Iraq and retreat
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| BAGHDAD - An Iraqi government spokesman criticized the U.S. Senate vote to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by Oct. 1. "We see some negative signs in the decision because it sends wrong signals to some sides that might think of alternatives to the political process," Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press. He spoke after the Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1. The House passed the same bill a day earlier, and President Bush has promised a veto. The legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to send to Bush since they reclaimed control of both houses of Congress in January. "Coalition forces gave lots of sacrifices and they should continue their mission, which is building Iraqi security forces to take over," al-Dabbagh said. "We see (it) as a loss of four years of sacrifices." |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070426/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us
I agree whole-heartedly with the representative from Iraq. Yes, I will probably have to go back (again and maybe again and again) if we stay, and that would put my life in jeopardy yet again, but I feel that every single brother and sister that I have lost over there (for he today that sheds his blood with me...) will have died in vain if we do not see this endeavor through. I also think failure would ripple worldwide. Success is paramount to our strategic concerns right now, like it or not.
And yes, there is a very real condition for success. It involves the Iraqis standing on their own and maintaining their own security, which they are not currently capable of...and likely won't be in a year or two, probably not for another five. The culture (and the way we handled the Ba'ath party) has made it twice as difficult to get personnel with motivation and training to accomplish the same task that US personnel are trying to accomplish right now (with some difficulty).
Just a summation of what we are up against, for anyone that doesn't yet realize the difficulty of the task. Our enemy doesn't play by any rules. They kidnap whole families and kill them, attack civilian targets to cause chaos, and kill anyone that has anything to do with the US or the 'illegal puppet Iraqi government'. The enemy is diverse in their composition and their goals. You have Iran, who wishes to destabilize the region indefinitely (to keep all eyes off them), and ultimately create a mirror-image Shia totalitarian dictatorship. You have Al-Qu'aeda, who wishes to destabilize Iraq until US forces quit (a strategy of attrition - virtually the same successfully pursued by the NVA/VC in Vietnam and Aideed in Somalia), and ultimately create a 'new Caliphate', which amounts to a Wahabi totalitarian dictatorship. You have insurgent groups, some foreign, some domestic, whose goals vary from destroying Iraq, restoring the Ba'ath party, destroying all Shia, destroying all Sunni, forcing the US out, collapsing the current Iraqi government, continuing any of a variety of major criminal enterprises (drug smuggling, human trafficing, etc.) and supporting the goals of one or more of the previously mentioned bigger organizations.
As an analogy, this would be the equivalent of the state of California erupting into anarchy with the following groups with their various goals employing violence to force somebody's hand: the Black Panther Party, La Raza, Nation of Aztlan, the Crips, the Bloods, Westboro Baptist Church, Nation of Islam, Militia of Montana, Sovereign Citizen Movement, Michigan Militia, Kentucky State Militia, League of the South, American Nazi Party, Aryan Nations, The Hammerskin Nation, Ku Klux Klan, and the Jewish Defense League. All of them have some different form of goals, all of them have different agendas, and all of them could wreak havoc individually. If they were all fighting each other and the cops and the national guard, and the active units that the president committed to the fight, you can only imagine what it would be like.
No, things are not pretty in Iraq. No, they likely won't be for some time. Yes, it's important that we can regain control in Iraq and get the Iraqis back on their own feet. If we don't, one (or more) of the groups vying for power right now will win. It likely will be the bloodiest, most horrible group you can imagine. Ultimately, this could seriously endanger the world oil reserves (attacks on Saudi fields have been stopped so far). If you thought it was bad paying 3 bucks a gallon for gas, wait til you have to pay 50. What happens when people can't even afford to commute to work and there is no reliable mass transit...worldwide. If we thought the stock market crash of 1929 was bad for the world economy...just wait. On the upside, cars will HAVE to shift to alternative fuel, and maybe we'll get serious about reliable mass transit.
NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma began its final full week of spring football on a warm and windy Monday afternoon at the Bud Wilkinson practice fields.
Spring Practice No. 10 Photo Gallery
