General @ Friday April 18, 2008 07:36 am by WunderKraut
Rusty over at The Jawa Report has an excellent post about Iraq.
His premise:
Bush screwed the pooch in Iraq. There is a good argument to be made that we should not have invaded in the first place.* There is no good argument that we should leave.
This conclusion is inevitable when one comes to the same realization as me. There was a war in Iraq and there is a war in Iraq. In fact, we’ve had two wars in Iraq: Iraq War I & Iraq War II.
The war now is not the same as that war. The first war in Iraq was against Saddam Hussein, the second war is against Islamists of various stripes, but mainly al Qaeda.
He goes on to explain his position which boils down to Politicians (Obama, Hillary, Democrats in general) want to end the FIRST war…which is already over. But ending the FIRST war (already over) would mean losing the SECOND war…a war against terrorists, who everyone agrees we should be fighting.
He makes some very good points.
I agree and have written similar things, though not as articulate or clear. Yes, the decision to go to war in Iraq was probably flawed (no WMD, but you save people from tyranny) and the handling of post war Iraq was deplorable….BUT….given all that, which even I can agree on, what are we going to do about the terrorists NOW in Iraq?
Some will say that there were no terrorists in Iraq BEFORE we invaded, so the fight we fight now is because of Bush’s screw up. Fine…BUT…What are you going to do about those terrorists now fighting in Iraq?
Some will say that Bush is a criminal and his “illegal war of occupation” needs to be ended. Fine…BUT…what are you going to do about the terrorists now fighting in Iraq?
Some will scream No Blood For Oil!, Halliburton!, Blackwater!, Joooos!, Evil McChimpyBushHilter!….Fine….BUT what are you going to do about the terrorists now fighting in Iraq?
At this point, it is irrelevant HOW or WHY the terrorists are in Iraq fighting. They just are…so what are you going to do about the terrorists now fighting in Iraq?
Go read it.
3 Responses to “Friday Reading”
Well the problem with this line of thinking is that we are always looking for an American led or American influenced solution. With a pro-military stance. Why? Have you noticed that the Saudi’s, Jordanians, and Iranians are missing from the process. They are mum, quiet. Absent. OK, Iran isn’t missing, but they want to be involved. And I don’t blame them. They have been attacked by Iraq in the past, and they don’t want any problems in the future. They also want the Shiite sect represented since they are the major population group of Iraq as they are themselves.
I would really sit down with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, and find a solution. Break up the responsibility according to regional specialty (Maybe like Germany, post WW2). They have a lot to lose if things spill over. I know there are terrorist in Iraq. But I don’t see it as more than a power grab. Instead of a military solution we need to look at a police solution. In the same way we dealt with the Mafia. They all at one will fight with the authority, but time to time battle each other for turf. And Al Qaeda, is all but wiped out of Iraq. It’s just a matter of settling (ahem bribing), the remaining locals.
The real reason there is so much anti-Americanism in the region is just plain and simple. They don’t want us in the region. Especially Saudi Arabia. They don’t hate our material wealth or our capitalistic intent. I mean Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, and UAE are all there, and they flaunt their wealth, and global financial prowess. They just don’t want us there.
The sooner we get the other countries involved the better. And this BS about, we won’t talk to Iran is stupid. How do you think we even got any since of sanity during the Surge with the likes of Mokhtar al Sadr. Iran asked for Mokhtar to cool off his Medhi army for the time being. What needs to take place is for the sake of the Sunni’s, that the Jordanians, and Saudi’s to get involved.
If we don’t get the neighbors involved, then countries like Iran are going into it with self-interest only. And they will happily create another Lebanon, just to create law and order.
So Iraq War #2 is a true probability. But it can be averted by getting the region involved. But first you have to involve them. However, the Genius in the Oval office has senioritus, and everyone, including the Middle East are waiting for him to leave before anything gets resolved.
W really had a chance to shape the world after 9/11. But he really squandered it. Everything from Energy policy, to the Israeli/Palestinian, was up for grabs, and everyone in the world would have given the USA carte blanche. Going to Iraq was such a “Cold War” mindset. And not getting the regional neighbors still shows that we have a Cold War mindset in this country towards foreign policy.
-Tejash
I’m thinking about my response.
[...] owe Tejash a response to his well thought out comment from a few days ago. I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I will probably make it its own [...]