Monday, December 19, 2005
The President Has Spoken
Last night, President Bush addressed the nation to explain his policies on Iraq.
My two cents:
1) This is a speech that should have been given the day after the 2004 elections; acknowledging mistakes, pointing out difficulties, and making the case for continued involvement. As a reaction to the mounting criticisms of the last eight months, it is not particularly strong or effective. This is a case of too little, too late.
2) The president said he doesn't want to be bound by artificial deadlines or timelines. That is an important point. But his criteria still seems quite open-ended and doesn't really provide a standard for "defining victory"--what are the conditions that will allow the U.S. to leave and for other states not to see this as a defeat or setback.
3) If I had been the speechwriter, I would have added language that would say something along the following lines: Iraqis have cast their ballots, they will have a government that derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, this government will make its share of mistakes. The United States cannot and will not define victory in Iraq to mean that Iraq is a perfect Jeffersonian paradise. Many of us may disagree with the choices Iraqis will make as to how to govern their society. But the destiny of Iraq must now lie solely in Iraqi hands.
[A second paragraph]: And I say tonight to Iraqis--the fate of your country is in your hands. We will continue to provide assistance to you, but America cannot solve your fundamental problems for you. What you do with your freedom is your responsibilitiy. We hope you will make wise choices, but we will not intervene further.
____
The Weekly Standard's editorial for this week ("Happy Days") celebrates the elections last week as a turning point but notes that there will be a long learning period. That is fine, no argument here. The question is at what point responsibility for Iraqi stability will lie in Iraqi hands and not be a precondition for American withdrawal.
We are back to the John Paul Vann dilemma for the Republic of Viet Nam-when do you turn over responsibility and when do you let your allies fall flat on their face and fail. And at what point would failure in Iraq--if failure occurs--still be laid at the doorstep of the United States? Najibullah in Afghanistan lasted until 1992 after the USSR withdrew in 1989.
My two cents:
1) This is a speech that should have been given the day after the 2004 elections; acknowledging mistakes, pointing out difficulties, and making the case for continued involvement. As a reaction to the mounting criticisms of the last eight months, it is not particularly strong or effective. This is a case of too little, too late.
2) The president said he doesn't want to be bound by artificial deadlines or timelines. That is an important point. But his criteria still seems quite open-ended and doesn't really provide a standard for "defining victory"--what are the conditions that will allow the U.S. to leave and for other states not to see this as a defeat or setback.
3) If I had been the speechwriter, I would have added language that would say something along the following lines: Iraqis have cast their ballots, they will have a government that derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, this government will make its share of mistakes. The United States cannot and will not define victory in Iraq to mean that Iraq is a perfect Jeffersonian paradise. Many of us may disagree with the choices Iraqis will make as to how to govern their society. But the destiny of Iraq must now lie solely in Iraqi hands.
[A second paragraph]: And I say tonight to Iraqis--the fate of your country is in your hands. We will continue to provide assistance to you, but America cannot solve your fundamental problems for you. What you do with your freedom is your responsibilitiy. We hope you will make wise choices, but we will not intervene further.
____
The Weekly Standard's editorial for this week ("Happy Days") celebrates the elections last week as a turning point but notes that there will be a long learning period. That is fine, no argument here. The question is at what point responsibility for Iraqi stability will lie in Iraqi hands and not be a precondition for American withdrawal.
We are back to the John Paul Vann dilemma for the Republic of Viet Nam-when do you turn over responsibility and when do you let your allies fall flat on their face and fail. And at what point would failure in Iraq--if failure occurs--still be laid at the doorstep of the United States? Najibullah in Afghanistan lasted until 1992 after the USSR withdrew in 1989.
Comments:
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We can start disagreeing with Iraq's choices right now:
From Reuters:
Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Islamists, at odds with Washington over human rights and ties to Iran, may hold on to a slim parliamentary majority despite a big turnout by minority Sunnis, partial election results showed on Monday.
