Getting Out of Iraq

Rolling Stone ^ | 11-17-05 | Robert Dreyfuss

[Redneck Limey]

Getting Out of Iraq

The only remaining question is not how to win the war, but how to end it

By ROBERT DREYFUSS

George Bush is just about the only person in Washington these days who doesn't know that the United States has lost the war in Iraq. "We're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory," Bush declared in mid-October.

But in the rest of Washington, including the Pentagon, nearly everyone else is thinking about exit strategies. Public support for the war....

read more at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8799011?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single1

[kellynla]

Maybe Dreyfuss should take a trip to Iraq before he makes a total idiot of himself...again!


"in a survey last month from the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, 47% of Iraqis polled said their country was headed in the right direction, as opposed to 37% who said they thought that it was going in the wrong direction. And 56% thought things would be better in six months. Only 16% thought they would be worse.

American soldiers are also much more optimistic than American civilians. The Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations just released a survey of American elites that found that 64% of military officers are confident that we will succeed in establishing a stable democracy in Iraq. The comparable figures for journalists and academics are 33% and 27%, respectively... reenlistment rates continue to exceed expectations. Veterans are expressing their confidence in the war effort by signing up to continue fighting.

There are also positive economic indicators that receive little or no coverage in the Western media. For all the insurgents' attempts to sabotage the Iraqi economy, the Brookings Institution reports that per capita income has doubled since 2003 and is now 30% higher than it was before the war. Thanks primarily to the increase in oil prices, the Iraqi economy is projected to grow at a whopping 16.8% next year. According to Brookings' Iraq index, there are five times more cars on the streets than in Saddam Hussein's day, five times more telephone subscribers and 32 times more Internet users.
The growth of the independent media — a prerequisite of liberal democracy — is even more inspiring. Before 2003 there was not a single independent media outlet in Iraq. Today, Brookings reports, there are 44 commercial TV stations, 72 radio stations and more than 100 newspapers."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-boot23nov23,0,1306469.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[L98Fiero]

http://www.robertdreyfuss.com/

Sick man.

[Reagan Man]

George Bush is just about the only person in Washington these days who doesn't know that the United States has lost the war in Iraq.

That's as far as I got.

We're winning the war in Iraq. The US military drove across Iraq and completed a massive invasion that destroyed the the Iraqi armed forces, including Saddam's loyal Republican Guard. We killed Saddam's crazed sons, captured or killed 44 of 52 most deadly members of Saddam's inner circle and we captured the Butcher of Baghdad himself. The US has been rebuilding the Iraqi infrastructure, assisting the Iraqi people in forming a government and writing a constitution. The US military has been training the Iraqi people to take over security for their own country.

That sounds like a pretty successful 2-1/2 years, under extremely adverse conditions. Obviously, Robert Dreyfuss and Rolling Stone take a more defeatist position on Iraq. Why am I not surprised.

[pawdoggie]

Whichever General (Former JCS Chairman Meiers?) made the notorious "the war can't be won militarily" really did a disservice to his Commander in Chief, the troops he leads (led?) and himself. Yes, it is technically a true statement in the sense that modern warfighting emphasizes a systematic "D.I.M.E" (Diplomatic, Information, Military and Economic) concept, in which military action alone cannot produce victory against an insurgency, but when you're speaking to civilian reporters, you have to be very careful not to assume that your target audience will be able to understand your military shorthand (or, in the case of the Pentagon press corps, that they will "fill in the blanks" for their readers/listeners/viewers even when they do understand from whence you are coming).

[YOUGOTIT]

The same type of TRAITORS were writing the same type of articles in 1970. We are headed for another round of anti-American left-wing fascist who are cheering when American die. Just like the Nazi (And they were Nazi no matter what they say or what they profess to be their religion, Hitler would be have been proud of these scum bags did during Vietnam.

[caisson71]

Rolling Stone is the same as river rock - dumb as hell.

[Stultis]

Talk about "stuck on stupid".

[FlingWingFlyer]

I'd like to see a military guy kick Richard Dumbass's ass. What would a braindead actor know about what is going on in Iraq? Little Dick takes himself too seriously.

Don't do drugs.

[Cyclopean Squid]

Here's the image that accompanies this profound and epoch-making article:



I'm not sure who gets their political analysis for Rolling Stone, but if these are the opinion-shapers in the yute-culture of today, then America as an effective country, let alone America as a superpower, is over with the current generation. I'm only a couple of years out of RS's target audience (what, 14-22?), but this article is so sophomoric I'd have a hard time it convinces anyone who doesn't already believe it.

The whole idea of RS is dumb anyway. A mass-market magazine that promotes counterculturalism (which is actually what passes for pop culture these days)? An established anti-establishment pamphlet with juvenile musical tastes? Thanks, but no thanks.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Geeesh. When I read the article, I thought it said Richard Dreyfuss. Ever notice how all Leftist kooks are starting sound alike?

[scory]

We won the war in Vietnam insofar as the battlefield goes. We lost the war in Vietnam because of tripe about how "unwinnable" it was and how we could "never defeat" a guerilla enemy (who had been effectively destroyed in the Tet offensive of 1968). It was a defeatist media and defeatist democrat party that lost us the war in Vietnam.

We only "lose" in Iraq if fools get their way and convince enough Americans at home that we cannot win. Our people actually in the fight in Iraq know we are winning. The defeatist media and defeatist democrat party are once again working hard to make their dream of an America in retreat a reality. You are, no doubt, proud of your contribution to their efforts.

[armydawg1]

I always turn to Rolling Stone for my foreign policy reading.

Actually, even my a** is too good to wipe with this rag.

[RonF]

Hell, we won World War II 60 years ago and we still have troops in Germany and Japan.

[Cyclopean Squid]

I believe all countries are ultimately destroyed by the ideals they most cherish. Nazi Germany was defeated on the battlefield; the USSR was undone by economics; the USA will flounder because of abuse of liberties.

[L98Fiero]

"Actually, even my a** is too good to wipe with this rag."

My roomate used to keep RS in his bathroom for just that reason. "We are out of TP, I just had to wipe with Green Day". LOL.

[goldstategop]

If we've lost, clue me in on why the Democrats voted AGAINST an immediate exit from Iraq last weekend. More evidence this writer has no idea what he's talking about.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[PerConPat]

This stooge is the usual butt boy Leftist.

Yeah. I wonder what gene enables these cretins to constantly moan for a return to the good old days when we responded to terrorist attacks etc. by bombing aspirin factories. It took the swine eight years to finally bring down the Twin Towers; eight years in which nothing of substance was done to convince the sneaking butchers that we mean business.

Now is the time to make the Islamo-thugs very mindful that we can (and will) hit back -and not, by turning our tails, to encourage them to try for even bigger successes. When I get into a discussion, and very rarely at that, with one of these liberal lunatics, I love to wind them up by pointing out that Afghanistan and Iraq are just the beginning because the morons running the Jihad are never going to back off until we kill lots and lots of their minions.

[rlmorel]

Ask and ye shall receive...

[rlmorel]

Right.

Those are good points lost on liberals. I get a kick out of it when one of them says our policies in Iraq are making things worse in the world...I come back with "Oh yeah...that was working real well for us before we went into Iraq and Afghanistan if you discount those planes flying into buildings...bombs blowing up ships, buildings and planes, elderly passengers being shot and dumped into the oceans in their wheelchairs..."