Abu Ghraib

[dherblay]

I am saddened and sickened by the news from Abu Ghraib (scroll down to "Appalling" if the permalink isn't working). I realize that between the news from Virginia, Sinclair Broadcasting Group's craven show of disrespect for our troops, and some singularly awful news from one of the brightest and funniest people on my friends list, this has been lost

Comments

[dlgood]

I've always been in an tough position, with my own political view. Because I've sympathized with the arguments to remove Saddam. But - I've been wary because I wanted to know how such an expedition fit into overall US security strategy

[dherblay]

You know far more about this subject than I do, but I was suspicious about this war ever since I read that Wolfowitz would be appointed. My misgivings about it before March, 2003, largely had to do with the administration; I would have been more supportive had President Gore or President McCain told me that it was vital to our security. (In fact, one could say that my opposition to this Iraq War became locked in around the time of the South Carolina primary.) While I do tend to be skeptical of hawkishness in general, I don't consider myself kneejerkly pacifistic. I certainly was generally supportive of deployment in Kosovo and Afghanistan, for example. And while the world is better off without Sadaam Hussein, I thought that containment was doing well and that Kim Jong Il was a much greater threat

[dlgood]

While I do tend to be skeptical of hawkishness in general, I don't consider myself kneejerkly pacifistic.

Yeah. I'm a bit more hawkish, but I come from the Realist "Was is an instrument of national policy" school. Hawkishness, is inherently neither good nor bad, except how it's tied to a coherent national policy. Hawkishness, for hawkishness' sake, which is where the administration appears to be at, is disastrous.

I have no clue what we do now that we're into this.Neither do I. On the one hand, we've staked a lot on completing this endeavor and it would be an embarassement to quit, and to fail, and would continue to have dire consequences for out long-term security. But, it's a sunk cost - you don't keep investing because you've already paid a lot - you measure the cost of future investment against what you expect it to be worth. And this might not be worth it

[angeyja]

I'm really pretty jape-free at present; but, thank you for the post. I'm hearing aa good deal about people getting called up, btw.

[dherblay]

Well, I have the singular problem that I just don't have the requisite icons for serious posting. I would imagine that people are getting called up in great numbers. I am proud of our volunteer military, and a bit ashamed at my own lack of commitment, and I hope it will not be taken as a slur on their virtues to say that I wish they didn't have to go.

That is what freedom is

[ann1962]

"I hope it will not be taken as a slur on their virtues to say that I wish they didn't have to go." You need to be allowed to say just this.

I work with a fellow who had a long history in the military. He is pretty conservative on most issues and even he is concerned with the direction this war is going. He is confident that if the military men were allowed to run the war, rather than the political administration at hand, things would have gone more smoothly and he thinks we would be on the road to peace. If even the military people are concerned, all the more reason for a change of regime.

[angeyja]

Sorry for the lag. I was at the street park planting roses, my way of dealing with stress tends to involve planting something I'm afraid (if I'm not on a train as you know,) and the light was going. (No pun intended

Re: Interesting...

[dherblay]

Iraq like Vietnam? Don't be silly, Vietnam had much better music!

Ok, seriously, Vietnam comparisons have been made by quite a few people. When Ted Kennedy compared the two (in terms not of our chances of winning, but in terms of the amount of deception involved in securing Congressional approval), it was largely denounced as treasonous.

The amount of respect I have for ginmar is immeasurable.

I don't know what Kerry will do to get us out of this situation, but I have a little more confidence that he won't get us into another situation like this. The current administration? I'm convinced that if the manpower situation wasn't so desperate, we'd be in Syria by October.