Many much MoveOn.org emailses
I find myself in the position of firmly disagreeing with MoveOn.org's current campaign to halt the escalation of the war in Iraq and pull our troops out. It is not that I support King George in any way. It's that I supported his father fifteen years ago until we pulled out and left the then-insurgents, the guys on our side, hanging. Frankly I think that contributed a lot to the insurgence problem we're facing today.
This war has been horribly managed, we went in for the wrong reasons, and did just about everything we could to be miserable failures (we heart you Google). War should be started by politicians when diplomacy fails, but then politicians need to get out and not backseat, or passenger seat, or any other seat, try to drive the war, that's the military's job. Let them do their job.
We shouldn't have gone into Iraq the second time, but when we did it should have been the Army's way, the way the Pentagon estimated we should have: with 400,000 soldiers. Not because we needed that many to "win"; we "won" just fine with far fewer. But because the Pentagon (accurately, as it turns out) predicted we would need that many troops afterwards to deal with exactly the problems we've been horribly mismanaging: civil unrest and a fragile government. (It didn't help that we told the entire existing Iraqi government, army included, to take their guns and go home and be nice and quiet and don't let the door hit you on the way out.)
So we're there, and I can't support a pull-back or even a status-quo. Let the military do their jobs. We've fucked up but I don't think it's unsalvageable. Give the military a go-ahead with as many troops as they think they need, a focused mission and objectives, get the civilian contractors out (ideally with a firm kick in the butt and some jail time for some corporate executives), and let the army do what they do in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tell King George to go play with his toy soldiers and let the real soldiers restore order without one hand tied behind their backs.
And for Chrissakes, stop banging the drums of war on Iran. What, one and a half fronts doesn't cost enough? (We still have troops in Afghanistan, though His Shrubness likes to forget.)
All this was inspired by the tons of email I get from MoveOn. Normally I applaud their efforts: accountability in gov't is good, getting the failed pseudo-Republicans out was good, and I'm all for a greener Earth. But this campaign I cannot and will not support.
This war has been horribly managed, we went in for the wrong reasons, and did just about everything we could to be miserable failures (we heart you Google). War should be started by politicians when diplomacy fails, but then politicians need to get out and not backseat, or passenger seat, or any other seat, try to drive the war, that's the military's job. Let them do their job.
We shouldn't have gone into Iraq the second time, but when we did it should have been the Army's way, the way the Pentagon estimated we should have: with 400,000 soldiers. Not because we needed that many to "win"; we "won" just fine with far fewer. But because the Pentagon (accurately, as it turns out) predicted we would need that many troops afterwards to deal with exactly the problems we've been horribly mismanaging: civil unrest and a fragile government. (It didn't help that we told the entire existing Iraqi government, army included, to take their guns and go home and be nice and quiet and don't let the door hit you on the way out.)
So we're there, and I can't support a pull-back or even a status-quo. Let the military do their jobs. We've fucked up but I don't think it's unsalvageable. Give the military a go-ahead with as many troops as they think they need, a focused mission and objectives, get the civilian contractors out (ideally with a firm kick in the butt and some jail time for some corporate executives), and let the army do what they do in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tell King George to go play with his toy soldiers and let the real soldiers restore order without one hand tied behind their backs.
And for Chrissakes, stop banging the drums of war on Iran. What, one and a half fronts doesn't cost enough? (We still have troops in Afghanistan, though His Shrubness likes to forget.)
All this was inspired by the tons of email I get from MoveOn. Normally I applaud their efforts: accountability in gov't is good, getting the failed pseudo-Republicans out was good, and I'm all for a greener Earth. But this campaign I cannot and will not support.