Take a deep breath.
A U.S. commander has now publicly stated we may need combat troops in Iraq past the August 31 deadline, something Tom Ricks predicted weeks ago. (Though, to add, Marc Lynch isn’t worried.)
Wonder what Iraqi “victory” cheerleaders Jon Meacham and Thomas Friedman will say about that.
From “Victory at Last,” with Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, going all out to rehabilitate Pres. George W. Bush, something that is becoming all the rage these days.
Bush’s rhetoric about democracy came to sound as bitterly ironic as his pumped-up appearance on an aircraft carrier a few months earlier, in front of an enormous banner that declared MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. And yet it has to be said and it should be understood—now, almost seven hellish years later—that something that looks mighty like democracy is emerging in Iraq. And while it may not be a beacon of inspiration to the region, it most certainly is a watershed event that could come to represent a whole new era in the history of the massively undemocratic Middle East.
The book end to Meacham being Thomas Friedman.
Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing.
Some argue that nothing that happens in Iraq will ever justify the costs. Historians will sort that out. …
Whoa there, cowboys.
Now we’re praising Bush’s “gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy”, declaring “victory at last”?
I never noticed any regional craving for democracy, leaving aside that it’s not our decision to make that they “need” it; and the last time I looked Bush’s “gut instinct” is why we’re back in Afghanistan. Because after declaring “victory” there once before, we left to preemptively invade Iraq, only to have Afghanistan start to collapse again; a country we’re now taping back together, without much help from Pres. Karzai who rigged his re-election.
And by all means, let’s leave the cost justifications of our misadventure in Iraq to historians, Thomas. We wouldn’t want to make a real time assessment of the allocation of blood and treasure that might jettison you from Mr. Meacham’s cheering section aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which can now evidently be found in the traditional media’s game room where they’re replaying the Iraqi version of Risk.
Read the back and forth between Tom Ricks and Colin Kahl, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East (and former CNAS senior fellow) on the subject. I’ll just leave you with one rejoinder from Ricks:
Kahl’s a smart guy, and also knows his music. I disagree with him. Why? Because I think a lot of Iraqis are just waiting for the Americans to get out of the way so they can start fighting again. And because I think the incentives that have led to violence in the past are still there. That is, none of the basic questions facing Iraq have been answered.
It matches the flash I saw in Richard Haas’ eyes when he responded on “Morning Joe” this past week that declaring any type of victory for ourselves in Iraq is at best premature.
Maj Gen Tony Cucolo is a loose cannon. Isn’t he the same guy who was going to court-martial anyone who became pregnant under his command? Why Cucolo hasn’t already been asked to resign his commission is a mystery. **** Afghanistan is made up of 121 different sovereign tribes who have fought with each other for a thousand years. The only time they get together is to expel an invader. We and the rest of the NATO forces are the invader. Why anyone believes that we won’t eventually suffer the same fate as all the other invaders down through history is incomprehensible. Arrogance and hubris probably. Peace
Taylor didn’t you know that these guys would want to rehabilitate Bush,I know you did. They are letting themselves and the rest of the media off the hook for one falling for the cowboy,which they did for a long time before they turned and two not standing up to a President taking us into an illegal war.
Both men are so damned swarmy,in Meacham’s case holier than thou quoting the Bible every chance he gets,in Friedman’s case arrogant and condescending.Friedman speaks to everyone as if they were three years old…blah,blah, blah…and guess what….his favorite line as if he is the only one brillant enough to come up with whatever observation he wants to make. ugh…
I knew they that this war would proberly go longer.I wonder if the president is going to go with the US commander’s advice and keep the troops in Iraq longer. Its hard to tell with the president what he is going to do. I quit reading Newsweek along time ago. I never listen to what Jon Meacham and Tom Friedman have to say. After what newsweek did putting a picture of Sarah Palin out of runners world magazine and putting it on the front cover of newsweek where palin was dressed wearing shorts that was wears while jogging, it had no place on newsweek and it was very sexist. There are other things I don’t like about newsweek too thats why I read time magazine.
