Talking about the despicable desecration of US soldiers’ corpses in Mosul, the Poor Man captures some of mythoughts on US involvement in Iraq.
If this is true, if this is the way things happened, it is going to be very hard to blame this on Ba’athists, foreign fighters, and “dead enders.” If this is true, and this is a sign of the way things are really going outside the Sunni triangle, this venture is doomed. If there is hope to make this thing work, we owe it to the Iraqis and ourselves to stay until the country can stand on its own. But if it is hopeless, if we have already lost, we should leave. What a fucking disaster.
I do think that we need to get Iraq in a better situation before leaving. But I worry that our presence in Iraq might be part of the problem. I am not convinced about that like Max or Jim are, but we cannot discount that possibility. Not sure yet what would take me off the fence.
Well, there are a number of unfortunate consequences here of Bush and Rumsfeld’s deliberate “occupation on the cheap” for domestic political purposes. (1) We bought ourselves obligations under international law as an occupying power regarding order, reconstruction and other things; (2) in addition to the legal obliations, we certainly have a huge moral obligation, having deliberately intervened over and over again in Iraq, to prop up Saddam when he battled the Ayatollahs, then selling him out in 1990-1, then the sanctions, selling out the Shiite uprising, the no-fly zones, and finally this war— we owe them a LOT; (3) it would be a huge boon to terrorists everywhere if they could drive the mighty Americans out (think about the effect of Israel’s unilateral pullout from Lebanon, or the alleged American response in Somalia or Beirut); (4) a democratic Arab state is a nice goal; and (5) are we THAT incompetent?
We are led by the Gang that Can’t Shoot Straight.
Its a problem.
(AND HAPPY EID).
TD: Agreed with most of your comment. But should #3 be that important? Is it more important to do what’s best, whether it’s staying or leaving, or what the terrorists will perceive? I seem to think Israel should have withdrawn from Lebanon and much earlier to boot. Does it really matter if some people viewed it as Israel’s weakness? Would Israel really been better off fighting a full-scale guerilla war in Lebanon in addition to Palestinian suicide terror attacks? I am not saying you are advocating that. Just something to ponder. Sometimes it’s better to do the right thing and be branded a coward than to jump off a cliff for honor.
Similarly, would it have been that bad if the US had not escalated its involvement in Vietnam?
I am not sure what the best option in Iraq is, but I think we ought to consider all possibilities.
And thanks for the Eid wishes.