as we can do better in the Middle East.

Years ago, I argued that we could have bought victory in Iraq long ago. We have spent more money per Iraqi family than the lifetime income of nearly all of them. We have given them a devastated country of unemployed angry men, orphans and widows, without jobs, clean water, working sewers and electricity and daily fear of death. We could have handed them, at far less cost, 100% employment (placing them under our supervision) rebuilding the water, electricity, gas and sewer, and a working oil infrastructure that they would have a stake in preserving, rather than blowing up. Border security? We could hire a million Iraqis with cell phones on the Iranian border. Pipe dream? Hardly. The linked article echoes my points:

“Dollars are as important as bullets, and so are political accommodation, effective government services and clear demonstrations that there is a future that does not need to be built on Islamist extremism.”

]]> By: Iraq » Mission Creep in the Mideast http://themoderatevoice.com/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/comment-page-1/#comment-110777 Iraq » Mission Creep in the Mideast Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:15:23 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/war/iraq/sectarian-violence/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/#comment-110777 [...] The Moderate Voice - Domestic and international news analysis, irreverent comments, original reporti... wrote an interesting post today on Mission Creep in the MideastHere’s a quick excerptMission Creep in the Mideast February 25th, 2008 by ROBERT STEIN John McCain’s hyperbole about keeping troops in Iraq for a hundred years is alarmingly echoed in a Washington Post OpEd by one of the saner foreign policy experts on the Washington scene. “What the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan have in common,” Anthony Cordesman writes, “is that it will take a major and consistent U.S. effort throughout the next administration at least to win either war. “Any American political debate t [...] [...] The Moderate Voice – Domestic and international news analysis, irreverent comments, original reporti… wrote an interesting post today on Mission Creep in the MideastHere’s a quick excerptMission Creep in the Mideast February 25th, 2008 by ROBERT STEIN John McCain’s hyperbole about keeping troops in Iraq for a hundred years is alarmingly echoed in a Washington Post OpEd by one of the saner foreign policy experts on the Washington scene. “What the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan have in common,” Anthony Cordesman writes, “is that it will take a major and consistent U.S. effort throughout the next administration at least to win either war. “Any American political debate t [...]

]]> By: Rudi http://themoderatevoice.com/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/comment-page-1/#comment-150093 Rudi Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:56:45 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/war/iraq/sectarian-violence/18013/mission-creep-in-the-mideast/#comment-150093 You are correct in that Cordesman is a sane voice, however he never proposed a rapid pullout of Iraq. What is needed is a sane discussion of real objectives, not the extremes of both parties. Hagel and Powell were right, we've got broken pottery and need to assess the damage. You are correct in that Cordesman is a sane voice, however he never proposed a rapid pullout of Iraq. What is needed is a sane discussion of real objectives, not the extremes of both parties. Hagel and Powell were right, we've got broken pottery and need to assess the damage.

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