At any rate it will be by far the biggest party. ...
Results from nine other provinces where the bulk of the vote had been counted showed the Alliance dominant again in the southern Shi'ite heartlands -- in poor Maysan, for example, it outscored by more than 20 times the second-placed Iraqi National List led by secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. ...
Abdul Hadi al-Zubaidi, from the Sunni Islamist-led Iraqi Accordance Front, said he expected the Alliance to get about 110 seats and the Front was ready to discuss a deal: "There might be a coalition between the Shi'ite Alliance and the Accordance Front, there are already talks but soon it will be clearer."
From Reuters:
Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Islamists, at odds with Washington over human rights and ties to Iran, may hold on to a slim parliamentary majority despite a big turnout by minority Sunnis, partial election results showed on Monday.
At any rate it will be by far the biggest party. ...
Results from nine other provinces where the bulk of the vote had been counted showed the Alliance dominant again in the southern Shi'ite heartlands -- in poor Maysan, for example, it outscored by more than 20 times the second-placed Iraqi National List led by secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. ...
Abdul Hadi al-Zubaidi, from the Sunni Islamist-led Iraqi Accordance Front, said he expected the Alliance to get about 110 seats and the Front was ready to discuss a deal: "There might be a coalition between the Shi'ite Alliance and the Accordance Front, there are already talks but soon it will be clearer."
# posted by 
: 8:39 AM
: 8:39 AM
The president had a more realistic tone on Iraq and this trend should be welcomed. No more allusions to being welcomed on the streets with flowers.
The whole debate about fighting the terrorists needs to recognize that in dealing with a movement like al-Qaida (there is a reason they call it "the base") that it will flow to centers of instability. To that extent, fixing the battlefield in Iraq is a legitimate strategic goal--but we can be extremely critical that we did not adequately prepare on that front nor sent in the forces needed.
Again, the problems of an administration that could not settle on the strategic rationale for the war.
The whole debate about fighting the terrorists needs to recognize that in dealing with a movement like al-Qaida (there is a reason they call it "the base") that it will flow to centers of instability. To that extent, fixing the battlefield in Iraq is a legitimate strategic goal--but we can be extremely critical that we did not adequately prepare on that front nor sent in the forces needed.
Again, the problems of an administration that could not settle on the strategic rationale for the war.
# posted by : 9:21 AM
: 9:21 AM
Democrats need a tighter response as well. Democrats have not sufficiently addressed the fact that they've let a key element of their own foreign policy strategy--spread of democracy--be hijacked. Their main focus should be to say that good things are happening in spite of Bush's policies, not because of them.
For example, these elections. The initial plan was to install Chalabi as head of a puppet regime. Elections are being held not because this was the plan but because of circumstances and the need to find some sort of legitimacy for the occupation.
For example, these elections. The initial plan was to install Chalabi as head of a puppet regime. Elections are being held not because this was the plan but because of circumstances and the need to find some sort of legitimacy for the occupation.
# posted by : 11:19 AM
: 11:19 AM
Another problem is that we have no objective standards to evaluate when the United States can or should withdraw; it almost seems like the president was saying, trust me and my internal yardstick.
We're back in the realm of faith--no way to independently test the claims.
We're back in the realm of faith--no way to independently test the claims.
# posted by : 6:58 PM
: 6:58 PM
Tone is one thing, accountability is quite another. Though the apologencia is fawning over themselves exalting the new 'candor" of the president, the rest of America is still under a leadership operating above, beyond, outside, in breech and total disdain of the law.
A simple cursory review of the sordid history of the Bush governments plunder and profiteering, - I mean war and occupation in Iraq will reveal a leadership that continually shapeshifts it's narrative to conform to unseen events unfurling in the field.
