Posted on 02/24/2006 7:12:07 PM PST by CometBaby
"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes — it is America." The New York Times reporter is quoting the complaint of a clothing merchant in a Sunni stronghold in Iraq. "Everything that is going on between Sunni and Shiites, the troublemaker in the middle is America."
One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated in the way of revenge. He concludes that “The bombing has completely demolished” what was being attempted — to bring Sunnis into the defense and interior ministries.
Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. The great human reserves that call for civil life haven't proved strong enough. No doubt they are latently there, but they have not been able to contend against the ice men who move about in the shadows with bombs and grenades and pistols.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
I agree with you. Conservatives can be just as hypocritical and close-minded as liberals, and sometimes more. If Buckley wrote a column praising the President, he would be applauded, but because he disagrees, he is labeled as old and senial.
If you disagree with his points, fine, but why get personal? Incase you have not noticed, Pres. Bush is not exactly a young man either. William Buckley is still smarter than 95%-100% of everybody on this forum even at his age. Disagree with his points if you want, but leave the childish attacks out of it.
Mr. Buckley,
With all due respect, sir, you've gotten lazy. You have resorted to reading the newspaper to get your news. It is sad that you seem to have missed all of the good news from Iraq. It's sad that you don't realize that outside of Baghdad and the 3 provinces under curfew, life has vastly improved for the Iraqi people. It's sad that you've lost your will to foght for what's right. It's just sad.
Sincerely Disappointed,
REDWOOD 99
Senior conservatives fought the good fight for decades, before it was popular, before communication ever favored free ideas.
Bunch of spoiled unruly freshmen showed up in 2001, melded 9-11 into a weapon for their leftist views, and now proceed to insult and dismiss the work of champions like Buckley and others.
It's cool to wear a varsity jacket -- but Neocons represent the airheaded girlfriends who stole them off the backs conservative athletes who earned them. (And then they go and cheat on them, naturally...)
Buckley has outlived his usefulness around here anyway. The only time he ever gets trotted out in support of an issue is over making drugs legal and they can't use President Reagan.
He may have 'disappointed' you before but he is usually right. In this case, in the long run, he will be right again. Rich Lowry is nothing more than a partisan hack. I'll take the esteemed Mr. Buckley's views over Lowry's any day of the week
Couple weeks ago I engaged with a poster I didn't know-- turned out she was an 85 year old woman!
Perfectly wise and interesting in her comments. Moreso than the obvious opposition we are sensing here tonight.
Their turnout for the 2 elections was very high, even by American standards, so it's probably not accurate to say they don't want democracy.
One of these postulates, from the beginning, was that the Iraqi people, whatever their tribal differences, would suspend internal divisions in order to get on with life in a political structure that guaranteed them religious freedom.Here are the central points of the article. I cannot argue with any of it.The accompanying postulate was that the invading American army would succeed in training Iraqi soldiers and policymkers to cope with insurgents bent on violence.
This last did not happen.
But is it possible that they do not, and will not, have the infrastructure and cultural traditions to handle Democracy for a very, very long time?
Just speculating.
The man is an icon like it or not.
"For crying out loud.. divide the country into three parts.. let them name their own countrys.. and let them fight it out.. Jeese.. they will end up doing that anyway.. It took Saadam wholesale murder to stop that from happening.."
This is the most accurate posting on Iraq. And maybe we should divide Iran up the same way.
Ok. I disagree with Bill on this issue. No big deal. I agree with him most of the time.
Is there anyone we agree with 100% of the time?
"Do the Iraqis celebrate TET as they do in Vietnam?"
They probably celebrate every single American casualty in Iraq. Similar to the Vietnamese who fought the Americans in any way the could, and tried every trick in the book to flee their country when it was over, so will the Iraqis ulimately reap what they are sowing as we speak. They seem not to have learnt much from their Iranian neighbours, who toppled their Shah in favour of the 'grand-inquisiteur' of their own choice, Ayatolla Khomeini, only to find out too late what they had bargained for.
If it does fail, perhaps it can be linked to the above. These people apparently expect us to do everything for them. They could take somewhat of an "ownership role" here. It almost seems as if we've created an "entitlement nation" in this way.
Lots of successes, but perceptions often lead the way, and at some point self-maintained stability must come about.
Reality matters less than perception. A couple of weeks of bloody chaos and anti-war sentiment tips and then avalanches against the president and the war.
The delicacy of the situation is almost palpable in the bombing of the mosque. I hear former supporters of the war edging now right up to, "Those people are impossible. We've done all we can for them. Let them fight it out. To hell with them."
I am not at all surprised by this but hoped that W.'s advisors who took us into this thing were smarter and better-informed than me.
If by some miracle, there is no evil power on the ground there now that can take the next step from the mosque bombing and ratchet up the bloody chaos, we could still pull it out. Hard to see it falling that way, though.
I don't begin to know, but my take on it is that there are an awful lot of different forces who are doing what they can to keep democracy from happening there. Including Al Qaeda, substantial portions of most Arab countries it seems, Iran and even the Democrat Party of the US.
My first thought as well.
Agreed. That's the main point to be taken away here. And we have to wonder how long that's gonna take. Right now there are no signs that Iraq is ready to defend and police itself with any kind of pervasive effectiveness.
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