April 02, 2007
Feingold/Reid: Retreat Now, and We Can Still Lose This
Russ Feingold and Harry Reid say that the war in Iraqi isn't being lost fast enough, and will sponsor a retreat bill in the Senate that would largely defund the war and require a pullout to begin 120 days after the bill became law.
Meanwhile, on the ground in al Anbar, soldier/blogger "Teflon Don" speculates that the insurgency may be reaching a tipping point.
I'll try to keep writing about the winds here in Al-Anbar. I'll go out on a little bit of a limb and say that the insurgency is quickly approaching a tipping point. If things continue as they are right now, our military won't need a surge to chase the terrorists out of Anbar- the citizens will do it for us, which is as it should be. It's beginning to show already: more local tips, more police recruits (far more than anticipated), and sadly- in bigger and more desperate Al-Qaeda attacks.
He concludes this thought-provoking post by stating:
It's a big job, but I think we may have finally learned enough forgotten lessons from places like East Timor, Vietnam, Ireland, Malaysia, and others that it just might work this time.Color me hopeful.
It might not come as much of a surprise to discover that others on the ground in Iraq are also seeing these same hopeful signs, which is perhaps why Reid and Feingold are so desperately trying to push to lose the war now before signs of a positive change become more widely known.
Perhaps Harry and Russ should do a little reading.
Why wait a year? Why don't they try it right now?
Posted by: 1sttofight at April 2, 2007 03:43 PMDon't get carried away by those reports. Remember, we're fighting against two different groups in Iraq and good news on one front doesn't mean we're making progress across the board:
One group is the terrorists, who we may very well end up beating, with or without the help of the Iraqis.
The second group is the Iraqis who would rather fight than share power and resources. There are too many of them, to paraphrase Golda Meir, they love their kids less than they hate their so-called countrymen, and they're prepared to carry on the fight for generations to come, so we'll never defeat them so long as victory is defined as them all holding hands and singing campfire songs. The best we can hope for is that our surge will force them to hide for awhile, long enough for Bush to again declare "Mission Accomplished" and bring our troops home... after which they're emerge from their hiding places and pick up killing each other.
Posted by: steve sturm at April 2, 2007 06:57 PMThe second group is the Iraqis who would rather fight than share power and resources.
Which is why the oil revenue sharing plan and so many tips rolling now we can't handle them all right?
Time to recharge your flux capacitors Steve - you're still time warped to 12 months ago.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at April 2, 2007 07:09 PMI won't argue that there aren't some Rodney King Iraqis. There just aren't enough of them to do much good. So what that there's an oil sharing agreement? Agreements over there are meant to be broken. And tips? How many of them are simply one faction's crazies dropping a dime on the other side?
Sorry, but for all of Bush's grandiose thoughts about the 'Iraqi' Army and police force taking control, he has failed to realize that there is no such thing as 'Iraq'. The people there don't owe their allegience to Iraq, they owe it to their fellow sects. And just as Shiite soldiers won't take to coming down on fellow Shiites (just look at Maliki's record for confirmation), neither will, for example, Sunnis cotton to having Shiite soldiers come down on them.
The best we can hope for is a partition where the three sides can do a good enough job of deterring the other two sides from attacking that there exists a cold war of some kind (certainly better than the shooting war going on now)... there is no hope, at least not in my lifetime, nor that of my grandkid's grandkid's, of there ever being a truly peaceful Iraq. And unfortunately, the occupant of the Oval Office is too stupid and/or stubborn to realize that.
Posted by: steve sturm at April 2, 2007 07:49 PMIt's beginning to show already: more local tips, more police recruits (far more than anticipated),and sadly- in bigger and more desperate Al-Qaeda attacks.
Yes, Al Qaeda's use of bigger attacks is evidence that they're almost at their "tipping point". Gotta love that argument.
Posted by: Arbotreeist at April 2, 2007 08:00 PMYes, Al Qaeda's use of bigger attacks is evidence that they're almost at their "tipping point".
Anyone with a few functioning neurons can see why. Fewer, but larger attacks means they're running out of competent bomb makers.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at April 3, 2007 05:15 AM"... the war in Iraq isn't being lost fast enough, ..."
Oh, they don't want the war to end before the next Presidential election. If we leave before the job's done and things go from bad to worse, as they likely will, they'll have to accept the blame. So expect them to drag this out long enough for candidates to proclaim, "If elected, I will end this war." In the meantime, they will pass appropriate funding.
Posted by: DoorHold at April 3, 2007 12:19 PM
