President Dipshit
President Bush, moments ago after vetoing the war funding bill that mandated troop withdrawal (as quoted by the AP):
"This is a prescription for chaos and confusion and we must not impose it on our troops," Bush said in a nationally broadcast statement from the White House. He said the bill would "mandate a rigid and artificial deadline" for troop pullouts, and "it makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing."
Here' s what I don't get. Let's say, for sake of surreal fantasy, that the surge succeeds in stablizing Iraq to the point that assassination and mayhem are reduced to a tolerable level, such that the U.S. is prepared to turn over security functions to the Iraqi government. Once that happens, the U.S. military and the Administration will have to announce a date for planned withdrawal. As soon as it does, of course, we can expect an upsurge of violence and mayhem as various nefarious forces prepare to foment post-occupation chaos.
In other words, at some point, we have to tell "the enemy" -- note that Bush can't even identify who the enemy is anymore -- that we are leaving Iraq. The only question is tell "the enemy" we are leaving now, or wait for another 1,000 (or 5,000 or 10,000) U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens to die. The choice is simple as that.
"This is a prescription for chaos and confusion and we must not impose it on our troops," Bush said in a nationally broadcast statement from the White House. He said the bill would "mandate a rigid and artificial deadline" for troop pullouts, and "it makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing."
Here' s what I don't get. Let's say, for sake of surreal fantasy, that the surge succeeds in stablizing Iraq to the point that assassination and mayhem are reduced to a tolerable level, such that the U.S. is prepared to turn over security functions to the Iraqi government. Once that happens, the U.S. military and the Administration will have to announce a date for planned withdrawal. As soon as it does, of course, we can expect an upsurge of violence and mayhem as various nefarious forces prepare to foment post-occupation chaos.
In other words, at some point, we have to tell "the enemy" -- note that Bush can't even identify who the enemy is anymore -- that we are leaving Iraq. The only question is tell "the enemy" we are leaving now, or wait for another 1,000 (or 5,000 or 10,000) U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens to die. The choice is simple as that.
posted by Ben at 3:21 PM
2 Comments:
One of the many tragedies is that because this administration “is the way it is” (shorthand for invectives and expletives), there’s almost no chance of a reasonable coming together to try to minimize the consequences of this insanity. An abrupt withdrawal is NOT the best policy but there’s virtually no chance that Bush et al. will face the fact that our goal now is to get out with as few “bad consequences” as possible. Nor is there any reason to trust anything they might say.
We’re left with an artificial either/or from which nothing good will come. If there’s any chance of a reasonable approach, it may be after the report on the surge in September when Republicans in Congress may decide to work with the Democrats to take away Bush’s ability to continue.
To paraphrase John Dean, the Presidency is the cancer.....
-- Big Daddy
Hey Ben,
Thanks for including Iraqi civilian casualties in your list of bad outcomes. Leaving irony aside, I think that is a powerfully ignored issue... and I appreciate you mentioning it.
Post a Comment
<< Home