We Are So Screwed Now

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We Are So Screwed Now - May 7th, '04

Want to know how common Iraqis feel about the Bush's quest to bring them freedom? Here ya go.

"I sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today's lesson: don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can- while it still looks like you have a choice... Chaos? Civil war? Bloodshed? We'll take our chances- just take your Puppets, your tanks, your smart weapons, your dumb politicians, your lies, your empty promises, your rapists, your sadistic torturers and go."

Bush and the Pentagon have screwed up this war in too many ways. The money should have gone to Iraqis rather than Halliburton. The UN should have been put in command. Utilities and infrastructure should have been a priority. Saddam's torture prison should have been leveled, rather than reused. We should have admitted we were wrong about WMD and links to terrorists. Diplomats who understood Arab sensibilities should have been put in charge.

Or, we shouldn't have gotten into this mess at all.

Like Viet Nam it will be a failure and a source of shame for decades to come. It's time to stop with the damage control and start with the pull out. Do we really need to wait for more death and failure before we admit this is a mess we just can't fix?

Mr President - Damage control is not working. You are selling out our nation for your own stubborn, arrogant pride. Please do the right thing and end this occupation.

8 Comments

Comments:

I know that I'm running a little raw right now, but I actually choked up when I read that. I'm terrified of tempting fate to ask the question: Can this get any worse?

Posted by Rob at 2:15 PM EST on May 7th, '04

There is no guarantee of what will happen either way. For me the issue is a very basic one. It is whether we intend to promote democracy, or empire. The two concepts are inimical to each other.

Posted by John Tinker at 3:07 PM EST on May 7th, '04

"For me the issue is a very basic one. It is whether we intend to promote democracy, or empire."

I don't think we ever intended to promote empire. Even I don't despise Bush enough to accuse him of that.

To me a better question would be how we will measure success. Personally I don't think the war will have been a success unless we are safer afterwards than we were before. Right now I'm having a hard time imagining how this could be making us safer.

Posted by Jon at 4:51 PM EST on May 7th, '04

"Can this get any worse?"

No, you shouldn't ask that.
I've been watching the hearings all day.
Apparently there are more images that we haven't seen, including some video.
This is extremely depressing.

Posted by batgrl at 5:23 PM EST on May 7th, '04

Hegel had a great little phrase: The owl of Minerva only sets wing at dusk. We won't be able to really judge success or failure until this war is over, and right now, I only see it ending one of two ways. We unequivicaly win, which would mean the devastation and subjugation of the Iraqi people, or we call this thing a wash and leave ... kinda like Vietnam. We had a chance to win the Iraqis over, to be the benevolent liberators that we claimed to be, and its gone, history, kaput. The thing I believe that our President never really understood was that when you invade a country, and speak to its people of liberation, you're relying completely on your credibility to win them over. If Vietnam taught us (or the French) anything, its that you only get one shot at winning that game.

We blew it, the chance is gone. We didn't listen to the people we should have listened to, we didn't invite other players to our petty little game of "Git Saddam". If you set yourself up for a game winning hail mary, you only have one chance to catch the ball. We dròpped it. Game over.

As Riverbend very well said, in some respects we are worse than Saddam, because we acted like we were there as the good guys, the white hats. We're not, we failed, and we proved it to them. Unlike the assholes who will try and grab power after we're gone, its not our country. All we do now is retain power by force, as a foriegn invader. Regardless of whether we should have invaded in the first place, one thing is certain, we don't belong there anymore.

Posted by Rob at 5:29 PM EST on May 7th, '04

"We won't be able to really judge success or failure until this war is over"

Not quite. We have a perfect parallel - Afghanistan.

I don't think we have any choice but to leave troops in Iraq for years, as we have in Afghanistan. We can talk all we want about turning over authority, but reducing troop strength after that would be disastrous.

Iraq doesn't have an army. We know that militants will attack the government offices, and infrastructure, and police, and utilities any time they can. And we know the borders are 100% porous. And we know that Iraq as a nation isn't going to rise up in indignation and force the militants out. Just like Afghanistan.

So if we pull the military out, everything we've built over the last year will be gone in a matter of weeks.

No. There won't be any pulling out. We're going to have the same situation we have in Afghanistan. Permanent occupation. Troops killed on a daily basis. Hundreds of billions sent to the Middle East to defend puppet governments in countries where the civilians hate us.

Remember how stupid we used to think the U.S.S.R. was for spending years in Afghanistan trying to prop up the government they'd installed? How stupid will the rest of the world think we are when we do the same thing in two countries?

And how stupid will we feel?

Posted by Jon at 6:38 PM EST on May 7th, '04

"How stupid will the rest of the world think we are when we do the same thing in two countries?"

And how happy most of it will be to sneer, given the current state of relations Bush & Co. have worked so hard to foster.

Posted by Steve at 8:23 PM EST on May 7th, '04

Putting the UN in charge would have been the equivalent of a spoiled child with his run of the candy store and toy store. The UN heads were getting kickbacks from Saddam. Countries like France were getting tons of money in a very nice deal with Saddam. Granted we have not fought the war to finish it. But we did shit in the man's hat and in my opinion, the damn Sunni triangle and other places like it should have been hit with MOABs. The candy asses should be bombed back to the stone age.

Posted by McCloud at 8:16 PM EST on May 9th, '04

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