Savages in Iraq? They're Iraqis trying to gain or hold onto power. They're just people acting as people who have seen their government toppled and a foreign occupying force with too few troops putzing around for the last year and a half.
What would you do if China, say, or Russia, say, or France (omg!) anyone else came and toppled Washington? You'd do the same thing the Iraqis are doing. Making sure that YOUR SIDE (your tribe, your religion, your organization, your family, your whatever affiliation) got its share.
That's pretty dang normal human behavior and it occurs everywhere in the world including in the US. If Bush had been even marginally competent and even marginally concerned with reality then he would have listened to all comers in his own admin, in the analyst community and in his own military.
They would have told him that he needed close to 3Xs the troops (X number of troops/1K citizens) to stabilize Iraq. He didn't listen, Rummy didn't listen and our troops, our country and the Iraqis are all paying for his arrogance and incompetence. All of this in Iraq COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.
Put aside whether or not we should have invaded Iraq, the reality is we should have done so COMPETENTLY if we were going to do it at all. This is a war of gross incompetence both before and in its aftermath. Even if violence subsides for a few weeks, a month, etc. I'm convinced that this admin doesn't have a clue as to what has been unleashed in that region.
The Iraq/Iran border is a sieve and there is evidence that Chalabi has close ties to the Iranian government. Who knows what the heck is going on deep in Iraq since it's still too dangerous for journalists (and our military) to travel into.
Has the Bush admin become any more competent in the last year and a half? Bush finally admitted he was WRONG regarding Iraq after Saddam. He will eventually, maybe, perhaps, finally admit he was WRONG regarding Iraq period. That mea culpa will come too late for anyone to care. |