GREAT!!! Can we leave now?
I say we just quietly pack up and leave. Anything to big to take with us blow up. Here’s your country back, sorry bout all the dead folks. G Bush and D Cheney, we’ll be happy to turn them over to the world court if you file a case against them. Good luck.
As for Afghanistan, find the Taliban and AlQaeda, kill them, leave.
Friedman needs to get over himself. He should hold off the self congratulation until the election is over. And really until we have left and they are free to do what they want with their own country.
That cover is every bit as bad as the Palin cover.
Ahhh Victory …
It is surely in the eye of the beholder …
or is that shrapnel from all those exploding “victory” suicide vests … !?!
Sigh. Mama always told me two wrongs don’t make a right.
The argument that we should pre-emptively invade a sovereign country that has not attacked us or threatened to attack us, to enact “regime change”, is wrong on its face. It is a war crime, by definition. To lie to the American people about it, undermining both the constitution and the treasury, is wrong on its face. It is treason, by definition.
This will NEVER be right, because of those two facts. It doesn’t matter if we stay a thousand years, this will never be right. It’s immoral, and illegal. We have committed an international crime; the very same international crime that Hitler committed when he invaded Poland using lies about the threat to the fatherland. One of our own Supreme Court Justices, Robert Jackson, presided over the Nuremberg Trials, remember?
Bush and Cheney are war criminals, nothing else. Therefore, to continue to compound the crimes is madness, in my humble opinion. We should get out; let the consequences of our actions become clear to the world.
The link from Marc Lynch in the post takes on Ricks. Lynch doubting the xtra troops is anything big. I just thing any extension is unacceptable. Ricks’ point that the Iraqis are waiting for our exit what people have been saying for a while.
We’ll always have troops in Iraq, they just won’t be called “combat” troops; gotta protect that expensive new embassy and act as mediator between Turkey and the Kurds, and Israel and Iran, right?
But, these new arguments to rehabilitate Bush–Jon Meacham and that most annoying man, Tom Friedman–are sickening; Bush will never be rehabilitated from my perspective. Not ever. What’s the deal between Ricks and Lynch, though; do I detect some personal animosity there?
We’re probably going to stay forever so we can get some reward from the new oil bidness that will pay for our war in Iraq, right? Isn’t that still the plan?
[rolling eyes, and cursing neocons]
‘Cause we really need that money. We have spent $1 Trillion on the Iraq War so far–not even counting the Embassy–and we haven’t even put it on the books yet. It’s still all “off-budget” 7 years later. What a farce; what a tragedy.
A Quick Reminder: Here’s the Real Problem:
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-a-quick-reminder-heres-the-real-problem-2010-3
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The banking system has captured our government and frustration is boiling over. Yet those in the housing and banking industry seem complacent and even self congratulatory that we “have avoided Great Depression 2.0.” Really?
In fact, all the banking industry is doing is stalling the inevitable but at the same time sucking the taxpayer dry. With the $13 trillion in bailouts and backstops we could have had enough to pay off every single residential mortgage in the United States and taken everyone to Disneyland. Instead, we are financing the crony banking system full throttle robbery of the American people.
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/
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“When debt to GDP reaches 90%, as it looks like it will, growth slows and bad things happen. That’s the potential going forward, not a default.” Bill Gross. managing director of PIMCO.
“I’m convinced the US government will go bankrupt, but not tomorrow. And before they go bankrupt they’ll print more money and then you get a very high inflation rate; then it gets to depression with high inflation and eventually they’ll go to war.” –Harry Schultz
IMarc Faber (who is now quoted everywhere) believes social obligations will cause western countries to default. Marc believes that in time all the PIIGS will default. “They just won’t be able to pay.”
http://jsmineset.com/