Let's forgoe the critical and necessary discussion of the pre-war deceptions the Bush government pimped, - I mean manipulated - I mean mass marketed to exploit the dead and the horrors and of 9/11 and falsely justify the wayward misadventure and war of choice in Iraq for the time being, and focus strictly on the occupation.
demsin06 reminds us all that initially, the Bush government warmongers and profiteers attempted to install Chalabi as the proxy Viceroy of Iraq, which was soundly rejected by the native Iraqi after the fall of Bagdhad. Again we will set aside the critical and necessary examination of the dastardly deeds and skull duggery of Mr Chalabi for the moment, and proceed with the cronology of the occupation.
Mr. Jay Garner was then installed as the Bush government proxy in Iraq, but his suggestions for resolving the untidiness of wild and unraveling situation was viewed negatively by the monarchy, - I mean Bush government, and Bremer was dispatched to correct the situation in Iraq. Tone is one thing, accountability is quite another. Though the apologencia is fawning over themselves exalting the new 'candor" of the president, the rest of America is still under a leadership operating above, beyond, outside, in breech and total disdain of the law.
A simple cursory review of the sordid history of the Bush governments plunder and profiteering, - I mean war and occupation in Iraq will reveal a leadership that continually shapeshifts it's narrative to conform to unseen events unfurling in the field.
Let's forgoe the critical and necessary discussion of the pre-war deceptions the Bush government pimped, - I mean manipulated - I mean mass marketed to exploit the dead and the horrors and of 9/11 and falsely justify the wayward misadventure and war of choice in Iraq for the time being, and focus strictly on the occupation.
demsin06 reminds us all that initially, the Bush government warmongers and profiteers attempted to install Chalabi as the proxy Viceroy of Iraq, which was soundly rejected by the native Iraqi after the fall of Bagdhad. Again we will set aside the critical and necessary examination of the dastardly deeds and skull duggery of Mr Chalabi for the moment, and proceed with the cronology of the occupation.
Mr. Jay Garner was then installed as the Bush government proxy in Iraq, but his suggestions for resolving the untidiness of wild and unraveling situation was viewed negatively by the monarchy, - I mean Bush government, and Bremer was dispatched to http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html correct the situation in Iraq.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, - not mention wanton profiteering, and ruthless dictatorial enforcement of the Bush government's far from candid, and decidely not conciliatory will and way upon both the American and Iraqi people.
Bremer's reckless dismantling of the Iraqi army and police sent thousands of well connected Iraqi's into the street and desparate unemployment and exile from Iraqi society. A fierce insurgency began to emerge. Moktadr Sadr's vehement protestations and anti-America rhetoric displeased the Bush government, so the Viceroy of Iraq was urged to purge and silence Sadr's al Hawza well read among the disenchanted mostly poor Shi'a newspaper. Shortly thereafter the Iranian backed Mahdi militia began to appear, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and lo and behold four Black Water contracters were ghoulishly dispatched, along with other well publicized beheadings and kidnapping, all of which led to the showdown and onslaught in Faluja.
The original Bush government Bremer concocted narrative bemoaned and many year process of the formation of an Iraqi government - which Al Sistani checked, reversed, and forced the Bush government to adopt an Iraqi born timetable and all the election dates we have seen thus far.
None of these costly, bloody developments were plannned for, expected, or well managed by the Bush government warmongers and profiteers originally. Every mistep along the way created a crisis that forced an ad hoc responses and reversals, or flip flopping of policy to address or conform to poorly planned, ill-prepared for, unimagined events in the field.
The candid and conciliatory commander and chief can deceptively claim victory for hurdling these catastrophe's after half a trillion US taxpayer dollars, 2100 hundred dead US soliders, and many thousands of slaughtered Iraq, - and the hypocritical Hegelian dialect may ring in the echo chamber of the complicit parrots in the socalled MSM and the dim somnabulent sheep who do not bother to examine any of the factbasedrealities in Iraq, - but the Iraqi people, and those Americans who actually di read, know that the Bush government warmongers and profiteers are responsible, and accountable for numerous catastrophic failures, radical deceptions, obscene abuses, and wanton profiteering in the prosecution of the plunder and profiteering, - I mean war and occupation in Iraq.
