The Real Debate America Must Have In '08 - Iraq and Beyond

[mattclearing]

Some random thoughts on the current state of America, and how to get back to a real, honest debate about where we are and what the future holds, starting with the topic du jour, withdrawal from Iraq.

I don't think immediate withdrawal from Iraq is a good idea, even though I know not everyone agrees on that, and I know the Republicans love to tar the Democrats as supporting "cut and run."

But I also don't believe anything about this war has been done right, starting with the decision to start it.

Clearly, the evidence was manipulated.

Obviously, the administration bypassed the UN in order to monopolize contracting of rebuilding.

We needed a broad coalition of nations who believed this was a war worth fighting. That never happened.

But the goal was never any of the things we were told...it was not about Saddam, terrorists, liberation, or any of that.

It was bases.

We will not be allowed to leave Iraq because we are there to erect American military bases from which to dominate the oil-rich nations surrounding it.

If any of the things Bush said about our mission in Iraq were true, he'd be coming up with a measured withdrawal plan...but the reason why he can't do that is because he wants us there permanently.

He says he wants to stay until victory is achieved...but has no idea what that looks like, and never says a word about when or how it might happen.

But despite the fact that this war never had broad support, has nothing to do with 9/11, and is pretty much a wholly unnecessary war of conquest, I have to say that I think leaving immediately would be about the worst thing we could do right now, short of sending more troops.

The perception of American occupation is what needs to be addressed.

A better plan would be to withdraw the better half of troops and use those remaining strictly for training of Iraqi security forces, and end American patrols of civilian areas. These kids are just sitting ducks, and almost no Iraqi wants them there. They should be out of sight and out of mind.

Withdrawing too soon would have negative consequences for the whole region. Staying and inflicting even more pain on the region in the name of oil, as the Bush administration clearly intends, would be even worse.

We need to force Bush not to cement our commitment to the right wing's foreign policy goals. There can be no permanent American military presence in Iraq.

That starts with speaking up about the bases we are building over there. John Kerry, to his credit, talked about this last year during the election.

More Democrats need to start communicating the reality to the American people, that we are being set up for a regional conflict for the next twenty or more years, and that it centers on how we get to work, heat our homes, and power our computers and appliances.

It involves leveling with the American people about the implications and consequences of our often bloated lifestyles.

That is the real discussion that America needs to have in '08.

I think we can take back Congress without getting into it in '06, though. :D

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Thank you for bringing this up

those bases are bothersome to me. Much better to take the money and develop mass transit and alternative energy. Right now, the magnet trains in Europe and Japan point the way.

[mattclearing]

2. As Karen Kwiatkowski said in a thread around here somewhere,

this is the main issue in Iraq...and if Democrats don't tell the American people, no one will.

[YvonneCa]

3. John Kerry is still talking...

about this:


"This Administration hitched their wagon to ideologues, excluding those who dared to tell the truth, even leaders of their own party and the uniformed military.

When after September 11th, flags flew from porches across America and foreign newspaper headlines proclaimed “We’re all Americans now,” the Administration could have kept the world united, but they chose not to. And they were wrong. Instead, they pushed allies away, isolated America, and lost leverage we desperately need today.

When they could have demanded and relied on accurate instead of manipulated intelligence, they chose not to. They were wrong – and instead they sacrificed our credibility at home and abroad.

When they could have given the inspectors time to discover whether Saddam Hussein actually had weapons of mass destruction, when they could have paid attention to Ambassador Wilson’s report, they chose not to. And they were wrong. Instead they attacked him, and they attacked his wife to justify attacking Iraq. We don’t know yet whether this will prove to be an indictable offense in a court of law, but for it, and for misleading a nation into war, they will be indicted in the high court of history. History will judge the invasion of Iraq one of the greatest foreign policy misadventures of all time.

But the mistakes were not limited to the decision to invade. They mounted, one upon another.

When they could have listened to General Shinseki and put in enough troops to maintain order, they chose not to. They were wrong.

When they could have learned from George Herbert Walker Bush and built a genuine global coalition, they chose not to. They were wrong. When they could have implemented a detailed State Department plan for reconstructing post-Saddam Iraq, they chose not to. And they were wrong again.

When they could have protected American forces by guarding Saddam Hussein’s ammo dumps where there were weapons of individual destruction, they exposed our young men and women to the ammo that now maims and kills them because they chose not to act. And they were wrong.

When they could have imposed immediate order and structure in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam, Rumsfeld shrugged his shoulders, said Baghdad was safer than Washington, D.C. and chose not to act. He was wrong. When the Administration could have kept an Iraqi army selectively intact, they chose not to. They were wrong.

When they could have kept an entire civil structure functioning to deliver basic services to Iraqi citizens, they chose not to. They were wrong.

When they could have accepted the offers of the United Nations and individual countries to provide on the ground peacekeepers and reconstruction assistance, they chose not to. They were wrong.

When they should have leveled with the American people that the insurgency had grown, they chose not to. Vice President Cheney even absurdly claimed that the “insurgency was in its last throes.” He was wrong.


Now after all these mistakes, the Administration accuses anyone who proposes a better course of wanting to cut and run. But we are in trouble today precisely because of a policy of cut and run. This administration made the wrong choice to cut and run from sound intelligence and good diplomacy; to cut and run from the best military advice; to cut and run from sensible war time planning; to cut and run from their responsibility to properly arm and protect our troops; to cut and run from history’s lessons about the Middle East; to cut and run from common sense.

And still today they cut and run from the truth. " :patriot:


Senator John Kerry
Georgetown University
October 26, 2005


Hi, tasteblind!
:hi: