Washblog || Iraq - Leaving Will Always Be "Irresponsible"

Iraq - Leaving Will Always Be "Irresponsible"

By dlaw
Thu Mar 05, 2009 at 09:34:19 AM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Alternative and Community Media

[fp A.R.]

Because going in was so incredibly irresponsible, we will have to leave without fulfilling our responsibility to the people of Iraq. It's very sad. We have no choice but to leave, in shame. From Bloomberg:

Kurds Seize Iraq Land Past Borders in Blow to U.S. Pullout Plan

...The Kurds say that they are simply recovering land where they lived before the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein expelled them during his harsh 24-year rule...The move is creating potentially explosive tensions in mixed ethnic areas of Kurds, Arabs and other minorities at a time when U.S. forces in Iraq are preparing to withdraw.

With all the damage America has done, low oil prices, wildly exacerbated internal strife, a coming economic crisis and international cross-pressures, I would be surprised if Iraq didn't fall into civil war pretty soon after American troops leave. It was our job to see that didn't happen. It's over. We failed - past tense. It's sickening.

We on the Left are going to be blamed for "losing" after the imaginary Bush-Petraeus "victory". It's inevitable. If Bush and Petraeus had been anything but catastrophic failures, we would have been rebuilding Iraq for at least two years by now. Instead, the very idea of rebuilding is impossible. Iraq is one of the most politically violent places on Earth - still worse than Zimbabwe, for example.

What rebuilding occurs is part and parcel of the military strategy of one or another conflicting faction. Iraq is, at best, a very shaky truce.

And now the dominant military force has to leave. Naturally that will destabilize the truce. But we have to leave to regain any credibility at all. We have to leave so that when our forces are called on again to intervene overseas, our effort will not immediately be dismissed as a cynical, tyrannical power-grab. We have to leave to make it clear what we fight for and what we don't.

But that's not going to be much comfort to the people of Mosul.

< Marshak to Olympia: On Education, You Have "No Vision" | When Good People Do Nothing >

Iraq - Leaving Will Always Be "Irresponsible" | 2 comments (2 topical)

"Irresponsible" is our only choice

We must leave Iraq...and the sooner the better.

Sunni, Shite, Kurd....all sitting back and waiting...waiting for the occupier to leave...and, like Vietnam, the United States' departure
date will likely be much sooner than planned as these parties jockey harder for position and take each other on....

When it happens, neocons will throw up their hands in disqust and say 'if they had only listened to us, if they had only listened to us'...and it will be Obama's fault....

Truth be told, it will NOT be Obama's fault (shhh, don't tell anyone)...remember please who got us into this mess...bring them to justice...if we can't do it in a judicial court or two, then do it in the history books...I sometimes think that that is more important to them anyway...

But let's bite the bullet....admit our loss...and bring our men and women home...now...the area will explode...but it will explode eventually anyway...there nothing that we can do about it...

by leduc on Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 11:56:13 AM PST

* 1 none 0 *

Re: Transaction Receipt - Al Mubasher Retail by dfd007, 04/01/2009 10:40:28 PM PST (none / 0)

Iraq - Leaving Will Always Be "Irresponsible" | 2 comments (2 topical)

BENEFIT FOR 3-STRIKES REFORM

Michelle Alexander, Author
THE NEW JIM CROW:
Mass Incarceration
in the Age of
Colorblindness
Wed. April 14 6:30 PM
Rainier Valley Cultural Center
3515 S. Alaska Seattle
$6 BROWNPAPERTICKETS

OPT OUT
of Rob McKenna's Lawsuit
Join Facebook Page

PNW TOPIC HOTLIST

WELCOME AND FAQ
ABOUT

Login


Make a new account
Username:
Password:

HELP

Recommended Diaries

Free Speech for People moves forward in Washington State
At my urging, Senator Jacobsen has introduced a Senate Joint Memorial asking for Congress to submit to the states a Federal
By chadlupkes (1 comment)
State Budget Craters By $2 Billion More. The Good News Is....
... Now Progressives are going to have to stop talking about tax hikes and start talking about the value of government.
By dlaw (20 comments)
Why Aren't We Fighting for a State Income Tax?
I am getting really tired here: I've been asked to sign petitions and send emails by almost any advocacy group that
By ktkeller (25 comments)
We Want to Take You and We Will Nyah Nyah
Last week I'm watching a podcast of Monday's House Local Government and Housing Committee because I'm interested in the Executive Session
By ktkeller (8 comments)
Online Voting Rights for Overseas Military Personal
Having been deployed during an election I have some very passionate views on this issue. I have seen my friends simple
By dorsolplants (20 comments)
A Modest Proposal: How to Cut Education Funding
As cited in a recent Seattle P-I article, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, chairwoman of the state Senate education committee, warned that budget
By OrneryDemocrat (6 comments)