Tone does nothing to allay these grievous abuses, or improve America's position in Iraq, or alter the fact that Iraq is forming a Shi'a Iranain backed and sponsered theocracy, with the Kurds working quietly but vigorously toward complete independence.
The CIA puppet Alawi, and fascist WHIG/OSP/OSI/PTCEG pentagon cabals flip flop flop favorite son Chalabi have no native support.
The tone and candor is yet another ruthless Bush government deception.
The factbasedreality is that America is in for a costly, bloody, long hard slog in Iraq, and never leaving entirely.
The Bush government disinformation warriors continue to conflate Iraq and 9/11 and bin Laden, and terrorist threats, and WMD, into one single evilone slurry, - but both Iran and Saudi Arabia continue abundantly funding and nurturing jihadist mass murder gangs with our petro dollars, America who are feverishly working on the WMD sequel to 9/11.
Al Quaida and other jihadist shaitans and Eblis may exploit the greatest foriegn policy disaster in America' history in Iraq by fomenting anti-Americanism, aligning with this or that insurgent factions, and picking off Americans and collaborators, - but it is wildly speculative, visionary and mistaken to imagine these enemies are interested in playing foolishly along with the Bush government contrived narrative of "fixing the battlefield in Iraq."
The wayward misadventure in Iraq is a distraction from, a distortion of, and misallocated use of resources on the Bush governments neverendingwaronterror.
Let's be candid - the only invididuals on the entire planet that will ever truly benefit in any way from the horrorshow and war of choice in Iraq, are the oleaginous cronies and oligarchs in, or beholden to the fascists in Bush government totalitarian dictatorship.
Post a Comment
A simple cursory review of the sordid history of the Bush governments plunder and profiteering, - I mean war and occupation in Iraq will reveal a leadership that continually shapeshifts it's narrative to conform to unseen events unfurling in the field.
Let's forgoe the critical and necessary discussion of the pre-war deceptions the Bush government pimped, - I mean manipulated - I mean mass marketed to exploit the dead and the horrors and of 9/11 and falsely justify the wayward misadventure and war of choice in Iraq for the time being, and focus strictly on the occupation.
demsin06 reminds us all that initially, the Bush government warmongers and profiteers attempted to install Chalabi as the proxy Viceroy of Iraq, which was soundly rejected by the native Iraqi after the fall of Bagdhad. Again we will set aside the critical and necessary examination of the dastardly deeds and skull duggery of Mr Chalabi for the moment, and proceed with the cronology of the occupation.
Mr. Jay Garner was then installed as the Bush government proxy in Iraq, but his suggestions for resolving the untidiness of wild and unraveling situation was viewed negatively by the monarchy, - I mean Bush government, and Bremer was dispatched to correct the situation in Iraq. Tone is one thing, accountability is quite another. Though the apologencia is fawning over themselves exalting the new 'candor" of the president, the rest of America is still under a leadership operating above, beyond, outside, in breech and total disdain of the law.
A simple cursory review of the sordid history of the Bush governments plunder and profiteering, - I mean war and occupation in Iraq will reveal a leadership that continually shapeshifts it's narrative to conform to unseen events unfurling in the field.
Let's forgoe the critical and necessary discussion of the pre-war deceptions the Bush government pimped, - I mean manipulated - I mean mass marketed to exploit the dead and the horrors and of 9/11 and falsely justify the wayward misadventure and war of choice in Iraq for the time being, and focus strictly on the occupation.
demsin06 reminds us all that initially, the Bush government warmongers and profiteers attempted to install Chalabi as the proxy Viceroy of Iraq, which was soundly rejected by the native Iraqi after the fall of Bagdhad. Again we will set aside the critical and necessary examination of the dastardly deeds and skull duggery of Mr Chalabi for the moment, and proceed with the cronology of the occupation.
