Iraq President “there’s no civil war, its only gangs and extremists”

Its only the extremists and gangs that are causing all the violence said President Jalal Talabani of Iraq at a conference in France.  AT the same time he said Iraq needed the American troops there for 3 years as opposed to the 18 months that was recently announced.

If its only gangs and extremists then the Iraqis should be able to handle it why do they need the Americans. Seems kind of contradictory. He also took a swipe at the countries that stayed on the sidelines such as his host, France, “Without this war, perhaps you wouldn’t see me here as President, but as a refugee.” Maybe he should have been a stand up comedian…

Another call for a draft

There is an interesting mini debate going on in WashPost columnist William M. Arkin’s blogpost on a draft. Among the usual neocon vs. right vs. left debate there was a post by a college kid who said,

“First, I truly believe that there is more support for a draft than many would assume, but that support rests on the feeling that our country is truly threatened by an outside force. For whatever reasons, and there are many, the war on terror is not held as a truly critical threat to America. I suppose life is a bit too normal for us to really be at war. Secondly, I have noticed just how amazed most of my peers are at the overwhelming power of the American military industrial complex.”

Wouldn’t it be great if potential draftees had a choice for what purpose they could serve?

Though the Military is volunteer and has selected to serve, why is the National Guard sent to Iraq and Afghanistan? Aren’t they supposed to defend the country within the borders, maybe I just don’t know. Also there were stories of leave being revoked or delayed and various “stop loss” measures instituted to retain soldiers to active status.

If a U.S. Government is going to go on military adventures I believe it points to a necessity to increase the size  of the armed forces. Looking at recent recruitment efforts its not going to be voluntary it has to be a draft.

Nov. elections may not change “staying the course in Iraq”

According to Robert Kagan of the WashPost the November elections will likely not change the current policy of staying the course in Iraq, “There is a deeper reason this election, and even the next presidential election, may not change U.S. foreign policy very much. Historically, and especially in the six decades since the end of World War II, there has been much more continuity than discontinuity in foreign policy. New administrations change policy around the margins, and sometimes those changes prove important — George H.W. Bush temporized about the Balkans; Bill Clinton temporized and then sent troops. Clinton temporized about Iraq and then bombed. George W. Bush temporized and then invaded. But the motives behind American foreign policy, and even the means, don’t differ all that much from administration to administration. Republicans berated the Democrats’ “cowardly” containment until they took the White House in 1952, then adopted that strategy as their own.”

Is there something about the illegitimacy of the Iraq war that might change the above scenario? I hope so. The fact that an administration can lie to the American people and get away with it  rewarded for it is difficult to accept, its particularly hard to stomach when so many of our soldiers had to die or get injured. Human evolution has to take us further than stagnation.

So who’s surprised? Bush says Rumsfeld and Cheney should stay till end of his terms

Our rigider than thou Chief Decider, Prez. Bush says that he wants two of the chief villians in residence, Don, 2800+ U.S. soldiers dead, Rumsfeld and Dick, I love waterboarding, Cheney to stay with him till the end of his term, “”Both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them,” Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press and others.

On the war in Iraq, Bush said the military has not asked for an increase in U.S. forces beyond the 144,000 already there. He said U.S. generals have told him “that the troop level they got right now is what they can live with.”
I wonder if the story will stay the same after next Tuesday.

More than ever the insurgents are targeting U.S. forces

 How does the U.S. soldier guard against an IED, an improvised explosive device planted by the roadside and triggered by insurgents watching from a distance? The U.S. Military has tried jamming devices without success. The result of these explosives, snipers and an overabundance of AK-47s available to the average Iraqi citizenry we have lost 103 soldiers in October, the worst since 2004.

I hope we can get past the election next week and wait for the release of study by James Baker and Co.  If the recommendations don’t include a “get them out of the streets” option it would be a crying shame.

103 – U.S. troops killed in Iraq in October
137 – Highest monthly total, in November 2004
636 – Number killed in 2006
2,813 – Total U.S. deaths in the war

*Sources: Defense Department, Times reporting

More Vietnam reference

Boston Globe columnist H.D.S. Greenway brings up the Vietnam reference:

“Like Bush in Iraq, President Johnson in had hoped to bring some soldiers home in 1965 when South Vietnamese troops had been properly trained to take on their own security.”

