We have two choices in Iraq. Either withdrawl to let Iraqis *earn* the government they want. Or send 500,000 troops in right now to end the insurgency. No. With Generals repeatedly complaining they don't have enought troops, instead, George Jr has decided he will appease you. He announced troop reductions. Not many. Just enough to hinder military operations in Iraq. He announced exactly what the Generals don't want.
At least in Vietnam where an insurgency also grew due to American presence, still, Americans could be relatively safe in Saigon or on the road to Tan Son Nhat airport. In Iraq, Americans cannot go in most all of Baghdad and are easily killed on but a five mile road to the airport. Yet somehow, George Jr tells us we are winning this war.
Meanwhile, it would appear the administration is quietly seeking to get out of Iraq.
Quote:
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... America's ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad said Americans could talk to any insurgents except extreme Islamists or former loyalists of Saddam Hussein; also said that Mr Bush had given him permission to "open a dialogue" with Iran, which has a (debatable) degree of influence over iraq's main Islamist Shia parties, over how best to bring stability to the country.
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That from The Economist of 3 Dec 2005. Well at least the administration is slowly conceding what this author has been saying for years. Even George Jr has conceded that these are insurgents and not his mythical Al Qaeda terrorists. At current count, the US now knows of at least 74 different guerilla organizations. Even the little and overhyped Zarqawi group is suspected, in only eight months, to have grown from a few hundred to a few thousand active supporters.
These are intelligence estimated that have been previously underestimated in this war - as they also were in Vietnam. IOW how much larger is the insurgency in reality.
Recently 10 American Marines were killed in one attack in Fallujah. How can this be? Fallujah only has four entrances. All checkpoint equipped even with explosive sniffing machines. And yet still insurgents harmed 21 Marines in one (of many) attacks by using multiple artillery shells. Hiding those munitions in wreckage from a previous attack. All this inside a city that the US said was safe and that is kept munition free by four heavily guarded checkpoints.
Ahhh, the president would not lie. We are winning the "Mission Accomplished" war that we won years ago. And yet still Iraq produces less electricity today than when Saddam ran the country. George Jr hopes you never learn such facts. But we are winning. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
"Trust me", he says. Somehow I find that to be a tortured conclusion. Suggested by something I think I may have recently read (or quoted).