Mr. Jay Garner was then installed as the Bush government proxy in Iraq, but his suggestions for resolving the untidiness of wild and unraveling situation was viewed negatively by the monarchy, - I mean Bush government, and Bremer was dispatched to http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html correct the situation in Iraq.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, - not mention wanton profiteering, and ruthless dictatorial enforcement of the Bush government's far from candid, and decidely not conciliatory will and way upon both the American and Iraqi people.
Bremer's reckless dismantling of the Iraqi army and police sent thousands of well connected Iraqi's into the street and desparate unemployment and exile from Iraqi society. A fierce insurgency began to emerge. Moktadr Sadr's vehement protestations and anti-America rhetoric displeased the Bush government, so the Viceroy of Iraq was urged to purge and silence Sadr's al Hawza well read among the disenchanted mostly poor Shi'a newspaper. Shortly thereafter the Iranian backed Mahdi militia began to appear, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and lo and behold four Black Water contracters were ghoulishly dispatched, along with other well publicized beheadings and kidnapping, all of which led to the showdown and onslaught in Faluja.
The original Bush government Bremer concocted narrative bemoaned and many year process of the formation of an Iraqi government - which Al Sistani checked, reversed, and forced the Bush government to adopt an Iraqi born timetable and all the election dates we have seen thus far.
None of these costly, bloody developments were plannned for, expected, or well managed by the Bush government warmongers and profiteers originally. Every mistep along the way created a crisis that forced an ad hoc responses and reversals, or flip flopping of policy to address or conform to poorly planned, ill-prepared for, unimagined events in the field.
The candid and conciliatory commander and chief can deceptively claim victory for hurdling these catastrophe's after half a trillion US taxpayer dollars, 2100 hundred dead US soliders, and many thousands of slaughtered Iraq, - and the hypocritical Hegelian dialect may ring in the echo chamber of the complicit parrots in the socalled MSM and the dim somnabulent sheep who do not bother to examine any of the factbasedrealities in Iraq, - but the Iraqi people, and those Americans who actually di read, know that the Bush government warmongers and profiteers are responsible, and accountable for numerous catastrophic failures, radical deceptions, obscene abuses, and wanton profiteering in the prosecution of the plunder and profiteering, - I mean war and occupation in Iraq.
Tone does nothing to allay these grievous abuses, or improve America's position in Iraq, or alter the fact that Iraq is forming a Shi'a Iranain backed and sponsered theocracy, with the Kurds working quietly but vigorously toward complete independence.
The CIA puppet Alawi, and fascist WHIG/OSP/OSI/PTCEG pentagon cabals flip flop flop favorite son Chalabi have no native support.
The tone and candor is yet another ruthless Bush government deception.
The factbasedreality is that America is in for a costly, bloody, long hard slog in Iraq, and never leaving entirely.
The Bush government disinformation warriors continue to conflate Iraq and 9/11 and bin Laden, and terrorist threats, and WMD, into one single evilone slurry, - but both Iran and Saudi Arabia continue abundantly funding and nurturing jihadist mass murder gangs with our petro dollars, America who are feverishly working on the WMD sequel to 9/11.
Al Quaida and other jihadist shaitans and Eblis may exploit the greatest foriegn policy disaster in America' history in Iraq by fomenting anti-Americanism, aligning with this or that insurgent factions, and picking off Americans and collaborators, - but it is wildly speculative, visionary and mistaken to imagine these enemies are interested in playing foolishly along with the Bush government contrived narrative of "fixing the battlefield in Iraq."
The wayward misadventure in Iraq is a distraction from, a distortion of, and misallocated use of resources on the Bush governments neverendingwaronterror.
Let's be candid - the only invididuals on the entire planet that will ever truly benefit in any way from the horrorshow and war of choice in Iraq, are the oleaginous cronies and oligarchs in, or beholden to the fascists in Bush government totalitarian dictatorship.
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