<if the US loses this is counterinsurgency war, it will be primarily because it has completely messed up the political and economic side>
No. It doesn't matter how much oil we pump, how many schools we paint. We have, once again, got ourselves on the wrong side of a nationalist war of liberation. Our mistake was invading the country, without any viable local proxy force to police the ground we'd conquered.
<Militarily, the US has total dominance.>
This mistaken belief, comes from judging a non-conventional war, using the standards of success for a conventional war. The fact that we planted our flag in Saddam's palaces, does not mean we are dominant, or even winning. You cannot defeat a guerrila opponent, unless you separate him from his civilian base of support, and we have totally failed to do that.
<a functioning, legitimate puppet government>
Don't you see the obvious contradiction in terms? How can any Iraqi government appointed and controlled by us, be legitimate?
<if in five years down the line the resistance has grown>
We will be long gone, in 5 years. The retreat has already begun. In 5 years, the Ayatollahs, nukes in hand, will be running Iraq. That's what Bush has done. |
