James Love, who I've never heard of, has an interesting article in the Huffington Post, The Future of Al Qaeda in Iraq, If We Pull Out "The U.S. occupation of Iraq has given Al Qaeda whatever popularity it has in the Islamic world. Our belated departure from Iraq will allow the Iraqi people to deal with Al Qaeda, and they are likely to be far more effective at curtailing its activities in Iraq than has the occupation by our highly vulnerable and greatly resented armed forces."
I agree with the main point, our presence in Iraq is making things worse. That's not a knock against our troops, it's a knock against our policy. Iraqi's don't want us there and that's radicalizing people.
Bush veto's a bill that would fund our troops because it "substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders." However, Retired Major General Paul D. Eaton says "Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear."
On the 4th anniversary of Mission Accomplished Think Progress compared then and now by the numbers. I think the most telling ones are the number of insurgent attacks when from 8 to 149 per day and the number of insurgents went from less than 5,000 to about 70,000. Explain again how this is working?
Daily Kos points out that 90 days ago Rep John Boehner (R-OH) said we'd know in 90 days if the surge was working. They have a kept track of Friedman Units which are estimates that in 3-6 months we'll know if it's working, but the problem is, we're always 3-6 months away from knowing. Then again, some of us already know.
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