Quote:
Philboid Studge wrote
Cap'n, maybe I misunderstood your original comment: "I would turn half of Iraq into a mud hole," a sentiment which OC echoes -- "wholesale slaughter, domination of both guerillas and the populace, and an unrelenting show of force" -- if not endorses.
Whether such a tactic would save lives is disputable. Whether it would result in a "secure" nation-state is doubtful; I'd say incredible. Slinking out, pretending we won, might be the best option. By "best" I mean the "least horrible." But I think we should slink away, then support the effort to rebuild that mess. I know how you feel about the UN (that's a debate for another day), but there's really no other organization on that scale fit to clean up the unbelievable frigging mess we made. It's criminal what we've done over there.
You and I have a common starting point, at least, if for different reasons: we both think the invasion was a mistake. Speaking of strange bedfellows, I think your prescription is closer to the Hillary-Biden model for "getting out" but I could be wrong, as both of those people nauseate me, and I stopped paying attention some time ago.
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I agree that slinking out and pretending we won is probably the most workable model that has the least negative consequences for us. The problem being Iraq might go to Civil War, so more people might die in Iraq if we leave then if we were there. The problem with my plan is that it would be very unpopular, isolate us more from the Europeans and cause disrest at home. (Because people are emotional and can't see the long term.) Plus it might inflame the Muslim world against us. Which could kill more people in the long run.
But the absolute worst option is the path which we are currently on 'Staying the Course' as President Bush likes to call it. Staying the course means nothing is going to change over there, the war will likely slowly escalate, which is just a caulous political move so as not to draw out as much of a reaction. It's much more honest to just fight the war as hard and fast as possible. We need a plan to do
something at this point.
Just on a side track, speaking of really strange bedfellows, I was a speaker at the local college on diversity week. I had shown up to a previous debate and been the loyal opposition when they asked for questions. When one of thier speakers crapped out on them they asked if I could fill in on short notice and 'share my opinion'
Holy Crap was I surprised at that. Liberals must actually be living up to thier 'open minded' claim these days. That's right hippies, Cap'n Awesome, champion of diversity.