Like most Americans, I’m just weary of the Iraq War. Speaking out against it loudly seems almost as pointless now as it did back in the winter and spring of 2003. I heard a good deal of the testimonies of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker over the last two days, and it all made me sick. These two men really do seem intelligent and honorable, in stark contrast to their Commander-in-Chief. They’ve been tasked with making the best of a horrendous situation, and to that end, it really does seem like they’re doing the best they can, again, in stark contrast to the efforts in the three years preceding their entry into the conflict.
It does seem like to withdraw our forces would be to punish Iraqis for our own imbecilic decision as a country to elect George W. Bush as our leader twice. Our military is breaking, and the effects of this conflict on them and their families are devastating. I think that these factors, when taken in account with our lack of a near-term obtainable objective in Iraq, are enough reasons in themselves to get out. But Petraeus and Crocker’s task to determine how to best alleviate sectarian violence and extremist terrorism and to give the people of Iraq a chance. I may be dead wrong, but it’s not the military’s job to look at the impact of the current conflict on our future strength and readiness; that role would go to the civilian leadership at the Pentagon. And then it should be up to the President and his best advisers to weigh the information from both sides.
It’s pretty clear that our presence in Iraq is probably better for the Iraqis that our withdrawal. Unfortunately, we can’t do much more than stick bandages on bleeding wounds, and the wounds simply get infected every time we reduce our presence somewhere.
And it’s pretty clear that our military has been decimated by our continued presence there.
And it’s crystal clear that we should have never been there in the first place, and it’s nauseating that Bush and cronies are seemingly off the hook for the propaganda, cherry-picked intelligence, hijacking of 9/11, and flat-out lies that led us into Iraq.
As a very liberal Democrat, I’m not convinced that quick withdrawal is sound policy at this point. It’s too late. Americans and Democrats should’ve demanded an exit a couple of years ago–or should’ve made sure we never went to Iraq in the first place–or should’ve never let Bush ascend to the Presidency in the first place. Now, it’s just too fucking late.
Dems made the tactical mistake of not going all out to prevent the surge, figuring that it simply wouldn’t work, and there’d be a clear way out come September when Petraeus would tell them how it didn’t work. Well, there’s fair evidence, cherry-picked, but fair enough nonetheless, that some objectives of the surge were met. That doesn’t justify that we had a surge in the first place, but it makes it damn hard to pull the plug now. It’s even harder when Petraeus AND Bush will sign off on “troop reduction” which doesn’t really mean jack-shit since we’ll still be at pre-surge numbers next summer, but it does, as a soundbyte, make it sound like Bush is doing something positive for the troops.
I saw some of my blog stats spike over the last couple of days, and so I feel somewhat obliged to say that I don’t intend my comments to be taken too seriously. I don’t pretend to know enough to have any answers. I’m just thinking through my own thoughts, and the result is this entry.
The only thing I do know for sure is that we’re fucked. We’ve been fucked since November of 2000, and we’ll remain fucked until at least January of 2009. And if you voted for Bush even once, I’ll probably never forgive you, for the absolute shitstorm you’ve permitted upon this country and this planet that your grandchildren will still smell the stench of in the decades to come.
