Now is the time we've all been waiting for... Its like... the World Series...no no. Bigger. Like... the Super Bowl! No... its time for General Petraeus to report on the "progress" in Iraq. We'll okay its not exactly that time yet, but the countdown is running. Just like the countdown was running when the Iraq War began 4 years ago.
Of course, everybody is thinking about one vital question asked a thousand ways. Success or Failure? Progress or Regress? Worth it or Waste? Paper or Plastic? Its that burning question we've got to know the answer to. However, though Petraeus' report on the Iraq Progress is still a ways off according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. As reported in the New York Times yesterday the report shows "virtually no progress at all" (1).
Wait wait wait though! That isn't General Petraeus! That doesnt mean there has been no progress in Iraq! Just look! President Bush just spent 8 hours in Iraq!
Yes, Bush was in Iraq for 8 hours. What did he do? He went to the Candylands of Iraq. He didnt even go to Baghdad! (2) One thing is blatantly clear anytime the President takes heat for Iraq, he always has a way of whistling a pretty tune when the shit continually hits the fan. One thing is obvious though. No matter how the report goes when Petraeus actually does report on the State of Iraq, Bush will be right there like a cheer leader rah rah rahing about how great things are there and what does the other side think...
“It is hard to draw any assessment except that there is a failing grade for a policy that is still not working,” according to Sen. John Kerry
Maybe its time we put our billions to a different cause... Maybe its time Americans got to see these billions of dollars we can pull out of thin air for war, but can never seem to dedicate to American infrastructure or American education. Maybe its time we reevaluate what we are fighting for and why in the world we were ever fighting there. Maybe its time to realize that sectarian fighting will never stop.
Maybe its time we truly change our strategy on Iraq...
(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/washington/05cong.html?ref=world
(2)http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/washington/05cong.html?ref=world
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in my political science class our professor gave us this ridiculous article by a man named...well i can't remember, something like william kristal but i'm not 100% on that, talking about how president bush would be remembered in a positive light and that the iraq war was still winnable.
it was a very *facepalm* moment, if you know what i mean. as someone who was against the war from the start, the fact that this has lasted so long and turned into an essentially lose-lose situation (we stay there--we're stuck there god knows how long, and will lose god knows how many more troops: lose. we leave--the unstable government self-destructs [although they have managed to take a lesson from the american congress and send themselves on a month long vacation! hooray!], insurgents take over, and iraq returns to antebellum status: lose.) really annoys me. frankly the idea that iraq could be anything but a spectacular failure (and i don't buy into the whole "oh well we got saddam out" thing, since the US gave him weapons in the first place, back in the 80s) baffles me.
--stacie
It feels like Joey Ramone has been singing this song all along.
In fact I wrote a blog almost 6 months ago about the cost of leaving Iraq and the cost of staying. What confounds me is how anyone could have the nerve to say we are winning at this point? Its blatantly obvious. The Iraqi government is exactly what it was several months ago a puppet government with little or no power to hold the country together. The biggest problem is that no matter how many troops you deploy to Iraq, it is still going to have a fundamentally week government because of the amount of money it would take to build up a stable infrastructure and police force and armed forces. We've been trying to do this, but it is simply to expensive to spend all our money on one country and one that isnt ours nonetheless. Thomas Friedman wrote an article yesterday about the only way to stay in Iraq is to use all the oil produced in Iraq to finance the war and lower the cost of occupying Iraq. Of course in that case we really are just reaping the rewards of our conquest of Iraq as Imperialists, and that definitely would not sit well with the rest of the world. Unilateralism doesnt appear to have been such a great plan.
We did go to the UN twice, but we had Colin Powell withdraw the second resolution on Iraq because we knew it would fail and didnt want to appear weak;y dependant on the UN. France, Germany, China and Russia opposed going into Iraq partly to stick it to the US hegemon and it looks like not only were they right, but they appear to be getting stronger if they continue to balance against the US on foreign policy issues. Especially considering the recent growth of the Russian economy and the Chinese economy. These are people we need to befriend not alienate, so we can have allies for the next time we need help engaging in war.
The strangest thing to me is that if we had simply assassinated Saddam Hussein Iraq would be in a similar situation as it is today, with every sect trying to gain power and take over the country. In that case we wouldnt even have to be there. Of course, we wouldnt have secured US oil for the next 10 years. But wait its not about oil at all... not the slightest bit.
"Its all very well in practice but it will never work in theory."
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/daimler
I just think that if we can pull money out of thin air then we should put it towards education. I saw something on TBS about how 80% of kids in NY read below grade level. We could win wars before they are started if we can have a compitent generation of people. I support the education system but not the WAR.
i have been the biggest critic of the war but my feeling this way is actually not as equally valued and worth as much as yours since i really have no say yet since i am not a naturalized citizen of the US, but my parents and siblings are, don't ask me how that happened, it's the system..
anyway, thanks for this factual and reasonable/logical blog about Iraq, i have this feeling that because people have been hearing about the war constantly that now they don't want to even hear the word Iraq or War and i don't mean people on prou but in general.
for me, it has been that we should always always question what we are supporting and what our money is going to, what is the impression we have been giving to the world about the US, not a pretty picture we have painted of AMericans for the rest of the world
"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right."