Yet Another Forever War Anniversary: OBL, GWB, The Politics of Fear & Much More
Having run through a series of rationales for the Iraq war that would have daunted a less arrogant man, George Bush finally settled on a real keeper in the fifth year of the Forever War: It was necessary in order to bring down the very terrorists who launched the 9/11 attacks.
While it took some time to debunk the earlier rationales, this one was an instant classic, a whopper so big and transparently false that it beggared belief.
This, of course, was because the Al Qaeda insurgents who have bedeviled the star-crossed American occupation were a product of the occupation itself and had only a tangential connection to Osama bin Laden and the men who flew jetliners into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a farm field in Western Pennsylvania.
But we can thank the president for one thing: The phony connection between Al Qaeda in Iraq and 9/11 invites another and one that I offer with circumspection as we slouch into the sixth year of the war.
What Bin Laden was not able to do on that fateful morning and in the years since, Bush has done for him in some respects.
At first glance, that statement may seem shockingly inapt until you consider:
* Bush’s ability to play on America’s fears far better than The Bearded One ever could.
* Bush’s penchant for divisive politics has further exacerbated social divides in America.
* Bush’s pathalogical inability to level with Americans has further undermined their faith in goverment.
* Bush’s economic policies have exacerbated troubling long-term economic trends and helped plunge America into recession.
* Bush’s war has further destabilized arguably the most volatile region in the world.
* And Bush’s actions, including advocating torture and casting aside international treaties and conventions, have brought great shame on America.
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Who would have thought that giving control of the US government to a dry drunk who failed in every business venture he ever attempted would lead to a disaster?
Another anniversary, another typical liberal activist post. Long on fault but absent of solutions. Either the U.S. abandons Iraq and accepts whatever happens there or the U.S. stays there.
If you are going to nitpick, why not look at Clinton, Obama, and McCains's postings on their campaign websites and pick over their solutions.
Do you really think that replacing the military presence with a few State Department employees can really make the difference? Or is the real plan of Clinton and Obama is to make Iraq so dangerous that the western media will abandon the country and thus remove it from the media (the somalia doctrine?).
Superdestroyer–
It's been five years.
If their was an easy solution, don't you think it would already be in effect?
If your complaint is that Shaun ought to propose a solution, where's your own proposed solution?
And “the somalia doctrine”? If your complaint is that Shaun ought to be serious, maybe you ought to try being serious yourself.
At this juncture, Bin Laden has to consider GWB to have been a much easier adversary than he might have expected. As obvious as that is, the neo-conservative apologists will never admit the extent to which they were wrong, regardless of the continuously mounting costs. Still, the moderates and independents will remember all of this come November – after which Superdestroyer may see the beginnings of the solution he alleges to be so concerned about.
OBL will win whether we stay or whether we go. If we stay, we put a drag on our economy and strain our ability to respond militarily in other conflicts. The muhajadeen learned that in their 10 year war with the Soviets, that contributed to the fall of the USSR's empire.
If we go, he can say we wouldn't stick it out when the war became too costly. That is why there's no easy solution.
Our troops should leave and be replaced by UN peacekeeping forces. It's only our insistence that *we* remain the sole beneficiary of a rebuilt Iraq (aka the oil) that prevents outside forces from taking over.
Jspencer,
The candidates can talk in detail about their solutions for Irar today. They do not need to wait. And the left should nitpick them as much as they have nitpicked the right but I would not wait too long for that to happen. The candidates know that the best strategy is to ignore Iraq and talk about more government goodies for the middle class and identify groups.
My guess is that Clinton/Obama will pull a Bill Clinton and say that once that they are in office, the have learned the situation is much worse that originally thought and that an immediate pull out is called for and that they will let Iraqis (of which there are no real patriotic Iraqis but just tribes and family clans) run Iraq.
The situation will deteriorate, the media will have to get out of Iraq and the MSM will report from refugee camps or somewhere else along the border. Those border stories become boring quickly and will stop. The effect of the policy will give a huge propaganda lift to Iran and others, it will throw the Kurds under the bus, and will make life harder to Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey.
The inability of the leaders of the Middle East to agree on anything will help in proving that the situaiton cannot be fixed purely with diplomacy no matter how much progressives and activist on Barack Obama's staff believe that it can http://www.barackobama.com/issues/foreignpolicy…
Quoting Superdestroyer:
So, what's your solution, Superdestroyer?
And where do expect to find the suckers to put their hands in that wasp's nest?
Too late, should have thought of that before starting an illegal war based on a seris of lies, followed by an illegal occupation…
Don,
You made me think that best possible situation should be a return to the no-fly zones of the pre-war era. It would basically partition Iraq without calling it a partition. It would let the Kurds have their own country without calling it a country, it would let Southern Iraq become a shia state and the Sunni could to whatever they want in the middle.
Sounds like a great outcome, An Iranian Client State, a nice refuge for the PKK until Turkey invades and starts another war, and a bunch piss-off Sunnis with nothing to lose. It'll do wonders for regional stability, peace & democracy.
Shorter SuperDestroyer…
But, you know, he of the overcompensating moniker will take full responsibility for his role in this fiasco…
Someday. But don't hold your breath.
“My guess is that Clinton/Obama will pull a Bill Clinton and say that once that they are in office, the have learned the situation is much worse that originally thought and that an immediate”
… substantial tax increase or new tax like a VAT is necessary.
“Our troops should leave and be replaced by UN peacekeeping forces.”
I can't believe you're that naive. [tm]
* * *
“Another anniversary, another typical liberal activist post. Long on fault but absent of solutions.”
The Bush-bashing and the extremist anti-war stuff are tiresome, but the photo (this one is re-used, I notice) is good. Shaun knows how to pick 'em. Look very closely and you can see that the soldier resembles a somewhat younger Dubya, and he's certainly not checking the spring growth at his ranch (on vacation again) in Crawford, Texas.
Meanwhile, back home,
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?Re…
Since the war began, I've maintained that there will be no good outcome, and I see no reason to change my mind.
It is still a question of trying to find the least bad among the bad solutions.
CHris WWW- UN forces? Europe wouldn't want any part of it. Neither would any of our much touted 'allies' in the ME, like Egypt, unless it saw the venture as an opportunity to fight its own enemies there and stoke up a regional war. The only way out that I see is to achieve a regional pact among neighbring countries of how to avoid such a war. That's a year's long effort.
Dividing up Iraq might work, only Iraqi popular opinion has it that they don't want to be divided.
This is going to be very, very difficult, and if things get really ugly, the US will suffer further damning damage.
On the other hand, I agree we can't stay there forever. It's damned if we stay, and damned if we go, like it has been from the start.