Don't even get me started on His Smugness making comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq! The only lesson G.W. & Darth Cheney learned was how NOT to go over and fight.
Also, video has come out (where was it back when?) with Cheney talking in 1994 about why the U.S. didn't go after Sadam back after the First Gulf War. It seems that removing the dictator would have thrown Iraq into turmoil and it would have become a "quagmire" according to the then Secretary of Defense. Hmmm.
I can't believe that some Democrats are siding with some Republicans urging the Iraqi military to oust Malaki. Talking Points Memo has a story on some GOP connected lobbyists working with old CIA buddy Ayad Allawi, the one-time Iraqi interim Prime Minister. Whether you like how Malaki is doing his job or not (and I certainly can't say that I am) I REALLLLLY don't think that pushing for the Iraqi military to make a move is a wise thing. Hasn't the US been down this street before? Do we never learn from the past?
1 comment:
That happens to be my biggest fear. We know from Seymour Hirsh that the U.S. was covertly funding Allawi in Iraq's elections (still he got few votes but more than he would have had). The dirty secret is that the U.S. always wanted a friendly Sunni strongman to rule Iraq as a buffer against Iran and ally to Saudi Arabia (which has its own oppressed Shite population); that's why Hussein was left in power before. I can definately see a coup of some kind happening. I think the U.S. is tiring of the ruling Shites, they still would like an economically obediant Sunni dictator. What's sad is that for the last few years I've come across many liberals and leftists who endorse that kind of Kissenger realpolitik; they're acting quite conservative. I don't want an Iraqi Pinochet.
I'll have to take issue with that "chicken-hawk" poster. While I despise Bush as much as anyone, that concept implies that a necessary qualification for the presidency is military experience. That isn't, or shouldn't be the case. Elected officials make policy, not the military.
Joe
Post a Comment