The Central Pillar Is Hollow
Another reason they should listen to the people more. How many out there could have told them this a year or two ago? Raise your hands.
WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. officials have begun to question a key presumption of American strategy in Iraq: that establishing democracy there can erode and ultimately eradicate the insurgency gripping the country.The expectation that political progress would bring stability has been fundamental to the Bush administration's approach to rebuilding Iraq, as well as a central theme of White House rhetoric to convince the American public that its policy in Iraq remains on course. ...
Now, with Saturday's constitutional referendum appearing more likely to divide than unify the country, some within the administration have concluded that the quest for democracy in Iraq, at least in its current form, could actually strengthen the insurgency.The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Army Gen. George W. Casey, has acknowledged that such a scenario is possible, .....
Despite what Bush on Thursday called "incredible political progress" in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's fall 2 1/2 years ago, the Iraqi insurgency has grown in strength and sophistication. From about 5,000 Hussein loyalists using leftover Iraqi army equipment, it has mushroomed into a disparate yet potent force of up to 20,000 equipped with explosives capable of knocking out even heavily armored military vehicles."The surface political process has stumbled forward, but the insurgency came up and kind of stayed that way," said a U.S. government analyst with access to classified intelligence........
"The democratic process as it has worked so far has certainly done nothing to undermine the insurgency," said Nathan Brown, who researches Middle East political reform at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.Robert Malley, co-author of a September report by the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization that deals with conflict resolution, concluded that approval of the draft constitution could make things worse. Malley called the administration's Iraq policy "a case study of pinning too much hope on an electoral process without doing so much of the other work."Success in Iraq "is not about democracy or non-democracy; it's about reaching consensus on a political pact that all parties agree to," said Malley, a former advisor to President Clinton on Arab-Israeli affairs. "If they don't agree, the political process won't help."
Wow! You mean you can't just talk about it in speeches, you actually have to do it!??? Sounds like the same thing going on here...oh ya it is.
posted by Ron at 5:08 PM
2 Comments:
The Donkey's thoughts on A Central Pillar of Iraq Policy Crumbling:
What is political progress? What insurgency is the military focusing on? The Shiites in the south is cooperating with the USA now. They will turn on the USA as soon as they kill most of the Sunnis. Most of the bombs are directed against the Sunnis. The USA's military moving against the Sunnis and will move against Syria to cut off any support.
Establishing democracy in Iraq is not the reason troops are there. Bush wants to get the oil. The constitutional referendum has already shut out the Sunnis. They will not vote for their destruction. Bush said : "If the peoples of are permitted to choose their own destiny and advance by their own energy and by their participation as free men and women, then the extremists will be marginalized and the flow of violent radicalism to the rest of the world will slow and eventually end." As the article said Colombia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Northern Ireland have been functioning democracies for years, yet extremists are still there.
The Donkey is reminded of what General David M. Shoup, the Commandant of the Marine Corps 1960-63, and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor said on May 14, 1966:
“I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-soaked fingers out of the business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own -- and if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the "haves" refuse to share with the "have-nots" by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don't want and above all don't want crammed down their throats by Americans."
The USA will control what happens. Iraq will be under the USA for years. It will be a bloody occupation. When the oil runs out is when the occupation stops.
Not exactly on the subject here, but this was the closest place to put it (I guess?):
Bill Maher, Sept. 23, 2005:
New Rule: The next major destructive storm must be called Hurricane George. You've earned it, buddy! Congratulations. You are officially a Category 5 president.
ROFLMAO
Yes, I'm in complete agreement LMAO.
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