“Now there is no more talk of being out by 1965 – or any other year in the foreseeable future,” Time said in 1964.

“After three years of intensive effort and considerable pain, including the expenditure of $3.3 billion in aid and the loss of 262 Americans killed, 1,196 wounded or injured…the war is still not being discernibly won.” So Johnson sent in more soldiers.

We would be grateful today if our expenditure of blood and treasure in Iraq were that low after three years.

Time wondered back then “how long American opinion will accept being told that the war is endless. That war lasted another 11 years, leaving more than 50,000 Americans and countless Vietnamese dead, but victory remained elusive.”

Sounds familiar? However I am not convinced that the American people of 2006 will allow this President or the next to continue for another 10-12 years.

“None of the Iraqi police are working to make their country better”

The above quote came, not from an U.S. source but from Brig. Gen. Salah al-Ani, Chief of Police for Western Baghdad. A damning indictment from a police official who should know what is going on in the ground in Baghdad.

The facts seem to be that the two main factions of Shiites vying for control, SCIRI, Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq which runs the Badr Brigade and Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army have infiltrated the Police forces and the Iraqi army. Which then means that they pursue the agendas of their leaders as opposed to being under the control of the Iraqi government. Everybody knows this but they are playing chicken. Meanwhile the average citizen and the American soldiers bear the brunt of their violent rivalry and their joint fight against the Sunnis.

To further complicate events, there are three types of police organizations, the Patrol, Traffic and the regular police who investigate crimes who are all autonomous.

It is apparently so unsafe that the American soldiers who train the Iraqi police inside the police headquarters compound for western Baghdad wear full body armor.

How is the U.S. going to bring democracy to this country?

U.S. Military might no substitute for a coherent foreign policy

The above phrase is the Op-Ed headline in the Daily Star, a Lebanese newspaper. It seems that the U.S. lead an international naval exercise off the Bahrain coast across from Iran aimed at blocking the smuggling of WMDs into Iran. The editorial goes on to say that military might has not solved anything in Iraq yet and shows no sign of doing so and the U.S. would be better served by bringing some clear thinking foreign policy into the equation.

Its evident that even the people in the war zone see that a new direction is needed than just the empty rhetoric flowing out of the administration these last few years.

Taking the fight to the Taliban

In an excellent article by Elizabeth Rubin of NY Times shows the futility of the allied efforts to put an end to the Taliban resurgence despite the valiant efforts of the NATO soldiers. With just 42,000 soldiers they are trying to control a country that is a third larger than Iraq. It seems like there is a Green Zone a la Baghdad when the NATO soldiers are in an area but as soon as they leave the Taliban come in and undo whatever the soldiers have done.

In one telling episode the embedded reporter writes about the U.S. soldiers securing an area called the Alamo and when they are ready to leave the Afghan police and soldier watch in dismay knowing that they will be killed if they remained in the are. Sure enough, the Americans learn that the Alamo was abandoned within 24 hours.

It is kind of dispiriting to know that there are not enough boots on the ground to help the Afghan government solve its problems and that the Bush administration does not have a credible plan to catch Osama. So why did we go to Afghanistan and why are we not out of there?

Fouad Ajami, Iraq war proponent writes a book

Prof. Fouad Ajami, a Professor, still at Johns Hopkins it seems, was one of the so called intellectuals pushing for a war against Iraq claiming that Saddam had WMDs and that people in Iraq would jump with joy at being liberated and extremists in the region would slink away. He has now written a book, reviewed by NY Times that apparently minimizes, deflects and changes his POV.

I have not read it and having learned a lesson by paying full price for Germs, written by NY Times (now former) reporter Judith Miller which influenced the Government with its falsehoods. This book can now be bought for 1 cent and I plan to wait till Ajami’s book can be bought used for 1 cent.

I don’t understand these opinion makers and “intellectuals.” Do they not know that they will forever be discredited, or should be, for making these false statements? The fact they still retain their University professorships says something about our teachers. At least the NY Times to its credit bounced Ms. Miller out.