Posted on 11/13/2004 7:15:24 PM PST by O.C. - Old Cracker
I got a brief glimpse of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's news conference on Monday, as the battle for Falluja began. I couldn't help but rub my eyes for a moment and wonder aloud whether I had been transported back in time to some 20 months ago, when the war for Iraq had just started. Watching CNN, I saw the same Rummy joking with the Pentagon press corps, the same scratchy reports from the front by "embedded reporters,'' the same footage of U.S. generals who briefed the soldiers preparing for battle about how they were liberating Iraq.
There was only one difference that no one seemed to want to mention. It wasn't 20 months ago. It was now. And Iraq has still not been fully liberated. In fact, as the fight for Falluja shows, it hasn't even been fully occupied.
Taking in this scene I had very mixed feelings: a fervent hope that victory in Falluja will start to tip Iraq in the right direction, and utter scorn at the fact that we are now, once again, fighting a full-scale war in central Iraq, without an ounce of self-reflection by an administration that long ago declared "mission accomplished.'' But don't worry. Rummy has it all under control. He hasn't made any mistakes. Everything is going as planned. The plan was always to fight running street battles in Falluja 20 months after Saddam's fall.
So lay off. Shut up. Watch Fox. Wave a flag. Visit a red state. Don't ask how we got into this fix. Shut up. Lay off. Watch Fox. ...
Alas, I'm part of that dwindling minority who believe that a decent outcome in Iraq is both hugely important and still possible. But the "déjà vu all over again" battle for Falluja only reminds me that I still have the same questions I had before the Iraq war started. Free advice: until you have answers to the following six questions, don't believe any happy talk coming from the Bush team on Iraq.
Question 1 Have we really finished the war in Iraq? And by that I mean, is it safe for Iraqis and reconstruction workers to drive even from the Baghdad airport into town, and for Iraqi politicians to hold campaign rallies and have a national dialogue about their country's future?
Question 2 Do we have enough soldiers in Iraq to really provide a minimum level of security? Up to now President Bush has applied what I call the Rumsfeld Doctrine in Iraq: just enough troops to protect ourselves, but not Iraqis, and just enough troops to be blamed for everything that goes wrong in Iraq, but not enough to make things go right.
Ah, Friedman, what do you know about troop levels? Actually, not much. Never shot a gun. But I'm not a chef either, and I know a good meal when I eat one. I know chaos when I see it, and my guess is that we are still at least two divisions short in Iraq.
Question 3 Can Iraqis agree on constitutional power-sharing? Is there a political entity called Iraq? Or is there just a bunch of disparate tribes and ethnic and religious communities? Is Iraq the way Iraq is because Saddam was the way Saddam was, or was Saddam the way Saddam was because Iraqis are the way they are - congenitally divided? We still don't know the answer to this fundamental question because there has not been enough security for Iraqis to have a real horizontal dialogue.
Question 4 If Iraqis are able to make the leap from the despotism of Saddam Hussein to free elections and representative government, can we live with whomever they elect - which will be mostly politicians from Islamist parties? I take a very expansive view of this since it took Europe several hundred years to work out the culture, habits and institutions of constitutional politics. What you are seeing in Iraq today are the necessary first steps. If Iraqis elect Islamist politicians, so be it. But is our president ready for that group shot?
Question 5 Can we make a serious effort to achieve a psychological breakthrough with Iraqis and the wider Arab world? U.S. diplomacy in this regard has been pathetic. "It is sad to say this, but after 18 months the U.S. still hasn't convinced Iraqis that it means well,'' said Yitzhak Nakash, the Brandeis University expert on Iraq. "We have never been able to persuade Iraqis that we aren't there for the oil. There still isn't a basis for mutual trust.''
Question 6 Can the Bush team mend fences with Iran, and forge an understanding with Saudi Arabia and Syria to control the flow of Sunni militants into Iraq, so the situation there can be stabilized and the jihadists killed in Falluja are not replaced by a new bunch?
This time, let no one claim victory, or defeat, in Iraq until we have the answers to these six questions.
This article appeared in the New York Times, our premier newspaper. But I gotta say, OC, as wonderful as the article is, I enjoyed your entry ten times more!!!
1) Bush41 - Desert Storm
2) Bush43 - Cowboys vs. Iraq Army, Navy & Air Force
3) Bush43 - Cowboys vs. Islamists & Bathists
Does anyone think she looks like the Penguin in Batman Returns???
Friedman has become nearly as shrill as his colleague, Maureen Dowd.
1) Those construction workers he's so worried about are Halliburton workers. Thats their job, rebuild a city in a warzone.
2) We do have enough soldiers. Liberals think that brute force is necessary. They are still stuck in the mindset of the British redcoats fighting us. They thought walking in a line using brute force would do it, and guess what? WE WON! NOT THEM! hehe. Also, Rumsfeld wants to use technology and soldiers. That way, 1 soldier can do the work of 2 or 3, or whatever number.
3) What an idiot! We have a power struggle here between Republicans and Asses. We have different religions and races and everything, we have more differences here than over there. How do we do it? Mindset, something liberals think Arabs arent capable of.
4) If we write a GOOD constitution modeled like ours, then we shouldnt worry. Also, Saddam was "elected" and we didnt like him, so we got rid of him. If we dont like the result, we occupy a bit longer and remove their president.
5) Again, liberal elitists think two things: one is Arabs cant govern themselves, and two is the Muslims fighting us arent the normal Iraqi citizens. They are terrorists killing us and Iraqis. Iraqis may or may not like us, but they know we are helping them.
6) WHAT! Control borders?! Geeze, they want to ruin another country as well as ours?! typical liberal.
This columnist wouldn't want to hear the answer that would be the solution to most of his questions: bring down holy hell on all the Sunni population. They only number about 5 million yet they are making our war effort look like Vietnam, a much bigger country.
There is a communal guilt shared by those 5 million. They either help, or pay the price. Our PC "war" that puts on on the defensive is a crime.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1261949/posts?page=63#63
I agree 100%
Grab them by the balls and their hearts will follow
WE are talking about the survival of this nation and we need to BE FEARED not loved
Unfortunately I don't know if the Military is large enough or whether we can bear the$$$$$ cost Creeping socialism may have sapped our treasury too much already
I fear this establishing a democracy in Iraq and letting them run the country will not succeed unless the enemy is totally devasted like Germany and Japan in WWII
IBS?
My guess is irritated bowl syndrome.
As much as I hate the NY Slimes, I stil wonder that once Fallujah is cleared of terrorists, how long will it stay cleared? Once we pull back and the rebuliding begins, will the terrorists move right back in?
Please, we can do without the photo.
So we kill them until they don't want to return. We did it to the Germans and Japanese. They got tired of dying.
a fervent hope that victory in Falluja will start to tip Iraq in the right direction
Start to tip in the right direction? Why do these people have such disdain for our fighters?
Here is the mission: take control of Falluja. When it is done, why not let them report mission accomplished? It is good human resource management to say "thank you boys, job well done."
Question 7) Did you vote for John Kerry?
Question 8) Do you write for a Liberal newspaper?
Question 9) Do you have patience?
YUCK!!!!!
Now there's a picture. Helen Thomas...only a face that Janet Reno could love.
"Can the Bush team mend fences with Iran?" - Did the Bush team take the American emabassy in Tehran by force and hold American citizens hostage? When are we going to make peace with Iran who did all of the above and does not think they did anything wrong? Never! At least as long as the mullahs plan to kill instead of practicing their religon in peace.
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